Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

God

Everywhere We are In The Presence of God

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Wow!  Talk about conflicts!  Jesus keeps teaching us to love our neighbors as ourselves, love our enemies and do good to those who hate us.  Now he says, “Hate your mother and father, your brother and sister, your wife and children, even your own life.”   Obviously, you cannot have it both ways: Love everybody and hate your family.

Jesus is inviting us to think it over seriously.  Listen to Him: “To be my disciple is unusually difficult. You must make a TOTAL commitment.  Nobody, absolutely nothing, can come before me. I am your one Lord and God. In case of conflict, your nearest and dearest must take second place.”

I share now what Richard Rohr has to say on taking that first step to discipleship: recognize, acknowledge and accept the truth that everywhere and at all times we are in the presence of God.  

We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.  Each time you take another breath, realize that God is choosing you again and again—and yet again. We have nothing to work up to or even learn. We do, however, need to unlearn some things, and most especially we must let go of any thought that we have ever been separated from God.

To become aware of God’s presence in our lives, we have to accept what is often difficult.  We have to accept that human culture is in a hypnotic trance. We are sleep-walkers, as St. Paul says “seeing through a glass darkly.”   Wisdom teachers from many traditions have recognized that we human beings do not naturally see; we have to be taught how to see.

That’s what religion is for, to help us let go of illusions and pretenses so we can be more and more present to what actually is. That’s why the Buddha and Jesus both say with one voice, “Be awake.” Jesus talks about “staying watchful.”  And word “Buddha” literally means “I am awake” in Sanskrit. Jesus says further, “If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.”

We have to learn to see what is already here. Such a simple directive is hard for us to understand. We want to attain some concrete information or achieve an improved morality or learn some behavior that will make us into superior beings. We have a “merit badge” mentality. We worship success. We believe that we get what we deserve, what we work hard for, and what we are worthy of. It’s hard for Western people to think in any other way. But any expectation of merit or reward actually keeps us from the transformative experience called grace.

Experiencing radical grace is like living in a different world. It’s not a world in which I labor to get God to notice me and like me. It’s not a world in which I strive for spiritual success.  Unfortunately, many good people are afraid of gratuity. Instead, we want God for the sake of social order, and we want religion for the sake of social controls. God cannot be seen through such a small and dirty lens.

I suggest that this week we check our spiritual spectacles, clean off any smudges and be open to receiving the radical graces God is waiting to hand us.   The two brief parables in the Gospel (a person constructing a tower and a king marching into battle) make this point obvious – don’t start what you cannot finish.   We must be prepared to accept that discipleship is something we can only commit to if we are prepared to put God before everything else.  Jesus is asking us for TOTAL commitment.

Pray with the Responsorial Psalm: “In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge; teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.  Fill us at daybreak with your kindness that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.”

 

~by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

First Reading  Wisdom 9:13-18b      
Second Reading  Plilemon 9-10, 12-17
Gospel Reading  Luke 14: 25-33

 

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If You Listen For My Bell, I Promise I Will Listen For Yours

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On Friday of this week the Church will celebrate the story of a special friendship: Jesus and Mary, Martha and Lazarus.   The two sections in today’s Gospel – the prayer of Jesus and the reminder that when we seek we shall find, and that our knock and will open the door –   each is a comforting promise of God’s personal gift of friendship. I’d like to share with you a story of friendship – imaginary but nonetheless one that I trust will touch your heart.

 

TALE of TWO HORSES

[Author unknown – adapted]

If you listen for my bell, I promise I will listen for yours

Picture if you will that just down the road from our monastery a field with two horses in it.  Standing at this distance, each looks like any other horse.  But, as you move closer to work in the outdoor garden or perhaps are walking nearby, you will notice something quite amazing.  Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind.  His owner has chosen not to have him put down. But, rather, has made a good home for him.  This in itself is amazing!

Now stand still.  Listen!  Really listen!  Do you hear the soft tinkle of a bell? When you spot the source of the sound, you see it comes from the smaller horse in the field.  Attached to her halter is a small bell and couple Christmas “jingle” bells.  The “Jingle, Jangle” sound lets her blind friend always know where she is.  Now he can follow her and avoid collisions with the fence and small trees and corrals her wandering too far afield.

