Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Living in Community”
We were immersed in monastery life. We attended prayer, ate meals with the sisters and other retreatants, and shared in chores. The fresh vegetables we harvested in the morning became the dinner we enjoyed in the evening. We helped with restoration efforts on the prairie and in the pines.
By Mary Chiang, guest of the sisters I will be leaving June 1, on a plane back to NYC. I need a good head start to say my farewells and want to say thank you for your warm hospitality and resilience to the faith, hope and love of our Lord. I have learned so much here. One lesson is how a binary point of view harms and limits understanding, compassion, and divides people. The life and practice of Benedictine values is a real discipline and I admire every person who devotes themselves to not giving up. It’s so easy to …
Recently we’ve been blessed by interactions with three communities of youth and young adults in the Madison area. Earlier this year, Youth Director Becca Feldhacker, from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Verona, reached out to Sister Lynne to invite the sisters to participate in their spring youth retreats on the theme of rhythms, ritual and repetition. In Mid-March Sister Lynne and I joined a discussion panel for nearly 50 6th and 7th graders on the rhythms and rituals of Benedictine/monastic life. The students, parents and coworkers offered us hospitality, prayer and laughter at their beautiful church. We were delighted to reconnect …
By Mary Chiang, guest of the sisters Every year, Jewish, Christians, and Muslims celebrate their holidays and feasts. But this year, the three Abrahamic religions celebrate their most holy tradition, in tandem. This only happens every 33 years. Each religion celebrates and remembers the very events which define their unique religious identity. The Jewish Passover (April 15- 23) recalls God’s deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt; Lent and Easter (March 2-April 17) revisits the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Messiah, Savior of the world; and Ramadan (April 2-May 1) the month on the Islamic calendar …
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 …
Benedictine Sisters at Holy Wisdom Monastery Celebrate Community and Breaking Barriers Middleton, WI September 21, 2021 — A small community of Benedictine Sisters at Holy Wisdom Monastery celebrates a combined 151 years of religious life this weekend, Sept. 24-26, 2021, at their Celebration of Community. In addition, they welcome a new Sister into their community on Sunday, as Novice Everline Jeruto makes her first monastic profession. The Sisters at Holy Wisdom live together in community and follow the Gospel and the Rule of Benedict. For 68 years they have lived out their mission of weaving prayer, hospitality, justice and care …
Want to be the first to hear every new episode? Click here to sign up for email notifications! In this episode, we sit down with Sarah Wilkin Gibart, a member of Sunday Assembly, to explore her experience as a Benedictine Sojourner – living among the sisters and working with them for half a year! Journey with us as Sarah shares how she learned of the Benedictine Sojourner experience, what she gained, and how it helped her grow as she stepped into the next phase of her life. If you’re interested in learning more about the sisters’ community and upcoming experiences, …
Want to be the first to hear every new episode? Click here to sign up for email notifications! In this continuation of Ep. 1, Becoming Ecumenical: Bringing Christians Together, we sit down once more with Sister Mary David Walgenbach and Sister Joanne Kollasch. Starting in 1966, the sisters take us along the hurdles and fundamental moments of growth into an ecumenical community throughout the 60’s, 70’s, and Vatican II. From welcoming retreat groups for many different Christian denominations to hosting the Dalai Lama, the sisters have embraced the hospitality of St. Benedict, calling it “the everyday path to God that …
Benedictine spirituality aims at helping the sisters at Holy Wisdom Monastery live a balanced life. It provides time for prayer, work, leisure and study. We have time built into the day and week for solitude and time with others. The various activities of our days serve to integrate the body, mind, spirit and soul over the course of our lives. Manual labor and service to others keeps us from being in our head all day. Prayer keeps us from expending all our energy outward giving us time to go inward and reflect. Study stimulates our intellect and provides for growth …
This fall, coworkers Greg Armstrong, Cortez Mitchell and Amy Alstad, and many volunteers have been clearing the underbrush from several areas on the property. They have opened up the space under a couple of stands of trees on the west side of Lost Lake. Another clearing was opened up along the gravel road to the hermitage. Most of the underbrush in the meadow of young oaks opposite the apple orchard on the hill was mown early this fall. Many volunteers worked for several months to clear out the non-native trees and brush from the kettle on the northeast side of …
