“…you will go forth from these walls, but will live like a monk in the world.”
-Father Zossima to Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov
Every vocation is a novitiate And every labor a monastic prayer: Matins and Lauds are sung over coffee, Then Terce for the plough, the lathe, and the wheel
Sext is gratitude for the midday meal And None is the hour for downing tools Soft Vespers is the song of happy homes ‘Til Compline sends all good folk to their beds -
Final vows are taken at death; for now, Every vocation is a novitiate