Reprinted from Oblate News, March 2024
What are the roles you have played in life?
I’ve been a daughter, a student, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and now an octogenarian who is thankful to be doing as well as I am. I’m an almost lifelong Methodist with every intention of staying in the United Methodist Church as my denomination is breaking apart. My first job was stringing tags in a dress factory in St. Louis. I moved on from there. After college at Illinois Wesleyan, I worked for several years for what was formerly the U.S. Civil Service Commission in Washington, D.C. My husband, Larry, and I moved back to Illinois after our daughter was born; so she, and eventually our son, could grow up closer to their grandparents. After some wonderful years as a church and community volunteer and stay-at-home mom, I worked in senior housing and in assisted living for over 25 years. I joke that I was preparing myself to be old. I think it helped.
What drew you to be an oblate?
I first learned of what was then St. Benedict Center in 2001. I had just lost a job and I was devastated. I had seen information about St. Benedict Center in Sojourners magazine. Google existed by then, so I looked it up. I had read a bit about Benedictine monasteries in books by Kathleen Norris, so the puzzle pieces fit. It looked like a place for a healing retreat, and it was. I did personal retreats virtually every year thereafter. Not too many years after my mom died, I felt a nudge to learn more about the oblates whom I had heard about in my visits to what had become Holy Wisdom Monastery. My visits there were always so meaningful and important that it now made sense to try to formalize a relationship. I asked Larry what he thought about my looking into becoming an oblate. I still remember his answering, “I wondered when you’d get around to it.” I made a call one wintry day to ask questions; Sister Lynne answered the phone; and my new journey began.
How do you live a Benedictine life in the world?
When I wrote my Rule, I focused on nine of the Benedictine values we had studied during Formation. I have tried to be mindful of them and have somewhat lived successfully by at least five of them, i.e., listening, prayer, hospitality, community, stability. I’ve only been partially successful with the other four. Enough said about those. Nonetheless, I keep them in my Rule, so those goals stay in front of me. I want to add an observation about community that gives me joy and illustrates how the positive often comes out of the negative. As terrible as the pandemic was, it increased my sense of belonging with my oblate community and with Holy Wisdom. Zoom was a mighty enabler as I was able to be a part of groups and get better acquainted with individuals that distance didn’t allow before. My Reflection Circle, the monthly oblate Zoom gatherings, a year on Leadership Circle, retreats that were held online before we were all able to gather again in person – these allowed me to get to know people and even form some relationships that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I have been back to the monastery in person twice since the pandemic wound down, and I hope to attend the late May/early June oblate retreat. Being there in person seems even better now, but often it is difficult because of the distance.
The virtual connection has reinforced my Benedictine identity. Whether in person or on a screen, I’m grateful for this Benedictine identity I’ve been able to try to embrace.