During these well-advanced months of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is difficult to refrain from grumbling about anything and everything, even in the monastery! Stress and fatigue caused by all that is “not normal” is super-abundant, which makes us more inclined to touchiness and frustration. So often these days we pray…
Read MoreIf you know our Sister Jane Bishop, you would know that when she sets her mind to accomplishing a project, she puts her whole mind and heart into it. She also has a knack for getting others involved in her endeavors. The roots of her generosity and pastoral hospitality run…
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“Fill them with the Spirit of wonder and awe in your presence.” These words are part of a prayer said over those being confirmed in the Church. I continually pray for the deepening of this gift of the Holy Spirit for myself and for the sick and elderly parishioners among…
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I walked into her room to find her easy chair set up for me with a small tray table in front of it, so I could take notes. She smiled warmly, asking if I had ever seen her room, then proceeded to show me around – from the hand-made window…
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One of my favorite sentences in the Rule of St. Benedict is found in the Prologue. Obsculta… et inclina auren cordis tui- “Listen…and incline the ear of your heart.” Benedict wants his followers to listen with the ear of their heart. It is interesting that the most common word for…
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Since this is the Year of St. Joseph it is good to consider from time to time the values portrayed by this great saint. St Joseph is considered a “manly man” and what an example he is to all men. But not just to men – all of us can…
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Humility—not an attractive trait in today’s culture but one that is of utmost importance on the spiritual journey. St. Benedict, in Chapter 7 of his Rule, offers an extensive “Twelve-Step Program” for the cultivation of humility. It is the longest and most spiritually demanding chapter in the Rule. Today’s secular…
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Getting out of the car, Mom was already looking ahead, scanning the undergrowth that led down to the lake. She had driven us the few miles out of town from where she and Dad lived in Florida to a park we used to go to when I was young. The…
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When I was a small child, my grandmother would often put me in her lap at bedtime and rock me gently to sleep in her chair. One of my earliest and most reassuring memories was hearing the steady beat of her heart as I fell asleep. I recall this whenever…
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While St. Benedict says in his Rule that nothing is to be preferred to the Opus Dei or the Work of God (contemporarily known as the Liturgy of the Hours) (43.3), the wise abbot also recognizes the value of human work. In the Prologue he writes: “Clothed then with faith…
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