The Feast of Saint Benedict

"Come let us join with the angels and saints
in offering thanks and praise to the Lord
on the solemnity of our Father Benedict."

Greetings and Happy Feast!

Today, we conclude a week of honoring Benedict in our monastic home and join the Church in celebrating Saint Benedict.

Our Sisters joined with employees and friends in celebrating the Feast of Saint Benedict.  Our week-long celebration included a morning coffee break for the sisters and employees with wide variety of wonderful treats and even a game.  One of our office employees recorded sounds from around the monastery and we were all tested on our listening skills.  This was a wonderful play off the Prologue of Benedict's Rule:  Listen carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart" (Prologue: 1).  Even the responsory from our prayer reflects Benedict's call to listen:  "We listen to the words we hear God speak, a promise of life and light we seek: In love run ways we cannot clearly see until our hearts expand and set us free" (Lauds Responsory).  

Later in the week, our sisters from the Riverview living-group welcomed us to an afternoon break with root-beer floats!  This was in light of Benedict's call to "Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say, 'I came as a guest, and you received Me'. And to all let due honor be shown, especially to the domestics of the faith and to pilgrims" (Rule of Benedict 53: 1-2).  All our employees, from mechanic to nurse, and sisters gathered to laugh, tell tales of the day, and even win a few door prizes.  Playfully fulfilling our Lauds Antiphon to celebrate, "Let us rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord for a feast in honor of Benedict, at whose triumph the angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God." 

As the Feast of Benedict falls upon a Saturday this year, we invited our employees to a Thursday 'Italian' lunch of lasagna or supper of pizza with us in the dinning room.  It was wonderful to see the refectory filled with our sisters, secretaries, maintenance folk, and all who help us in our daily living. But you might be wondering, why the Italian influence on the meals in this Benedictine community with Swiss-German roots in the midst of rural South Dakota?  To remember, to celebrate, and to honor Benedict's own heritage and that of our early monks and nuns within the Benedictine tradition, and to bring this feast to our employees and friends.

"...He was born in the province of Nursia [Italy], of honorable parentage, and brought up at Rome in the study of humanity.  As much as he saw many by reason of such learning fall to dissolute and a lewd life, he drew back his foot, which he had as it were now set forth into the world, lest, entering too far in acquaintance with it, he likewise might have fallen into that dangerous and godless gulf.

Therefore, giving over his book, and forsaking his father's house and wealth, with a resolute mind only to serve God, he sought for some place, where he might attain to the desire of his holy purpose.  In this way he departed [Rome] , instructed with learned ignorance, and furnished with unlearned wisdom" (Dialogues of Gregory the Great: Book Two: prologue).

The celebration of the Saint Benedict's feast itself began Friday evening with first vespers, chanted liturgy of the hours on the eve of the feast.  Marking the solemnity of our celebration, we started with statio, a formal procession into chapel.  It continues the Saturday morning with Lauds and then a new addition...  


This year, our sisters will be celebrating significant anniversaries on the Feast of Benedict.  We will honor Sister Maribeth, our Silver Jubilarian, and Sisters Janice and Marielle, Golden Jubilarians, during the Celebration of the Eucharist.  Among sisters, family, and friends, these three sisters will be lifted up in prayer as they renew their monastic profession of stability, fidelity to the monastic way of life, and obedience.  

"When she is to be received she promises before all in the oratory stability, fidelity to monastic life and obedience.  This promise she shall make before God and His Saints, so that if she should ever act otherwise, she may know that she will be condemned by Him whom she mocks.

Of this promise of hers let her draw up a document in the name of the Saints whose relics are there and of the Abbess who is present. Let her write this document with her own hand; or if she is illiterate, let another write it at her request, and let the novice put her mark to it. 

Then let her place it with her own hand upon the altar; and when she has placed it there, let the novice at once intone this verse: "Receive me, O Lord, according to Your word, and I shall live: and let me not be confounded in my hope" (Rule of Benedict 58: 17-21). 

