Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

Community

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Our ancestors went out with joy to serve the people of God.

And, when the time was right…our time…… we are on the move again.

The opening lines of this Gospel selection seem to me to be a good description of what we did.  Many years ago our predecessors recognized a treasure across the street – a piece of land with a stunning view and a perpetual breeze; awesome sunrises and sunsets.  They buried it with a citrus grove – went out with joy to serve the people of God in many places.  And, when the time was right, our time (2014), we sold what we had and set out with joy to reclaim our treasured “pearl.”

Twelve years later we are on the move again, this time to an assisted living facility: American House on Pretty Pond Road in Zephyrhills, Florida.  This will be a gradual move as spaces become available.  For the time being four of us have made the move.  The transition has been a smooth welcome.  The residents have received “the Sisters” with helpful hints and are thrilled that Fr. John McEvoy will be offering Mass there on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursdays.

Let’s move on to our Gospel reflection. Jesus asks us: “Do you understand all these things?”  Like the disciples we without hesitation answer, “Yes.”  But, maybe our voices quiver and there’s a question mark in our expression. T is however a conviction in our hearts that we will extend God’s kingdom wherever we live, whatever the restrictions we encounter, and with whatever the resources we have at hand.

 The Gospel reading concludes with a curious statement about the scribe who understands the kingdom of heaven.   How do we identify and describe God’s Kingdom here on earth? One way that immediately comes to mind is the outpouring of love and concern evident in the “Christmas in July” celebration provided by the Columbiettes from St. Mark’s Parish in Tampa.  God bless them!

The words of a Quaker hymn come to mind: “We bend and we bow and shan’t be ashamed”.  Our mission remains the same – it just takes on a new shape.  Why did our Sisters come from Pennsylvania to settle in this area?  Was it not to feed the educational hunger of the local children?  Long before we wrote formalized philosophy statements and directional goals, our Sisters “fed hungers” in a variety of roles at all levels in the education field.  They worked in internal ministries and as nurses and home healthcare workers, seamstresses, coif makers, packing house workers, and gardeners.  You name it, as long as it was legal and moral, someone probably tried it.  Our aim is, and has always been, to foster life in community –  to BE community for each other: to pray and work; to interact with the care and respect St. Benedict describes in his Rule, particularly in RB chapter 72. It reads “be the first to show respect to the other”. In our community’s Core Commitment we express Benedict’s mandate by writing we are to be the first “to respond with the compassion of Christ to the hungers of our world.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

 Sorry this is a little late coming…

The four of us who have moved have had a smooth transition into life at American House.  The staff and residence alike have welcomed us and are happy that Fr John McEvoy will be offering 10 a.m. Mass (all welcome) on Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays.

 

 

First Reading:   1 Kings 3:5, 7-12         Second Reading:  Romans 8:28-30, 13:44-52
Gospel:   Matthew 13:44-46
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14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Come to me – and I will give you rest

My yoke is easy and my burden is light

 

Have you ever owned a woolen turtle-neck sweater?  And you’re wearing it for the first time? You discover that when you turn your head it scratches your neck?  Wear it too long and you may develop itchy red welts.  There’s nothing you can do. The day is just beginning, you have an important meeting, and you don’t have a change of clothes with you.  You soon realize if you sit perfectly still you get some relief.  For you see, it’s only when we wrestle with a “yoke” that it chaffs your necks.

Or, have you ever tried to run a three-legged race strapped to someone whose pace and rhythm just does not match yours?  Until you do match strides you wind up rolling on the ground and struggling more than once to get up.

And, what about that Angelus bell.  Until you give up total control and let the bell help you establish the rhythm …  well, you know what happens.  At least, over here the chain does not come tumbling down in a heap at your feet.  In our former monastery the pull-chain was encased in a pipe that ran from the bell two stories above the person ringing the bell.  If she pulled too hard, to her chagrin the nasty chair landed in a pile at her feet.

Too often our first impulse is to complain about all I don’t have.  The burden of ungratefulness, like that snarled Angelus bell, will only weigh heavy on my heart. Wonder of wonders how quickly it lifts when I consider all that I DO have at hand that will serve my purpose.

