Feast of Saint Benedict

Saint Benedict blessing all who pass by
his shrine near our cemetery.

Greetings,

Benedictine communities are well known for their communal lives of prayer and work.  Today, I continued in that tradition during our summer celebration of Saint Benedict. 

We started this morning with a full chanted Lauds followed by our celebration of the Eucharist.  Very nice.  My favorite part was our Communion meditation "Seek God".  One of our Sister Professors adds to the simply beauty of the song with a clarinet solo...some of the notes seem to hang in the air of chapel.  After a very dignified recession from Chapel, the Gardening Sisters and I dashed up to our rooms to change into work clothes.

Once in the gardens, there was plenty to do in our shortened work time.  We started up in an apple tree!  The summer apples all green tart and sharp were ready to be picked.  The tree looked hopefully short which made the apples easy to reach, but we soon realized it was so leafy and low that it was more difficult to pick than some of the taller trees.  Soon enough, we had filled five boxes that will soon be made into pies, sauces, and jelly.

"O holy Father, Benedict, in pray'r and work without cease, in your untiring search for God, you found Christ's joy and peace."
Vespers Antiphon.

Blessings,

Ordinary Daze

Greetings,

Living these Ordinary Days have left my in an unordinary daze!  Summer at the monastery is always filled with a variety of prayer, work, and play that can leave a sister spinning if she doesn't write it all down (well, at least this sister anyhow).  I have been blessed with house ministries that keep me working with a variety of sisters throughout the house...

First, the garden, poor thing, has been receiving all due attention with weeding, watering, and loving care.  However, the lack of rain in our area has driven the rabbits, gofers, and a whole variety of critters into our fair acre and so very little of our beans, peas, and other lovey veggies have grown very far without being nibbled back down to nubs. However, Saint Benedict predicted that a monastery would never be without guests and it continues to ring true today.  Another of my works for the house is to assist the sister who cleans our guest rooms.  It is easy to forget how many people come to visit when we spend our days on the 'cloister' side of the house, but the mix of friends, travelers, and the curious continue to amaze me!  There are also the little works of the monastery are simply called 'charges'.  The house charges are the many little things that need to be done to help care for the daily needs of our family home.  I have Chapel cleaning on Fridays as well as supper and lunch dishes.

Framing all this is our rhythm of prayer.  Admittedly, this is my favorite part of being home for the summer.  Being with the whole community, the whole family for prayer and Eucharist.  A chance to look around Chapel and pray for each as we pray together.  A chance to fall back into the heartbeat of our pace in prayer...each house seems to have its own pace and spacing and it's nice to be home in our rhythm for awhile so as to carry it back to the convent apartment this Fall.

Blessings,

"There's No Place Like Home"

Greetings,

This is the first Saturday I have free and clear from school work.  My morning began slow with a cup of coffee, a Sacred Heart chaplet, and some quiet time with Christ.  I could take all the time my heart needed without worry of getting my homework done...

However, this afternoon will be filled with Suzy-homemaker chores and tasks.  After some teacher meetings on Tuesday, I will be going home to the monastery for the summer; so I need to leave my areas of the apartment convent ship shape!  My bedroom will become the 'Guest Sister' bedroom for the summer and little dusting and sorting needs to be done.  I'm glad to do this when I know that I get to be home at the monastery while another sister uses our convent apartment as a get away space.

Home!  I will be home in time for Vespers--Liturgy of the Hours--Divine Office with our sisters.  Our prayer together is the thing I miss most while working away from the monastery during the school year.  Sister Roommate and I follow the same prayer here at our apartment convent, but there is a big difference between two voices alternating and a hundred voices harmonizing. 

