Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

Rule

It isn’t over, til it’s over!

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The dynamic in this Gospel is an ages-old story.  It happens in families, between friends, in the work force and in monastic community.  The situation Jesus poses is rather straight-forward.  Two sons are given the same task by their father: one asserts his objection, right up-front but in the end obeys his father’s wish.  The second son signifies obedience in his words but his actions betray his words.

The question that Jesus poses is direct: Which son did what the father wanted?  Jesus could ask us the same question.  Do our words reflect our obedience to God?  God desires a full conversion of heart –  that our actions (and our words as well) will give evidence of our love for God.  The older brother had no intention of working and had the honesty to say so.  He was in the wrong, but he was honest.  The younger brother was the opposite.  He said the expedient thing knowing what his father wanted to hear but he had no integrity.

For Benedict obedience is central.  As postulants when we officially knocked on the door and asked to be received as a candidate we were greeted with the question: “What do you seek?”  We declared that we’d come to the monastery to hear and seek God.  To do that you have to be willing to listen and then obey God’s voice as heard in personal prayer, in the voice of the superior and in interactions with each other.  Benedict asks that our obedience be open, honest, prompt and positive, (even if it is painful) and given without murmuring.

We would do well to recall both this gospel story, and Benedict’s words about obeying with alacrity, when we are asked to do a favor for one of our sisters or a co-worker.  We know that for Benedict, murmuring was an abomination, anathema, a curse in community and any sign of grumbling was to be censured.

In one of her first commentaries on the Rule, Joan Chittister suggests: Say to the member who signs up for a task but then complains, “Please don’t sign up.  Kindly give the community the gift of not murmuring about it.  The rest of the community will get the work done.  Please just stay home and keep a smile on your face.  Don’t do the work and then poison the environment of the house with murmuring.”

Oh, you may think: it’s easy for you to talk about obedience.  You’re the prioress, who do you have to obey?  Bear in mind that the leader, any leader, may have some authority with her position, but the power lies in the hands and will of the membership.  Obedience in monastic life is mutual.  It springs from the bloom of mutual respect.  Without both, there is no community.  There is just a group of women living under the same roof.  Thankfully for all of us, in life, growth is always possible.  It’s not how we start that matters, it’s how we finish!  “It isn’t over, til it’s over!”

 

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

Have a pleasant week!  Happy feast of your Guardian Angel and the Feast of the Holy Rosary!

 

 

 

Readings: Ezekiel 18:25-28    Philippians 2:1-Be like
Gospel:   Matthew 21:28-32
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Leadership

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This parable, like many of Jesus’ folksy stories, is challenging to explain.  “Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth… “  (Luke 16:9)  But since it came from the mouth of God’s own Son it must be important for us to grapple with.  Our application is shaped and colored by the Scripture readings we had this past week and the section of the Holy Rule read each day at Evening Prayer.  (Chapter 2 Qualities of the Superior)

The Gospel tells us if we can’t be trusted in little matters we certainly cannot be trusted with great ones. Now don’t go figuring that you are not a leader in a Benedictine community because each is a leader in her own realm. It could be tempting to breeze through Benedict’s Chapter 2 with an attitude of “ho hum” – that’s for her, glad it’s not me and I hope she is listening.

To say that Benedict holds high standards for the superior may be an understatement.  Notice he places the chapter on leadership qualities early in the Rule, only after he defines the type of monastic for whom he is writing.  We know he is writing about the qualities of the leaders of the “strongest kind of monastics”; the ones who have chosen to live under a Rule and a monastic leader.

Benedict may have left it unsaid in Chapter 2, but he sprinkles exhortations about qualities of leadership for all the members elsewhere in the Rule.  Benedict echoes Jesus when he presses home that the “person who is dishonest in very small matters will also be dishonest in great ones.”  It does not require a great leap to apply this saying to all of us – the youngest or newest in community to the eldest and more seasoned member.

Benedict is waving a banner before our eyes of what each of us always need to be so that a call to leadership does not cause an abrupt change of lifestyle.  Benedict knew from his own experience that the leader’s role in community is time-limited.  He himself had experienced both a call to leadership and a call to a hermit’s life.  He must have foreseen, perhaps with a nudge from Scholastica, that the monastic must be prepared in all aspects of her life to move in and out of leadership roles.

