Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

Gospel

Companions Like Porcupines on a Cold Winter’s Night

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In this Sunday’s Gospel reading Peter asks Jesus how many times one ought to extend forgiveness to another. Peter proposes a reasonable number of times, perhaps seven. Jesus replies by extending Peter’s proposal by an enormous amount; not just seven times but 77 times. There is a temptation to quantify forgiveness as Peter tried to do, but Jesus’ point is that forgiveness is not about quantity.  The lesson is clear: If we hoard God’s mercy for ourselves while showing no mercy to others, we will risk forfeiting the effects of God’s mercy in our own lives.

Picture this: a cluster of porcupines on a cold winter’s night. The cold drives them to huddle together to keep warm, but as soon as they get close to one another they start jabbing each other with their spines and forcing them to move apart; thus they are forever coming together and moving apart in a kind of slow dance.  There may be a great deal of truth to that. Remember the saying about Benedictine life: we fall down and we get up.

For Jesus’ and Benedict there is no excuse for violating the first step in their instruction.  It’s not just a suggestion – these are words from the lips of Jesus.  If you’ve been offended, it is your responsibility to GO.  You don’t wait for the one who has offended to come to you.  You are accountable for your own actions!

So, you’ve approached the person who you feel has offended you – had a little “come to Jesus” chat with her– all seemingly to no avail.  What’s the next step? No, it is not turning a blind eye to the behavior IF you truly feel it is disrupting your peace and peace in the community.  The challenge is finding a person who can remain neutral.  Benedict describes this person as “wise and mature who secretly goes to the person to urge her to be humble and to offer her consolation so she is not overcome with excessive sorrow.”

Now it is time again to question yourself. Am I making a mountain out of a mole hill?  Am I acting out of my OCD tendencies?  Can I really let go and let God?  Or is God urging me to kick it up a notch and take a witness with me to listen in objectively, offering no opinions, just listen, and only speak if it seems needed to repeat what seems to be being said?

I want to affirm that I am not acting with rash judgement.  Do I have all the facts? We are human and God gave us a mind and the ability to reason but sometimes we don’t have all the pieces. Was I just being overly sensitive?

So, now you and a witness-friend have had that calm, rational talk with the person you are convinced intended to offend you.  Hopefully, your love and genuine concern are evident and she will not feel: “She’s just out to get me” or “They’re ganging up on me!”  If the truth be told, she would never have approached you in the first place if she did not trust you and care for you.  The hope is that the intervention will bring about reconciliation and peace.

What’s next?  Benedict advises separation from the community provided that she understands the nature of the measure.  For Benedict, non-participation in chapel and separation from the community table was a grave measure.  Benedict doesn’t say to starve the offender … just let her take her meals alone and at a different time.  Some today do that by choice.  But, I suppose, if it were announced that she is not allowed to have meals with the rest of the community, it would have a different feel and effect.

When all else fails, Jesus and Benedict agree there is no other choice than to apply the “cauterizing iron of excommunication … lest one diseased sheep infect the whole flock.”  But even then Benedict looks favorably on the return, the re-entry of a dismissed or dissociated member if she promises to make full amends, not simply say “I’m sorry”, but to make a sincere effort to change her ways and fit into community.

Just remember to always start with Step One: GO, don’t wait for the other to make an approach – Go alone (take a walk; share a cup of tea, sit on a swing, whatever but keep it private between the two of you).

Jesus and Benedict assure us if we follow their directives we’ll come to be like the little child who was saying her bedtime prayers. As she went down the list of family members, asking God to bless them one by one, she omitted her sister’s name. Her mother injected:  “Why didn’t you pray for Susie?” She looked up puzzled and said, “I’m not going to ask God to bless Susie because she broke my doll’s arm.”  “But,” her mother said, “Don’t you remember Jesus said to forgive your enemies?” “That’s just the trouble”, the child said: “Susie isn’t my enemy; she’s my sister.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

First Reading:   Sirach 27:30 – 28:9         Second Reading:  Romans 14:7-9
Gospel:   Matthew 18:21-35
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Benedict Mirror Jesus’ Message of Hope

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St. Benedict bases his belief on that of Jesus: that any correction should always be commensurate with the debt owed and promotes a choice for a change in behavior.  The dignity of the offending member is to be guarded first by insisting that the superior decides the gravity of the fault and that the matter be first handled in private. After living with his Rule for some time, Benedict revisited the practicality of various sections.  One example may be found in Chapter 69.

