Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

Holy Name Monastery

Third Sunday of Easter

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FishingwithJesusAt the end of a long day, swapping stories about Jesus and his miracles, Peter’s friends may have asked him, “When do you think we will see Jesus again?”  Peter could have replied, “I have no idea.  In fact, I’m getting a bit frustrated with his absence.  It had been easy to follow Jesus around during his earthly ministry, but now they never know where he’s going to appear.”

Peter, the leader, decides to make a move. “I’m tired of sitting around waiting for him.  I’m out of here. I’m going fishing.” It is what he knows best. The others go along with him.   I think he’s simply saying: I gotta get out of here – I need some space to unwind – figure this out!  Like a lot of people, Peter is grateful that the others joined him.  It’s comforting to have friends who are on the same page. And, this is where Jesus finds them.  Strange isn’t it since Jesus had told them to go into Galilee and wait there for Him?

These disciples had been fishermen most of their lives before Jesus called them.  Some say they suffered a moment of doubt – a scary moment of spiritual darkness. I prefer to think of it merely as a night stress reliever, not unlike the desire that many people have to go fishing today.  Like us sometimes, they just wanted to get away for a while – an excuse to leave the stress of the everyday by returning to nature.

They know their trade well, they know these waters like the back of their hands – just where to get the best fish.  But this is a frustrating night – nothing, nil, zip, nada!  After each toss of the net, they come up empty.

Well, it’s dawn by now.  They were ready to draw up the nets and call it a night, when they spied someone at the shore line – there by a charcoal fire.  They don’t recognize the fellow.  This time, unlike the night of the storm on the lake, Jesus does not tell them “It is I.”  What he says is, “Try the other side – lower the nets on the other side of the boat.”   Baffled but trusting that the stranger might know what he’s talking about, or maybe just to humor him, they switch the nets.  And AMAZINGLY they pull in a huge haul!  If you know anyone who goes fishing, you know they have to tell you about their catch.  It appears it is such an ingrained trait even the evangelist reports it – 153 fish!  The number may be symbolic or it may just be to emphasize it was a BIG catch.

Suddenly the light bulb goes off: this is a familiar voice – John cries out, “It is the Lord!”  Always the impetuous one, Peter grabs his garments and drives in the swim to shore.  He throws clothes ON to jump in the water – isn’t that a bit backwards?  But Jews regarded a greeting as a religious act that could be done only when one was clothed.”

The disciples reach the shore; they find that Jesus had a fire prepared with fish already cooking.  Jesus had all the things they needed after being out all night on the water.  They found food, warmth and companionship.  They found a Savior who loved them and who had all the provisions in place that they needed.  Everything they lacked on that boat, they found when they came to Jesus!

The last thing we hear Jesus did is to give Peter this command, “Follow Me!”  It wasn’t the first time Peter’d heard this.  The last call is the same as the first.  It’s a re-commissioning.  We see that Jesus hasn’t changed His mind about Peter, even though Peter had denied him or any knowledge of him.  Peter’s call had not changed.

What can we learn from this folksy story which is found only in John’s Gospel?  What lesson is Jesus teaching us?

First, I believe we have to acknowledge that our first call is our forever all.  And, I don’t mean a vocational call.  Long before our call to a state in life or a ministry in the church or a career, God called to each of us: You are Mine!  We may back step, misstep, wander off the path. But God still calls Follow me.  Remember the hymn: What a Friend we have in Jesus. – He is our forever friend.

Another thing we see in this story … we have to be willing to wait through the dark night, the darkness, the emptiness in our boat when nothing seems to be happening.  When fishing and everything else seems in vain….  Seekers go elsewhere, we have poor attendance at programs, plans fizzle, volunteers don’t show up.  Be patient!  As it says in the Benedictus we pray each morning: “In your tender compassion, O God, the morning sun will rise, giving list to those who wait.”

