For the third year in a row, the Madison Bach Musicians (directed by Trevor Stephenson) will return to Holy Wisdom Monastery to play at the annual Prairie Rhapsody benefit concert on the evening of June 28, 2012. This year, Trevor has put together a spectacular lineup of musicians to accompany him on the harpsichord, including Erin Cooper Gay (soprano) from Toronto and Chicago-based Anna Steinhoff (viola de gamba). Jacob Stockinger of The Well-Tempered Ear blog (and formerly the music critic for the Capital Times) wrote the following about last year’s concert, excerpted from his July 19, 2011 blog post: Several things made …
Scripture Commentary for June 17, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
PROPER 6 June 17, 2012 FIRST READING First Samuel 15:34 – 16:13 This is the story of God’s sending the great prophet, Samuel, to find the next king, and Samuel’s surprising discovery that God has chosen a mere shepherd boy of no reputation—though of great beauty. God has a record of choosing as leaders people who do not measure up to common moral standards. Abraham was not above selling his wife to Pharaoh, and Jacob was a scamp. David was to live into old age and die of natural causes, but his parting words were his instructions to his son …
Recipes from the cooking demonstration on June 13, 2012 with Barbara Wright
Last night we hosted the first (but certainly not the last!) cooking demonstration with our monastery chef, Barbara Wright. We gathered in the kitchen at 6:00 pm and watched Barbara prepare a meal for 18 people, telling stories and giving out tips on where to shop for food and where to buy knives. Below are the recipes for the dishes that Barbara shared with us last night (click here to download a PDF file of these recipes). We hope to do more of these, perhaps as soon as this summer! To learn more about cooking demonstrations at Holy Wisdom Monastery, …
Scripture Commentary for June 10, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
PROPER 5 June 10, 2012 FIRST READING First Samuel 8:4-20, 11:14-15 Our Old Testament readings for today and the next two months will be bits and pieces of the fascinating story of the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David. I would suggest you do not settle for what amounts to an outline of the best story in the bible (except, of course, that of the crucifixion and resurrection). Read it yourself in First and Second Samuel and two chapters of First Kings. If however, we grant that our bishops had to choose between a curtailed story or none …
Scripture Commentary for June 3, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
Trinity Sunday June 3, 2012 FIRST READING Isaiah 6:1-8 Today we hear of the call to prophecy of First Isaiah, who was to become a brilliant court prophet and advisor to kings. The call came to him, he tells us, in a vision. He saw God on his throne, not in heaven, but in the Jerusalem Temple, in the sanctum sanctorum which, of course, Isaiah had never entered. No one was allowed into this inner sanctum but the high priest. He would have known, however, that the sacred chest, the Arc, stood there, and on its top was a throne …
Patti LaCross' Homily from June 3, 2012
What a wonderful gathering of people we have today under this soaring roof! The Holy Spirit has worked some amazing things to bring us together today. Acknowledging that Spirit, please look around you, and quickly introduce yourself to anyone sitting near you whose name you don’t know. It would be really awkward to get adopted and expect to be a family with people whose names you didn’t even know, right? Since our Sunday worship assembly is growing steadily, we really need to work at getting to know one another, because we are called to be a family of faith. Did you catch that word adoption …
That we may all be one
The national board of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has met and issued its response to the April 18th assessment of the organization issued by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. The full LCWR response can be found on the LCWR website. Additional background is available in an article published online today by the National Catholic Reporter. We, sisters of Benedictine Women of Madison, continue to stand with LCWR and all women religious in the US as sisters in Christ. We find most striking and poignant in the LCWR response their statement: “The report has furthermore …
Leora Weitzman's Homily from May 27, 2012
Pentecost * Acts 2:1-21, Romans 8:22-27, John 15:26-27 & 16:4b-15 * Leora Weitzman * May 27, 2012 The homily resource books in our library here gave me some much needed help with part of today’s Gospel. The lines about sin and righteousness and judgment can be retranslated to reveal a courtroom metaphor regarding a crime, the nature of justice, and the verdict. In the case of Jesus, the Advocate turns the world’s perspective on its head. Where the world saw an enemy of the state tried, found guilty, and executed, the Spirit sees something else. It sees a friend of …
Scripture Commentary for May 27, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
Day of Pentecost May 27, 2012 FIRST LESSON Acts 2:1-21 We celebrate the Pentecostal experience as the event that led to the formation of the Church. The Apostles are gathered in Jerusalem to observe the Jewish feast of the Pentecost. It is about a month since the risen Christ appeared to them. They are seized by a mystical experience: tongues of fire convey to them the Holy Spirit and lead them to speak in various languages. This is not “speaking in tongues,” but speaking in established national languages recognized by the crowd. The curse of the Tower of Bable is …
What to do on a Personal Retreat
Jesus told his disciples to “come away with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” We welcome all people to experience the quiet spaciousness of Holy Wisdom Monastery. Whether you choose to walk the nature trails, sleep, browse the library, join community prayer or find a spot near the lake to write in your journal, you open yourself to the inner journey. –From the www.benedictinewomen.org website We give first time personal retreatants at Holy Wisdom Monastery a list of suggestions on what to do with their time away, appropriately called What to do on a personal …