Breaking Out of Silence: An Invitation to Remember

Holy Wisdom MonasteryLiving in Community 12 Comments

By Mary Chiang With cups already full of all kinds of grief, it’s difficult for me to begin to express myself. Yet too many lives have been lost due to inaction, silence and distraction, I find myself unable to be as I have been, a “safe” and distant observer. I must begin somewhere even if I will stumble along. Because of the caring nature of the Holy Wisdom community, I hope to offer my experience of racialized trauma* from the Atlanta shootings last year. I invite you to honor the lost lives of the following victims of anti-Asian hate, gun …

Lectio Divina: Prayerful Reading of Scripture Part Two

Joanne Kollasch, OSBBenedictine Reflections 1 Comment

As we choose spiritual practices for Lent, we might consider the practice of lectio divina, the prayerful reading of Scripture. (See part 1) This slow reflective reading may be done alone or within a group. The method of lectio divina is often referred to as fourfold: lectio (reading the text), meditatio (reflecting and meditating on the text), oratio (praying from the text) and contemplatio (deep contemplation of the text). “Reading as it were, puts food whole into the mouth, meditation chews it and breaks it up, prayer extracts its flavor, contemplation is the sweetness itself which gladdens and refreshes.” (Guigo …

Lectio Divina: Prayerful Reading of Scripture Part One 

Joanne Kollasch, OSBBenedictine Reflections 2 Comments

During Lent it may help to have a prayer in your pocket. One that you can pull out on a moment’s notice.  A prayer I keep close at hand, and “at heart” is Psalm 23, “A Prayer of David,” commonly called “The Good Shepherd Psalm.” This psalm can become a spiritual resource especially if it arises from the practice of lectio divina.  Lectio divina literally means divine or holy reading. This is a way of putting on the mind of God. By absorbing the Word of God we let the divine scripture penetrate deeply so that we may be transformed by divine …

Jim Penczykowski’s Homily from March 6, 2022

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This first Sunday of Lent invites us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be led by the Spirit. More on that later. “Nurturing grievances” is on my mind for the past several weeks. It is an expression usually reserved for interpersonal relationships. But when I read or heard “nurturing grievances” as a description of Vladimir Putin in his escalation of troops at the border with Ukraine, I realized that much of the distress in human history can be reduced to that term. Consider for a moment the Genesis story of Cain and Abel. That relationship we can …

Meals now served daily

Toby GrabsHospitality Leave a Comment

We are lucky at Holy Wisdom Monastery to have two talented chefs preparing delicious and nutritious meals. This has allowed Holy Wisdom Monastery to begin offering chef-prepared lunches and dinners on Sundays and Mondays. So now, retreatants, guests, members, coworkers, etc. are invited to make a reservation to have a chef-prepared lunch or dinner every day of the week. Lunches are $14.50 and dinners are $17.50. We haven’t always been blessed with two chefs at the same time. Chef Robert Kauper started in 2016 and chef Lisa Hoon started in late 2017 as an occasional kitchen event helper through a …

I Crave Lent

Holy Wisdom MonasteryBenedictine Reflections 14 Comments

By Alison Long If you would have asked 12 year old me what Lent was about, I would have said it was about giving something up. I would have described it as a season of going without, in order to prove something (though I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what exactly). I would have told you it was about rules and what you couldn’t do.    If you would have asked 25 year old me (now, a much more sophisticated seminary student) what Lent was about, I would have said it’s about drawing closer to God. My elevated understanding …

Leora Weitzman’s Homily from Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022

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Ash Wednesday • Joel 2:1–2, 12–17 • 2 Cor 5:20–6:10 • Mt 6:1–6, 16–21 • March 2, 2022   Barry Lopez has written with great clarity and beauty about nature, human exploitation, and—most meaningfully to me—the irreducibility of mystery. I was lucky enough to attend a talk and book-signing, in which someone asked him about the magical realism in some of his short stories. Refusing to analyze the magic, he built more of it into his response. I was in awe of his ability to find those words on the spot. I stood in a long line afterward, finally reaching …

An Overdue Reflection on Advent

Denise West, OSBPrayer & Worship, Spirituality Articles 4 Comments

Lent is around the corner but I’m of a mind to look back on the wintry beginning of Advent. The gift – and torment – of the season of Advent is the quiet stillness that beckons us to turn inward, to perceive the darkness residing within. By December every year I’m aware of some niggling bit of unpleasantness that separates me from God, and I know that ‘now is the time’ to reckon with it. I always look forward to the peace and space, the early sunsets that make it easier to use the evening time for reading and reflection. …

New books in the library—March 2022

Holy Wisdom MonasteryLibrary Leave a Comment

Enrich your mind and spirit—visit the monastery library! March 2022 The forty days of Lent begin this month.  Use the time to prepare for the joy of Easter. The monastery library added the following books to its collection: Allen-McLaurin, Lisa.  A Womanist theology of worship.  Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books:, 2021. Casey, Michael.  The Promise of deliverance.  Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2021 Coloe, Mary.  John 1-10.  Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2021. Forest, Jim.  Eyes of compassion.  Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2021. Haught, John.  The Cosmic vision of Teilhard de Chardin.  Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2021. Wilkerson, Isabel.  Caste.  New York: Random …

Rex Piercy’s Homily from February 27, 2022

Holy Wisdom MonasteryHomilies, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus – February 27, 2022, preached at Holy Wisdom Monastery’s Sunday Assembly – Middleton, WI Texts – Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 2:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36 Back in early December while I was a away for a couple of weeks visiting friends and tying up the loose ends on my Hawaii church interim ministry gig, back at home, my husband took to some serious storage closet cleaning.  He’s better at that kind of thing, or at least more committed to it than I am. He had, among other things, sorted and arranged a plastic …