The walls look formidable and imposing, almost a bit medieval. Rising above the wall is the spire of a chapel peeking out from the neighboring shade trees. The well-kept grounds look almost out of place in an aging neighborhood. The walls stand in quiet contrast to the busy highway that leads in and out of the city of Rockford. Some could say that the walled acreage stands in protest of the unending noise of life that continually races back and forth.

For uninformed passers-by, it is a structure that gives them pause. It sticks out in the neighborhood and in a driver’s memory. What is that? Who lives there?

But for those who know what lies beyond the walls — what it is and who lives there — it provides a sense of security and peace in a demanding world.

The walled-off world I refer to is home to the Poor Clare Collettine Sisters on the corner of South Main and Marchesano Drive in Rockford.

Behind the walls live 20 sisters, a few feathered friends, myriad well-tended plants and Christ.

Yes, I said Christ lives there too. And if you don’t believe me, all it will take is one visit or one phone call to the monastery prayer line and you will know what I mean.

Christ is present every minute of every day of every month of every year at the Poor Clare Monastery. Every single thing the good sisters do is for and with Christ — their prayer, their work, their recreation. They start each day quietly and reverently in prayer at 12:30 a.m. and the day ends in the same way at 9 p.m.

And ever present in this island of solitude in South Rockford is the weight of the outside world. The sisters may spend each day apart from the busy world, but they are not separated. The worries and needs of the world come to them through messages left on their answering machine and by mail. People ask for their help in praying for illness, despair and thanksgiving.

Dutifully, prayerfully, joyfully, the sisters take these petitions to their friend and savior Jesus Christ each day. They pray when we forget and they pray for the forgetful. Their cloistered life is apart but still a part of the intricate tapestry of our lives — a tapestry we keep busy working to weave while the life of the nuns appreciates each strand, each thread and the color each of us exhaustively creates.

On Aug. 11, the Poor Clares celebrated the feast of St. Clare, who founded their religious order 800 years ago. On Aug. 13, their Mother Abbess, Mother Maria Dominica of the Most Blessed Sacrament, joined me by telephone on the Catholic Forum radio program, broadcast each week on WROK-AM in Rockford.

It was an honor and privilege to have her speak to listeners about the life of St. Clare and the life of the sisters that live and pray in our community. I was so grateful to the Poor Clares for agreeing to be part of the program so I could share their great work and vocation with the general public.

Over the years I have visited the monastery for Mass and purchased communion veils and sacramentals there, taken my religion class there and prayed for the sisters who live there. And yet, I am always taken back by the peace and the calm that blankets me every time I’m there. That same peace drifted into our radio conversation as well.

If you didn’t get a chance to hear the conversation with Mother Maria Dominica, you can go to http://www.rockforddiocese.org/catholicforum.php and listen to the Aug. 13 program to find out more about life beyond the monastery walls.

And whether or not you take the time to listen, I take this space to remind you of all of the vitally important work the Poor Clares do for all us in their monastic life. I ask you to pray for the sisters who continually pray for us. Support them in prayer and, if you can, support them with a financial contribution.

But most of all, I ask that you use their life as a lesson. Take some time to talk to their friend Jesus. Tell him how much you love him and put in a good word for the Poor Clares and the work they do on his behalf and ours.

To add your prayer request to theirs or to learn more about their life, call them at 815/963-7343. Leave a message; they may be praying when you call.