When I focus on what irks me about situations or people and forget all the gifts the flow into my life – the chaffing of the rope to the gunny sack I’ve loaded on my back will choke me.

Sometimes we struggle with the devil and temptation.  Maybe more times it a struggle with God that’s taking place within.  When we ease up and take God’s view, the tussle eases.

When you’re new in a group, office staff or in a community and you discover they’re not as perfect as you had imagined, they crumble from their pedestals.  When we give up the battle to make them into my image and look for the pleasantries and similarities to be found, the burden of integration becomes lighter.

Remember during in COVID time, what were the dilemma’s – the “yokes” that we tied around on our own necks?  You could slip into magical thinking in La-La Land.   Convince ourselves it was all a hoax. Act like it was everyone else’s responsibility to keep me safe from harm.   Tell ourselves the rules are for those “others,” not me.  Listen to every source of information I can muster and be scared to breathe? Or, strike a balance of precautions and trust that I can live with – that to the best of my ability keeps me safe and protects others especially those closest to me.  Remember, the yoke “chaffs” until we give up the control we don’t really have anyway.

Jesus saw examples of this everywhere he went.  We marvel at Jesus’ powers of observation!  How many times must he have gazed out on a field watching pair of yoked oxen dragging along a heavy cart or trudging to keep pace with a farmer sowing the next crop.  He saw the tussle and the back and forth between the pair, only hurting themselves with the push and pull of the yoke until a smooth rhythm was set.

Remember: Jesus said: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Learn from me – “I am meek and humble of heart.”  As my love for God and my acceptance of the realities of life deepen, we join Jesus in giving “thanks and praise to God the Father” for being so free with the graces given to us; for revealing the divine presence to us.

It behooves us to listen attentively to His words.  To hear His invitation, ‘Come to me’ is always an open invitation, especially at times like now, when we and our country, the church and the world really need the peace, rest, protection of God’s love.  We ask Jesus to come into our hearts and fill our lives with gifts that only God can give us.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

 

 

First Reading:   Zachariah 9:9-10         Second Reading:  Romans 8:9, 11-13
Gospel:   Matthew 11:25-30
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Summer Feast day for Saint Benedict

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How many books written in the sixth century are still in print today? How many of those are in active, everyday use by tens of thousands around the world today — not only monks and nuns, but oblates and other lay people? The answer is one: The Rule of St. Benedict — what the author, whose feast day we celebrate this Thursday, called “this little rule that we have written for beginners.”

At the heart of his Rule lie the four guiding principles which are the foundation of daily life for the Benedictine Sisters of Florida. These four — community, prayer, service, and hospitality — can light the way to a deeper daily spirituality for anyone.

Community

Benedict understood that community, like family and friends, can be messy. Rooted in scripture, the Rule offers a cure: “No one is to pursue what is judged better for self, but instead what is judged better for someone else. To their companions, they show the true love of sisters or brothers…” How would your own world be transformed if this became the way of life for you and those around you?

Prayer

Benedict’s guidance for prayer might surprise you. “God regards our purity of heart and tears…not our many words. Prayer therefore should be short and pure…” Prayer, Sister Joan Chittister writes, “is meant to call us back to a consciousness of God here and now.” How would your day be transformed if it were laced throughout with short, simple prayer that opened your eyes to the Divine in your daily life?

Service

We often view work, especially work that benefits someone else, as a burden, something we have to do but would rather avoid. Instead, Benedict reminds us that work is a privilege and serving others is an honor — something that has been true since the day Jesus picked up carpenter’s tools, then laid them down to heal, to feed, and to save the lost. “…live by the labor of your hands, as our ancestors and the apostles did…” says Benedict. How would your workdays be transformed if you saw each as a gift from God and an opportunity to serve others in Jesus’ name?

Hospitality

Possibly the most challenging 11 words in the Rule are these: “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.” How would you welcome Christ if He came to your door today? How would our neighborhoods and towns, states and nations be transformed if each of us welcomed everyone everywhere as Christ?