Please pray for our sisters as they celebrate these important anniversaries in our monastic community.

"Let us love one another with fervent love, endure one another's infirmities; patiently serve and obey one another, and prefer nothing whatever to Christ." ~Vespers Antiphon

Blessings and Joy,

Monastic Chapter

 Greetings,

Please pray for us as we prepare for our Monastic Chapter at the end of this week.

It is wonderfully appropriate that our June Monastic Chapter should coincide with Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ; for we as discern the needs of our monastic community, we strive to see Christ present in each other. We ask for your prayers as all of our sisters, from prioress to newly professed, travel home to discuss the "important business [that] has to be done in the monastery" RB 3:1.

However, it isn't all work and meetings.  All throughout the weekend, we visit with our sisters: catching up on news, sharing joys and sorrows, taking walks and playing favorite games. We also take time to celebrate.  One evening we will honor our Jubilarians of 25, 50, 60, 75 and even 80 years as professed sisters.  The next night we will remember our beloved sisters who have died this past year with prayer and a procession through our cemetery. 

Whenever any important business has to be done 

in the monastery, let the Abbot call together the whole community and state the matter to be acted upon. Then, having heard the brethren's advice,
let him turn the matter over in his own mind and do what he shall judge to be most expedient. The reason we have said that all should be called for counsel is that the Lord often reveals to the younger what is best. 

Let the brethren give their advice with all the deference required by humility, and not presume stubbornly to defend their opinions; but let the decision rather depend on the Abbot's judgment, and all submit to whatever he shall decide for their welfare. 

However, just as it is proper for the disciples to obey their master, so also it is his function to dispose all things with prudence and justice.

Rule of Benedict 3

Prayer schedule during Monastic Chapter...

Thursday:  Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel

~ Prayer 8:30 AM

~ Mass 9:00 AM

~ Prayer 5:00 PM

Friday:  Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel

~Prayer 8:30 AM

~ Mass 9:00 AM

~Prayer within the Monastic Chapter

Saturday:  Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel

~ Prayer 8:30 AM

~ Prayer 5:00 PM

Sunday: Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel

~ Prayer 8:30 AM

~ Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ 10 AM

~ Prayer 5:00 PM

Blessings,

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Greetings,

As the Universal Church celebrates a day of prayer for vocations, we invite you to reflect on the first part of Saint Benedict's instructions on "The Manner of Receiving Sisters"...

When anyone is newly come for the reformation of her life,
let her not be granted an easy entrance;
but, as the Apostle says,
"Test the spirits to see whether they are from God."
If the newcomer, therefore, perseveres in her knocking,
and if it is seen after four or five days
that she bears patiently the harsh treatment offered her
and the difficulty of admission,
and that she persists in her petition,
then let entrance be granted her,
and let her stay in the guest house for a few days.

After that let her live in the novitiate,
where the novices study, eat and sleep.
A senior shall be assigned to them who is skilled in winning souls,
to watch over them with the utmost care.
Let her examine whether the novice is truly seeking God,
and whether she is zealous
for the Work of God, for obedience and for trials.
Let the novice be told all the hard and rugged ways
by which the journey to God is made.

If she promises stability and perseverance,
then at the end of two months
let this rule be read through to her,
and let her be addressed thus:
"Here is the law under which you wish to fight.
If you can observe it, enter;
if you cannot, you are free to depart."
If she still stands firm,
let her be taken to the above-mentioned novitiate
and again tested in all patience.
And after the lapse of six months let the Rule be read to her,
that she may know on what she is entering.
And if she still remains firm,
after four months let the same Rule be read to her again.

Then, having deliberated with herself,
if she promises to keep it in its entirety
and to observe everything that is commanded,
let her be received into the community.
But let her understand that,
according to the law of the Rule,
from that day forward she may not leave the monastery
nor withdraw her neck from under the yoke of the Rule
which she was free to refuse or to accept
during that prolonged deliberation.