Sister Subprioress has me busy about the monastery for the summer: gardening, cleaning guest department, doing dishes, and scrubbing bathrooms; and I am excited to do it.  Charges (in-house work assignments) are a part of our Benedictine life.  Chapter 48 of the Rule of Benedict reminds us to balance daily manual labor and prayer in our daily life:

And if the circumstances of the place or their poverty should require that they themselves do the work of gathering the harvest, let them not be discontented; for then are they truly monastics when they live by the labor of their hands, as did our Fathers and the Apostles. Let all things be done with moderation, however, for the sake of the faint-hearted...Weak or sickly sisters should be assigned a task or craft of such a nature as to keep them from idleness and at the same time not to overburden them or drive them away with excessive toil. Their weakness must be taken into consideration by the Abbess.

My daily charges within the monastery aren't just work; they are a ministry of love for my sisters in community, a way of taking care of each other.  The work of weeding and gathering we do in the garden eventually helps to feed our sisters homegrown produce not just for one day but throughout the winter months as well.  The ministry of cleaning and caring for our guest rooms is an outreach of Benedict's call to receive all guests as Christ.  Even the daily work of doing dishes and scrubbing floors can be lifted above the mundane to the divine when we remember that it is done for the love of our Sisters.

While there will be much to do once I arrive home, I am excited to be there. 
There is no place like home!

Blessings,

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Greetings,

While away from the monastery, we continue to pray for those who are seeking to follow God's will in their lives.  Using two identical candles, the monastery began a circulating vocation prayer for the sisters both at home and on mission.  Sister Roommate and I are the current hosts for the mission sister's vocation candle. 

On this World Day of Prayer for Vocations, I lit the candle and settled in to read Pope Benedict's message for this day.  His reflection on God's continuous love was a wonderful focus for quiet meditation..."The love of God is everlasting; he is faithful to himself, to the “word that he commanded for a thousand generations” (Ps 105:8). Yet the appealing beauty of this divine love, which precedes and accompanies us, needs to be proclaimed ever anew, especially to younger generations. This divine love is the hidden impulse, the motivation which never fails, even in the most difficult circumstances."

While reflecting on this never ending love, the morning's light, chilly mist gave way to a cold spring rain.  She landed on our porch and quickly hopped down the railing to get out of the rain; a beautiful, though soggy, little cardinal lady.  The rose of her feathers showed through the brown overcoat as she shook the extra rain from her wings.  Then she hopped around to watch the rain fall; it felt like I was enjoying this springtime moment with a her.  Both the Psalms and the New Testament speak of God's loving care for the birds of the air; they will be given places to nest and even the hundreds of sparrows are counted.  If God guides her to our humble little porch for protection from the storm, He will send loving hearts to watch over each of us as well.

A beautiful reminder of the Pope's message...

Blessings,

A Day of Reconciliation

Greetings,

Today, we celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation in connection with Adoration to continue our Lenten preparation for Easter.  The day began with a whole school examination of conscience with scripture, song, and a Monk Potter at his wheel.  It was a very nice reflection based on Jeremiah and God the Potter of our lives.  Then each theology class came to chapel for Confession and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Whew, I spent a whole day in the chapel with our young men.  After they genuflected their way in, Campus Minister Monk would introduce the location of the Confessor Monks and invite the students to prayer.  This was my cue to go to the prie dieu with a profound bow and my Rosary beads; after a five minutes or so, I continued my Rosary as I strolled along the chapel among my students.

I must admit; I was quite proud (and their parents should be too).  Most of the students participated in Confession, and quite a few of the boys used the Stations of the Cross handouts, litanies, or lectio guides to keep themselves focused during Adoration.  What really warmed my heart was their instinct to follow a lead.  After I left the prie dieu, Students came up to the kneeler, bowed deeply, and knelt down to pray for a few minutes before the Blessed Sacrament.  Light poured down on them from the upper windows of the Chapel; it made even the orneriest Child of God look like an angel.  Every now and then one of the kids would drift off asleep and need a little poke by their pew neighbor.  There were a few gigglers too...only God knows what the boys found funny, but I believe our God has a good sense of humor and chuckled along with them.

Blessings,

Candlemass at the Monastery

Greetings,

Sister Michaeleen's photo of the blessed
candles after prayer and Mass.

