Paz and the sisters at midday prayer

Having a hard time with the psalms

Holy Wisdom MonasteryLittle notes from a prairie journey, Living in Community 9 Comments

At the monastery we pray the psalms three times a day during the Liturgy of the Hours. At morning and evening prayer, we pray two psalms each, one singing and another recited, at midday we recite a psalm. This is a total of five psalms a day, which is a lot for me. Since I can remember, back in Mexico, I used to attend mass every single Sunday and I never heard a psalm that asked God for the punishment of the wicked or to kill and banish my enemies from the earth. When I first moved to Houston and …

Sisters and guests gathered in prayer in the oratory.

 Viviendo momentos difíciles con los salmos

Holy Wisdom MonasteryPequeñas notas de un viaje a la pradera 2 Comments

En el monasterio rezamos los salmos tres veces al día durante la Liturgia de las Horas. En la oración de la Mañana y en la oración de la tarde, oramos dos salmos cada vez, uno cantado y otro recitado. En la oración de mediodía recitamos un salmo. Esto nos da un total de cinco salmos al día, lo cual es demasiado para mí. Desde que puedo recordar, todos los domingos asistía a misa con mi familia en México y nunca escuché un solo salmo que pidiera a Dios por el castigo de la gente mala o que pidiera la muerte …

Sister Joanne and retreatant looking together at prayer books used for daily prayer

Building community through shared Benedictine values

Lynne Smith, OSBBuilding Community, Living in Community 1 Comment

Sister Joanne will be quick to tell you that Benedictine spirituality does not exist in the abstract. It only comes alive as people embody it. It is learned and passed on person to person through relationships. Having lived this life for over sixty years, Joanne embodies the Benedictine values of the monastery in her unique way. Joanne is passionate about passing on the Benedictine way of life to everyone with whom she comes into contact. You have probably experienced the values of hospitality, respect, simplicity and beauty through Joanne. She embodies Benedictine values in the way she greets guests, in …

Three women standing by a stream in the winter

A new thing

Denise West, OSBFar from home, Living in Community 6 Comments

How much longer is your stay? Have you gotten what you expected out of your sojourner experience? Now that it’s been almost four months (two more to go), I’m getting this question a lot. As for the second question, the answer is a resounding Yes. This experience has been transforming in the ways that I’d hoped. Paz and I both left Wisconsin for Christmas, and it was the first time being away from the monastery community. I wondered how much of the way I’d been living would ‘stick’ once I went out into the world. Would I resort to my …

brightly lit, snow-covered tree branches casting shadows on the snow

Home for the Holidays

Holy Wisdom MonasteryLetters home, Living in Community Leave a Comment

My first semester at St John’s School of Theology ended with a whimper. Although I was officially back at the monastery for winter break, I had a final paper and an exam yet to submit online. It was confusing: my body was home, but my head was still at school. On the fourth Sunday of Advent, with two hours to my deadline, I finally pressed the send button and breathed a sigh of relief. It was done; all of my assignments were in. Now I can relax, I thought. The semester had been long and challenging in unexpected ways. It …

Paz celebrating Christmas 2014 with her youngest niece

Christmas preparations

Holy Wisdom MonasteryLittle notes from a prairie journey, Living in Community 7 Comments

It has been three months since I arrived at Holy Wisdom Monastery. I am becoming an expert window cleaner. And I am enjoying singing, some days I surprise myself humming a hymn. I am thinking about my Christmas preparation time back in Mexico, and I remember that I used to have a communal preparation. We, the whole neighborhood, start the Our Lady of Guadalupe Novena on December fourth. The neighbors take turns hosting evening communal rosary at their houses. After that everybody enjoys drinking coffee, tea or atole (a sweet, hot drink) with cookies or sweet bread. During these nine days …

Paz celebrating Christmas 2014 with her youngest niece

Preparaciones para la Navidad

Holy Wisdom MonasteryLiving in Community, Pequeñas notas de un viaje a la pradera 2 Comments

Han pasado tres meses desde que llegué al monasterio. Me estoy convirtiendo en una experta limpiadora de ventanas. Y estoy empezando a disfrutar el canto, algunos días me sorprendo tarareando un himno. Recuerdo como era el tiempo de preparación para la Navidad en México, y recuerdo que solía tener una preparación comunitaria. En nuestro barrio empieza las preparaciones el cuatro de diciembre con la Novena a la Virgen de Guadalupe. Todos los vecinos rezan rosario en comunidad cada noche en una casa diferente. Después del rosario todos disfrutan de una taza de café, té o atole, con galletas o pan …

The journey to Christmas

Mary David Walgenbach, OSBBenedictine Bridge, Living in Community Leave a Comment

The Advent season is one of expectation and preparation for Christmas. This Advent, I am especially aware of the contradictory messages that daily surround me and each one of us. I wonder: How are we to make the Advent journey to Christmas? A brief reading of the morning paper and listening to the evening news offer a picture of a gloomy world where trust of one’s neighbor is in short supply. Then across my desk comes the Wisconsin Council of Churches newsletter, November 19, 2015, with A Call to Prayer and Action to Welcome Syrian Refugees, saying: “As faith leaders …

Sharing in the journey

Holy Wisdom MonasteryBenedictine Bridge, Living in Community Leave a Comment

As the community at Holy Wisdom Monastery approaches Christmas together, seeking the light of God’s love for our world, each person’s experiences and insights form an important part of a shared journey. Sister Rosy Kandathil reflects in her recent blog post, Advent in a time of terror: It is easy for me to forget the tenuous circumstances of Jesus’ birth and early childhood. But the Savior of the World was born into conflict and knew intimately the kinds of fears and dangers associated with living on this planet. Then and now. It feeds my faith and hope to remind myself …

Sisters and sojourners gathered around the Advent wreath for evening prayer

Presence

Lynne Smith, OSBBuilding Community, Living in Community 2 Comments

I’ve been reflecting on “presence” since Advent began. Paul Knitter’s homily of December 6, 2015 brought my musings into focus. Here is a line that caught my attention. “That Jesus will ‘come again’ in the future is not out there, on a horizontal line: rather, the future is vertically the depth of the present, that which is already here but has to be discovered, trusted, and realized.” Benedictine spirituality calls me to see Christ in every person I encounter. I’m better at being present to that reality on some days than on others. Recent weeks have been full of opportunities …