Benedict uses the image of Jesus – that of a wise physician.  He reminds the community that it’s not the healthy who need the soothing ointment of encouragement, but the sick is the one who needs urging to be humble and to make satisfaction for faults.  Our aim is to keep the community “one flock.”    TOGETHER we shall go to God. It’s an “one for all and all for one” deal.  So, let’s take a look at how this works – Jesus and Benedict lay out the same steps.

In Jesus’ instruction it is about SIN; in Benedict’s precepts it concerns matters within community.    But both concern personal offenses … person to person.  And whether sin or a less serious matter, the first approach is to be in private … one on one.  You must seek out the one who has offended you directly, with love and in humility … face-to-face … as a shepherd looking for the lost sheep … out in the rain, through the brambles, across the brook …  it doesn’t make any difference how difficult the terrain is, you must seek out person you feel offended you.    And this is to be done in a calm, rational manner.  You most certainly won’t win over the other person if you lose your temper, insult or mock them and generally act like a jerk.  Keep in mind: this is your Sister for whom Christ died.  No matter what she has done, place her above yourself so you don’t jeopardize your mission.  Even “if a life is a land full of thorns and weeds there is always a space in which the good seed can grow.”

Also remind yourself that no matter how convinced you are of the justice of your cause, you are only human.  You could be misguided in your judgement – have jumped to a false conclusion.  You must listen carefully to and weigh the other’s argument … unless, of course, she immediately agrees with you and, as Benedict says, makes due satisfaction.  Otherwise, you must give the person a thorough opportunity to respond. In any case, it is simply not enough to say, “I’m sorry” or “I apologize.”  An apology is an inadequate human substitute for the real thing.  Nowhere does the Scripture require, nor does Benedict ever use language to even encourage, apologizing.  To say “I’m sorry” is a human dodge to avoid reconciliation and to save myself from having to say: “I was wrong, will you forgive me?”

The most important thing, Jesus and Benedict remind us, is to go alone, keep the matter private.   You want to protect her reputation, and your own. If the information you may have spread is proven to be false and damaging, you’re the one who will have dirt on your face.

Approaching the person directly and in person helps preserve peace in the community.  Benedict condemns gossip in no uncertain terms referring to it at least a dozen times – variously translated as gossip, murmuring or grumbling.  In conclusion Benedict says: “There must be no word or sign of the evil of murmuring, no manifestation of it for any reason at all.”

If you feel compelled to confront a member about a behavior, remember it is just that – THE BEHAVIOR, not the person.  And, recall Jesus’ and Benedict’s first principles: face-to-face and in private.  This goes along with the rule of thumb: Praise in public, correct in private.

In the end, the Gospel message is one of hope.  Jesus is present with our community and will guide us in our relationships. If decisions are made in prayer, then the community can be assured of God’s assistance.  As Paul says: “The body is one and has many members, but all the members, many though they are, are one body.”  You may recall the Boys’ Town picture of a slightly older boy carrying a younger boy piggyback and saying, “He ain’t heavy, Father; he’s my brother.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

First Reading:   Ezekiel 33:7-9         Second Reading:  Romans 13:8-10
Gospel:   Matthew 18:15-20
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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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15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Jesus’ parables are moments of grace to ply open our heart’s willingness to surrender to, and be enveloped in, the always surprising generosity of God.

Here on our property, when we look out the windows we can see the greenhouse protecting the tilapia.  After months of growth they will eventually surrender themselves and be on our dinner table.  We can behold the life cycle of the hay field or blueberry patch and see first-hand in nature what Jesus’ is talking about. He extends the lesson to apply it to the human heart.  He reminds us that there are folks whose hearts are like cement.  It does not matter how much or how often seed is poured on these souls. Fertilize it, water it – nothing will cause those seeds to take root and sprout.  They (or we) can listen to church and TV sermons 24/7 and still remain unfazed.

Do you remember times you were like this …  not always … but a time or two when you just didn’t want to hear what God might have to say?

In contrast to the hardened-soil type person, the shallow-soil person is hyper-responsive to God’s word—but only for a wee tiny time. Like during a revival or a community retreat.   Be careful so you’re not temporary one of these ‘all in’ folks gobbling up every book or internet idea. At times you may be lucky enough to have the seed sink in and burst through the pavement of your heart.  But right away, birds or insects snatch the new growth so that it never comes to fruition.  It can’t survive the heat of the give and take of daily community life.

When were you like this?  Maybe in the novitiate … or the time in High School when the class made the senior retreat?  God was SO real to you … but God’s voice grew more faint as the days went by?  Remember those days?  You were so fervent.  But your fervor faded as time went by.

Then, there is a third type of soil – a thorny type – tightly entangled with the “thorns” “of the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches.” Matthew says these people are caught up in anxiety and get choked on the lure of the riches of the world that tug and yank at their minds and hearts until the seed suffocates, rendering them spiritually barren.

Was this ever the case in your life?  Times when you were just too distracted to cultivate God’s word? Times when several days went by without a pause for Lectio or healthy self-care?  Times when “thorny” remarks and obstinate behavior were your default mode?  That’s when God planted a general sense of dissatisfaction in the garden of your soul.

Oh, but how gratifying it must be to Jesus when He finds “good soil people” – when we share the time God’s has given us to meditate on the Word, let it penetrate and bear fruit – then we hold fast to the word making it our own.    Thus, we grow more Christ-like over time by absorbing and practicing the precepts of Benedict.  Over the years, as the seeds continue to take root and blossom, the fruits and gifts of the Spirit flourish.

One author describes Benedictine life: we fall down, and we get up as we ascend the ladder of humility.  We come not only to know, but to believe deep in our hearts that God can change hard, shallow, compromised patches of dirt into fertile garden soil.   We read in Ezekiel; “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

Some of us have, or have had, gardens. And all of us–whether we’re gardeners with a green thumb, or thumbs with only a tinge of green, or only a “wishful” thumb – or a thumb that only knows how to operate a TV remote or a computer mouse — all of us know the principle of planting: when we put a seed in the ground, we expect a plant to appear …  some may even think it will sprout with a flower already on it. We also know that not all seeds will produce full-grown plants. They just don’t, for a variety of reasons.

We don’t have to ever coddled a plant in order to know the different landscapes of which Jesus speaks. We know the beaten path of own lives. We’ve stumbled through the rocky patches of life. We have been scratched and cut by the thorns of life. But we have planted our roots deep in the sacred soil of community life that feeds and matures us to become a harvest – whether it’s a thirty, sixty or a hundredfold – who’s counting?!!  Given the right conditions apple seeds do become apples. Mango seeds become mangoes. God’s seeds become what we allow them to become.

Taking words from Matthew’s Gospel, why did Jesus speak in parables?  Remember what He said: I speak to them in parables because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.

Paraphrasing the words from Deuteronomy, we ask: “let the soil of my heart hear the words of Your mouth.  May Your instruction soak in like the rain and Your word permeate like the dew; like a gentle rain upon the grass and like a shower upon the crops.”  Or borrowing the words of Jeremiah: we pray to be like a tree that stretches its roots to the waters of a nearby stream.  May we stay green in the summer heat and in drought show no distress but still produce fruit.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

 

First Reading:   Isaiah 55:10-11         Second Reading:  Romans 8:18-23
Gospel:   Matthew 13:1-23
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12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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In this Gospel passage, Jesus uses a simple, mind-opening analogy to illustrate his point.  His listeners knew that the cheapest life in the market was a small bird of the field, perhaps a sparrow.  Yet, God’s providential care knows even when this smallest of birds dies.  Jesus is using here a rabbinic argument technique which compares a light matter to a heavy one. His idea here is to overcome fear and encourage the disciples, and us, to trust God.

Jesus recognizes that fear may cause failure on our part.  We see in the Gospel how on the one hand, the disciples are granted remarkable powers to heal the sick, exorcise demons, cleanse lepers, even to raise the dead. But at the same time, Jesus denies the disciples money, extra clothes, or a walking stick to aid in climbing the ups and downs of life or to protect themselves from wolves.  He even denies them a pair of sandals to shield their feet from rocks and stones, or, if they travel the fields in Florida, sandspurs.

They are to undertake their mission in complete vulnerability and dependence on God with an awareness that they go as “sheep in the midst of wolves.”  We know their stories. They faced arrests and beatings, hatred and persecution and opposition, even from family members.