Rule of Benedict Chapter 58

Earth Day

Apple trees beginning to bud
on Easter 

Greetings,

Earth Day reminds us to be more aware of God's gifts in creation and how we are each called to care for this gift with reverence. 

Pope Francis has appealed to mankind not manipulate or exploit the planet.

Spring blossoms beginning
to brighten the Easter day.

Speaking at the end of the weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square the Pope noted that on April 22 we celebrate Earth Day.

“I exhort everyone to see the world through the eyes of God the Creator: the earth is an environment to be safeguarded, a garden to be cultivated” he said.

Francis continued: “The relationship of mankind with nature must not be conducted with greed, manipulation and exploitation, but it must conserve the divine harmony that exists between creatures and Creation within the logic of respect and care, so it can be put to the service of our brothers, also of future generations”.  Vatican Radio 22 April 2015

Lilacs preparing to bloom.

A view into the evergreen canopy,
complete with a chatty squirrel.

The Rule of Benedict has no specific chapter on the earth.  However, chapter 31 "What Kind of Monk the Cellarer of the Monastery Should Be" indicates how all the monastics are to care for not only the goods, but also the land of the monastery; "Let him regard all the utensils of the monastery and its whole property as if they were the sacred vessels of the altar. Let him not think that he may neglect anything. He should be neither a miser nor a prodigal and squanderer of the monastery's substance, but should do all things with measure and in accordance with the Abbot's instructions."  

Chapter 32 on the Tools and Property of the Monastery reminds us that "If anyone treats the monastery's property in a slovenly or careless way, let her be corrected. If she fails to amend, let her undergo the discipline of the Rule." Over and over the care of command to care for the monastery's physical goods and property is understood as an extension of our care for the monastery's sacred goods used in liturgy; both are a gift from God. Finally, all throughout Benedict's Rule is a call to moderation in all things. This carries over to our demands of the earth in our development of gardens to share in the flowers and fruits of the earth.

Blessings,

Benedictine Oblates: living the Benedictine life wherever you are called

Greetings,

Last evening we celebrated the oblation (promises to live the Gospel life while following the Rule of Benedict) of several of our Benedictine Oblates.

Sisters Bonita and Joelle listen
as Sister Penny, Prioress, addresses the oblates.

Benedictine Oblates are Christian people who associate themselves with a Benedictine community in order to enrich their Christian way of life. Oblates shape their lives by living the wisdom of Christ as interpreted by St. Benedict.  They seek God by striving to follow His Will in their chosen profession and way of life.  In this way, they continue to manifest God's presence in society by integrating their prayer, ministry, and work of all kinds.

Sisters Bonita, Eileen, Joelle, and Penny, Prioress,
witness the oblates promises.

Our oblates come to us from a variety of places.  While the main program is through the monastery in Yankton with both adult and college programs available, our oblates also gather in Sioux Falls; Lincoln, Steinauer, Hastings, and Omaha, NE; and even online for those too far away from a Benedictine community in their own area!

The oblates gather regularly to read and reflect on the Rule of Benedict, discuss their faith life, and share in Lectio Divina and the Liturgy of the Hours.

Curious about becoming an oblate?  Follow the imbeded links throughout the story for more information about the way of life for a Benedictine Oblate!

Congratulations to all our oblates!
Blessings,

An Easter Teaching from the Rule of Benedict

Greetings,

Saint Benedict sets a whole chapter of his Rule aside for a teaching on "Alleluia".  This Easter is the perfect time to reflect on his attention to liturgical detail...

From holy Easter until Pentecost without interruption let "Alleluia" be said both in the Psalms and in the responsories. From Pentecost to the beginning of Lent let it be said every night with the last six Psalms of the Night Office only. On every Sunday, however, outside of Lent, the canticles, the Morning Office, Prime, Terce, Sext and None shall be said with "Alleluia," but Vespers with antiphons. The responsories are never to be said with "Alleluia" except from Easter to Pentecost (RB 39).