As you can see, St. Benedict wrote something that is as practical today as ever. Our prayer for you, today and always, is that you find yourself in a loving community, that you infuse your days with prayer, that you cultivate a heart for happy service, and that you welcome even the most unlikely person as Christ. When you do, you will find more contentment than you can imagine.

 

 

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History tells the rest of the story: We’re Still Here.

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This incident found in John’s Gospel reminds us that not everyone took to Jesus positively, even those who seemed to be quite close to him.  Some of the people – not unlike today, were murmurers and grumblers – folks not too keen on what they were hearing. Following Jesus was going to be no picnic (despite the way he’d fed the five thousand people).   The idea of total commitment was a disturbing concept.

We hear it in that sad and haunting verse: “From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.”  Obviously hurt by this defection, Jesus turns to Peter and the others who are closest to him and asks them if they’ll be taking off too: “Will you too go away?”   Peter, with his usual style, spoke on behalf of all Jesus’ loyal followers: “Master, to whom would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.” For Peter, at this time, it’s unquestionable: If Jesus said it, it must be true.  If you’ve looked ahead to the First Reading, you’re aware the church reminds us that Jesus’ experience of rejection was not unique.  1500 years earlier, Joshua, disciple of Moses, gives voice to a similar tribulation.  He addresses all the people: “If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve.”  The people answer in the same vein as Peter: “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord.”

One of my brother’s favorite books was: “This Tremendous Lover” by the Irish Trappist monk-priest Eugene Boylan. In 2002, I sent him a replacement copy for the one he’d given away.  At his death four years later, it was returned to me.  I had inscribed on the fly page: Bill, I hope this is as inspirational as you remember.  Boylan writes in his book: “Our Lord  was not looking for an enthusiastic public reception.  His miracles were not a ploy to grasp temporal power. The wonder of his public life is not the marvelous works He actually did, but the many and more wonderful works which He could have done and did not.  All He did and said and allowed to happen to him was part of God’s Grand Plan.”

What Jesus has to say is so important that he does not consider changing his message to please the people.  In fact, we can accurately say that a “Jesus” who doesn’t offend isn’t the real Jesus.

Our hearts go out to Jesus and to those who stuck with him.  If you have ever had anyone walk out on you, you can empathize with Jesus.  I recall the mixed feelings I had, when in the late 60s and early 70s we had five  deaths in one year.  It was not customary for those of us who were away for studies to come home for funerals, so there was a void for farewell until we got to visit the cemetery.  Then what some writers refer to as the “exodus”” began to happen and several of our peers felt the call to leave community. Some gave us a chance to say good-bye; others quite literally disappeared in the night.  These were good people. Some were rising leaders in community.  What did they know that I did not?  My feelings were not like the betrayal that Jesus suffered – but confusion and loneliness.    Were the shrinking numbers the handwriting on the wall and was I too blind to read it?

What does Jesus do when his ranks shrink?  Does he cajole the people, “Oh, I’m sorry that what I said was so hard to take.  Maybe we can compromise?”  Not at all!  Jesus does not let human opinion sway his proclamation of divine truth.  “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life”.  History tells the rest of our story: We’re still here!   God spoke long ago, through the mouth of Ezekiel: (36:23-28) “You shall live in the land I gave you long ago; you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

If our ears are open to the voice of the Spirit, we hear daily Jesus’ quizzing us: “Who do people say I am?”  He asks us, as he does all his friends, about our personal conviction: “Who do you say I am?”  The question also comes to us as a community.  Are we swayed by “public conviction,” forming the community we think the public wants us to be?  Or are we formed by personal and communally discerned convictions that raise peoples’ hope and help to lead the world where it needs to go now?

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

Have a good week …  pray for enjoyment and safety for all who (next weekend) will be celebrating Labor Day holiday!