The Monastery celebrates Candlemass on the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus.  Candlemass...Jesus is the light of the world; we carry that light within us and bless the waxy reminders of that light.  This morning the Peace Chapel altar was surrounded by a variety of the candles used during prayer in the Chapel and our living groups.  This simple ceremony is one that I miss while living away from home. 



The Prioress blesses the candles during morning prayer and they remain in the Chapel through evening prayer.  After our Vespers, a sister from each of the living groups carries the blessed candle to the group room to be used in our noon and compline prayers.  It is just one of the many little liturgies that connect us to the greater Church and to each other.  Knowing that even when we pray the shorter hours of noon and night, the blessing of the Prioress and the gathered prayer of the community continue to hold us all together.

The candles themselves are also a connection to the sisters at the Monastery.  While the Chapel candles for Mass are purchased, those used for prayers in the living groups are made by one of our own Sister Artisans.  She creates whole rainbows of candles for the sisters and our gift shop.  She even has some seasonal candles...during the Fall she pours pumpkins, there are Winter snowmen, and pastel Easter eggs.  Her most coveted creations?  The tall pillar candles that are the full rainbow all in one.  Sister Roommate and I are hoping to get one when we go home for Sister Jill's Perpetual Profession in a week, maybe we'll even get a blessing for it too!




Candles from the Chapel and for the living groups all arranged in the Peace Chapel and ready to be blessed and shared. Sister Mary Jo took the picture to share with us.



Blessings,



Praying for Peace

Greetings and Happy New Year!

Times Square was packed with party-ers, fireworks were going off hour-by-hour world wide, and here at Sacred Heart Monastery, were spent a holy hour in silence broken only by occasional song or chanted Psalm.

Sunday, January 1st, was the World Day of Peace. We gathered in the semi-dark of our chapel to begin our prayer for peace in vigil. We began the holy hour with two of our sisters lighting the altar and dedication candles about the chapel (quiet organ accompanied them). Then we sat in silent prayer before God. My assignment was to call us from our silence to the next part of our prayer, Sister Liturgist gave me a bell to sound in calling us back from our recollection. Other 'parts' in our prayer included a song calling us to live in peace, a Psalm asking God to bring us peace, a reading about peace from Thich Nhat Hanh to remind us of the universal call to live for peace, and then we concluded with the Magnificat and a blessing from the prioress. But each of these moments was surrounded by silence, a silence that was filled with the our sisters prayer. A silence that was overpowering in its being so full.

Pope Benedict XVI also spoke for peace and the need to teach our youth to seek and strive after peace...I found his closing lines especially powerful.

All you men and women throughout the world, who take to heart the cause of peace: peace is not a blessing already attained, but rather a goal to which each and all of us must aspire. Let us look with greater hope to the future; let us encourage one another on our journey; let us work together to give our world a more humane and fraternal face; and let us feel a common responsibility towards present and future
generations, especially in the task of training them to be people of peace
and builders of peace.

Blessings,

Psalm 84

Greetings,

I've finally made it home to the monastery for 10 days time to celebrate Christmas with my sisters. Tonight, we chanted the O Antiphon to the "King". I had not forgotten how much I missed this simple ritual; we reverently recite this at our convent apartment, but I had forgotten how much I loved to chant it. So as we sang our ancient praise to the King of Kings, I was reminded of a Psalm that was not sung tonight.

Psalm 84 ~ "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, God of Hosts! My heart longs and yearns for the courts of the Lord...for a day within Your courts, O Lord, is better than a thousand spent elsewhere."

It is so good to be home with my sisters.

Blessings,

A Morning of Advent Prayer

Greetings,

The prayer schedule since I entered the monastery has changed very little. Oh sure, a fifteen minute difference here or there, but when we're talking around dawn, noonish, and around sunset what's a few minutes here or there. Currently, the set times for the Liturgy of the Hours at the monastery are 6:30AM, 12:45PM, and 5:15PM. Here at the convent apartment we try to follow a similar schedule.