"I arose and am still with you,

Alleluia!

I love the Lord who has heard me,

Alleluia,

who has rescued me from death,

Alleluia!

I arose and am still with you,

Alleluia!

Kind and faithful is our God;

Alleluia.

I will live and walk with the Lord,

Alleluia!

I arose and am still with you,

Alleluia!"

~Easter Lauds Responsory

A New Chattering

Greetings,

Our Holy Week solemnity was broken with the cheerful peeping of a chattering of newly hatched chicks! For three weeks, Sister Margo (chicken whisperer) and Sister Virginia (chicken wrangler) carefully watched over the incubator of eggs waiting for the chicks' grand entrance.

 Soon, they were gathering up the clutch of 18 little Rhode Island Reds into a large water-tank converted into an 'indoor coop'. The lively little Reds are quite busy eating, sleeping, and chasing both each other as well as their reflections.

The chicks have also been receiving some special attention. The indoor-coop is currently placed in the activity room for our care center, and our elders often stop to smile at their antics and visit with them. A few have even been overheared sweetly singing to calm them. After Easter lunch, another clutch of younger community members was seen enjoying the chattering while doing alittle chatting of their own.

As soon as the chicks have feathered-out, the brood will be moved out to the garden into the coop with a 'run' that can be moved to fresh grass each day. 

Sister Virginia was preparing the coop this winter, cleaning out all the old straw, when she realized there were no feathers in the mix. It seemed odd to her until she disturbed two very industrious little mice! They had built cozy soft nests of all the feathers! While the chickens were away, the mice did play!

There as been some curiosity of our previous brood of hens.  After a summer of sunshine, grass, and fresh veggies (and bugs) from the garden. The chickens had laid over 46 dozen eggs.  Two surprised the sisters with double yolks!  These garden-fresh eggs were enjoyed by our sisters in the care center.  The hens (and one rooster) themselves provided approximately 63 pounds of home grown chicken best used in homemade chicken soup.

"We think it sufficient for the daily dinner, whether at the sixth or the ninth hour, that every table have two cooked dishes on account of individual infirmities,so that he who for some reason cannot eat of the one may make his meal of the other Therefore let two cooked dishes suffice for all the brethren; and if any fruit or fresh vegetables are available, let a third dish be added...Young boys shall not receive the same amount of food as their elders, but less; and frugality shall be observed in all circumstances. Except the sick who are very weak, let all abstain entirely from eating the flesh of four-footed animals" (Rule of Benedict Chapter 39).

Blessings,

The Passing of Saint Benedict

Greetings,

While the universal Church honors Saint Benedict with a memorial to him as abbot in the midst of July, we Benedictines commemorate the anniversary of his death today.  Here at Sacred Heart Monastery we join Benedictines around the world in celebrating the Passing of our Holy Father Benedict with great joy.  How you might ask...

Prayer for the feast began on the eve of the day with a solemn procession of statio into first Vespers.  The solemnity continues today with chanted and sung prayer honoring Saint Benedict at Lauds and the celebration of the Eucharist the next morning.  Even in the midst of repentant Lent, our joy overflows into the hallways and offices.  The greetings of "Happy Feast!" break the morning silence and ripple cheerfully throughout the day.  After a celebratory supper (a little simpler during this Lenten season), we end the day of solemn joy the way we began, with our voices raised in the song and chanted prayer of Vespers.

St. Gregory the Great recounted the death of Benedict in chapter 37 of his Dialogues:

In the year that was to be his last, the man of God foretold the day of his holy death to a number of his disciples.  In mentioning it to some who were with him in the monastery, he bound them to strict secrecy.  Some others, however, who were stationed elsewhere he only informed of the special sign they would receive at the time of his death.   

The death of Saint Benedict depicted
in the gardens at his monastery
of Monte Cassino in Italy.

