1st Sunday in the Monastery...

I am home again at the monastery. I arrived Friday evening from Minneapolis and spent all of Saturday in a community meeting (1st Saturday of every month.) I woke up happy this morning…because it is Sunday…because it is still Easter…because there is no place I’d rather be on the Lord’s Day.

I enjoy the travel and, like the disciples in today's gospel, often find Him on the road. The work at St. John’s went incredibly well. The four of us on the planning team seemed to click. We were able to listen well to each other as the Spirit began to shape our ideas and longings into something tangible. I hope, when this conference actually happens, (in 2009) it will be both inspiring and informative – a source of hope and an opportunity for growth. I think Benedictine Vocation Directors will be intrigued by our theme: “Monasticism as Radical Christianity: Reaching the Serious Seeker” and eager to engage in this conversation. I’m certain that the new guesthouse at St. John’s Abbey will provide the perfect atmosphere for a professional gathering. Set in a hillside on Lake Sagatagan, the new guesthouse is in harmony with its natural surroundings. The interior spaces are simple, functional yet beautiful. Each guestroom has a large window overlooking the lake. There are spaces for meetings, socials and private prayer. It will serve us well for our conference. If you’re interested in touring the new GH at St. John’s, click on this link. http://www.saintjohnsabbey.org/guesthouse/

There was great joy for me in this work. It was a new experience to plan a conference. There is still much work to be done, but the important groundwork is laid. I just loved being able to have ideas…lots of them...and share them…watch them bounce around the room like those little “super balls” of my youth...see some take and others bounce right into the lake. Working with my friend, Sister Mary Catherine, was also a new experience. It would seem that love is the best ground on which to build. No skirmishes or serious disagreements – an “F’s” worst fear. (Meier’s-Briggs ENFJ) Brother Paul-Vincent and Brother Daniel are new friends for whom I am most grateful. Between the four of us, we represent three different generations. I learned a great deal from our grouping and look forward to the work ahead of us in the months to come.

After our planning days were over, Sister took two days off. Yup. Two blessed days of doing nothing at a place called Fish Trap Lake. The sisters at St. Ben’s own a house on this lake and it’s just an hour drive from their monastery. Like our “Ridge” house, it provides a space for rest and holy leisure. For this time of rest and refreshment with my friend, I am truly grateful.

So…another trip finished and a suitcase full of dirty clothes to wash…but not today. Today is “Silent Sunday.” On the first Sunday of every month, the monastic community has a day of silent retreat. No phones…pages…TV…or talk. I will post this and head upstairs for a quiet, restful afternoon. Reading, praying, dozing…it’s all holy when we open our hearts to gratitude for the gift of silence and solitude. We will listen for the 4:30 office bell which will call us back to the oratory for Evening Prayer. Sunday dinner will last at least an hour…three courses to enjoy. Sister Lisbeth is making Puerto Rican rice & beans – one of my very favorite dinners! And there will be wine on the Lord’s Day. ALLELUIA! May this afternoon hold its own joys and graces for you…and the Spirit of the risen One who is the source of every good thing in our lives.

Blessings and Easter joy…
- Sister Vicki

http://www.sisterbloggers.blogspot.com/

Greetings from St. Joseph, MN...

It smells like snow here…and it might actually snow a bit tomorrow. I am happily ensconced in Evin Hall – a living group adjacent to the Spirituality Center at St. Benedict’s Monastery. I am, happily, staying with Benedictine sisters.

I have known this community since I first came to St. John’s in 1999. Somehow, early on, I discovered that there were women living the monastic life right around the corner and made a trip out to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist in their midst. I spent the next three years of Sundays in their Chapel – absorbed in the beauty of their monastic liturgy. The sound of the monastic schola singing, the banners of multi-colored ribbons, the reverence and care with which every action of the Eucharist was undertaken – all of this touched me deeply and, like the siren’s song, led me deeper into the reality of female monastic life.

I owe this community – certainly, not a debt in conventional terms, but the gratitude that comes from deep within the heart. These wonderful women nurtured my vocation even though it was to another house. The mystery of stability is reverenced here – the unexplainable movements of the Spirit, honored. What I know now and respect about the particularity of monastic vocations, I learned at St. Ben’s. Their hospitality and kindness enabled me to finish a three-year program without losing my marbles or my vocation. These good women invited me to share in their liturgical ministries and to volunteer at their retirement monastery. They knew what to do with a lonely, homesick grad student. They got me engaged in serving and loving – turned my focus inside-out so that GOD could make use of my sorry, little self. Without this community I would have bolted early on – probably abandoned my studies so I could begin my monastic journey at Bristow. What I couldn’t understand then, I understand now. The monastic journey begins in the heart the moment we say, “yes.” My journey started in this house and because of that I will always love these women and pray for their good.

Blessings and love to you all…

- Sister Vicki

Visit this community at http://www.sbm.osb.org/ .The Vocation Director is a personal friend, Sister Mary Catherine Holicky, OSB

http://www.sisterbloggers.blogspot.com/

"Leavin' on a jet plane..."