But we also live the quiet moments of prayer
that present themselves in opportunities throughout the day! This morning I awoke to the first snow falling in our fine city. So I settled in with a mug of steaming coffee, a warm cinnaminny breakfast treat (made by Sister) and some time with God. This unhurried Saturday morning is a wonderful time of reflection. Usually, I have places to go after our scheduled prayer or I'm coming in from somewhere else before prayer...this morning, I'm just watching the snowfall and pondering all the good God has done in my life.

A pretty good way to pray in Advent.

Blessings,

Benedict! Help keep me balanced!

Greetings,

Whew, October is almost over and I'm ready for a break. The joy of returning to my students in August gave way to new materials and introducing ideas in September, but October is when the school kicks into high gear and my reaching for balance in my Benedictine life can be almost out of grasp.

This month has been filled with essays, discussion projects, a few arguments, and flurries of papers. On top of it all, I'm trying to keep starting class with a brief sharing about the Catholic saint or Church feast of the day. Phew. Oh, the school improvement committee has been meeting weekly to prepare for our continuing accreditation process; I just keep hoping that we do well for the teachers. My stopping into chapel for an early noon praise helps keep my heart in balance with Christ during the day.

I've also been trying to attend more of the school events this year. A couple of weeks ago, Sister and I went to a traveling production of "Much Ado About Nothing" one evening. We sat in the midst of some of my boys. Last week I joined the a small group of the teachers to chaperon the Halloween dance. They recommended we all dress up at least a little bit for the event. The teachers ranged from pirates, lumberjacks, and TV characters to a victim from a slasher movie. Yup, for a $1.50 of cheap red and black makeup pencils; I was able to become a slasher movie victim without changing clothes. The boys, who were everything from teachers to the Pillsbury dough-boy, enjoyed the teachers efforts and had a blast dancing with the girls who came to join us for the evening.

With all the world picking up the pace, I'm most excited for the beginning of November. The Feast and Saint days during this last month of our Church year are some of the most interesting. I have litanies and prayers planned for my classes, but more importantly, I also have time set aside for my own quiet reflection as well. Those periods of quiet are what help keep the Benedictine balance in the busy dailiness of my life.

Blessings,

Our Lady of the Rosary

Greetings,

Tomorrow we celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary. It is a memorial celebration of the Church and not a major feast of the community; however, it does allow me to take a moment to remember the gift of faith passed down in my family.

The Rosary was the 'go to' prayer of my family. If we arrived at church a bit early, we knelt for the remainder of the Church Ladies leading the Rosary. When we were driving a half-hour or longer, there was time for a Rosary (sometimes I wonder if this was to encourage peace in the backseat filled with 3 little girls). Mom kept an extra set of beads in her purse for use at visits to the hospital, nursing home, or to pass on to the antsy kid at Adoration. I also remember hearing the rhythmic rise and fall of Mom and Dad praying this together at night...a pretty comforting way to fall asleep as a kid.

This family reinforcement didn't stop with Mom and Dad. Grandpa and Grandma made it a nightly requirement when we would stay over at the house on the farm. I remember wondering why they got to stay in their comfy chairs while we were kneeling along the edge of the couch like ducks in a row. Here the Rosary picked up in pace. The German nature of my grandparents didn't dwaddle between Hail Mary's. They had a Mary, Our Lady of Grace statue (bolted to a stand) with some faux pink flowers arranged at her feet and a glow-in-the-dark Rosary draped over the back of the stand. She was passed on to me after Grandma died and Grandpa moved to the nursing home. He wanted his granddaughter the nun (he was a little proud) to have her. Now she hangs on the wall of my cell no pink flowers at her feet but that same glow-in-the-dark Rosary glimmers in the night.

The Rosary continues to be a prayer of comfort for me. Dealing with a rough bout of insomnia, I pray the Rosary from my pillow and search for the beads the next morning (Mom always said my guardian angel would finish it for me). Needing some quiet time to clear my head, I pray a Rosary to focus and let go at the same time. Last Christmas I asked for a Rosary on CD to make the commute home a time of prayer rather than frustrating traffic. I still say a Rosary on long car trips and find peace in the prayer before or after Mass.