This is when we have to flexible – cast the nets of the “other side of the boat.”  Look at the trends, where the fish are biting – listen to others’ suggestions and try new ideas – that’s where the 153 fish are ready to take a nibble.

Remember the part in the story about Peter being lightly clad.  (Some translations say “naked”.)  We have to be willing to be unclad before God – to stand naked before the Lord: put down our defenses, let up the shades and face the shadow-self so that when Jesus appears we can be clothed with the garments of innocence and integrity to greet the Lord.

When the night is over, and the dawn approaches, our ministries will be expanded, our nets will be ready and in good shape to catch the “fish” God sends to us for hospitality and membership.  We’ll bring our gifts of bread and wine, made from gifts that God gave first us: grain and grapes, the fruit of the earth. God has no need of anything further. Yet God accepts the offering we bring  – “the work of human hands”—and transforms them into the gift of his very presence.

As the dawn comes, Jesus meets us on the shore with everything we need.  And it’s customized, personalized just for me, just for our faith community.   Jesus is not only standing on the shore, he is waiting.  The question for us is: how long must he wait?

~Reflection by Prioress, S. Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

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Second Sunday of Easter

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christ is risen w tombWelcome to the Second Sunday of Easter.  Notice it’s “of”, not “after” .. because, you know this, Easter’s not a single day, or even an octave but a season of 50 days.

There’s no question that we know how to do Easter as an even: the question is … How are we at Easter as a way of life?

The great Easter truth we celebrate is not that we are going to live anew after death, but, by the power of Jesus’ resurrection we are new here and now!

“Here and now” – that’s easier said than done. If it’s any consolation, the first Christians: those who had the direct experience of our risen Lord don’t seem to have been much better at it than we are.  During the Easter season we’ll be reading a series of “post – resurrection” stories: the women at the tomb who seemed to have forgotten the “punchline”: that Jesus told them he would rise after three days. It took the angels to remind them of that rather important detail. And then they ran back to tell the disciples, but, the men didn’t believe them!  And, Mary in the garden?  She thought Jesus was the gardener

Imagine today’s Gospel scene.  It’s a week later.  Without warning, Jesus is in their midst – no time to run and hide under the table.  He’s THERE.  Someone’s first reaction was probably, who left that door open?  Immediately, Jesus “breathed on them”.

Some things we just can’t see. But we know they’re there anyway. Like the air when a gentle breeze caresses our cheek.  God’s love is sort of like the air, isn’t it? It fills us up –  even though we can’t see it – we can feel it in our hearts.  When Jesus breathed on them, Thomas who had missed Jesus’ first visit and wants to see Jesus with his very own eyes, expresses his belief. But Jesus reminds him of something very important.   Sometimes we just have to believe in things that we can’t see. We have a special name for that. We call it “faith.”

You may recall the words of several hymns that refer to the spirit breath of God: “Be our breath,” “fall afresh on me,” “whose breath is seed outpoured –  calling all things to birth,” “with your breath melt the frozen, warm the chill,”        One of my favorite Marian hymns often heard at Christmas, is sung by Amy Grant, entitled “Breath of Heaven.  It’s the story of Mary’s pondering the workings of the Incarnational Spirit within her.  Mary’s prayer becomes mine: “Breath of heaven, Hold me together, Be forever near me, Breath of heaven – Be with me now, lighten my darkness, Pour over me your holiness, for you are holy, breath of heaven.”

It has become for me a prayer: to be filled with the breath of God … And, that’s what Easter as a way of life is all about. And it’s a way of life we live one day at a time: one step at a time — trusting that even if we take a mis-step, we never journey so far from God that the life-giving breath of that Spirit is beyond our reach: even when that seems impossible to believe.

That’s the lesson we learn from Thomas who has gone down in history as “doubting Thomas” because he refused to accept the testimony of others, but demanded his own experience.  He has borne the brunt of almost two millennia of bad press because of His skepticism about the resurrection and Jesus’ appearance to the other disciples.  Yet, what did Thomas ask for that the others had not received?  They had seen Jesus. They had maybe had a chance to touch His wounds.  Why is Thomas ridiculed for his insistence that he see for himself?

