Christmas is still coming...

I thought Christmas came early in mid-December when Sister Connie Ruth came home. Having both sisters home again made any gift under the tree seem like overkill. Then, a few weeks later, I thought Christmas came when we were given the OK to decorate the monastery. (We live the fullness of Advent so greens, red ribbon and lights don’t go up until the 23rd!) And on Christmas Eve, as good friends and annual Mass-goers came together at midnight, I thought Christmas came in the candlelight and the bells and bows. Then, early in the darkness of Christmas morning, I sat alone by our Christmas tree with a blessed cup of coffee. Most of the house was still asleep as the Midnight Mass festivities ended around 2 AM. I felt Christmas come again in the silence of my heart.

Christmas comes whenever we think of GOD’s great leap into the human condition, whenever bells and bows remind us of the real gift we have in Jesus. Christmas comes whenever we allow the Word into our flesh, whenever we welcome the stranger as guest or make peace our quest and aim. The older I get the more I love this great feast. Every Christmas is an opportunity to receive Him in the heart, to adore Him with our humble gifts, to proclaim Him with our love. Today is liturgically the 3rd day of Christmas – it is a season. Christmas is still coming, friends. Welcome it…share it…give thanks for it. From our house to yours, a Merry Christmas!

Blessings and love to you all…
- Sister Vicki

Fire and water...

It’s still early yet. Sister Mary and Karen have headed north to our monastery ahead of a snow storm expected here in Richmond. I am working in front of the fireplace in our Community Room. OK, not really working. I think I am still praying. When I came downstairs at 5:15, I turned the fireplace on – even before I started the coffee! Praying in front of the fire is a winter gift in this house. It’s easy prayer – if there is such a thing. All I have to do is look at the beauty and feel the warmth and I know GOD is. Water has a similar effect on my soul. When we have our precious week at the beach each summer, watching the waves and listening to them crash becomes my prayer. The immensity of GOD – the sheer breadth and depth of Love – washes over me there. Later this morning when water turns to snow, the earth will feel GOD’s love – like a great white blanket. And beauty will speak of a Love that can often elude me in my everyday searching. Sometimes, my search for GOD is purely elemental – as simple as opening my eyes to the wonder for fire and water and accepting those gifts as GOD’s love.

Blessings and love to you all,
Sister Vicki

Carrying our friends to Jesus...

The first time I saw Sister Connie Ruth walk, I wept. It was nearly one month ago in the therapy gym at Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation Hospital. I watched quietly, as two physical therapists stood on either side to help Sister stand. Then, with the use of a walker, Sister Connie Ruth took a step…and then another…and then another. By the time she reached the middle of the gym, I was handed a box of Kleenex by another staff member. The tears were unexpected and unrelenting. There was a time, not so long ago, when I thought I’d never see Sister walk again. It was truly a miracle to behold.

In today’s gospel the friends of a paralyzed man bring him to Jesus for healing. The crowd around the Lord was so dense that they opened up the roof and lowered him down. By his word alone, Jesus healed the suffering man. All were astonished as the paralytic picked up his mat and walked on legs that were thought to be useless. I suspect there was some weeping in that crowd, too, though the evangelist only tells us of the outrage of the Pharisees. It’s obvious why this gospel grabbed my heart today. We have been carrying our sister to Jesus in prayer for four long months. We expect Sister Connie Ruth to be released from the hospital sometime this week and return home to the monastery. Soon, my sisters with know the joy of seeing what I saw. God’s power is shining through both of our injured sisters as they continue to return to health. May God bless all the doctors, nurses and therapists who have given their gifts to this effort.

Blessings and love to you all…
- Sister Vicki

Message received...

It was about 6:50 AM when I saw it through the kitchen window. I gasped and walked briskly to the oratory where Sister Mary was preparing her books. I decided to go "Trappist" and motioned for her to follow me. As we headed to the back of the house, Karen noticed the parade and followed with her coffee cup. I unlocked the back door which leads to a small deck. Out we went into the cold morning air to see the most breathtaking sunrise about to burst over the trees. It was cloudy blue and pink and orange - layers of pulsing color that heralded a the coming of a new day. I knew if we waited even 30 minutes, it would be long gone. Standing briefly with our arms wrapped around ourselves for warmth, we could no longer hold our morning silence. "Oh, my!" "Wow!" I smiled and then we quickly scooted back into our little oratory just in time for Morning Prayer. I was still thinking about that sunrise after the reading of the Holy Rule - so much so, that I forgot I was the prayer leader and we sat in silence a bit too long. It was so beautiful...surely Saint Benedict wouldn't mind a few "ooh's" and "ah's" before the liturgical release of our tongues. Maybe, I'm not giving my housemates good example. There are times, Benedict says, when even good words should be held in deference to silence. I don't know... We finally stood to worship the Trinity and sang the most perfect hymn for the feast of St. Andrew. We sat and opened our books to the proper page for the first psalm and there it was!

"The sky tells the glory of God,

tells the genius of God's work.

Day carries the the news to day,

night brings the message to night."

