David McKee’s Homily from March 3, 2024

Holy Wisdom MonasteryHomilies 1 Comment

Third Sunday of Lent March 3, 2024 Exodus 20:1-17 1 Corinthian 1:18-25 John 2:13-22 Well, it’s been a difficult few weeks trying to come up with something meaningful to say this morning about our readings.  It’s one of those times when there doesn’t seem to be any common thread that ties the texts together; or at least I couldn’t find one.  Faced with that fact, I found myself attracted to the passage from Paul’s letter to the Christ-followers in Corinth.  Still, after reading a bunch of commentaries on the text, and pondering and taking notes distractedly for many hours, I …

New books in the library—March 2024

Nancy SandlebackLibrary Leave a Comment

Enrich your mind and spirit—visit the monastery library! March 2024 The monastery library added the following books to its collection: Bourgeault, Cynthia.  The Heart of centering prayer.  Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2016. Cassidy, Laurie, ed.  Desire, darkness, and hope.  Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press 2021. Hewett, Beth.  Grief on the road to Emmaus.  Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2023. Irwin, Kevin.  Ecology, liturgy, and the sacraments.  Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2023 Kim, Seung Chul.  The Center is everywhere.  Eugen, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2022 Koosed, Jennifer L.  Judith.  Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2022. Lane, Dermot.  Nature praising God.  Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2022 Lohfink, …

New savanna: seeded!

Amy AlstadCare for the Earth, Volunteers Leave a Comment

Submitted by Amy Alstad, director of land management and environmental education This Wednesday, a group of 30 volunteers and coworkers gathered to plant the newly-cleared oak savanna. Thanks to many helping hands, the task of planting 1.5 acres went quickly and was infused with a lot of joy and celebration. The work of the past three months has involved cutting, treating, hauling and burning a huge volume of buckthorn, honeysuckle and other invasive shrubs to restore the open, sunlit structure of a true oak savanna. Once cleared, the space was ready to receive the seed mix made up of 70+ species …

March phenology (the awakening season)

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Phenology 3 Comments

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 month ends or begins overnight. Events can be a few weeks early or late. “For, …

Leora Weitzman’s Homily from February 25, 2024

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2/25/2024 • 2nd Sunday in Lent • Gen 17:1–7, 15–16 • Rom 4:13–25 • Mk 8:31–38 When Jesus gets stern like this, I like to think he’s just warning us about spiritual laws of nature that won’t spare us if we neglect to heed them. The spiritual law here is the paradox that “those who seek to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for the Holy One, and the message of the Holy One, will save it.” What does this mean? In college, I was good at classwork but shy. Since I liked explaining …

February phenology

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare for the Earth, Friends of Wisdom Prairie, Phenology 5 Comments

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. “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without …

Roberta Felker’s Homily from February 11, 2024

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Holy Wisdom Monastery The Transfiguration 2 Kings 2:1-12; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9: 2-9 February 11, 2024 Roberta Felker (Peter, on the mountain) Not the light but how it spoke, his transfiguredflesh an instrument of consonance and discord.As if that were not enough, Elijah? Moses, too? James grabbed his knife. John stood mute, dis-figured by fear. And I? Well, some people act. Somewait, and then there are those who think out loud. Let’s build three sheds! I shouted, instantlyregretting it. What I meant was hold still, but my wordsnever come out right. When light stopped throbbing, tympani broke the sky. It …

Jim Penczykowski’s Homily from February 4, 2024

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Labels and names will be my focus today as we try to locate the “good news” in the scripture of the day. First off, labels and names are slippery and shaky. For instance, to the English in 1431, Joan of Arc was a heretic. But to the French, Joan was a martyr and saint. In our day labels and names are used to paint persons and groups into a societal corner so they can be better exploited by the powerful and wanna be powerful. For example, a person or group called a terrorist by one side might be called a …

What is a pilgrimage?

Holy Wisdom MonasteryWeekly Wisdom 2 Comments

Submitted by Carol Kretschman, Oblate This is the question we raised after our arrival at the Saint Columba Hotel on the Isle of Iona on September 16, 2023. We concurred that it wasn’t exactly like a retreat. And yet it was very similar. I remained perplexed. Then someone suggested that I read “The Art of Pilgrimage” by Phil Cousineau. He reminds the reader that the complete circle is the universal symbol for the soul – an image of wholeness – and the goal of the sacred journey is to become as whole again as possible. Our longing is the sign that …

Painted Turtle Love

Holy Wisdom MonasteryFriends of Wisdom Prairie, Nature Notes 2 Comments

Submitted by Julie Melton, Friends of Wisdom Prairie and Sunday Assembly Member Remember painted turtles at Lost Lake basking on logs months ago? When they sense danger, they simply slide into the water and swim away. Some days you can see their noses poking out of the water. In winter they are living under the ice. With very slowed down respiration, they absorb dissolved oxygen through their skin. If the oxygen level drops too low, they absorb carbonate from their bones and skull which prevents them from dying by asphyxiation. Meanwhile, fall hatchling turtles and unhatched babies winter in nests …