Six days before he died, he gave orders for his tomb to be opened. Almost immediately he was seized with a violent fever that rapidly wasted his remaining energy.  Each day his condition grew worse until finally, on the sixth day, he had his disciples carry him into the chapel where he received the Body and Blood of our Lord to gain strength for his approaching end.  Then, supporting his weakened body on the arms of his brethren, he stood with his hands raised to heaven and, as he prayed, breathed his last.   

That day two monks, one of them at the monastery, the other some distance away, received the very same revelation.  They both saw a magnificent road covered with rich carpeting and glittering with thousands of lights.  From his monastery it stretched eastward in a straight line until it reached up into heaven.  and there in the brightness stood a man of majestic appearance, who asked them, "Do you know who passed this way?" "No," they replied. 

"This," he told them, "is the road taken by blessed Benedict, the Lord's beloved, when he went to heaven."  Thus, while the brethren who were with Benedict witnessed his death, those who were absent know about it through the sign he had promised them.  His body was laid to rest in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, which he had built to replace the altar of Apollo.

Wondering what else we do in celebration?  Ask your questions...through comments here or our Facebook site!

Happy Feast!

St. Benedict's Lenten Reminder

Greetings, 

Rule of Benedict:  chapter 49 "On the Observance of Lent"

Although the life of a monk out to have about it at all times the character of a Lenten observance...we therefore urge that during the actual days of Lent the brethren keep their lives most pure and at the same time wash away during these holy days all the negligences of other times...and give ourselves up to prayer with tears, to reading, to compunction of heart and to abstinence.

During these days, therefore, let us increase somewhat the usual burden of our service, as by private prayers and by abstinence in food and drink.  Thus everyone of his own will may offer God "with joy of the Holy Spirit" something above the measure required of him.  From his body, that is he may withhold some food, drink, sleep, talking, and jesting; and with the joy of spiritual desire he may look forward to holy Easter.

Rule of Benedict:  chapter 52 "On The Oratory of the Monastery"

And at other times also, if anyone should want to pray by herself, let her go in simply and pray, not in a loud voice but with tears and fervor of heart.  She who does not say her prayers in this way, therefore, shall not be permitted to remain in the oratory when the Work of God is ended, lest another be hindered, as we have said. 

Our daily Mass and Liturgy of the Hours are celebrated in the Peace Chapel amid the simple stone and purple banners of Lent.

Our Lenten resolutions and promises...

Rule of Benedict:  chapter 49
On The Observance of Lent (cont'd)
Let each monk, however, suggest to his Abbot what it is that he wants to offer, and let it be done with his blessing and approval.  For anything done without the permission of the spiritual father will be imputed to presumption and vainglory and will merit no reward.  Therefore let everything be done with the Abbot's approval. 

Sister Penny, Prioress, reads from Vita Consecrata
during supper. The Sister Reader rings the little
bell to quiet the room before she begins.
After pausing to reflect at the end of her portion,
she rings the bell to indicate the sisters may
visit at their tables.

Our Lenten resolutions, received and blessed by the Prioress on Ash Wednesday, remain before the altar throughout the Lenten season as a reminder to us and a continuous offering and sacrifice to the Lord.

Ash Wednesday also begins our monastic Lenten traditions of sacrifice and almsgiving. As a community, we join the Universal Church in continuing our Friday sacrifice and abstinence from meat; however, we add an additional simple supper of soup and bread on Wednesdays. We also refrain from our Sister Baker's fresh-made pies throughout the Lenten season. 

Our community also shares in the Benedictine tradition of table reading during our weekday suppers. This Lent we will share in listening to Pope John Paul II's exhortation Vita Consecrata to commemorate this Year for Consecrated Life. Our Benedictine family will join in almsgiving; the Sunday donations to the monastery and our sisters personal offerings, reserved from their personal budgets, will be offered to AIM, Alliance for International Monasticism.

