Slowly I entered the cloister walk
on the other side of the kitchen court.

Troubled as I was, I still felt again the magic of
this most beautiful place on earth.

Twelve hundred years had worked to make Nonnberg,
the first Abbey of Benedictine Nuns north of the Alps,
a place of unearthly beauty.

For a moment I had to pause and glance again over the grey,
eighth-century cloister wall
before I ascended the spiral stairway leading
to the quarters of Reverend Mother Abbess.

Shyly I knocked on the heavy oaken door,         　　　　　
which was so thick that I could hear only faintly
the "Ave,"the Benedictine equivalent of "Come in."

It was the first time I had been in this part of the Abbey.　
The massive door opened into a big room
with an arched ceiling ; the one column in the middle
had beautifully simple lines.
Almost all the rooms in this wonderful Abbey were arched,  　　　　　
the ceilings carried by columns ; the windows were  　　

Oh this kind, kind voice!  Big rocks fell from my heart when
I heard that tone.  How could I ever have worried?
No, Reverend Mother was not like that ━ making a fuss about
little things like whistling ━and so a faint hope rose in my heart
that she might perhaps talk to me now about the definite date of
my reception.

      " Sit down my child.  No, here near me."

After a minute's pause she took both my hands in hers, looked inquiringly
into my eyes, and said: Tell me, Maria, which is the most important lesson
our Nonnberg has taught you?"

Without a moment's hesitation I answered,
looking fully into the beautiful, dark eyes: 
    "The only important thing on earth for us is to find out what is the Will of God and
　　 to do it."

   "Even if it is not pleasant, or if it is hard, perhaps very hard?"
The hands tightend on mine.  
Well now, she means leaving the world and giving up everything, I thought to myself.

  " Yes, Reverend Mother, even then and whole-heartedly,