If the individual member does not faithfully engage in a life-long endeavor to develop the attitudes, skills, and qualities that Benedict lays out for the superior, guess what?  An election or appointment to a leadership position will not ipso facto endow a generous, caring disposition.  If a person has not learned to be accountable for her own actions (or at least tried to be), and to be solicitous of others, an imposition of hands, a community affirmation, or a bishop’s blessing will not infuse the gift of saintliness.

Do you recall the lesson of the geese who fly in “V” formation?  As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird following it.  [Drivers on I-75 try to take advantage of this dynamic by traveling in the tail wind of a semi.]  Combined, the whole flock of geese adds 71% greater flying range than if one flew alone.  Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels drag and resistance and quickly gets back into formation.  When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.   The geese in the formation honk from behind to encourage those in front to keep up their speed.

Benedict smiles upon the leaders in community, consoling them with the fact that they do not lack resources.  He quotes Psalm 33: “Those who fear God lack nothing.”  In helping others, the leader achieves the amendment of her own faults.  Benedict does not mention, but I bet he knew, the gratifying support the superior receives daily in unpretentious, quiet affirmations from individual members.  Like the story of the geese, when the leader is “shot down” by illness, or by words or attitudes in monastic life, individual members drop out of formation to help, protect, and reaffirm the leader until she is either able to again take the lead or fly in formation with the other members.

Jesus reminds us in the parable in the Gospel that, in the end, it doesn’t matter when you came into community, parenthood or ministry of any sort.  The reward for putting your hand to the plow will be the same: a day’s work in the kingdom for God’s daily wage.  The last will receive the same as the first.   It’s been that way for all eternity.  We’ll find when we get there (I’m guessing) that our view from the mansion God is saving for each of us is just as magnificent as that of Moses and Adam and Eve and our favorite saints: Everyone’s mansion has a “throne-side view” of heavenly glory.

 

~by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

First Reading  Amos 8:5-7     
Second Reading  1 Timothy 2:1-8
Gospel Reading  Luke 16:1-13
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Humble Yourself the More, the Greater You Are

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Yesterday’s reading from Sirach addresses us thus: “My child, conduct your affairs with humility.  Humble yourself the more, the greater you are. And you will find favor with God.”  So, how can one develop humility without becoming proud of how humble you are?

In practical everyday terms how can we recognize this amazing quality of humility?  How can you develop this wonderful trait?  We know we can quickly spot what it is NOT.  It is not judgmental, does not have room for vanity.  The one who is humble is not self-consumed, is not a door mat, is not rough with others but treasures and respects the value of all persons.

Benedict, in the Prologue and opening chapters of the Rule, prescribes humility as an essential quality of monastics in community.  He speaks of the necessity for humility for the superior and sub-prioress, the artisans, the cellarer, the readers, visiting clerics and relationships with each other in community.  He helps us recognize the role of humility in perfect love when we make satisfaction for mistakes, for broken dishes and tools, in our acceptance of what the cook offers and what the superior supplies for the members, when we consciously blend voices with others in communal prayer and graciously receive guests who share our monastic space.

Let’s look at three proven hindrances to growth in humility.

PRIDE – which focuses on self rather than others.  Listen to yourself.  How often do you start a conversation with “I”?

INSECURITY and/or OVER-CONFIDENCE – Both are forms of unhealthy self-centeredness and oppose humility because these people spend too much time “navel gazing” – examining themselves. Can you graciously digest criticism and suggestions without scrambling to justify your action or point a finger at what someone else did?  Do you smile and accept a compliment without downplaying its value with a comment like: “This old dress?  I got it long ago at Daystar.” or “Oh, it was nothing. There’s an app that does all the work.”   “The project turned out OK but it wasn’t my best.”

SELFISHNESS – As long as you focus exclusively on your own perceived personal needs and desires – forget the idea of humility – it will only be a distant dream.  Remember Benedict’s advice: “Pursue what you judge better for someone else, love humbly and prefer nothing whatever to Christ.”

