Submitted by Toby Grabs, director of operations A Geothermal HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system uses ground source heat pumps to heat the air inside a building in the winter and cool the air in the building in the summer using the ground to either extract heat in the winter or take heat in the summer. Many people are familiar with high temperature geothermal heating being used to generate electricity in geologically active states like California where the geological forces, or a thin layer in the crust, cause the high heat present under the crust of the earth to …
New books in the library—May 2024
Enrich your mind and spirit—visit the monastery library! May 2024 The monastery library added the following books to its collection: Armstrong, Karen. Sacred nature. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2022. Delio, Illia. The Not-Yet God. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2023. O’Murchu, Diarmuid. Ecological spirituality. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2024. Oliver, Mary. Devotions. New York: Penguin Press, 2017. Potos, Andrea. Her joy becomes. Newberg, OR: Fernwood Press, 2002. Potos, Andrea. Marrow of summer. American Fork, UT: Kelsay Books, 2021. Punsalan-Manlimos, Catherine. “Why we can’t wait.” Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2023. Torvend, Samuel. Monastic ecological wisdom. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2023.
May phenology
By Sylvia Marek Phenology is a science focused on observing and recording biological events from year to year and their relationships to the change of seasons and climate. These are the “normal” phenology events we expect to see here and in the Madison area this month. We would love to hear about what you are seeing on the grounds of Holy Wisdom Monastery. Please comment on this post with what you are observing, where at Holy Wisdom and the date you observed the event. No two Mays are the same. Events can be a few weeks earlier or later than …
Patti La Cross’s Homily for April 21, 2024
You may have heard that the solar panels are not the only things shifted this week. Yes, the Benedictines have elected a new prioress, and we are so grateful for sisters Mary David and Lynn in their graceful transition. But wait, there’s more! Today’s readingsshift us! From our basking in the joy and glory of Jesus’ resurrection, they tilt us forward; renewing our energy, and powering our mission. We are once again turned to face God’s people, in whatever situation we find them, and to recognize them as belonging to Jesus’ fold, and as kin to us. The descriptor “Good’ …
CCR Pastors Reflect on Spiritual Renewal
Submitted from Nancy Enderle, director, Center for Clergy Renewal As part of their experience with the Center for Clergy Renewal (CCR), pastors submit written assessments about their spiritual renewal and how their time at Holy Wisdom helps them thrive in ministry. After their summer immersion, pastors reflect on the following questions: After their second immersion in the winter, pastors are invited to respond to the prompt: These assessments create opportunities for pastors to reflect deeply on their lives and share those thoughts with me (Nancy Enderle). I meet with each pastor individually to provide feedback and support as they think …
A Story About a Lake and a Prairie and an Array of Solar Panels
Submitted by Amy Alstad, director of land management & environmental education, presented at the inaugural Spring Solar Tilt on Apr. 17, 2024 I’m here to share a story about a lake and a prairie and an array of solar panels. At first glance, this may seem like an unlikely trio of characters to encounter together in a single story. I hope to weave these three dissimilar threads into a common story that sets the stage for us today. We’ll start with the lake. The glacial lake that we know today as Lost Lake gets its name from the oral tradition …
Rex Piercy’s Homily from April 14, 2024
Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, April 14, 2024 Preached at Holy Wisdom Monastery Sunday Assembly, Middleton, WI Years ago as a young pastor, long before the hair turned gray, I was trying my best to make my church contemporary. I discovered the hymn writing duo of Richard Avery and Don Marsh who had penned a lively tune entitled “Every Morning Is Easter Morning.” And they are right. Every Sunday is Easter. Of course it is. Every forgiveness is Easter. Every birth of hope is Easter. These theological statements are the legacy of two millennia of Christian reflection on …
Jim Penczykowski’s Homily from April 7, 2024
This “octave” of Easter Sunday is sometimes called “low Sunday,” because no one expects the liturgy to compete with Easter Sunday for ebullience and pageantry. Others call it “doubting Thomas” Sunday because the Gospel passage from John chapter 20 does not vary from year to year. The Roman Church has more recently dubbed it, “Divine Mercy” Sunday. Preparation for this homily leads me to title it, “open to change” and “challenged to change” Sunday. If you grew up in a muti-generational household, you know how different the perspectives can be from one era to another. For instance, I grew up …
Meet an oblate – Carroll Bross
Reprinted from Oblate News, March 2024 What are the roles you have played in life? I’ve been a daughter, a student, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and now an octogenarian who is thankful to be doing as well as I am. I’m an almost lifelong Methodist with every intention of staying in the United Methodist Church as my denomination is breaking apart. My first job was stringing tags in a dress factory in St. Louis. I moved on from there. After college at Illinois Wesleyan, I worked for several years for what was formerly the U.S. Civil Service Commission …
Lynne Smith’s Homily from Easter Vigil, March 30, 2024
Easter Vigil – 2024 Mark 16:1-8 Lynne Smith, OSB This is not the good news we are used to hearing at Easter time. Where are the stories of Jesus’ post resurrection appearance? Where is the joy at seeing him again? Where are the alleluia’s? Mark’s Gospel ends abruptly with amazement flight. We expect this of the male disciples in Mark. But not of the women too! Because of the other Gospel accounts, we expect the women to be the stars. They get what Jesus taught and are the first to believe. But not here. They too flee …