However, I think this quote from Pope John Paul II's 2002 Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae says it better:

...Contemplating the scenes of the Rosary in union with Mary is a means of learning from her to "read" Christ, to discover his secrets and to understand his message.

This school of Mary is all the more effective if we consider that she teaches by obtaining for us in abundance the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even as she offers us the incomparable example of her own "pilgrimage of faith." As we contemplate each mystery of her Son's life, she invites us to do as she did at the Annunciation: to ask humbly the questions which open us to the light, in order to end with the obedience of faith: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word" (Luke 1: 38).

Blessings,

Compline with Community & Creation

Greetings,

A Friday evening to relax and take time with God; it's a quiet night in the city. Sister and I sat in the living room to visit after Vespers. The weather was cool and lovely so we left the door to the porch open for fresh air.

Soon I realized that we really weren't alone. Watching the folk come and go from their homes, walking their dogs, and bringing the children in from play, I listened to the first choir came from the birds in the trees nearby as Sister shared about her day. The cheerful praise of the birds bounced between the trees of the park of apartment complex. They sang through the sunset and then slowly quieted down.

The second choir came in with a slow hum from the now empty park. The moon rose and the crickets and cicadas filled the air outside the balcony. The rhythmic rise and fall of their wings was the perfect accompaniment for our time together this evening. As we started to tell stories of how we came to community and talk of sisters who helped us along the way, the moon was beginning to rise.

This Compline with Community was a very wonderful to wrap up the week. The chiming of the crickets continued after Sister said good night and I turned to compline in our prayer book. I finished this evening of prayer with the Canticle of Simeon. The refrain which introduces the canticle "Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep rest in his peace" brings a relief from the day and a trust that God will keep me and all those I love close to his heart.

Blessings,

Retreat Week

Greetings,

Our community asks each sister make at least a week of retreat once a year. To support the sisters in doing this, two conference retreats are held each year at the monastery. This week Br. Benet from Blue Cloud Abbey is guiding us through a retreat based on the stories of Benedict from the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great. If you know of Br. Benet, these ancient tales are supplemented with those he has gathered from his own con-friars, other Benedictine's and religious, family, and friends...the stories all center around a particular teaching or idea for each conference.

Outside of the conferences, I am enjoying the freedom to sit in the silence, read from the Dialogues, pray, and be with the Lord. Unfortunately, the heat wave has created temperatures of over 110 degrees (with humidity) and praying outside has become close to impossible (I wilt easily). So I have found a variety of quiet places about the monastery...of course I use my cell (monastic bedroom) but no pictures of that : )

Up in our choir loft of Bishop Martin Marty Chapel, there is a lattice wall of windows depicting the various works and prayers of our sisters. I love to sit on the cool floor and, leaning into the sandstone walls, stare up at our history in glass. These two remind my of my own ministry to teaching and studying. Each time I go up to the loft, I notice something new in this stained artwork...it is an awesome place for quiet reflection on our lives here in the Dakotas.

This side chapel to Our Lady of Einsiedeln is also our chapel for the Reserved Sacrament. Opposite this altar is a series of stained glass windows dedicated to Mary; usually the lights aren't on (except for the tabernacle candle), and the colors from her window spill down on any sister who is sitting in the pews before her. The quiet of this monument to our Swiss heritage is occasionally broken as a sister comes into chapel, bows, and continues on her way into the church. Those small breaks in the solitude are a loving reminder of why I'm here.

The Peace Chapel, aka the lower chapel or student chapel, has two more of my favorite places to pray on these hot summer days. This niche was once used for storage! The gate is original so I have no idea what it was before that! Now, it holds an icon of Mary of the Disappeared, the Crucifix with a red drape, and a chair with prie dieu. It is a place to consider the wider world and pray for the needs of those in sorrow.

