Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889
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The psalms express the full range of religious faith and the human experience. They are poems of lament, praise, confusion, and hope. They are prayers that represent the universal story of the soul’s journey through life. Walking with the Psalms, an online Zoom retreat which offers wisdom and shared reflection, is an invitation to welcome the psalms deep into your own spiritual journey until they become so familiar and meaningful that they walk with you on the way.
This online Zoom retreat will be Saturday, January 28, 2023, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. The retreat day includes time for presentations, small group shared reflection and solitude for personal reflections on the psalms. We recommend that you have a pen and a journal or paper available for the retreat experience. For those who are unable to join us on that particular day and time, as well as for those who participate, a recording of the retreat experience will be available after January 28.
All registrants will receive an email with the Zoom link and retreat information on Friday, January 27 at 2:00 p.m. (ET), and another email with the link and information on Saturday, January 28 at 10:00 a.m. (ET). Please register for this retreat BY January 28 at 10:00 a.m. (ET) at the latest. All registrants will also receive a video recording of the retreat afterward.
Mary Ellen Plumb, OSB, and Katie Gordon, Monasteries of the Heart staff members, will co-facilitate this experience from their own appreciation of the wisdom and grace of the psalms and the prominent place of the psalms within the monastic’s journey into the heart of God.
(click on the link above)
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Sister Dianne Wansley, O.S.B., a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Florida, passed into her eternal life on Friday, December 30, 2022. Born to Howard and Clara (Vann) Wansley on November 22, 1950 Sister was a native of Plant City, FL, the second of three children. Sister Dianne is also survived by her brother Ivan Wansley, sister-in-law Barbara Wansley, niece Kim Wansley and grandniece. Her brother Malcolm Wansley pre-deceased Sister Dianne.
Born into a family that was always active in their church, Sister Dianne had a solid Christian upbringing as a Southern Baptist. Her father was a deacon, her mom, a religion teacher. At age 25, after college, she converted to Catholicism in 1976. Wanting to grow in her faith she made a retreat at Holy Name Monastery in Saint Leo. Sister said, “I was impressed by the love that the Sisters had for each other.” She came to the Benedictine Sisters of Florida in January 1978 as a live-in volunteer.
Sister Dianne graduated from University of South Florida, Tampa, FL with a BA in Social Studies education and then earned her master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry with an emphasis on Liturgy from Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA. She also received post-graduate certification in Spiritual Direction from Boston College.
Joining the Benedictine Sisters in September, 1978, Sister Dianne faithfully served the community for 46 years in numerous capacities. Sister was an accomplished iconographer, artist, served on the liturgy committee, provided spiritual direction for retreatants and was the director of Postulants and Novices (sisters in discernment vow stages) for the Community. She was the organist and pianist for the community. Sister Dianne also served on the Saint Leo Town Commission.
She taught for fourteen years in public and private schools in Florida. In Ocala, FL she taught at both Northern Marion Middle School and Blessed Trinity school. She also taught social studies at Marshall Junior High School (now Middle) in Plant City, FL. She also served as a music minister for student Masses at Saint Leo University.
A Vigil service on Friday, January 6th at 7:00 pm at Holy Name Monastery (12138 Wichers Road, St. Leo, FL). Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at Holy Name Monastery on Saturday, January 7th at 10:30 am.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be directed to Benedictine Sisters of Florida, PO Box 2450, St. Leo, FL 33574.
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It is a joyous time of year!
The birth if Jesus represents hope and renewal.
Won’t you please remember the Sisters who have touched lives through their prayers and service with a gift meaningful from you? The work of the Sisters and their example make our world better and supporters of their work are made better people through financial gifts.
Go to our website at: https://benedictinesistersoffl.org/
Click on the DONATE NOW button
If you have already given during this giving season, THANK YOU!
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For many people this last week of Advent is fraught with frantic shopping, concern about who they’ve forgotten to get a gift for, cards that are not going to arrive before Christmas, children whose hopes are going to be dashed, worry about what food stamps will buy that will still look like a festive meal, the choice between food on the table or gifts under the tree, gas prices that prohibit travel to be with relatives, who’s going to watch the children while there’s no school, day care that’s not in the budget and parents who still have to go to work.
Our lifestyle should stand out in contrast to all the hustle and bustle, the preoccupations with secular concerns. We have the luxury and the burden of putting first things first. The sign Ahaz refuses to ask for in the first reading can be the one we project to the world. We can heed Isaiah’s alert and not weary people or our God. We can shorten real-life “posadas” by coming out of our shells when we’d like to hibernate in our self-made cocoons.
For the pregnant Mary these days just before giving birth to Jesus should have been “nesting days” but Mary was traveling. May we use this next week for “nesting” – readying our hearts and our living spaces for the Babe to take deeper residence in us and in our community.
These days are a time to listen like Jesus’ foster father Joseph to our dreams. Let us awake, arise and do what the Spirit commands. Sometimes it may be puzzling the connections we make. For instance, Joseph’s dilemma, and the angel’s intervention, had me humming two songs: “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” (from Cinderella) which continues: “…when you’re fast asleep; in dreams you will lose your heartaches, whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling through.” The other dream song, “I Have A Dream” was written in memory of Martin Luther King, Jr: “I have a dream, a song to sing, to help me cope, with anything …I believe in angels, when I know the time is right for me …I have a dream, to help me through reality and my destiny.”
There is an air of festivity this time of year not solely in our faith tradition, but also, for instance, in the celebrations of Hanukkah and Kwanza as well. Christmas, sometimes referred to as Yuletide, is on a fixed date during the winter solstice. Kwanzaa was established in the 1960’s as a way to help African Americans connect with their African history and culture. It is a week-long spiritual festival celebrated December 26 to January 1. The seven-candle Kinara (candle holder) honors principles of Unity, Self-Determination, Responsibility, Cooperation, Purpose, Creativity and Faith.
Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish festival that commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the oppressive power of the Syrian-Greeks and the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The eight-candle menorah with its day-by-day increase in light, symbolizes the days of creation and the dependable guidance of God. There is a long-held Hanukkah tradition that delights children as well as adults: the practice of “gelt-giving” – money or chocolate coins – which teaches lessons in charitable giving.
Comparing these festivals, it’s easy to see that despite representing a variety of cultural and faith traditions, there are commonalities: honoring our ancestry, candle lighting, charity, gift-giving, family spirit.
Our prayer intention for the next two weeks will express our gratitude for God’s boundless generosity in the persons of our relatives, friends, and benefactors. May they know our gratitude and be blessed by God for their graciousness to us.
~by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB
