Liturgy within the Cloister - Come away and rest with me a while

As a priest celebrating liturgy in the large monastery chapel, I am always aware that some of those attending Mass on weekdays are under time constraints because of their employment. This a factor which determines the pace of liturgy both for those attending and for the sisters too.
Because the chapel was closed due to construction, the bishop out of great pastoral concern permitted the priest access to the small cloister chapel with the sisters directly present to the altar. Contrasting Mass in the large chapel with Mass in the cloister chapel brought two thoughts to mind:

 First, the sacrifice the sisters have over the years been making by having the pace of their community Mass dictated by the schedule of the devout souls attending Mass in the large chapel*. Sunday may be the exception to a certain extent.
Secondly, how the phrase “attending Mass” does not quite capture the reality of the liturgy when within the cloister longer silences are introduced to provide time to ingest both the Lord’s Word proclaimed in the Gospel and his Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  To have leisurely time built into the liturgy can serve to deepen appreciation of how great a mystery the Eucharist truly is. One does not attend the liturgy but rather one is caught up into something far beyond oneself:  Christ present in his members praying on our behalf to the Father.

To this Carmelite priest, to love and contemplate the Lord with our cloistered sisters so near was a great gift. ---fr. jack

*I realize that a parish priest himself might also be under time constraints, especially on Sundays.  These reflections, of course, pertain only to my experience.