Community life balanced with prayer, work and study is lived out at Holy Wisdom Monastery in many ways. Women and men began intentional communities centuries ago in the deserts of Egypt. They came to practice ascetical disciplines or to escape the overwhelming responsibilities of life. For many, living alone and facing their personal demons propelled them to come together for ideological support. These intentional communities began in the second and third centuries before the Christian era. In her book, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Benedicta Ward cites the need for repentance for living a life of sinfulness and gives the …
Farewell and Blessings
On April 15, 2014 sojourners, monastery guests, coworkers and sisters came together to say thanks and goodbye to four of the sojourers who lived in community with the sisters over the past 13 months.Four of our Benedictine Sojourners complete their time with us on April 21, 2014. Brenda Lisenby, Sarah Wilkin, Trish Stefanik and Vicki Wuolle have spent seven to thirteen months living in community, participating in and leading prayer, sharing in meals and leisure activities with the sisters and guests. We have been blest by their gifts as they have shared their lives with us and participated in various …
The Prairie Has Much to Teach Us
The prairie teaches us to take time to slow down, develop and nurture deep roots. The prairie has much to teach us. During the winter months prairie plants experience an important period of dormancy. With spring will come a rush of new growth, but first the prairie rests, gathering strength, while nature lies in a deep freeze. What a privilege to be surrounded by the restored Wisdom Prairie lands here at Holy Wisdom Monastery. Restoration of native species provides spaces with unique beauty, a balm for souls and healing and care for the natural environment, especially our precious lakes. Prairie …
Desert Wisdom: Discernment and Mentorship on NBC’s The Voice
I’ve tricked most of my house into following the popular NBC television show The Voice, which features four superstar music coaches who select teams of vocalists in blind auditions. The rivalries and ribbing between the coaches make it particularly entertaining, but the really fun part of the show is when multiple coaches want the same person on their team (photo, above, by Trae Patton/NBC). Then the power to choose a mentor shifts to the singer, who listens to each coach make their case— and finally, she gets to choose. One of those moments occurred on the opening night of the show last …
Encouraging Leadership at the Monastery
The Benedictine Women of Madison have a long tradition of welcoming others as Christ and encouraging their leadership. Sunday Assembly, which meets for worship at Holy Wisdom Monastery (HWM), grew out of the sisters’ commitment to ecumenism but is primarily led each week by members of the assembly. This year, its Children’s Ministry team asked itself, “What would children’s faith formation within a monastic setting look like?” The answer that emerged integrates intergenerational learning, children’s meditation and children’s liturgy. Children participating in a Sunday Assembly worship service. This year the Children’s Ministry team will offer several intergenerational events. HWM’s Oblate …
Praying the psalms in the dark days of winter
It has been an unusually cold January at the monastery. In the wake of a “polar vortex,” temperatures dropped well-below zero in the Madison area, forcing school and office closings. I know that for some the winter months are a delight, but the Wisconsin cold makes me feel a little trapped inside, like a kid desperate with cabin fever. I noticed that these feelings intensified as the monastery celebrated a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an international Christian ecumenical observance kept annually in late January. Each day we prayed for connections, relationships and appreciations to grow among our diverse …
Keeping the gifts of Christmas – in Ordinary Time
I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness as we put away the Advent/Christmas Liturgy books last week and replaced them with the Ordinary Time books. Google “post-Christmas blues” and you’ll discover that it’s listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a mild depression that commonly occurs after the winter holidays, when people feel a little sad and find it difficult to return to their daily rhythm. After the anticipation and excitement of the holiday season passes, the New Year seems to yawn open, a bleak expanse of time filled with resolutions to lose weight, …
All hands on deck
One of the articles written about Holy Wisdom Monastery describes the striking angles of the new green-designed building built in 2009, calling to mind a ship rising upon the prairie. When I returned from the holiday break, it was “all hands on deck” for the sisters, coworkers, sojourners and many volunteers. From January 2-15 of the new year Holy Wisdom Monastery was providing Benedictine hospitality to a five-day Tergar Buddhist Retreat with 85 people attending, a winter writing group of 15 people, 100 people participating in a Center for Mindfulness and Justice meditation retreat, and three-day meetings of the Wisconsin …
Art as prayer
“For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, your all powerful word leaped from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed … .” — Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-15 I’ve heard it said that “writing about painting is like dancing about architecture.” So when I was asked to offer a reflection on a painting that I created to accompany poet Michael Belongie’s 2013 Christmas sonnet, We Await a Great Light—I struggled to find something, anything to say. [see below for the full text of this poem by Michael …
The Gift of Hospitality
Prayer is at the heart of the monastery. At Holy Wisdom Monastery the sisters invite guests to pray with them at daily prayer. What makes a monastery? Essentially a praying community of women or men, a Rule of life and silence enough to welcome and make room for the guest…. At Holy Wisdom, the sisters live the Gospel way of life in the Benedictine tradition, and along with other ministries, welcome the stranger and friend. For Saint Benedict, sometimes called the founder of Western monasticism, and the 1,500 year tradition following him, the ideal remains to this day, “Receive any …