I’m a little intrigued, actually, about how quick we are to make Thomas the poster child for faithless doubt. As a matter of fact, the rest of the bunch didn’t do any better.  Remember:  the women at the tomb, the men who didn’t believe the women’s story, Peter who runs back to see for himself …. and here are the “faithful” disciples, after the appearance of Jesus: still locked in the upper room.

Think about it:  why did Thomas come back at all. Whatever had taken him away from the community, he came back. And it was in the midst of the community that Jesus came to him, and without so much as a confession or absolution, offered him what he needed to believe: “Touch, me Thomas. Do not be faithless, but believing.”

One of Thomas’ great virtues was that he absolutely refused to say that he understood what he did not understand, or that he believed what he did not believe. There was an uncompromising honesty about him: he would never still his doubts by pretending they did not exist.

But, he refused to surrender to the fear, too, which kept the other disciples shut up in that locked room. He ventured out and then had the courage to come back – to face a community which had had an experience that he had not shared.  At first he insisted on his own experience of God.   Jesus knew what he needed – He extended his hand to him – not a hand out; but a hand up, the nudge Thomas’ needed to bolster his faith “my Lord and my God.”  This is our challenge, and our privilege, to figure out what people need –  to offer the comfort, security and peace that will bolster their faith in a loving God.  This, too, is the challenge the Good Shepherd extends to us on Divine Mercy Sunday: to lead people to green pastures, where, surely goodness and kindness and mercy may follow them all the days of their lives.”

With Thomas, and all whose faith wavers:  we pray, “Breathe on me breath of God, until my heart is pure. Until with you, my will and Yours are one – not my will but yours be done.”

~ Reflection by Prioress, S. Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

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Feast of St. Benedict

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The Feast of St. Benedict is April 5, 2016

St. Benedict3

HOSPITALITY

Welcoming Christ in each other

 

Benedictine Hospitality helps us focus on Divine Presence in our lives,

in each person we meet and in the circumstances of life.

By acknowledging the mystery of God’s presence in our lives,

we become aware of the needs of others and how we might meet those needs.

This ever deeper trust in God and awareness of God’s presence

creates a climate for Hospitality – welcoming Christ in each other.

 

 

-from Benedictine Health System 2016

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Palm Sunday 2016

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palm-sunday1There’s a saying you’ve surely heard:  “something just has to be said.”  In our Palm Sunday readings we discover those who are eager to say it, those who would say it if no one else did, and we see those who were determined that it not be said.

Let’s start with those who were eager to say it. The crowds who had seen Jesus’ ministry, his miracles, heard his teaching, even partially comprehended the meaning of what he was saying. Their lives had been touched and they were eager to speak and cry out “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  Their words were an acknowledgment that they were placing their hope in Jesus – their future, their security, their salvation.  They expressed that hope by throwing their cloaks in front of the donkey Jesus was sitting on. Loud words were on their lips in acknowledgement of Jesus as the Chosen One, the Messiah come to deliver them.   The palm branches that padded the path were, in and of themselves, but a symbol; their worship was in their words and actions.

We know there were also those in the time of Jesus who were determined that some things not be said – those who just had no stomach for acknowledging that Jesus was the Messiah – the one who deserved what they considered a bunch of “hoopla.”

That spirit is in our culture today to. We hear voices that say “Just keep your religion to yourself. And, whatever you do, don’t be loud about it.”   We hear it expressed in choices to ignore history, disbelieve the evidence of global warming, choose to turn their backs, or worse their hearts, against persons of other cultures, upbringing, and color. Modern-day Pharisees have learned not to listen to it; to remain silent – to let the chips fall where they will as long as they don’t land in their back yards.