Be assured of our prayers for you throughout this sacred Season of Lent. If you would like to share your intentions with us, follow this link to our homepage for prayer requests.

Blessings,

Happy Feast of Saints Maur and Placid!

Happy Feastday!

Today, Benedictines celebrate two saints mentioned in the Book Two of the Dialogues telling about the Life of Saint Benedict.  In chapter seven, Saint Gregory the Great tells the story of Maur walking, well running, upon the water to save young Placid.  The story's emphasis isn't about the miracle, but Maur's humble obedience in following the will of Abbot Benedict and God.  Benedict's Rule teaches that:

"The first degree of humility is obedience without delay. This is the virtue of those who hold nothing dearer to them than Christ; who, because of the holy service they have professed, and the fear of hell, and the glory of life everlasting, as soon as anything has been ordered by the Superior, receive it as a divine command and cannot suffer any delay in executing it.  Of these the Lord says, "As soon as he heard, he obeyed Me".  And again to teachers He says, "He who hears you, hears Me" ... 

But this very obedience will be acceptable to God and pleasing to all only if what is commanded is done without hesitation, delay, lukewarmness, grumbling, or objection.  For the obedience given to Superiors is given to God, since He Himself has said, "He who hears you, hears Me".  And the disciples should offer their obedience with good will, for "God loves a cheerful giver"...   (Rule of Benedict Chapter 5).  

Benedict calls for not only a faithful obedience to the superior but also a cheerful and heartfelt obedience to our community (Rule of Benedict, Chapter 71). Celebrating this dual Feast of Saints Maur and Placid is call for us to celebrate our loving service to each other.  We invite you to read Saint Gregory the Great's story of the young saints and find a word or two to call you to care for your community today.

Once while blessed Benedict was in his room, one of his monks, the boy Placid, went down to get some water. In letting the bucket fill too rapidly, he lost his balance and was pulled into the lake, where the current quickly seized him and carried him about a stone's throw from the shore. Though inside the monastery at the time, the man of God was instantly aware of what had happened and instantly called out to Maurus: "Hurry, Brother Maurus! The boy who just went down for water has fallen into the lake, and the current is carrying him away!  

What followed was remarkable indeed, and unheard of since the time of Peter the apostle! Maurus asked for the blessing and on receiving it hurried out to fulfill his abbot's command. He kept on running even over the water until he reached the place where Placid was drifting along helplessly. Pulling him up by the hair, Maurus rushed back to shore, still under the impression that he was on dry ground that he came to himself and looking back realized that he had been running on the surface of the water. Overcome with fear and amazement at a deed he would never have thought possible, he returned to his abbot and told him what had taken place. 

The holy man would not take any personal credit for the deed but attributed it to the obedience of his disciple. Maurus on the contrary claimed that it was due entirely to his abbot's command. He could not have been responsible for the miracle himself, he said, since he had not even known he was performing it. While they were carrying on this friendly contest of humility, the question was settled by the boy who had been rescued. "When I was being drawn out of the water," he told them, "I saw the abbot's cloak over my head; he is the only I thought was bringing me to shore."  

Peter:  What marvelous deeds these are! they are sure to prove inspiring to all who hear of them. Indeed, the more you tell me about this great man, the more eager I am to keep on listening (Book Two of the Dialogues: Life of Saint Benedict Chapter 7).

Blessings and Happy Feast!

Sister Kathy Named Endowed Nursing Chair

Greetings,

Congratulations to our own Sr. Kathy who truly lives out Benedict's call to care for the sick and suffering and teaches all those in her classes to do the same.  "Care of the sick must rank above and before all else, so that they may truly be served as Christ, for he said: "I was sick and you visited me", and, "What you did for the least of brothers you did for me"" (Rule of Benedict 36: 1-3).

Mount Marty College nursing department is pleased to announce the 2014-17 Endowed Nursing Chair was recently awarded to Sr. Kathy Burt RN, MSN, Ph.D.  

