Month: March 2011

March 10, 2011

Your Desert Experience

It is a practice in our Benedictine community to read Chapter 49 from the Rule of Benedict on Ash Wednesday.  “The Observance of Lent’ is an insightful chapter that sets the Season of Lent into perspective.  We read it yesterday as an introduction to Lauds.  The first line of C49 can be rather startling ‘The life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent’! Oh no..is usually my first reaction.  In my experience Lent can be rather a ‘downer’ when we are focusing on our faults, limitations and repenting for those times we are less than.  I am not sure about a life of that!!!  But, I admit, that is a small view of Lent. Continue Reading

March 9, 2011

Where is Your Heart on this Ash Wednesday?

By Sr. Susan Hutchens, OSB

Today is Ash Wednesday – the day we begin the liturgical season of Lent. 40 days of preparation for the ultimate gift of God – resurrected life at Easter! Lent is a time of looking within ourselves, of contemplation, of asking for forgiveness, of setting our sights and hearts and actions on improving our lives.  It isn’t an easy season of outward joy and pretty colored lights and wrapped packages and heart-moving songs like those of Advent.  It is a season of cactus.   Continue Reading

March 9, 2011

An Ancient Form of Prayer for Lent

By Prioress Sister Phyllis McMurray, OSB

Lord, impart to us the meaning of the words of Scripture and the light to understand it. St. Hilary of Poiters

We read in the gospels of occasions when Jesus withdrew from others in order to pray in solitude. One episode was when Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. When tempted by the devil to satisfy his hunger, Jesus replied, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Continue Reading

March 5, 2011

Spirituality and Work Lecture Rescheduled

Postponed last month because of a blizzard, Sr. Helen Carey’s lecture on Spirituality and Work has been rescheduled for Tues. March 8 at 1:40 pm at St. Ambrose University’s Rogalski Center. “Many people experience a disconnect between the values of their private lives and those of their work or workplaces,” she says. Sister Helen suggests that past wisdom about the nature and needs of the soul can still provide guidance for 21st century efforts to align one’s personal and work lives.

The lecture on Tues. March 8 at 1:40 pm is part of St. Ambrose University’s Ubiquity of Work program, and is free and open to the public. Hope you can make it!!