Seeking, discovering, and then assenting to one’s life vocation is a simple but confusing process. There is no step-by-step formula to follow, but St. Benedict gives excellent instructions for discernment. “Listen carefully…and…attend with the ear of your heart.” Let’s break it down. “Listen carefully.” There is much noise around us…
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Hospitality has been one of the core values of the Benedictine way of life since the sixth century. St. Benedict describes the reception of guests in Chapter 53 of his Rule, “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, who said: ‘I was a stranger and you…
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On August 6th we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. This beautiful feast celebrates the revelation of the eternal glory of the Second Person of the Trinity to the apostles Peter, James, and John. Normally, this glory was veiled during Christ’s life on earth, but on this…
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Equal justice won a victory in June of 2016. That summer, Pope Francis requested the memorial of St. Mary Magdalene, celebrated on July 22, be elevated to a major feast. Liturgically speaking, this decision put the feast of St. Mary Magdalene on par with the feasts of the male apostles….
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You’ve probably heard the old adage that meditating on scripture is meant “to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable.” It takes courage and patience to sit with our discomfort in the presence of God. For Saint Benedict, “seeking Christ above all else” meant seeking Truth found at the…
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Sister Eleanor Harrison is an icon of our community. She also is one of our elders – both in age and in grace but definitely not in mind! A native of Birmingham, she has spent most of her life in the Diocese of Birmingham except for a short time of…
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When I was first asked to do a blog for the week of June 21, 2020 my thoughts immediately went to some great feasts around that time: the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (our community’s patronal feast) and the Nativity of John the Baptist, the precursor of…
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Death is not extinguishing the light: it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come” (R. Tagore). Dawn came for our Sister Brigid Clarke on Tuesday, May 19th, at the age of 91. It is hard for me to believe she has died. It is harder to…
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The English words monk, monastery, and monastic all come from the same Greek root word monos, which means “one.” For monastic women and men, this oneness has multiple aspects. Most obviously, this oneness expresses itself in singularity of life. Monastic women and men are unattached to an exclusive other in…
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Jesus is no longer in their midst. They can no longer reach out and touch him. They can no longer see his expressions of love, concern, patience, or mercy. His body is no longer on earth. Oh, but his spirit remains. They can remember the fun they had, the mysteries…
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