Thank God for the Thomas Mertons and the Joan Chittisters and Pope Francis in our day; for websites and blogs like “Climate change” and others that keep us alert to issues of injustice and crimes against humanity and the very earth itself: immigration and trafficking and fracking and the list goes on.  If those who are divinely gifted with the ability to speak remain silent, then the voice-less gifts of creation will cry out in “silent speech.”   We recall that Scripture tells us that when Jesus died on the cross, the Pharisees did not want it acknowledged that this Jesus they’d crucified was the Son of God. Even the disciples had turned silent, fled and hid.

But, what did happen? The Sun cried out the only way it could – by becoming dark from the 6th to the 9th hour.  The rocks cried out the only way they could, the earth shook, graves were opened and saints arose to give glory to God.  The temple cried out in the only way it could by tearing in two, top to bottom, the curtain that separated the holy from the unholy rendering it a useless monument to a ministry that was no longer valid.

Even the cross on which Jesus was hanging spoke out, proclaiming to all who saw it:  “This is the king of the Jews.”  Now unbelievers like the Centurion would cry out “surely this was the Son of God

The point is this: If we remain silent, as they say: “to keep the peace” – if we refuse to put our faith into words, creation will have to speak out. Some things just have to be said, and they will be said even if we do not say them.  Will those who are gifted with words use that gift, or will the rest of creation have to do it the only way that it can, by upheaval?

Palm Card PicWhen you participate in the Palm Sunday procession, pray for those who have no sense of who Jesus is and what marvelous things He has done for us.  We’ll wave our palms: We’ll sing Hosanna and look ahead to the Easter miracle.  Keep the palm and use it to remind yourself of who you were on Palm Sunday.

Gaze on your palm frond this week as you take assessment on your personal Lenten resolutions.  Note its color, its tapering shape, its flexibility – think about what it can become: a decorative cross, a floweret or hat to shield us from the sun’s penetrating rays.  Did you see a difference this year in your participation in our community activities?  Was it as whole-hearted as it might have been?  Did you make generous donations to our collections for Daystar and AIM?  Did the Corporal Works of Mercy get a little more attention this Lent?  How do you foresee yourself carrying forward the changes that, with the help of God’s grace, you have practiced for 6 weeks – that’s how long it takes to form new habits.  So the question is: Did it take?  Will it be a lasting change?

When times get tough, gaze at your palm frond to remind yourself of who you could be. Not the person in the crowd who yells out what everyone else is yelling, but that person who believes what she said on Palm Sunday, and who will follow Christ on the journey wherever it leads.

~Reflection by Prioress, Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB
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$1 Million Dollars Motivated a Boot Scoot’in Celebration!

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CheckPresentationThe Benedictine Sisters of Florida’s Hoedown event on March 4th was over-the-top!  Over 160 attendees enjoyed good food, home-made desserts, square and line dancing, auction bidding and awesome entertainment.  It was fun for all ages!

With country music accompaniment, Faith Pridmore in boots and cowgirl hat boot-scooted across the stage to introduce John Picciano, chair of the Future is Now Campaign.  The purpose of the $1,650,000 campaign is to fund an additional wing onto Holy Name Monastery.  We have been challenged soon after the building the new Holy Name Monastery in 2014 to have enough rooms for large groups wanting to stay for a 2, 3, or 4 day retreat and women desiring a live-in experience with our Order.

As a graduate of Saint Leo University and former priest with the Orlando Diocese, John shared his feelings about the Sisters and their influence on his life.   Then he called Sister Roberta to the stage and presented a $1 Million check for the Sisters and their construction project!

 John Picciano has been a friend of the community since his days as a student at Saint Leo University.  He is the CEO of Oglethorpe, Inc., an inpatient multi-hospital system dedicated to substance abuse care and counseling.  John has been doing God’s work helping individuals and families throughout his career.  His profound gift brings the total raised for the campaign as of March 4, 2016 to $1,329,896.  God is good!

Of course with the presentation, a standing ovation followed, red napkins encircled heads and the party really got started!  $1 Million Dollars got lots of people up danc’in!