As you stand in amazement watching these two friends, you’ll see how the blind friend is always checking on the other’s where-abouts.  He listens for her bell and then slowly walks forward trusting that his little friend will not lead him astray.  When the “faithful bell ringer”  returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, she stops occasionally and looks back, making sure her friend isn’t too far behind to hear the bell.

Like the owner of these two horses, God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have problems or challenges.  God watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need.  Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by the little bell ringers –  those companions whom God places in our lives for as long as we need them.  At other times we are the guide horse, helping others see their way.

Good friends are like this …  You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there.

~by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

This week kindly include in your prayers our community, and our retreat director, Father Patrick Boland, O.S.B. from Subiaco Abbey Arkansas.  May God give him the grace to speak the words we need to hear.  And, in turn, may we each be open to receive the WORD.

As July comes to a close, following our retreat week, we will be engaged in four days of evaluation and planning for the next few years.  Our agenda will include 3rd year assessment of our direction statements – what have we done, what remains, is it still relevant, next steps for us?  Throw into the mix a movie, a TED Talk and a community game night along with a couple outside speakers, reports and culminating in proposal of, and commitment to, goals for 2022-23 and beyond

 Remember our out-reach project for June and July?  Support our friend S. Winny’s project to open a kindergarten and catechetical program in educational “desert” in Tanzania.  Refer to our website www.benedictinesistersoffl.org for how you can support this ministry.

God bless you and your families … be safe, stay hydrated, do what you can “climate control” Mother Earth … every effort does count!

 

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Trinity Sunday

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This past week we returned to Ordinary Time.  However, the mood reverted quickly this weekend with the solemnity of the Holy Trinity and reappears next Sunday with the celebration of Corpus Christi – the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

The Gospel just proclaimed comes near the end of Jesus’ discourse at the Last Supper and is an example of the implicit teaching on the Trinity.  Jesus tells his disciples that the Spirit will declare what the Spirit hears from Jesus.  Elsewhere Jesus says, “The Father and I are one.”  If Jesus and the Father are one and the Spirit speaks what Jesus says, it follows that the three must be one.  Further evidence found in Scripture regarding the doctrine of the Trinity is found in the other readings for the feast.  But, if one expects today’s readings to give a clear presentation of the doctrine of the Trinity – they will be disappointed.

Remember the old saying “Two is company, three’s a crowd?” The Trinity shows us that three is community, three is love at its best; three is not a crowd.  When Love becomes complete is  Trinity.  Each one of us becomes fully human only when we are in relationship with God and in relationship with others.  I am truly Christian insofar as I live in a relationship of love with God and other people.

The important question for us today is: What does this doctrine of the Trinity tell us about the kind of God we worship and what does this say about the kind of people we should be?   With our three-fold vows, we are reminded of our commitment to a balance of prayer, labor and leisure.  We pray many times a day, in various ways, the familiar words of one of the first prayers many of us learned: the “Glory Be” in honor of, and thanksgiving for, the revelation of the Trinity:  Glory be to the Father…..

~by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

1st Reading: Proverbs 8:22-31          2nd Reading: Romans 5:1-5
Gospel : John 16:12-15
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Sin No More

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Last Sunday we heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke.  Our selection here from the Gospel of John offers another lesson about God’s mercy and forgiveness – not a parable but a report of a personal encounter between Jesus, some scribes and Pharisees, and a woman.  In this case, Jesus’ response to those who accuse the woman of adultery is a lesson in profound mercy and forgiveness.  A forceful reminder that we too have been saved by Jesus’ compassion.

The Gospel account says these people brought this woman to Jesus to trap him.  If he was a prophet, then he should be able to discern if she was guilty or not.  They sound like a bunch of four-year-olds – “Teacher, look what she did!  We saw her do it.”  And just how did they know?  Where were they snooping around?  Or did they take the word of the local gossip mongers?  What would Jesus do?