Sr. Kathy Burt attended Mount Marty College and graduated in 1993 with her Bachelor of Science in nursing degree. She received her Masters of Science in Nursing from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 2003 and her Ph.D. in 2006. She has worked as an RN at both Saint Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota and here at the Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton. Sr. Kathy has been teaching at Mount Marty College for the past 7 years and is currently an Assistant Professor of Nursing and serving as the Interim Chief Nurse Administrator and Division Chair of the nursing department.

In 1992, Avera Sacred Heart Hospital established an Endowed Chair of Nursing with Sr. Corinne Lemmer being named the first recipient for 1994-1997.  The recipient must demonstrate their ability as a teacher as well as scholarly and professional attainment by their competence in field of nursing to a greater degree. They must also have leadership and institutional contributions and community service through involvement in regional and national nursing associations.

"Sr. Kathy Named Endowed Nursing Chair." News Release. Mount Marty College. 8 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.

Our Sister Recycler in the News!

Greetings,

Our Sister Matthew was highlighted in the local newspaper last Tuesday! Her decades-long service to Mount Marty College through beautiful grounds and flowerbeds has long emphasized recycling and caring for all God's creation.  This selfless service reminds her sisters of chapter 31 in the Rule of Benedict, 

"She will regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar, aware that nothings is to be neglected. She should not be prone to greed, nor be wasteful and extravagant with the goods of the monastery, but should do everything with moderation and according to the prioress' orders.Above all, let her be humble...if the community is rather large, she should be given helpers, that  with their assistance she may calmly perform the duties of her office" (RB 31: 10-17).

"MMC's Recycling Champ Gets Some Help",
by Shauna Marlette, Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan

Sister Matthew Wehri has always made sure Mount Marty College (MMC) has been ahead of the curve when it comes to recycling.

Now, thanks to a grant from Keep America Beautiful (KAB) and the Coca-Cola Foundation, she is going to get a little help from the students who returned to the Yankton campus on Monday.

This past year MMC applied for and received the national recycling bin grant, where the school was awarded 40 bins designed specifically for placement around campus.

“I think it was 1976 when I started collecting the cans on campus,” Wehri said. “A long-time nun in the Monastery was working in the kitchens and she told me that we could get $0.16 a pound recycling cans. So, I began going around campus, digging in the dumpsters and collecting cans.”

Wehri said that she decided to collect the cans to help fund maintenance of the campus’ flower beds. She added that a small amount has also gone to helping pay for the monastery’s past dog’s food, treats and care.

“Every morning, afternoon and evening - three times a day - I go out and separate the bags, collecting cans,” she said. “Maybe we don’t collect as much during the summer, but definitely when school is in session.”

Noting that in a typical month she will collect between 60-70 pounds of cans, Wehri said they collect enough to overflow the back of a pickup every month.

“Some of the kids-but not many - are good about separating out their cans and leaving them in bags next to the dumpsters, “she said. “Not a lot of them do it though. I would say 75 percent of the cans collected, I have separated out of the trash.”

The college hopes to help lower that number.

“We were looking for a way to be more environmentally friendly and at the same time we wanted to start a good recycling program at the college,” said Greg Heine, the chief operations officer for MMC. “Sister Wehri has been the watch-dog for recycling on campus, sorting garbage to get the cans out. Now we hope we can help her out.”

At Mount Marty College, a plan will be implemented that not only focuses on the daily act of recycling, but will also include education outreach by Keep Yankton Beautiful.

 “We will be working with work our work study program to help provide assistance to Sister Matthew with the collecting,” Heine said. “The education aspect will be all student-driven.”

In thanks for her years of service to the campus, Heine noted that the college had placed a label on each of the new bins that has a photo of Sister Matthew asking the students to help her recycle and keep the campus clean.

“It is just one way we can honor her for her years of service to the campus,” he said. “She enjoys the landscaping and working with the flowers but would never take money to do it. By recycling she is able to fund the projects and every penny she had made recycling has gone back to the campus.”

