This is the final installment of our Annual Summer Retreat, posted here as a mini-online retreat for you. As the woman at the well went at noon to be refreshed and gather water for the day, so we must return readily to our own Divine wellspring.  Our time together will provide an opportunity to drink fully from the well that is Benedictine Spirituality.

By Benedictine Sisters Mary Core and Stefanie MacDonald

Do you like change? It’s probably safe to say most of us do … when we want it. But when we don’t? That’s another story.

Trouble is, change is another word for “life.” We either change – grow! – or we stagnate.

Benedictine Sisters make a promise of conversion – or personal change – when they enter religious life. It’s called “conversatio,” and it means becoming. Becoming open and willing to live as Christ.

Becoming is a process, of course. It never ceases.

It means falling and getting up … falling and getting up … falling and getting up.

Jesus modeled Becoming … and he didn’t always choose it.

This way of life – a “becoming way of life” – invites us to be new, every day. To become more like Jesus … loving, forgiving. Open-armed and wholehearted.

Whether we choose it or not, are mindful of it or not, we are always in the process of becoming.

Who will YOU become?