June 14, 2017

Part 3: Balance – What We Need to Grow, to Risk, to Enter the Holy

Welcome to 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

Balance is a popular discussion topic. We crave work-life balance. Emotional balance. We balance plates in the air.

It’s tough to achieve balance, though, partly because – as living beings – we’re always growing and changing, knocking ourselves a little off balance every day. Continue Reading

June 13, 2013

Benedictine Harmony and Balance: Day 5

By Sister Stefanie MacDonald, OSB

“Benedictine harmony and balance require a respect for time. … Time is to be spent in prayer, in sacred reading, in work, and in community participation … It is public as well as private; it is private as well as public. It is balanced.” (Joan Chittister, OSB; Wisdom Distilled from the Daily)

In other words, no one thing should consume our lives! We should never spend an inordinate amount of time on, say, watching TV or scrubbing the floor. All dimensions of life should be in balance, making up the whole. They should fit together as a puzzle (which is what Sr. Jackie and I are piecing together in this picture!). And each piece, when of the proper size and weight, should help make us fully alive. Continue Reading