The Peace Chapel's space for the Reservation of the Sacrament is designed for quiet reflection and contemplation. The stained glass windows to the right are lightly colored so that the focus of those who pray here is on the Christ present among us in the Sacrament, Community (the Icon of the Blessed Virgin), and Scripture. During the retreat, many of my afternoons have been spent in quiet prayer here in the cool of the reservation chapel. The only sounds that drift down here are the bells chiming the hours, the soft whisper of a sister praying the stations in the body of the church, and the gentle rattle of my own beads...it is wonderful place to pray.

Blessings,

Prayer...

Greetings,

Prayer in central to our Benedictine life. We gather morning, noon, evening, and night to pray as a community for our needs and the needs of the world. Lately our prayer has been very urgent and focused on the needs of those along the Mighty Mo. The flooding from the rains and snows on the far away mountains and plains of Montana is reminding us lowly land dwellers of the power of water.

The usual water level and calm below the Gavins Point Dam by this time of the year.


The 147,000 cubic feet per second release of water from the Gavins Point Dam!
This was taken by the Army Corps of Engineers on June 15, 2011.


The turbulent water from the Gavins Point Dam as it begins the flow downriver!
This was taken by the Army Corps of Engineers on June 15, 2011.

While we are blessed to live at the top of the bluffs on the South Dakota side of the Missouri River safe from harm, many of our family, friends, and folk (we only know through prayer) live in the dangerous flood zones of the growing Missouri. We pray for those endangered and evicted by the raging waters and for all those who seek to offer protection and aid. We also join in that offer of aid through cookie baking and other good will donations. The flooding is predicted to continue for many weeks as the snow continues to melt in the mountains...so to our prayerful intercession will need to continue.

Blessings,

A Final Profession Party!

Greetings,

The weeks have flown by! I have been hustling and bustling about the end of the school year, celebrating my parents 40th wedding anniversary, cleaning-packing-moving our sister from the apartment convent back to the monastery, visiting my family on the western edge of Nebraska, and whew...celebrating one of our own junior sisters!

Sister Junior has gone through many steps in preparation for her Perpetual Monastic Profession (aka Final Vows). After four years of temporary monastic profession, she wrote the Prioress her letter requesting permission to profess her final vows. Then Junior Sister met with the sisters who are members of the monastic counsel.

This weekend she will take the final step in being accepted to full, perpetual membership in our order is to come before the whole community. This is one of the most amazing moments we share in our Chapter Meetings...the Junior Sister stands before us and shares her desire to live perpetually as a Benedictine sister in our monastic family. Some state it simply, others tell a story, some laugh, and others cry as they share their hopes and dreams. After she makes her request, we discern, pray and then solemnly vote on her acceptance. If she is accepted, the Juniorate Director brings the Junior Sister back to the Chapter and she is received with applause, hugs, and tears of joy.

To celebrate our upcoming joy, all the sisters who have been missioned to serve in Nebraska gathered for an F.P. Party. That would be a Final Profession party...all done in fuchsia pink : ) We shared a meal of favorites brought from each sisters best recipes. Played some games...a word search based on our Junior Sister, Apples to Apples, and a few hands of rummy! After our game playing, we shared gifts based on the "F.P." letters of her celebration: flashy prayer beads (hand knotted rosary), flowery push-pins, finger paints and the like. We wrapped up with some Festive Prayer...some celebratory Psalms, readings that illustrated our Profession of Stability, Obedience, and Converstatio, and a sung Magnificat. All in all a wonderful community celebration was had by all...we love her dearly and it will be wonderful to have her as a perpetual member of our monastic family.

Blessings,

Snow Day

Greetings,

Today, I am luxuriating in God's gift of a snow day! A rare occurrence when one teaches at a boarding school! It is a day for many things...

There is time for grading homework, reading ahead in my textbooks, writing letters to friends...and time for prayer. I began the day with our community prayer with Sister Marietta and then continued my private prayer with a cup of coffee and watching the snow continue to fall. A wonderful way to share my lectio time with God in the quiet of a snow day.

