Sister Lynne offers the following tips in preparation for the upcoming winter: This year, due to the warm fall, we had several extra cuttings from our Swiss chard crop. Since we have two long rows of chard, we get more than we can eat at one time, so we freeze the extra for use later in the year. To freeze it, we wash it and tear the leaves off the ribs. Some people save the ribs to use in soups. Then we drop it into boiling water just until it wilts, maybe a minute or two. Next we stop the cooking …
Conference on Radical Gospel Living
The sisters are excited about participating in the ecumenical conference: Radical Gospel Living: Monasticism Todaysponsored by Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, on November 4-5, 2011. Mary David Walgenbach, OSB and Lynne Smith, OSB will present a workshop entitled “Building Community Outside the Box.” They will also take a display about Holy Wisdom Monastery. Thirty representatives from a variety of monastic communities both traditional and new monasticism will take part in the conference. Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, will be the keynote speaker on Friday evening and Shane Claibourne, new monastic and author of The Irresistable Revolution will give the keynote on Saturday. To …
The Ecumenical Path
How does a person raised in a small Evangelical Protestant church become an oblate of a Benedictine monastery and a member of Sunday Assembly at Holy Wisdom Monastery? The journey is not as long as one might suppose, because these two seemingly-opposites of the Christian spectrum have a lot in common with each other. Both of them have a strong belief in ecumenism, a realization that all Christians should be able to worship together. I grew up in the Christian Church (a conservative relative of the Disciples of Christ denomination). When I was in high school, we learned that our …
Best Wishes, Jerrianne!
After 13 years with the Benedictine Women of Madison, Jerrianne Bland has announced her retirement for the end of this month. She has served in a variety of roles at Holy Wisdom Monastery—leading retreats, working in the Membership department recruiting new members of the monastic community, being a spiritual director and leading daily prayer. With her new free time, Jerrianne will be doing more kayaking, biking, yoga, and spending time with her family. We wish you the best Jerrianne! If you would like to send her your well wishes, please email Jerrianne.
“Piti piti na rive” – The Journey of the What If? Foundation
The sisters at Holy Wisdom Monastery have befriended many neighbors over the years in the Fox Bluff neighborhood on the north side of Lake Mendota. Along the way, they got to know the Trost family: Frederick, the former President and Conference Minister of the UCC’s Wisconsin Conference; Louise, a former employee of the sisters at St. Benedict Center; and one of their five children, Margaret. The Trost home, where Margaret spent her college summers and grad-school years, was near Lost Lake. Margaret’s parents were and continue to be great admirers of the sisters and the Rule of St. Benedict. Margaret …
Broken, Breathing, and Healing on the Contemplative Path
Love breathes us into being moment by moment, breath by breath, no matter how broken we are. This is one of the most important messages that I’ve received from Jim Finley during the half dozen retreats I’ve attended with him over the past 11 years. The first silent retreat I attended with Finley was entitled “The Four Noble Truths for Christians.” It was the beginning of the new millennium and I was in my year of formation as an oblate at what is now known as Holy Wisdom Monastery. The topic of Finley’s retreat intrigued me because I had become …
Interview with James Finley about Thomas Merton
When did you first meet Thomas Merton? In my home growing up, I was exposed to physical, sexual and emotional abuse. My mother was a devout Roman Catholic, and she taught me how to pray to deal with my alcoholic father. In 9th grade, I attended a Catholic high school in Akron, Ohio, and one of the Holy Cross brothers talked about monasteries. He mentioned Thomas Merton. That day I went to the school library, and they had The Sign of Jonas. When I opened the book, I saw his entry on December 13, 1946, “For myself, I have only one desire, …
Resilience in Daily Living
As part of the Volunteer in Community program this summer, Donna Carnes taught a class on resilence. Below are her reflections on the experience. When Sister Mary David Walgenbach and I talked in March about what topic I’d like to focus on while ‘teaching’ a class to the summer volunteers, I said without hesitation, ‘Resilience in Daily Living,‘ and she replied without skipping a beat: ‘perfect!’ The ease of our connection made me think: genesis is good! The hours spent with the young women and Sister Lynne Smith affirmed the value of the subject, and the wealth of experience and feeling that each …
Saving the Land and Hearing Great Music Make for an Outstanding Double-header at the Prairie Rhapsody Benefit Concert
By Jacob Stockinger, former music reviewer for The Capital Times Excerpts reprinted with permission from his July 19, 2011 blog It would be hard to imagine a better way to meld classical music and land conservation than the Prairie Rhapsody benefit concert . . . at the Holy Wisdom Monastery . . . The musical performers were period musicians Madison-based keyboardist Trevor Stephenson, who played the fortepiano, and several musicians from Chicago: violinist Brandi Berry, cellist Anna Steinhoff and soprano Emily Birsan. Several things made the event, which included light dinner and desserts plus wine and other beverages, a success. …
The Art and Practice of Lectio Divina
Lectio divina is an ancient way of praying the scriptures. It is more than just reading the Bible; it is reading scripture in a way that takes in the words, seeks out the meaning, responds to the message and rests in the fullness of the Word. Lectio divina is an integral part of the prayer life of Benedictines, along with Liturgy of the Hours, Centering Prayer and Sunday Eucharist. Lectio can be done privately or in a group. When done as personal prayer, it involves four actions. First, we actually read the scripture passage, taking in the words. We read slowly, often out loud. …