With great care and compassion Jesus names aloud the suffering to be endured and its causes.  This is the first step in freeing them from the tenacious grip of fear.  Benedict knew this, didn’t he?  Remember what he says about receiving newcomers (Chapter 58).  “Do not grant newcomers an easy entry … test the spirits, let them keep persistently knocking at the door four or five days … they should be clearly told the things of everyday living in community; all the hardships and difficulties that will lead to God.  She, the newcomer, must be aware of what the Rule requires so that she may know what she is entering.”

Just as Jesus modeled the way for his disciples, we make a commitment to the each other to model Benedictine living.   An example: A young boy, out for a walk with his father on a cold winter day, was scared to cross a frozen pond … afraid of falling through the ice. But then his Father offered to lead the way.  Now the boy didn’t hesitate to go across the ice. The ice hadn’t become less frightening, but he was able to follow his father, trusting his father wouldn’t lead him to harm. He followed his father without fear across the ice.   Jesus leads us; we lead each other.

As we sing in the Suscipe: “Uphold me, O Lord, as you have promised, and I shall live, and do not disappoint me in my hope.”

“I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.” (William Allen White).  Also see Sirach 30:21-15: “Gladness of is the very life of a person, and cheerfulness prolongs our days.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

 

First Reading:   Jeremiah 20:10-13         Second Reading:  Romans 5:12-15
Gospel:   Matthew 10:26-33
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Good Shepherd Sunday

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These two brief parables in the Gospel reveal Jesus as our unique means to salvation, our Good Shepherd.  He is the “sheep gate,” the gateway to eternal life, and the selfless, caring “shepherd” who provides protection and life itself.  Jesus presents a comparison between a concerned shepherd and a hireling who is there only for the paycheck.  The good shepherd is willing to pay any price to protect the sheep, even if it means that he has to give His very life for them.  Christ, the Chief Shepherd, knows our individual weaknesses and failings and watches over us with discerning love and sympathetic understanding.  With infinite concern He notes the doubts, fears, trials, conflicts, and defeats that disturb our peace, and He swiftly comes to our aid Jesus is warning his hearers and reminding us, “don’t be scammed” – only thieves and robbers seek to enter the sheepfold by any means other than the door.

Tony Campolo loved to tell the story of a particular census taker who went to the home of a rather poor family in the mountains of West Virginia to gather information.  He asked the mother how many dependents she had.  She began, “Well, there is Rosie, Billy and Lewella, Susie, Harry and Jeffrey.  There’s Johnny, Harvey, and our dog, Wille.”  The census taker interrupted her: “No, ma’am, that’s not necessary.  I only need the humans.” “Ah,” she said.  “Well, there is Rosie, Billy, and Lewella, Susie, Harry, and Jeffrey, Johnny, Harvey, and…”  At this the exasperated man he said, “No, ma’am, you don’t seem to understand.  I don’t need their names.  I just need the numbers.”  The woman replied, “But I don’t know their numbers. I only know them by name.”

In today’s gospel Jesus, the Good Shepherd, says that he knows his sheep by name.  Although there may be several flocks sharing the same sheepfold, when the shepherds walk up to the gate and call their sheep, each one instantly recognizes the voice of its own shepherd.  When he calls, they instinctively follow (they are led and they follow, they are not driven, that’s for goats).  They will ignore the voice of any shepherd other than their own.  We will hear many voices competing for our attention, but there is a special note to the voice of Jesus that demands our immediate and full attention.

A man in Australia was arrested and charged with stealing a sheep.  But he claimed emphatically that it was one of his own that had been missing for many days.  When the case went to court, the judge was puzzled. Not knowing how to decide the matter, he at last asked that the sheep be brought into the courtroom.  Then he ordered the plaintiff to step outside and call the animal.  The sheep made no response except to raise its head and look frightened.  The judge then instructed the defendant to go to the courtyard and call the sheep.  When the accused man began to make his distinctive call, the sheep bounded toward the door.  It was obvious that he recognized the familiar voice of his master.  “His sheep knows him,” said the judge.  “Case dismissed!”

There is no question that Jesus is our Good Shepherd.  The only question that remains at this point is this: Do you know the Shepherd?  Do you recognize His voice?

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

 

First Reading:   Acts 2:14, 36-41         Second Reading:  1 Peter 2:20-25
Gospel:   John 10:1-10
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