If you are sharing in this snow day, take a moment to thank God for this gift of time. It arrives unexpected and unasked for (except by students) on a day we cannot predict. All we can do is luxuriate in its gift and return the gift back to God through our gratitude!

Blessings,

New Year's Celebrations

Greetings & Happy New Year,

Our celebrations here at the monastery are a unique blend of religious and relaxed. Last night we shared a community holy hour to pray for peace. Our hour of silent prayer was marked into quarters by occasions of vocal prayer: a reading to focus our reflection, a chanted Psalm, a reading of St. Francis' peace prayer, and our closing Magnificat and blessing by the Prioress. The silence between these events was powerful for me...our contemplative, silent prayer for peace in our world, nation, state, city, monastery, and hearts seemed all the more intensified as each vocal form of prayer was shared.

This holy hour was followed by an early new year's party in the chapter room. A small group of sisters had prepared egg nog and treats to share as we began our celebration a few hours before 2011 rang-in.

This morning we honored Mary the Mother of God and continued our prayer for peace. Our Divine Office and Mass helped us focus on Mary's path to peace through reflection.

This afternoon, to celebrate the new year, we gathered in the chapter room for treats and games from two to three-thirty! Sisters young and old played and laughed together. There were a few serious tables of pinochle and hand & foot and one table of 'Scrabble' players consulting a dictionary more than needed, but a good time was had by all. The tables near me were joining in games of 'Apples to Apples' and 'Rummy cube', but had a new game. Sister Elementary teacher had received the gift of 'Quirkle'...sort of like domino's but with shapes and colors. We had a marvelous time learning and teaching this new game.

Next? Why Vespers of course...to complete our day of prayerful focus on peace in the world.

Blessings and Happy New Year!

Greetings,

Say a prayer for the Apostolic Oblates of Nebraska. They run a retreat as a part of their Pro Sanctity ministry. The barn where many of these retreats were held burnt to the ground on Tuesday night.

Photo by: Chris Machian/Omaha World Herald

Advice from Julian of Norwich

Greetings,

The availability of possible ministry positions in education has narrowed greatly since returning home from my travels about Italy and Switzerland. While I was very hopeful when writing letters and calling schools during March, April, and May, the search in July and maybe even August has me loosing heart at times. My prayer up to this point has been to "seek God's will"; however, I changed my prayer to a more simple and much more challenging focus: "I will trust in God." This is very difficult when all seems to be going wrong and life is being lived in the great unknown of God's timeline.

I returned to Julian of Norwich's "Revelation of Love" to remind myself of God's great care and attention to each and everyone of us. My favorite quote comes from her Thirteenth Showing in chapter 31. "I may make all things well; I can make all things well, and I will make all things well, and I shall make all things well; and you shall see for yourself that all manner of things shall be well." I have always found great comfort in God's assurance that He is a part of all that is occurring in my life and in the lives of those I love. However, it is the following quote from chapter 32, explaining part of her understanding of the quote I just noticed today and it has helped me to reaffirm my trust in God.

"One was this: that He wishes us to know that not only does He take heed of noble things and the greatest, but He also attends to the little and small, to low and simple, as much to one as to the other. This is His meaning when he said, "All manner of things shall be well"; for He wants us to know that the least thing will not be forgotten.

"Another understanding is this: that there are evil deeds done that we know of, when such great harm is taken that it seems to us that it were impossible that they should ever come to a good end. And we look upon this with sorrow and mourning, so that we are unable to rest in the blessed contemplation of God as we ought. And the cause is that the working of our reason here and now is blind, so low and simple that we cannot know the high, marvelous wisdom, the might and goodness of the blessed Trinity. This is His meaning when He says, "You shall see for yourself that all manner of things shall be well," as if He had said, "Take heed now in faith and trust, and at the last end you will see it truly in the fullness of joy."

I may not see the blessings of this time now, but I shall if I keep my faith and trust in God and grow in the compassion and care of my Benedictine community. For I can not see the long design or understand the future to come, but I will continue to trust that God is in the details of my life.

Blessings,