Wehri said she knows that the students sometimes look at her funny when she is digging in the garbage, but that she hopes they understand why she is doing it and, in the future, will help by recycling their cans into the appropriate bins.

“Almost all of the bins have been installed before the students returned this week,” Heine said. “With the education that is planned because of this award, and the ongoing awareness this will create we are optimistic our efforts to increase recycling campus-wide will be successful."

Service to Community: corn parties

Greetings,

The Rule of Benedict calls the community to service to each other. While a sister's assigned work or ministry might lead to her to teaching, nursing, pastoral care, or other paid ministry, her service to her Benedictine sisters is understood to be a celebration of mutual obedience and good zeal.

"Obedience is a blessing to be shown by all, not only to the abbot but also to one another as brothers, since we know that it is by this way of obedience that we go to God. Therefore, although orders of the abbot or of the priors appointed by him take precedence, and no unofficial order may supersede them, in every other instance younger monks should obey their seniors with all love and concern. Anyone found objecting to this should be reproved" (RB 71: 1-5).

"Just as there is an evil zeal of bitterness which separates from God and leads to hell, so there is a good zeal which separates from vices and leads to God and to life everlasting. This zeal, therefore, the sisters should practice with the most fervent love. Thus they should anticipate one another in honor; most patiently endure one another's infirmities, whether of body or of character; vie in paying obedience one to another. No one following what she considers useful for herself, but rather what benefits another; tender the charity of sisterhood chastely; fear God in love; love their Abbess with a sincere and humble charity; prefer nothing whatever to Christ. And may He bring us all together to life everlasting" (RB 72)!

 With these words of Benedict and the needs of our sisters in mind, our intrepid Garden Sisters dressed themselves in boots and bluejeans and headed out to the cornfields. Our visiting student sisters also joined the labor. The hard work of walking the field and picking corn was punctuated with joyful banter and laughter as the sisters filled the pickup to the brim with fresh sweet corn. When the last bucketful was balanced on the truck, the sisters returned to the monastery for a break. They were greeted with anticipation and cool water.

"And if the circumstances of the place or their  poverty should require that they themselves do the work of gathering the harvest, let them not be discontented; for then are they truly monastics when they live by the labor of their hands, as did our Fathers and the Apostles. Let all things be done with moderation, however, for the sake of the faint-hearted" (RB 48: 7-9).

If there is much work to be done, Benedict called for an 'all hands on deck' mentality. However, each sister is to carefully consider what she can do in moderation. Our sister Leonette, just shy of 99, as well as sisters Arthur and Margaretta, who travel the halls by scooter, brought their willing hands and hearts to husking the bounty of sweet corn. They weren't alone!

As soon as the husking note was posted, sisters donned their aprons and joined the hallway filled with heaps of corn to be husked. The sound of husks ripping became a background to the sharing of stories and memories.

This is only part of the preparation of the sister's work in preparing the sweet corn for freezing. Other sisters gently brushed the corn, washing the remaining silks from the ear and trimmed any damaged areas from the ears. Then the kitchen Sisters and staff steam the ears before the corn cutting 'party' in the evening.

The evening corn party finds sisters in every corner of the kitchen and serving hall! As the cutters trim the kernels away from the ear, other sisters carried away buckets of now empty ears or began weighing the kernels into five pound tin pans and prepared them for the deep freeze. All sisters assisted in whatever way possible; from prioress to postulant, helpful hands made quick work of the hundreds of ears. Even our Sister Virginia, who just celebrated her 100th year, held pans for others to fill. Here again, the work was accented with laughter, story, and memory.

The tradition of working together to care for the needs of monastery continues. Only two weeks after her entrance, Postulant Terry found herself tucked among the sisters and up to her elbows in corn...and listening to the stories across the generations. We invite you to join us in our lived tradition of mutual service, prayer, and laughter too.

Blessings,