 

 

 

First Reading:   Joshua 24:1-2a. 15-17, 18b         Second Reading:  Ephesians 5:21-32
Gospel:   John 6:60-69
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St. Benedict Feast Day

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Summer Feast day for Saint Benedict

How many books written in the sixth century are still in print today? How many of those are in active, everyday use by tens of thousands around the world today — not only monks and nuns, but oblates and other lay people? The answer is one: The Rule of St. Benedict — what the author, whose feast day we celebrate this Thursday, called “this little rule that we have written for beginners.”

At the heart of his Rule lie the four guiding principles which are the foundation of daily life for the Benedictine Sisters of Florida. These four — community, prayer, service, and hospitality — can light the way to a deeper daily spirituality for anyone.

Community

Benedict understood that community, like family and friends, can be messy. Rooted in scripture, the Rule offers a cure: “No one is to pursue what is judged better for self, but instead what is judged better for someone else. To their companions, they show the true love of sisters or brothers…” How would your own world be transformed if this became the way of life for you and those around you?

Prayer

Benedict’s guidance for prayer might surprise you. “God regards our purity of heart and tears…not our many words. Prayer therefore should be short and pure…” Prayer, Sister Joan Chittister writes, “is meant to call us back to a consciousness of God here and now.” How would your day be transformed if it were laced throughout with short, simple prayer that opened your eyes to the Divine in your daily life?

Service

We often view work, especially work that benefits someone else, as a burden, something we have to do but would rather avoid. Instead, Benedict reminds us that work is a privilege and serving others is an honor — something that has been true since the day Jesus picked up carpenter’s tools, then laid them down to heal, to feed, and to save the lost. “…live by the labor of your hands, as our ancestors and the apostles did…” says Benedict. How would your workdays be transformed if you saw each as a gift from God and an opportunity to serve others in Jesus’ name?

Hospitality

Possibly the most challenging 11 words in the Rule are these: “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.” How would you welcome Christ if He came to your door today? How would our neighborhoods and towns, states and nations be transformed if each of us welcomed everyone everywhere as Christ?

As you can see, St. Benedict wrote something that is as practical today as ever. Our prayer for you, today and always, is that you find yourself in a loving community, that you infuse your days with prayer, that you cultivate a heart for happy service, and that you welcome even the most unlikely person as Christ. When you do, you will find more contentment than you can imagine.

 

 

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“I Will Teach You How to Fish for People”

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A variety of motives influence people to exchange their old lives for new ones. What convinces a “seeker” that it’s worth leaving behind life as they know it?   Most of us know from our own and each other’s vocation stories, it’s the relationships we witness and experience within a community much more than our ministries that prompt newcomers to “test the waters.”

We, (individually and as a community), can put our full energy into the production all kinds of “lures” and “bait” … retreats and workshops, attractive vocation materials, holy cards, videos, websites and other social media … but that’s only part of what Jesus meant when he promised to teach us how to fish for people.  But, keep in mind that vocation – to any and every state in life – is GIFT!   And, remember fishing from our boat requires that each one has to do her assigned task of mending the nets, casting the line or preparing bait … no slackers allowed.  And, all of us have to row in sync lest we tangle oars or go in perpetual circles.   Look to Jesus – how did He fish?  He taught, He gave witness, He invited; He did not disappoint, He was (and is) faithful to His word.

So, what kind of witness do we need to be constantly giving?  What do we need to leave behind (individually and communally) to convince an observer that our community is worth a further look?  It’s an exceptional challenge in these pandemic times.  But the phone calls and email messages; the ZOOM Oblate Meetings, the videos on our website, the personal letters, the eblasts from our Advancement Staff keep our readers coming back.  In current lingo, the “soft touches” are ways to seal the friendships and supportive interest that last a life time.  What is the bait, the lure that will prompt more questions, extended visits, developing relationships and finally prompt someone to dare to say, “This is where I feel God is calling me; I’m willing to follow His lead, to leave all behind for the sake of Jesus’ call, with these Sisters (whom I now call my own) here at Holy Name Monastery.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

Have a good week…   Be good Fishers for Christ…   God Bless

 

 

First Reading:   Jonah 3:1-5,10         Second Reading:  1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Gospel:   Mark 1:14-20

 

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