Yesterday, after our meetings, retreat time, and visits with long-time friends had concluded, Sisters Lynn Marie, Magdalena, and I departed from Mount St. Scholastica. The long drive back took us through parts of Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and finally back home into Alabama.
Although long, it was a good drive. A cool, mostly-cloudy day…farmland that stretched from horizon to horizon…good traveling companions…a brief visit with family along the way… rivers that we crossed again and again – the Missouri, the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Tennessee….
Crossing and re-crossing rivers as we followed them southeastward reminded me a little bit of liturgy, of returning again and again to that great stream of prayer to God.
Yesterday morning, we prayed Lauds with the Atchison community. This morning we prayed Lauds in Cullman, with Sister Magdalena back at the organ and Sisters Lynn Marie and me back in our familiar choir stalls, entering once again that great river of prayer.
Postscript:
Sister Vicki Ix, OSB, of the Bristow, Virginina community has a great summary of our “55 and Under” meeting on her blog, “Monastics on a Journey.” Also, a bit more about our trip is on our Community News web page. And here are a few photos from the Mount.
