Trinity Sunday...

I’m still thinking about GOD. That’s a good thing, (being a nun and all.) Trinity Sunday is my favorite feast of the Lord. That statement is not an indicator of theological comprehension but an unexplainable joy in the mystery of who GOD is. I’ve read many good books on Trinitarian theology. So many brilliant scholars have tried, valiantly, to say something about the nature of the Godhead. My favorite is + Catherine LaCugna. Her book, “God For Us,” begins with a brilliant deduction. Paraphrased, she suggests that we cannot know who GOD is in GODSELF. We can only know who GOD is from what GOD does for us. It may sound simple, but it’s really quite revelatory. By LaCugna’s standard every human being could say something true about who GOD is. If you say down and made a timeline of your life and inserted places where you know GOD intervened, blessed, protected, you’d have the makings of a theology. (I might do this during Community Retreat!)

Have you read “The Shack”? If not, it might interest the God-seekers among you. It’s a story – pure fiction. Yet, this tale of loss and love has given me new insight into who GOD might be. There is a definite Trinitarian theology embedded in the tale. And GOD is personified, conveniently, into three, wonderful Persons. The GOD drawn in this portrait is total, self-giving, abiding love – love that is ever in motion, dancing in and out of our lives as we permit grace to do its thing. Rightfully, GOD never answers all our questions. JESUS told his friends, “I have much to tell you, but you could not bear it now (John).” But the author spins a tale that touches the pain of real life – the pain that only GOD can heal. I liked it. Can you tell?

I often wonder why I love the Trinity so much. There is no greater mystery – no bigger headache in the world of systematic theology. I guess I love it for several reasons: 1) I can’t understand it, so the pressures off. All I need to do is be content to live in the mystery. 2) This GOD is Community. As a monastic woman, this goes to the very heart of my life. We are individuals and we are one body. We spend our lives learning how to give them up for love. This Triune GOD is our teacher and we are just students in “the school of the Lord’s service (Rule of Benedict, Prologue).” Yes, I love this GOD who is Three and One. May your search for this GOD be filled with surprises and yield great peace, deep joy. For where GOD has been, these things will be.

Blessings and love to you all...

Sister Vicki

Cooking with Bill Lohmann...

How to get started with social media

Bill Lohmann, visiting another chef's kitchen...We've got a new name for the YouTube program. We learned of a copyright conflict. I'm learning a lot about "intellectual property law". (One of our novices is an attorney.)

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

Pentecost...

Our celebration of Pentecost was absolutely glorious! The music, the red banners, the joyful dancing of our Tanzanian sisters all contributed to our Sunday Eucharist. I find myself wishing that Pentecost could be a liturgical season, not just one, glorious day. Even an "octave" would suit me fine. I just want to sing those Spirit hymns and dwell in the mystery of the God who is with us in Spirit.

The readings for the day focus on the impact of the Spirit on the Church, in general, but on the Twelve, in particular, who were filled with fear and transformed into courageous preachers of the "Good News." It was the Spirit who impelled the Gospel forward. It was the Spirit who laid claim to each of us in Baptism and Confirmation. It is the Spirit of the risen Lord, active and present beyond our understanding, who guides the Church 2,000 years later.

I want to say something about our Church. St. Paul was spot on. We are one body. No label can divide what Christ has made his own – neither “liberal”, nor “traditional”, not “radical” or “conservative. We are Roman Catholics. Any divisions based on liturgical practices or rubrics can be held together by mutual respect and trust in the Spirit’s abiding presence. The Church abides in Christ and no harm can come to it save what we do to her ourselves. Right worship and true faith do matter. Our Holy Father and our bishops will guide our way. This “universal” Church is big enough to hold us all together – in spite of our diversity which, by grace, is also our great gift. We need to assume good - that every Catholic loves the Lord and His Church. We need to resist any urge to judge one another. The Spirit is at work – always – strengthening, healing, breathing life into our dry bones. We are all sisters and brothers in Christ. My call, begun at baptism and fulfilled in monastic profession, is to serve Christ, to be His mercy and peace in the world and to love, especially where love is most needed. The rest, I leave to Christ who is head of the body, the Church (Colossians 1:18). And, with the gift of His Spirit, the mission of the Church cannot fail.

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

"Out of their sight..."

Today the Church celebrates the Ascension of the LORD. The responsorial psalm for this feast sets the tone for our liturgy: "GOD mounts his throne to shouts of joy; the LORD goes up with trumpet blast." It is one of the great feasts of the LORD - a manifestation of his divinity and a confirmation of his risen glory. We rejoice because we know that his departure means a new, intimate level of relationship with Christ through the gift of his Spirit. This new intimacy is only possible after the LORD goes to the Father.

Now, being 21st century Christians, all this makes sense. We know about the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost and the gifts bestowed in her wake. But, amid all our joy and rejoicing, I can't help thinking about those poor apostles. The forty days spent in the company of the risen LORD must have been so wonderful. To have lost him and to have him back...I can't imagine that joy. But now, to let go of him again, I suspect this mysterious moment left them with mouths open and hearts rent. Taken "out of their sight" and beyond their embrace, the LORD JESUS would return to them in Spirit. In the meantime, I wonder how they made sense of it all.