You see, Jesus had forgiven some people of their sins, like the man born blind and the crippled man.  But the sins that those people had not been accused of were not considered crimes.  Here was a woman accused of a major crime.  Her accusers say she was even caught in the very act.  So were there witnesses willing to testify against her?  Or had a trial already taken place and a verdict of GUILTY already upon her head.  The crowd was growing.  Everyone was anxiously waiting and watching: would Jesus fulfill the law or would he do what he’d done before and forgive her?

Her accusers seem to have no regard for the fact that maybe this woman did not initiate the sin.  They could not entertain the idea that perhaps it was the man!  If Jesus forgives this woman, he will restore her in two ways: spiritually and by saving her life he will restore her place in society.  In either case, here she was, dragged into the public limelight, counting on the compassion of the man of God.

Jesus appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place.  What’s he to do?  First he challenges the accusers: “Let the one among you who is without sin start the stoning.”  The crowd cheers; then grows silent – nothing is happening.  What must have been going through the minds those people that day?  The wait to see what he’s going to say or do.

He stoops down and writes in the dirt.  The crowd is pushing and shoving and jockeying for view.  “Move! I can’t see. What’s he writing?”  Was he just doodling or was he writing something meaningful?  The Gospel does not say.

But take notice of Jesus’ last words to the woman, “Go away and don’t sin anymore.”  Jesus does not say to her, or to us, “Leave your life of sin, then I will no longer condemn you.”  He says, “I do not condemn you; now leave behind your life of sin.”

Jesus did not simply ignore sin or overlook it.  Jesus chose not to condemn the woman, but He did not tell her that her sin was unimportant or that it was just a venial sin nor did he make up excuses for it.  “She’s had a hard life.  She comes for a dysfunctional family.

Maybe you can identify with this little story, (I’ve been told it’s a true exchange)?  A 4-year-old told his mother, “Mom, I decided I’m not going to sin any more.  I’m not going to be like those bad guys Jesus was talking to.  I’m going to be a good child of God.”  “Mmm, that’s very nice,” Mom answered.  “What made you decide that?”  “Cause Father said that Jesus told everyone if you don’t sin, you can throw the first stone.”  “I want to be the one to throw the first stone.”

Maybe you never thought that way but has it raised your hackles because “Nobody listens to me and I have the answer”?  That’s when God’s wee small voice may seem to begin to sound exactly like your own.  Or have you felt like “I forgave her once for that same thing and she’s doing it again!”  You may have noticed that when you point your finger at “her,” there are three fingers on your hand pointing right back at you.  Self-examination opens us to self-revelation.  It sheds light on our shadow side and can bring into the spotlight the fact that we have the very same fault we are condemning in the other.  Jesus reminds us: “Judge not, lest you be judged.”

~ Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

First Reading:  Isaiah 43:16-21     Second Reading:  Philippians 3:8-14
Gospel:  John 8:1-11
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Saint Benedict’s Day – March 21st

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Saint Benedict’s Day

 

Young Benedict was a seeker of Truth.  A well-kept, well-fed young man from a prosperous family, he attended university in his quest for the Truth.  But what he found there neither answered the questions he had nor satisfied his longings.  The life of hedonism that surrounded him there only disgusted him and left him bruised and empty.  He had searched for the meaning of life in an academic environment without success.

We thank God that Benedict did not give up on his search for life’s meaning on the day he abandoned his studies.  Instead he walked away from everything he had known to look elsewhere.  He constructed a solitary existence, far from the distractions of human society, to search for life’s purpose.  Alone, he besought God’s merciful presence, and God answered him.  When others came to him in the hope of joining him, he did not turn them away.  He recorded his experience as a spiritual mentor and his guidelines for the monastic life in his Rule.  We, the Benedictine Sisters of Florida, are the happy heirs of St. Benedict’s legacy.

Benedict’s life-long search for God required tremendous courage, faith and perseverance.  His willingness to leave his beloved solitude in order to share his wisdom with others was an act of self-sacrifice and generosity.  On this feast of St. Benedict’s passing to his heavenly home, let us ask God for a measure of those same qualities.  Let us prefer nothing to the love of Christ, and may He bring us all to everlasting life.  (RB 72:11)

~by Sister Eileen Dunbar, OSB
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