Psalm 19 goes on to extol the rhythm of night into day. It is really an ode to the wisdom of God's creation and a hint of the salvation to come in Christ, the Light. I couldn't believe it! I'm not an advocate of breaking morning silence. But I do know that Benedict's Rule is flexible is it is anything at all. God gave the world a gift in the pre-dawn light and we were blessed to receive it. All my second-guessing just pulls me from the simple joy of gratitude. The psalms are always a blessing to me. There are days, like this one, when I feel as if a message has been tucked inside a bottle - just for me. Thank you, God, for the message received.

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

King of kings...

I love the royal family. Maybe, like most Americans, I am enamored of an ethos beyond my grasp. OK, a woman could pull a “Grace Kelly” and marry into the system. But there is something mythical and mysterious in a royal bloodline – a covenant of leadership and service passed on from generation to generation. I got up in the early hours of morning to watch the wedding of Charles and Dianna Spencer – along with a few million other folks. It’s hard to believe it was almost thirty years ago! But as Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince William to Kate Middleton, it seemed like yesterday when the world stood still for a royal wedding.

Today the Church celebrates the last Sunday of the liturgical year with a special feast commonly referred to as, “Christ the King.” Like Trinity Sunday, it’s a tough one to preach. What does it mean that Christ is our “king?” Certainly, he is like no king we’ve ever heard of. Scripture tells a different story. There was no royal entourage – just eleven guys who peeled off and left him in his hour of need. He had no throne – just a tree reserved for criminals and enemies of the state. And the crown? Well, you see where this is going. This Son of David laid aside his power to show us another way. This visible image of the invisible God accepted suffering and death to show us that love will always be the last word. By his wounds we were healed. Now, truly free, truly forgiven…we can choose that love as our guiding star. We can choose to serve a King who knelt to wash feet, who touched the leper and ate with sinners.

I’ll probably watch the next royal wedding. (It will probably be a community event!) I wish William and Kate well. It is a bit of a fairy tale. Every girl wants to be a princess, they say, and most women might long to love a king. My heart wants more. My king is love. My king wants to rule hearts not nations. This king reigns wherever peace is preferred to power, where the least are loved and cared for, where the sinner is welcome at table and the stranger becomes the honored guest. His kingdom is within each of us who claim him as Lord. And that kingdom will come in its fullness when love is the only reason, the only answer, the only way.

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

Share our joy...

It’s Saturday morning. The warm sun is shining through my “office” window on the second floor of the convent in Richmond. I am answering e-mails and working with my calendar. Karen is enjoying a free day which means extra sleep, lots of good coffee and connecting with her family. Sister Mary is working at the monastery this weekend – grant research for development. And, last but not least, Sister Charlotte Lange is resting and praying in the first floor “recovery room.”

Yes, our sister was discharged on Tuesday and has settled in to the new but very familiar rhythm of the mission house. Physically, she is improving daily beyond my initial expectations. Sister is walking independently with the help of a cane. Home Health nursing, PT and OT are coming here now. The rigorous therapies are paying off in increased independence and moments of sheer joy. She is all smiles and full of gratitude for every small help or kindness. Being back in community, I think, is making a huge difference. Sister Charlotte is even joining us for the Liturgy of the Hours! (She’s not ready for her prayer book yet, but she’s singing the hymn and the canticle with all her might.)

Although the physical achievements are huge, it is Sister Charlotte’s attitude that feels miraculous to me. From the moment she woke up – two weeks after the accident. Sister Charlotte has maintained the certainty that God has everything in hand. She has not searched for the “why.” She simply accepts the events of this summer in faith and trusts that God has a plan – a vision beyond our own that sees every joy and suffering in some sacred context of meaning. When asked if the accident has changed her, Sister Charlotte responds, “How could it not?” Some regular joys have returned – like watching “Law & Order” in the Community Room. But Sister Charlotte spent the first eight weeks of her recovery in contemplation – no TV, no ordinary distractions. Illness, I think, can be a hermitage – a sacred place in which we encounter God in a way that transforms us. We are changed by what has been and experience of being vulnerable and dependent. I believe every moment of the last 15 weeks (tomorrow) has been the ultimate gift of her life to God. Sister Charlotte’s acceptance of the accident – the loss of Sister Denise and the critical injuries sustained by her and Sister Connie Ruth – is evidence of the power of God’s grace to sustain and transform the heart of faith. I know the lessons are not over. Each day as I assist her, I am the one who is gifted. It is a mystery – an experience of being in the present moment with someone through whom Christ is shining. I am not the same, either.

Blessings and love to you all…
- Sister Vicki

Birthday blessings in Ohio...

1) a gift of time from the cosmos – an extra hour of sleep!
2) Facebook greeting from friends that span four decades!
3) a voice mail from my community singing and sending love
4) being serenaded by 400 vocation directors
5) thanking my Dad for falling in love with my Mom
6) a body healthy enough to walk 10 blocks to the red line train (saving us $33 in cab fare!)
7) listening to my nieces and nephews sing “happy birthday” Aunt Vicki
8) a bubble bath and fluffy hotel bathrobe
9) chatting with my sibs
10) wanting nothing more than to be a 47-year-old Benedictine Sister of Virginia