The practice of humility begins in little everyday ways:

+  The words we speak: no boasting, bragging or pushing your opinion down others’ throats.

+ The way you treat others: not looking for choice places at table or seeking to rub shoulders with only the rich and famous but treating each person as one of value.

+ How you treat yourself. The humble person values herself and her abilities.  She does not spoil herself, is not self-centered; refrains from superficial behavior, is not obsessed with her appearance, her likes and dislikes, her opinions or material possessions.

What begins as a single humble act multiplies, and becomes a life-long, positive habit that impacts not only your own life, but the lives of those around you.

So, in real life what does humility look like?

  • Humble people handle challenging situations with a sense of peace because they RESPOND rather than REACT to life’s challenges.
  • The humble person focuses on service to others and not her own problems, weaknesses, health or likes and dislikes.
  • Humble people are good at networking because they attract others by making them feel comfortable, wanted and valued.
  • Humble people are wise because they listen well, do not speak impulsively and value what words they do share.
  • Humble persons are perceived as trustworthy because their goals are not self-motivated.
  • Humble persons create loyalty because they take pleasure in the successes of others.

It goes without saying that practice of humility requires sacrificing pride and moving out of your “comfort zone.”  It takes a complete a turn-around from self-centeredness.  Humility is not popular in today’s world so dare to be different.  The benefits are worth any cost: healthier relationships, mutual respect, wisdom and a quiet peace.

 

~by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

First Reading  Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29      
Second Reading  Hebrews 12:18-19;22-24
Gospel Reading  Luke 14: 1, 7-14
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Summer Feast Day for Saint Benedict

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Today we Benedictine will celebrate the summer feast of St. Benedict.   I’ll pass on the Gospel from Luke on Jesus’ lesson of the Good Samaritan and his lesson on being a good neighbor.  I’d like to share some thoughts on Benedict’s opening word LISTEN which seems like a first step to being a good neighbor.  Now, those who follow the calendar of the saints may question did we not celebrated St. Benedict back in March.  Yes, the very same one, the twin of St. Scholastica.  You see that date usually falls during Lent when the church does not smile on a grandiose celebration with Alleluias and full festivity.  In 1981, reaffirmed in 1989, the Council of Benedictine Abbots decreed that July 11th henceforth be celebrated as the Feast of Benedict, Patriarch of Western Monasticism.

Saint Benedict, in his Prologue to the Rule, addresses those who “long for life.”  His advice is “Keep your tongue free from vicious talk and your lips from all deceit; let peace be your quest and aim.” The gift of speech is one of the most powerful gifts God has given us, but it probably evokes less gratitude than any other.  We need to be aware that the habitual use of speech tends to make us unconscious of the many times our speech verges on being critical, or, to use the adjective in the psalm, “vicious” talk.  Even a benign phrase of speech can turn vicious sound like anger brewing when spoke in a harsh tone of voice.

Not many of us are humble enough to make amends for wounding words spoken.  We’d rather depend on time and the good will of the other to wipe out what has been said.  However, the truth is that the wounds of hurtful words or a harsh tone can never be totally erased.  Despite our best efforts to heal relationships, the scars remain.  In the latest issue of LCWR Occasional Papers one of the authors refers to Armand Gamache, the detective featured in a Louise Penny’s series of novels.  Gamache insists to his new detectives that there are four statements that are hard to admit, harder to say aloud.  But they are the key to opening ourselves to the truth and the beginning of effective communication.  What are they?  “I was wrong.”  “I’m sorry.”  I don’t know.” “I need help.”  But if our words do not come from a humble heart they will fall on deaf ears.  Says Benedict: “be serious, be brief, be gentle, be reasonable.”  A 20th century Russian Orthodox monk wrote: “When we listen to someone, we think we are silent because we are not speaking; but our minds continue to work, our emotions react, our will responds for or against what we are hearing.”   Oblate Rev. Donald Richmond, in his paper “The Fool with Words” offers this thought: “Living without speaking is better than speaking without Listening.”

