Script lettering: O Antiphons

O Antiphons

Ann MoyerHomepage, Monastic Life, Prayer & Worship 2 Comments

In the monastic Liturgy of the Hours (morning, midday and evening prayers of the community), antiphons are sung as an introduction and a response to readings of the psalms, the heart of our liturgy, and before and after the Benedictus at the end of morning prayer and the Magnificat at the end of evening prayer. During the last days of Advent we change to special antiphons, the O Antiphons, to accompany the Magnificat, Mary’s song of joy and humility. Sung each evening at the end of evening prayer, they provide an additional layer of hope and expectation. The origin of the O Antiphons …

Rosy holding poster - Myth - All nuns are Cathollic

Myth #12 – All nuns are Catholic

Holy Wisdom MonasteryHomepage, Living in Community, Myth busting

Not at Holy Wisdom Monastery. Our Benedictine community welcomes single women of any Christian tradition. Here, you can become a Benedictine sister and share the richness of your religious background. We are an ecumenical monastic community, seeking God through a life following the Gospel and the Rule of Benedict. We live, pray and work together and welcome other single Christian women to explore life with us. We honor diversity among our members and in the communities we help create: the sisters’ community (Benedictine Women of Madison), Benedictine Sojourners, Oblates of Holy Wisdom Monastery, coworkers, volunteers and our Sunday worshipping community …

Nature Notes Winter 2014-2015

Greg ArmstrongCare for the Earth, Homepage, Nature Notes Leave a Comment

What an exciting and eventful year 2014 has been for the land at Holy Wisdom Monastery. The Friends of Wisdom Prairie came into existence to assist the sisters in caring for the earth. And, wow, have they done a great job of doing that. They worked on the land, performing the many land management tasks that are needed to carry out ecological restorations and to sustain them over time. We had a huge prairie seed sowing on nearly 20 acres of what had been agricultural land. 98 volunteers had a wonderful experience of planting about 100 different kinds of prairie …

2014—the year of communities

Car McGinleyBenedictine Bridge, Care for the Earth, Homepage, Hospitality, Monastic Life, Oblates, Retreats, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

Members from the various communities at Holy Wisdom Monastery come together to celebrate Sister Joanne Kollasch’s 60 years of monastic profession. Sister Joanne sums up community living, “in community you receive so much more than you give.” (Photo by Kent Sweitzer)   As I reflect on the year 2014, I’m amazed at all that has emerged at Holy Wisdom Monastery in one short year. What rises to the top for me is the sense of community. Community living takes many forms here, from the monastic community to the Sunday Assembly worshipping community, to the oblate community, to the volunteer community, the …

Friends of Wisdom Prairie — a personal profile

Holy Wisdom MonasteryBenedictine Bridge, Care for the Earth, Homepage, Wisdom Prairie Project Leave a Comment

From Benedictine Bridge, November, 2014 – featuring Ron Endres,   a founding member of the Friends of Wisdom Prairie Council Ron Endres (center), Will Mann (left), and Greg Armstrong (right) prepare seed packets for the Wisdom Prairie seeding day. Ron Endres declines to be called a prairie expert, but he truly knows and loves native prairie culture. Ron has spent more hours than he can estimate harvesting, drying, smashing, screening, weighing, bagging and labelling prairie seed which he can provide to non-profit organizations to create new expanses of prairie habitat. ​It was his generous donation of 80-90 species and 240 pounds of prairie seeds …

Teaching us how to live rightly on the earth

Holy Wisdom MonasteryBenedictine Bridge, Care for the Earth, Homepage Leave a Comment

Publishing in the Landscape by Calvin B. DeWitt We had driven through the Cotswold district of England a few days earlier, and now I was standing before an impressive group of scholars in nearby Oxford, ready to present a lecture on Creation stewardship. I had been welcomed to the lectern and was ready to begin with an academic introduction. But I put aside my notes, and announced to my audience, “I have just made what for me is an important discovery I want to share with you! It is a powerful and convicting publication on land stewardship. And yet, while …

Prairie Planting at Holy Wisdom Monastery

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare for the Earth, Homepage, Volunteers Leave a Comment

Paraphrased from a document written by Ron Endres and Greg Armstrong for the Wisdom Prairie Planting Day The Friends of Wisdom Prairie had a very successful prairie planting on nearly 20 acres of what was agricultural land. We planted this prairie at this time of year so that the seed can over-winter in the soil and germinate in the spring. In general, this is the most successful time to plant. Fall plantings take advantage of cold moist conditions to break seed dormancy. We spread the seeds by hand so that the frost works the seeds into the soil, instead of …

Forgiveness and community building     

Lynne Smith, OSBHomepage, Living in Community, Notes on a Sister's Time Away for Education Leave a Comment

I recently attended a lecture by Emmanuel Katongole, Associate Professor of Theology and Peace Studies at Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame University. As he did his doctoral work on the genocide in Rwanda, one of the questions that bothered Fr. Katongole was:  Did Christianity make any difference in the genocide? Fr. Katongole told a story of the students in the Catholic high school seminary at Buta, Burundi. On April 30, 1997, during the genocide in Burundi, some armed men entered the seminary in Buta in the early morning hours. The men took all the students out …