Like Thomas Merton, Ed believed that every event in our lives holds something of the divine. Some experiences from Ed’s life at St. Benedict Center portray this belief. In the mid-60s monks of Taize along with our sisters led weekend retreats for university students at our Academy of St. Benedict. Ed, a good friend of the monks of Taize and an active member of Madison Campus Ministry arranged their fall retreat at our newly opened ecumenical retreat and conference center known as Saint Benedict Center. We had a stable of six or seven riding horses from our Academy Riding Club …
The Genesis of the Sonata Art Exhibit
Our Sonata exhibit artists gather to proof and critique each other’s work (L-R: Gregory Bleck, Donna Carnes, Blair Mathews, Kent Sweitzer) Last autumn, I discovered that one of our neighbors and biggest fans, Donna Carnes, was involved with an art exhibit at the Pyle Center on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The exhibit featured her poetry, paired with poetic works by Blair Mathews, matched up with watercolor paintings by a local artist. I had never met Blair before, but quickly discovered that he is well-known in various circles at the university through his career as a fitness instructor and poet, …
Scripture Commentary for May 20, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
Seventh Sunday of Easter May 20, 2012 FIRST READING Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Today our reading in Acts returns to the opening chapter. We hear about the election of Matthias to fill the vacany in the apostles left by the exclusion of Judas. There were to be twelve members. Because there had been twelve tribes of Israel, twelve had become a sacred number. I would guess that our bishops thought the story they cut from the middle of our reading was too unpleasant for such nice folks as we. Judas takes his ill-gotten gains and buys a field. As soon as …
Benedictine Life in the 21st Century
Young adult volunteers at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Wisconsin connect with God through nature and community by Elizabeth A. Elliott Originally published May 8, 2012 at www.BustedHalo.com, reprinted with permission Connection. It is something everyone desires and in today’s world it seems to happen 24/7 through the Internet and social media. But there are people who yearn for a different, deeper connection — with God, with nature, and with each other. Sara Jo Emmerich, a 30-year-old who lives in Washington, D.C., found that connection at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, Wisconsin. It was there, as part of the Volunteer in …
Take A Stake in the Lakes Days
Holy Wisdom Monastery is pleased to participate in Take a Stake in the Lakes Days, an event of the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission, in partnership with Clean Lakes Alliance. We are hosting a group of employees from Lands’ End on June 1, 2012 in our 100 acres of restored prairie so that we can continue to do our part to reduce run-off into the Lake Mendota watershed. One of the things that the Lands’ End group will be helping with is removing invasive species (such as garlic mustard and honeysuckle) from our naturally restored prairie. Restoring land, that used …
Scripture Commentary for May 13, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
Sixth Sunday of Easter May 13, 2012 FIRST READING Acts 10:44-48 Our readings for this and next Sunday are chosen to prepare us for the reading of the great Pentecost miracle. Today, we jump byond that scene to hear more about the spreading of Christianity to gentiles. (Bear in mind, “gentile” means any non-Jew, be he or she Roman or Greek or German or what-have-you.) A few pages before our passage can be found the story of the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch (our lesson of last week). Today we have the conclusion to the story of the conversion of …
Honoring Hildegard of Bingen
Holy Spirit, giving life to all life, moving all creatures, root of all things, washing them clean, wiping out their mistakes, healing their wounds, you are our true life: luminous, wonderful, awakening the heart from its ancient sleep. ~ Hildegard of Bingen Illumination above by Hildegard of Bingen: Cultivating the Cosmic Tree Hildegard of Bingen was a Benedictine abbess, writer, musician and mystic. On May 10, 2012 the Vatican formally recognized Hildegard of Bingen by “inscribing her in the catalogue of saints.” Here at Holy Wisdom Monastery, she has been held in highest esteem for many years. Her …
Scripture Commentary for May 6, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
Fifth Sunday of Easter May 6, 2012 FIRST READING Acts 8:26-40 Tradition holds that the Ethiopian eunuch was the first gentile to be baptized. The tradition is true only if one does not consider the Samaritans to be gentiles, for numerous Samaritans were already baptized because of Philip’s teaching (8:12). The Samaritans were a splinter Judaism, and the Torah (Pentateuch) was their holy book. At that time, main-line Jews welcomed to their synagogues gentiles who came to worship Yahweh but would not convert because circumcision was dangerous and painful. When these “God-fearers” learned that Christians worshiped the same God, but …
Bill Conover's Eulogy at Memorial Service for Edwin Beers
Not long after Ed became my spiritual director, in the late 1990s, we both attended a clergy meeting here on these very grounds. The late William Sloane Coffin, one of the Church’s lions for justice and nonviolence, was speaking of wealth. “There are two ways you can be rich,” said Bill Coffin, “Have a lot of money, or have few needs.” Ed understood this insight implicitly; he’d long before chosen the latter path of simplicity, a sturdy, gentle, God-trusting, Benedictine way of being in the world. But there was so much more to Ed’s vast wealth. His treasure was a …
Joe Wiesenfarth's Homily from the Memorial Service for Edwin Beers on May 4, 2012
Romans 14:7-9, Hebrews 11:8-16, Luke 24:13-35 Memorial Service for Edwin E. Beers Ed Beers and I had for some years given each other copies of our homilies when we asked for them. In sorting through his that I have on file, I found one dated 25 October 1987. Some other few were not dated, but I think that 25 years suggest our long friendship. It takes Ed back to the time that he surprised me by telling me that he had been shooting hoops on a UW Natatorium basketball court with friends who regularly gathered there, and it takes me …