The real silence that we must aim for as a starting point is a complete repose of mind and heart and will.  But then one wonders what happens to spontaneity if we engage in a chat without thinking? Jesus assures us that out of the contents of our heart our mouth will speak.  If we guard our hearts from evil and our minds from negative thoughts, our words will arise spontaneously without guilt, reflecting the goodness we have stored away.  God alone utters the perfect word, the speech without fault.  By pondering the perfections of Jesus, we come to own the good word of which the Psalmist speaks: “My heart overflows with a good theme; my tongue is ready like the pen of a scribe.” (Ps 45:1)

Oprah Winfrey in What I Know For Sure offers a very “Benedictine flavored” thought to ponder. When you make loving others the story of your life, there’s never a final chapter, because the legacy continues.  You lend your light to one person, she shines it on another and another and another. And …  in the final analysis of our lives – when the to-do lists are no more, when the frenzy is finished, when our e-mail boxes are empty – the only thing that will have lasting value is whether we’ve loved.

~Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

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Give It a Second Chance

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This weekend’s Gospel is asking us to take a good look at ourselves.  The tree in the parable is showing signs of life but it bears no fruit.  We ask ourselves: Is that me?  Am I barely managing to “hang in there?”   Am I being called to more than that?  Yes, God has higher hopes for each of us,  if we will but give grace a chance.

We can ask ourselves, for instance,

  • Am I a good or sour influence within my community (or my family circle)?
  • How do I relate with outsiders? Is my presence a positive element or do I fall into the gossip and negativity trap?  Do I pass judgment without giving God credit for knowing the whole story?
  • What is my attitude towards people I do not know or who aren’t “useful” to me?
  • What kind of contribution (including being physically present) do I make to the life of this community?
  • In general, what kind of contribution do I make to our greater society? What COULD I be doing?

We need to realize that God always and everywhere loves us.  But that love is only fully completed in us when we become a genuinely loving and caring person, one who loves both God and others in word and action.  We have the choice to open ourselves and come closer to God, to experience the gift of LOVE personified in Jesus.  The choice is up to us.  God’s love is there for the taking.  What are you waiting for?

Today we will celebrate St. Benedict’s day – in muted tones since it’s Lent.  Benedict is recognized as a man of great wisdom, compassion and common sense.  It is the spirit of Benedict’s Rule that has survived because Benedict, even in his youth, had a deep understanding of human psychology.  A glimpse into his early years lets us know he spent much time with his grandparents who lived a few miles from his home.  Along the hilly trek to their summer home, he and his twin sister Scholastica passed the huts and caves where hermits lived.  You can bet that their curiosity would have brought them back over the years to visit with both male and female hermits.  It is evident from the Rule that Benedict absorbed the wisdom and practical advice from this older generation.  He tempers discipline with compassion and he recognizes the spiritual quest as a joyful pursuit of God within the structures of ordinary life.  It is this joyous delight in everyday spirituality that makes the Rule come alive for so many.

Portions of his Rule shows us he had the cultivation traits of the gardener in our Gospel having mercy on his fruitless fig tree.  We know that after some time of living with his original Rule, he added advice based on his lived experience with a great variety of characters.  Imagine having to warn his men not to sleep with knives, to wear clean underwear on a trip.  His prudence shines through when, in so many words, he says: this is what works for us now – if our daily schedule and the details of communal living -don’t fit your situation, adapt it.

Pope Francis has reminded us more than once of something we know deep down – sometimes, especially in the midst of trouble – we tend to forget.  He says: “There are no situations we cannot get out of.  We are not condemned to sink into quicksand, in which the more we move the deeper we sink.  Jesus is (always) there, his hand extended, ready to reach out to us and pull us out of the mud, out of sin, out of the abyss of evil into which we have fallen.  We need only to ask for the grace to recognize ourselves as sinners.”

The barren fig tree in today’s reading is given a reprieve.  It is allowed another chance to respond favorably and to produce fruit.  Every Lenten season offers us a chance to fertilize our tree, the tree which is our life, and to see how it can be more fruitful.  For some of us, we just don’t know, this may indeed be the last-chance year, the last Lent to take care of our tree and coax it to produce new life.  Our God is tickling our finger tips.  What are we waiting for?

~ Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

First Reading:  Exodus 3:1-8a,13-15     Second Reading:  1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12
Gospel:  Luke 13:1-9
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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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