With just $320,104 to go, please consider being a part of helping the Benedictine Sisters of Florida spread God’s Word to all those who come seeking spiritual guidance, peace and love.

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Are You In Danger of Becoming a Pharisee?

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It’s pretty easy to spot a Pharisee, and we might not like it to admit it, but we can all behave like a Pharisee if we’re not careful.   How will you knowPharisees if you’re a Pharisee?

If your official title is longer than your given name.

  • If you’re willing to be merciful – once.
  • If you feel your rules are the REAL rules.
  • If everyone outside your immediate circle, and most within it, are always wrong.
  • If God’s still small voice… sounds exactly like your own.
  • If you feel all the apples are spilled out of your cart when a rule is bent.
  • If you know the Word of God, but not the God of the Word.

You see, the Pharisees of Jesus’ day had started out wanting TO PLEASE God. They began in a day when Israel was deeply tainted with immorality and unrighteousness and somebody needed to stand in the gap. And the Pharisees stepped up to fill that need. And in an era where many Jews had abandoned the law of God, the Pharisees became like prophets to their people pointing them back to the Law of Moses and obedience to God’s will.

The Pharisees were THE religious people of the day and they took their “faith” seriously. Any time people take their faith seriously, it’s not a big step over the line from pleasing God to disobeying God.

So we want to be careful WE don’t do that too.  You see the Pharisees didn’t set out to make God angry.   They wanted to obey every one of God’s commands. They didn’t wake up one morning saying: “I’m going to make God mad today!”  It was just that their thinking was warped.  Rules had become all-important – People were UNIMPORTANT.  When the Pharisees brought this adulterous woman to Jesus… they didn’t care about her. A rule had been broken. She needed to be exposed.  She was only a tool – an object lesson they wanted to use to get at Jesus. They really hated Jesus.

In their warped thinking, God’s agenda was what they decided. And, they believed as long as they kept the rules their personal sins could be covered up. In reality they had no intention of stoning the woman … she was just a prop.  In fact, they couldn’t stone her. Once Rome conquered Judah, Judah became a Roman territory, and under Roman law, only the Roman governors had the authority to condemn people to death. You only have to look at the Crucifixion of Jesus to see that truth.  Do you remember who’s approval the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law needed to have Jesus executed? That’s right – Pilate. He was the Roman Governor at the time.

It was a perfect trap.  They didn’t care about the woman. And they didn’t care about Jesus. In their minds both of them had broken their rules… and both needed to be destroyed.

You need to understand, these Pharisees saw Jesus as an enemy of THEIR god. Their god was on THEIR side… and so anyone who opposed them was opposing God.

We can end up making Jesus our enemy by substituting our personal agenda for His. And if you’re not careful… you’ll not even know you’ve done it.  BUT there is one symptom of this dangerous attitude. It should be like a road sign saying “Don’t go there.”

When you get mad people don’t listen to you. Your opinion is being ignored. Things aren’t going YOUR way.  That can make you really angry. YOUR agenda is obviously the right agenda.  If you’re right it follow the other must be wrong.  If you feel that’s happening, pay attention. It’s a sign that you’re in danger of becoming a Pharisee.

The Pharisees had convinced themselves that if they could “look” good on the outside, that was as good as “being good” on the inside.  They fooled themselves into thinking that obeying certain rules was just as good as being righteous before God.  In fact they got most of the rules right.  By contrast, a Pharisee could tell you were going to hell – and you could tell they were thinking “got what you deserved – glad you are on your way.”

As this true story illustrates, warped thinking can lead you down a Pharisee-like path:

A 4-year told his mother” “Mom, I’m not gonna be like those bad guys Jesus was talking to; I’m not going to sin anymore.”   “Well, that’s very nice,” (she said). “What made you decided not to sin anymore?”  He answered: “Cause Jesus said if you don’t sin, you can throw the first stone and I want to throw the first stone.”

Reflection by Prioress, Sr. Roberta Bailey, OSB
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