Surely, their faith had deepened in the days after the resurrection. Maybe, they did what we do when someone we love is taken away. Maybe, they cried together and wondered what heaven was like. Maybe, they prayed and told their favorite stories of their days with the Christ. Maybe, they went to his Mother's house for comfort food and a dose of her great faith. Maybe, exhausted with grief and in awe before the mystery, the closed their eyes and slept...and slept. It comforts me to think of the Twelve in this way. It sanctifies my grief - all the losses that have made me who I am.

On Wednesday our prioress buried her father. Sister Cecilia presided at her father's vigil and gave a beautiful relection at his funeral. I am in awe of her still. Like the apostles she was able to go on in faith - to anticipate a new form of relationship with the man who was her "Dad." In this risen love they will meet from time to time - in memory, in prayer and those moments of presence, though difficult to describe, will be real. It will be a long time before she sees him again, (I hope,) but she will see him again. And their hearts will rejoice with a joy no one can ever take from them.

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

"I am the vine"...

I love wine. I love to read books about it, study the various grapes and what they’re called in different countries. There are so many that it’s virtually impossible to know them all. That kind of takes the pressure off. I’m not looking to become a master sommelier. I just want learn enough to appreciate the goodness of a particular bottle - the years of pruning, protecting and purposeful blending. I want to contemplate the patience of the vine grower, the resilience of the vine, and the particularity of each vintage. It’s a wonder to think about how the very same vine can produce radically different juice given the weather patterns of a certain year. And, no less remarkable, that same vine can be transplanted in another country and the fruit will taste different because of the uniqueness of the soil – what the French call the terroir.

Trying new wines happens less frequently now that I am a Benedictine. In the years before, I could walk into a wine shop and pick some real beauties. Our life does include wine – on Sundays and feast days. But, every now and then, I get to cook a special dinner and match the food and the wine appropriately. We raffled off such a meal to raise money for scholarships at our high school. I am in the throes of preparing for a five-course dinner for four – our two guests and my two sisters. Needless to say, I’m enjoying the process immensely. I made the trip to the wine shop on Saturday evening and read labels for an hour and a half! Some people get lost in bookstores, some women in the shoe department. Me? I lose all track of time in the Barossa region of Australia and in the Italian region of Basilicata. I day-dream of seeing the pinot noir vineyards of Oregon and the hundred-year-old zinfandel vines in California.

This probably sounds very goofy coming from a nun. I do think wine was one of GOD’s greatest ideas. The Lord Jesus made wine from water – His very first miracle. A simple meal of bread and wine is His continuing legacy of love – the gift of His very self. In the gospel yesterday, Jesus called himself “the vine” and we “the branches.” For a wine-lover this metaphor makes perfect sense. The branches – gnarled and tentative – only produce fruit when they remain on the vine. The vine is the source, the life-force of the branches. Without Christ I wither and my life will bear little fruit. With Christ my life will produce a unique, one-of-a-kind vintage. When my sisters carry me up the hill to the cemetery, I hope someone will say, “1963 was a very good year.”

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

A new experience...

Yesterday I was interview by a newspaper reporter. Mr. Lohmann, a kind and curious journalist from the Richmond Times - Dispatch, came to ask me a few questions about “Nun Better”, the no-budget cooking show I’ve been doing on YouTube. I was a bit anxious at first, but quickly the interview felt more like a good conversation. I have no doubt that the article will be interesting, not because I’m all that interesting, but because Bill sees “human interest” in a Benedictine sister who periodically "moonlights" as a chef – not for personal profit but for visibility and the good of our community. I am grateful to this reporter for the hour he spent with me yesterday and for the afternoon video shoot we've planned for next Monday. We (Bill and me) will be on the RTD website cooking something wonderful together. Another first for Sister and probably not the last first for this monastic on a journey! I’ll keep you posted…
Blessings and love to you all…
- Sister Vicki

Big day in my line of work...

It’s Sunday at the monastery…and I’m filled with gratitude for the gift of presence – the blessing of being here, body and soul. Today, the universal Church celebrates the 4th Sunday of Easter and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. (Now, everyone has a vocation – married or single, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers. This day of prayer is specific to GOD’s call to religious life and ordained ministry.)

The Holy Father chose a Sunday in the Easter season. What a wonderful way to highlight the joy of our life as religious, priests and deacons. I maintain that joy is a verifiable side-effect of a genuine call and the best advertisement for the life. Maybe, today, you could think of someone who might have the gifts to live a religious vocation. There is a skill-set that helps in the transition to community life:
1. A willingness to learn, to be formed by the life and by women whose feet have been steady on the path
2. A healthy respect for boundaries – both personal and communal
3. The capacity for intimacy – the ability to share yourself in trust and vulnerability
4. Experience with failure and its lessons
5. A forgiving nature

These are not “prerequisites”, merely skills that serve us well in monastic life. Some can be acquired over time and through experience. What is non-negotiable is the sincere desire to seek GOD and the mutual determination of the candidate and the community. Discernment takes time. There is no such thing as a “shot-gun” profession. I often see my role as the “pace car” – you know, the one that rides ahead of the racers who are yearning to cut loose and “put the pedal to the metal.” My job is to slow everyone down and help them round the tricky curves that come our way in serious discernment. I like the image – obviously.

So…where was I? Oh, yes…think of someone whom GOD might be calling. Close your eyes and hold them in your heart. Pray… Ask for GOD’s will to unfold. Pray that they might be given the courage to check out this weird, wonderful life. If they are meant for it, they will know joy like Easter and deep peace like Christmas. If they are meant for it, they will race to the finish line, “their hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love (RB Prol. 49).”

Blessings and love to you all...
- Sister Vicki