We all crave signs from above from time to time.
Whether we are looking for guidance, a cure, assistance with a problem or something as specific as a new job, we want God to Speak.
We want Answers! Continue Reading
Why Pray? To Tend your Divine Relationship
When St. Paul counsels us to “pray constantly,” or the Catholic Catechism calls prayer a “vital necessity,” even a good Christian might be forgiven for asking, “Why?”
Why is it necessary at all, if we believe that God knows our thoughts, loves us thoroughly and gives us all that we need?
That is, the sun will still rise, beauty will still overspread the land, suffering will still occur.
So why pray?
The poet Mary Oliver says, How to keep warm/is always a problem,/isn’t it?/Of course, there’s love./And there’s prayer.
And keeping warm – keeping our intentional relationship with God warm and alive, that is – may be the real point. Continue Reading
The Psalms: A Dialogue with God
A bunch of poems are sandwiched between Job and Proverbs in the Old Testament. Scholars believe they were written both during King David’s time and decades later, by indeterminate authors.
They are the Psalms, and have been prayed for 2500 years.
What are they, exactly? Just a collection of complicated verses from long ago? Or sentiments that express every single human emotion, as fresh today as when they were written? Continue Reading
A True Friend: “Treasure Beyond Price”
By Sister Charlotte Sonneville, OSB
A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; you who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance her worth. (Sirach 6: 16-17)
Recently, I found myself thinking about a Benedictine Sister who became a “sturdy shelter” for me as a schoolgirl in Moline and, later, a Sister myself. Continue Reading
The Monastic Heart
By Sister Stefanie MacDonald, OSB
What distinguishes monastic religious life from apostolic religious life includes some straightforward lifestyle differences. Monastics pray, live, and often work together. Apostolic Sisters usually do not, at least not as a whole group.
More difficult to articulate is something often referred to as the “monastic heart,” a state of being that embraces silence and a listening stance. Whether you are married, single or a Benedictine Sister, having a monastic heart helps engage you in right relationship with all creation.
When I was living and teaching in Chicago years ago, the constant noise and congestion of the place got old fast. I couldn’t wait to get home to Dubuque, Iowa, to hear … nothing. I couldn’t wait to rest my senses. Continue Reading
The Psalter of Our Hands
By Sister Marianne Burkhard, OSB
When we sing the psalms during our Liturgy of the Hours, we praise God with the psalter (the book of psalms). St. Augustine says we also praise God with the “psalter of our hands.”
What does that mean? Continue Reading
You Need Leisure … So Take It!
By Sister Mary Core, OSB
Benedict was a very smart fellow. He knew the importance of leisure time and planned it into the Monastic day.
Why?
Because we all need time to regenerate. Continue Reading
Where My Heart Meets God’s Heart
By Sister Mary Core, OSB
In the very center of Benedictine monastic life is the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, or “Sacred Reading.” (Here’s how to practice it.)
Lectio – the reading, meditating on, praying with and allowing the Sacred Word of God to soak in – touches every aspect of the lives of all who practice it. Here’s why: Continue Reading
God’s Early Morning Gifts
Walking on an early summer morning, Sister Sheila is greeted by the sun. The darkness of fall and winter beckons her as much, as she prays her rosary and gives thanks for God’s gifts.
By Sister Sheila McGrath, OSB
Peaceful … quiet … dark. What am I describing? My morning walk!
God’s gifts are so evident as I take my morning walk at the beginning of each new day. Continue Reading
Part 10: Who Will You Become?
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. Continue Reading
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