Sr. Mary David and I are excited about attending the Radical Gospel Living: Monasticism Today conference at Ohio Wesleyan University over the weekend! Joan Chittister and Shane Claiborne are keynote speakers. We are presenting a workshop entitled “Building Community Outside the Box.” We will be there with other “radical” folks living the Gospel in traditional and new monastic communities. Over 200 people are attending. What fun! I’ll post on Facebook from the conference. We’ll share more about the conference in the next Benedictine Bridge.
Sacred Space
Over the past weekend, I met several guests out walking on the grounds of the monastery. One retreatant spoke about how meaningful it has been for her to walk the grounds, to sit and reflect. Her comments spoke to me of our ministry at Holy Wisdom Monastery as holding sacred space. Spaciousness and leisure are important in our lives to allow room for the deeper meaning of our experiences to surface. Monasteries fulfill an essential service to society by providing this space. Monastic space, both indoors and out, is shaped by the values of silence, solitude, beauty, use of natural …
Lynne Smith, OSB featured on A Nun’s Life podcast!
Last week I traveled to Chicago to speak to the Episcopal Service Corps about our ecumenical monastic community. On Thursday evening, September 29, 2011, I was invited by Sisters Julie Vieira, IHM (left) and Maxine Kollasch, IHM of anunslife.org to participate in their weekly podcast, Ask Sister. It was a wonderful opportunity to see Julie and Maxine in action, as well as to share with their listeners about my own call to become a Presbyterian (USA) minister and a sister with the Benedictine Women of Madison. We chatted about my initial discernment process to become ordained, the amazing opportunity to …
Returning to Volunteer in Community
Who are these women, celebrating their new-found strength from days of working on the prairie or in the garden at Holy Wisdom Monastery? These are some of our 2009 Volunteers in Community (VIC). Sara Jo Emmerich, second from the right in this picture, returned again this summer and did some blogging about her second VIC experience. She has offered to let us share her posts on our website, and she sets the stage for her first post with these words: Back to Being a Prairie Fairy For the next week I have returned to Holy Wisdom Monastery to participate in …
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 …
The way we answer doors
The way we answer doors is the way we deal with the world. ~ Wisdom from the Tradition, Conference of Benedictine Prioresses How else can we bring a divided world together except by providing the open hearth where all feel warm and safe enough to speak their truths and listen from their hearts. ~ An Extravagant Love, Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB These reflections on Benedictine hospitality are found in Wisdom from the Tradition, written by the Conference of Benedictine Prioresses. Insights into the wisdom to be found within the Benedictine tradition were gathered from Benedictine women’s communities throughout the US …
Scripture in the Rule of Benedict and Benedictine Tradition
One of the things that resonated with me when I began exploring community life at Holy Wisdom Monastery was the focus on Scripture that is so much a part of Benedictine life. The Rule of Benedict includes more than 300 quotations or allusions to Scripture — so many that some have described the Rule as the fruit of Benedict’s lectio on Scripture. Communally, we pray all the Psalms over a five-week period at the Liturgy of the Hours and read through the Bible at least once every two years. In addition to what we read in communal prayer, we also …
Wisdom from the Rule of Benedict
One of my greatest joys is in sharing the richness of the Rule of Benedict. Along with the Gospels, the Rule holds the foundational wisdom that forms every Benedictine community. The wisdom of Benedict has also been embraced by spiritual seekers throughout the world for its fundamental clarity and insights. Periodically we welcome women to our Exploring Benedictine life retreats, an opportunity to immerse themselves in our Benedictine way. What follows is some of the wisdom of the Rule I share with them. Sister Joan Chittister, author of Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, Living the Rule of Benedict Today, once shared this …
What is your image of a monastery?
In honor of women who are gathering at Holy Wisdom Monastery next week for an Ever Wonder? retreat (or those who may still be thinking of testing the waters of this community), I would like to share this personal reflection written by Mary Lynn Adams, associate member of our community: What is your image of a monastery? An ancient building, with thick, stone walls? Monks covered in rough dark cowls, noiselessly passing along the edges of corridors? Solemn prayers? Stark living conditions? Being cut off from family, friends and community? Well, take that image, and set it to one side. …
Green Twigs of Hope
Our Midday Prayer at Holy Wisdom Monastery always includes a Gospel reading and a non-scripture reading. Currently we are reading from Hope in the Midst of Darkness, a publication of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. A reading this week, written by Marcia Allen, CSJ from Concordia, KS, is entitled God’s Horizon. It begins with these quotes: “Everything is possible for one who believes, still more for one who hopes, even more for one who loves.” – Brother Lawrence “Set me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is …