This morning I’m flying to Minnesota to attend a planning meeting at St. John’s Abbey. I spent three years of my life living there in graduate housing – just a short walk from the Abbey Church. While I have referred to that time as the “exilic” period, it was also a time of grace. Thanks to the “Lilly Endowment” and an admissions committee who saw beyond my life on paper, I received a 100% tuition scholarship for three years of full-time study. That’s miracle number one!

I arrived at St. John’s in the fall of 1999 – a single lay woman committed to ministry in the Church. I left the School of Theology – Seminary in the spring of 2002 with an M. Div. and a monastic vocation - miracles two and three!

I have returned to Collegeville three times since graduation. Each time I am happy to see the bell banner of the abbey in the distance on I-94. I am happy to see faculty and staff to whom I owe a great debt. The sound of the monks singing usually leaves me with a lump in my throat. Something new was born in me there. Some little flame became a fire. And I will be forever grateful to GOD for making my way to Collegeville. It’s one of those places that changes you and gets into your heart. If you think you might want to study theology and commit your gifts to lay ministry, contact my friend, Brendon Duffy in Admissions. bduffy@csbsju.edu
(Next time, I'll tell you about the sisters of St. Benedict's Monastery - just four miles from here.)

Blessings and love to you all…

- Sister Vicki

PS – If I get the chance and the access, I’ll blog again before I return to Bristow. You’ll find me here for certain on Saturday, April 5th.

http://www.sisterbloggers.blogspot.com/

What fidelity looks like...

Yesterday was Sister Celine’s 97th birthday. She is our eldest in years and in rank. No one in this house has lived the monastic life longer than she. No one has her memories or her wisdom. If you know Sister Celine, you have a sense of who she is to us – a tree firmly planted by a flowing stream that gives its fruit in due season and whose leaves never fade (Psalm 1:3). If you don’t know Sister Celine, suffice it to say that she is revered as a master teacher, reverenced for her faithfulness to the Liturgy of the Hours and loved because of her generosity of spirit to those who seek her friendship and wisdom. In short, Sister Celine is a cornerstone of this community. Many sisters have leaned on her for strength and stability over the past 75 years of her monastic life.

At the end of the Prologue, Saint Benedict writes: “Never swerving from his instructions, then, but faithfully observing his teaching in the monastery until death, we shall through patience share in the sufferings of Christ that we may deserve also to share in his kingdom (RB Prol. 50).” Yesterday we celebrated a monastic life lived to its fullness of grace. In Sister Celine’s eyes I see the possibility of my days in the monastery. This is what fidelity looks like.


Blessings and love to you all…


- Sister Vicki

http://sisterbloggers.blogspot.com/

The 50 Days...

Liturgical theologian, Gordon Lathrop, refers to the great fifty days of the Easter season as “the space of rejoicing.” Even as monastic communities all over the world are recovering from the liturgical marathon of the Triduum, the Church is calling us to keep our joy at fever pitch. How do we maintain the Easter “high” when our bodies are exhausted from the night vigils, our musicians spent and our liturgists mentally fried? That’s where the gift of grace comes in. Even now, many of my sisters are returning home from family visits and days of rest apart. Even now, the ranks of our choir are swelling with bodies and voices. Our late morning breakfasts (because we’re on holiday schedule) are buzzing again with laughter and conversation. The great silence is over and the everyday joy of our common life is returned to us. I think we need only reclaim the great gift of who we are as monastic community and our gracious GOD will do the rest. The great writer/monk, Thomas Merton, wrote: “A tree gives glory to GOD by being a tree.” So it is with Benedictine women. If we reinvest ourselves totally in the monastic project, this Easter season with radiate some special joy into our world. Every alleluia will give GOD glory and the simple rhythm of our song and silence will fill the "space for rejoicing" with the risen love of Christ.

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

The Community Room...

I played "Scrabble" last night. Along with the resurrection, I chalk this up to Easter miracles. I have never been very fond of board games. Just ask my fiercely competitive siblings how I would fold up like a chair under the pressure of competition. I didn't care very much about winning. I just wanted to have fun and be together. In my family of origin, "Hearts" could be lethal. My first "community room" was lots of fun when the TV was on, but when Milton-Bradley showed up, I wanted out!

Last night I decided that you haven't really lived until you play "Scrabble" with three generations of women. Last night the twenty-something and the forty-something lost to a dear sister in her 80's. I had the best time and continue to be amazed at how much fun games can be. For instance...when you play with a person in their 20's, "GQ" counts because of the magazine. I was given credit for ora, "prayer" in Latin. And Sister Irene got credit for "ho", which, for a woman of her generation, is something Santa says on the way down the chimney. Needless to say, we laughed a lot and really enjoyed a game that requires great thought and patience. I never stop learning things in the monastery. That's one of the reasons I love it so very much.

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

Christ is risen...Alleluia!