Monastery Mystery!

Greetings,

Ordinary time has begun, and here at the monastery it is just where Saint Benedict would want us to be!  Much of his Rule focused not on the big celebrations or major feasts, but how to live the ordinary, the daily.  The Rule is filled with the structure of how prayer should be said, how meals should be served and by whom, the order of work and prayer in the day, what might be the best authors to read, and even a reminder not to sleep with your knife (every day utensil) at night.  The ordinary is where the life of the monastic is formed.

 We invite you to share in this ordinary by trying to identify some of the items we use fairly often, if not daily, around the monastery.  These two close up shots are from the same machine that has been used in the monastery for at least three generations (I've been corrected,  this has been used for closer to FIVE generations of sisters)!  It is used at least a few times a week, every week by our sisters, and is loved by many more.  What do you think it might be?  Guesses are welcome in the 'comments'!

 

Blessings and Good Luck Guessing!

PS...Retreatants and Discerners who have visited with us
should give others the first guess ; )

Pentecost is a Family Celebration

 Greetings,

The commemoration of Pentecost is jubilant celebration of our Church around the world.  A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Rome to study our Benedictine history and we were blessed to celebrate Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica on Pentecost!  The experience was overwhelming: thousands of people, dozens of languages, so many different nationalities; all sharing the same faith, we were family.

For those of us from Yankton, the experience continued as we traveled to the visit the sisters from our Swiss roots.  The language struggles of German to English and the cultural differences all fell aside when we celebrated Eucharist and Prayer together; all sharing the same Monastic Tradition, we were still family.

These windows illustrating the Pentecost are in the Chapel with our sisters at Rickenbach, Switzerland.

Psalm Response 104
Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
the earth is full of your creatures;
Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD be glad in his works!
Pleasing to him be my theme;
I will be glad in the LORD.
Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.
If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth.

Blessings,

46th World Communications Day

Greetings,

In today's Gospel from Mark 16:15, "Jesus said to His disciples: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature."  We too are commissioned to share the Gospel love of Christ...thus World Communications Day.  Silence is the chosen theme for today; this fits our Benedictine life very well.  We celebrate silence in the quiet that permeates our mornings, in the profound silence observed at Triduum, in the hushed listening of Lectio Divina, and unvoiced respect as we listen to the stories of our sisters and guests.  Here are a few of Pope Benedict XVI's comments from his message...

Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence – indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression. Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved. When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary. Deeper reflection helps us to discover the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyze messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge. For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of ‘eco-system’ that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds...

...If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God. “We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which introduces us into God’s silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the redeeming Word, is born” (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the International Theological Commission, 6 October 2006). In speaking of God’s grandeur, our language will always prove inadequate and must make space for silent contemplation. Out of such contemplation springs forth, with all its inner power, the urgent sense of mission, the compelling obligation “to communicate that which we have seen and heard” so that all may be in communion with God (1 Jn 1:3). Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbours so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love.

The Catholic News Service interviewed Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary for the Pontifical Council for Social Communications for this short video.

Blessings,

The Feast of the Ascension

Greetings!

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ.  We join the Psalmist today in proclaiming:

"God mounts his throne
to shouts of joy:
a blare of trumpets for the Lord." 

High above our sisters and congregation, the clerestory angels of Bishop Martin Marty Chapel illustrate this joy.  The angelic trumpeters alternate with those swinging censers with clouds of sweet incense rising.  They fill the entire length of the chapel with light and color.

Blessings,

St. Isidore the Farmer

Icon of Saint Isidore the Famer

 Greetings,

Today, the Church celebrates St. Isidore the Farmer.  He was an 11th century farmer and husband who lived his Faith in the dailyness of life.  His generosity to the poor and needy was fed by his daily participation in and devotion to the Eucharist.

While this isn't a major feast within our community, many of us came from the farming or rural families of South & North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska.  This saint was a part of our Church lives since St. Isidore the Farmer is invoked as the patron for those that till the soil and care for the flocks and herds.  This connection continues in our community in our devotion to serve the needs of God's people in the rural states of our origin.  We serve in parishes, schools, and hospitals that reach out to those who continue to work the land.  We try to order our foods from these families as much as we can.  And we remind ourselves of this dedication to God's rural faithful in our mission statement:

Rooted in our rural heritage and growing in relationship

with God and one another in monastic community,

we live a life of prayer, work, and lectio

by which we serve God and God's people in our time and place.

Sister Fisherwoman



Sister and one of recent catches.  Every year
she saves up her best catches to host a fish fry
for the sisters in her living group.

 Greetings,

Sister Maribeth finds great peace angling off the monastery's riverbanks by the Mighty Mo, watching the river drift by and testing the currents with her lure and line.  She has long been one of our resident Sister Fisherwomen on the waters; recently, she was also made our Fisher of Women as vocation director!

Are you seeking a source to ask all those questions fishing about in your soul or hoping to set up an expedition on the community waters of prayer and service?  Simply cast Sister a line!

Weather Watchin'

"Natures Fireworks" by bde296 in Estelline, SD

 Greetings,

 

 There has been quite a bit of wild weather in the last few days.  While the monastery has stayed high and dry, South Dakota to the north of us has seen destructive straight line winds and Nebraska to the south of us has already been visited by a few tornadoes!  This has prompted some storm preparation at home.  Each section of the monastery has a designated 'storm shelter' within the lower level of the house and many of the sisters are assigned places.

Assignment 1: Care of our elders is paramount; in the case of a storm, many of our nursing sisters and a few others would go to our care center to help the staff guide our elders to safety.  Once settled, the various elders take charge in leading a rosary and invoking St. Scholastica to protect us from storm.  I was tucked into an inner hallway with Sister Rosary leader during one storm; their prayer is serious business.  Assignment 2: Our mostly-mobile sisters have a different shelter and their own set of assigned sister storm guides, complete with flashlights and weather radios.  Assignment 3: We never forget our Benedictine Hospitality; the guest department sisters gather with our visiting retreatants, friends, and family.

Those of us on the upper floors of the monastery have practiced dashing down stairwells to our windowless sanctuaries.  Assignment 4: One or two sisters are in charge of a final room-check on each wing before descending the halls themselves and counting us again at our shelter.  We're a big family and it gets pretty warm and cozy in some of the lower halls.  Just like any family, we have our wide variety of storm responses...the storm watchers are always sneaking a bit closer to a window or door to 'see the action', the news fiends have their own weather radio to listen in, the intercessors usually gather for a quiet Rosary or Litany of the Saints (sometimes I'm here), and finally, the easily distracted (usually my group).  If a storm is predicted, I prepare a go-bag of flashlight, socks, billfold, umbrella, shawl, a good book, and some games.  Yup, a summer storm shelter is the prefect place for some Pinochle cards, Farkle or Yahtzee dice, and other easy travel games.  A little distraction and before we know it, the all clear alarm has been rung and we can return to our beds.  Thank God for family.

Blessings & Keep Watchin' the Skies!

Saint Joseph the Worker

Happy Feast!

The Diocese of Sioux Falls celebrates Saint Joseph the Worker as their patron.  Our sisters join in this commemoration with prayer for our diocese and Bishop Paul Swain on this day. 

However, this day honors not only St. Joseph, but also the labor of his hands that he taught to Jesus.  They are blest who continue to carry out God's command to steward all of His creation through their work, and they are blest who seek to honor all with labor that helps to lift up Catholic Social Teaching: the dignity of work and the rights of the worker.

"Joseph, the faithful and prudent steward,
you have been set over the household of the Lord."
~Vespers Antiphon