Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

st. benedict

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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If You Wish, You Can Make Me Clean

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We each have our own variant of leprosy, don’t we?  With some it’s visible on the outside; for others, it thrives on the inside.  Our faults: scaly or hidden are made obvious by our actions, our facial expressions, our tone of voice.  And, there are those who harbor their leprosy – deep in their feelings and heart – a gut ache or pain caused by stressed nerves.  Yes, we do this even when our leprosy is old and scarred and has been in our gunny sack for more years than we can count.  You know those kinds of wounds that we take out every once in a while to nurse and keep alive.  We rehash their story privately or in unrelated situations when some word or sound, or maybe a smell reignites the fuse.  We discover that there’s an ember that springs to flame that we didn’t even realize was there all along.  But Jesus has been watching it. He’s waiting for us to reach out and plead: “If you wish, you can make me clean.”

When we do, what is Jesus’ instruction?  “Go, show yourself to the priest.”  (Here he’s not talking about the Sacrament of Reconciliation.)  This is Jesus’ way of asking us to bring our faults into the light of day, to expose them so they can be zapped with the Divine Presence.  St. Benedict speaks of submission to the will of another, humility, confession of faults and public admission of mistakes.  He quotes the psalmist – as he often does – when he says: “I will report my faults to the Lord.” (PS 31).  Benedict encourages the members to admit their fault “of their own accord and make satisfaction.”  But, he’s not naïve – he knows there will be occasions when this doesn’t happen.  You know what he says: “Be subjected to a more severe correction.”  Now that may seem irrelevant to the story of Jesus and the man with leprosy.  But it seems pretty obvious (to me) that Jesus did not go looking for the man.  The man called out to Jesus: “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  Benedict, (what a wise man!) knew there’d be more sensitive souls in community, personalities who’d need more solicitous care, compassion and consideration.  To this one, Benedict advises: “reveal (this hidden fault) “only to a spiritual guide who knows how to heal her own wounds as well as those of others”, (and equally important) “without exposing them and making them public.”

We don’t know how long this man with the leprosy had been following Jesus.  How many miracles had he witnessed before he felt compelled to step forward and the words escaped his lips: “If you wish, you can make me clean?”  Had he seen Jesus’ interaction with the woman caught in adultery or heard the story of the good Samaritan or good Shepherd?  Was it desperation that made him cry out: “If you wish, you can make me clean”?  Was he burdened with feelings of guilt for having leprosy and causing the estrangement of his family and friends since he was bound by law to “make his abode outside the camp.”? (Leviticus1:46) Did the rest of crowd step back when he moved forward to be heard?  This was a “gutsy” young man!  He was stepping into the light, drawing attention to himself and his leprosy.  He was admitting publicly that he was not clean.  He risked being shunned AGAIN!  But faith won out: “If YOU wish, YOU can make ME clean.”

As we enter the Lenten season (this week) we pray: “Jesus, if you choose, you can make me clean.”  I do want to be clean; I am ready to be made whole. Don’t look only at the faults I am aware of.  I trust that you can make the whole of me clean in your eyes.  It doesn’t matter whether or not we raise our voice to be heard above the crowd: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” It may be, that someone pushes us forward, “Now’s a good time; ask him now – He can do it!”  Do you believe in intercessory prayer?  Do the General Intercessions make any difference in the lives of those we name?   “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation. … for, a great prophet has arisen in our midst: God has visited his people.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

   Ash Wednesday, February 14, Mass and distribution of Ashes at 7:30 a.m.

   May you enjoy a happy Mardi Gras on Feb. 13 … and an unusual Valentine’s Day gift of the opening of Lent: a love feast extraordinaire as God opens his arms to work with you on keeping of resolutions that will shape a new you this per-Easter season.

   Celebrate with us on February 28th the anniversary of 135 years since the day the Benedictine Sisters arrived in FL from PA.  God bless all who have touched our lives with their prayers and gifts of time, talent and financial support. 

 Prayers on Sunday when we had our monthly Recollection Day … a quiet day of prayer, Holy Hour and Evening Prayer.  God bless you each and all with good health, much happiness and abundant peace!

 

First Reading:   Leviticus 13:1-2,44-46         Second Reading:  1 Corinthians 30:31-11:1
Gospel:   Mark 1:40-45
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Because you were faithful in small matters…

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Because you were faithful in small matters…

come, share your Master’s joy.

Like the Master in this Gospel, St. Benedict teaches us “journey lessons.”  We sense a journey motif from the opening words of Benedict’s Rule when he bids us: “Listen! The labor of obedience will bring you back (“coming back” requires a journey, doesn’t it?)  “Let us get up then (he says) at long last, for the Scriptures rouse us when they say: “It is high time for us to arise from sleep… (come from the land of your dreams) …run while you have the light… go out to seek workers in the multitude of the people …”.  Listen to Benedict: “moving on in your journey of faith, (and life in the monastery) “You will say, ‘Here I am Lord’.”   Then he tells us how to prepare for our journey: “Clothed with faith and the performance of good works, let us set out on this way, with the Gospel for our guide…. Be just in all your dealings, speak the truth from the heart and do not practice deceit or listen to slander.”

By the time Benedict wrote Chapter 67 one can tell he’s had some experience with monks who journeyed far from the home monastery.  We know that Benedict, in his youth, had escaped “big city life.”  So, he wanted to protect his monks from the evils and temptations of the prevailing society.  Those at home are to remember the absent ones in prayer for their confrere’s safety and protection from temptation.

I have to smile when I read what Benedict cautions next.  He certainly knew human nature: “No one should presume to relate what was seen or heard outside the monastery.”  Benedict didn’t want stories of the world to creep in and cause dissension or dissatisfaction to rankle or upset his community.  We need to be on guard that we balance charitable interest in each other versus the drive to know every intimate detail about what was seen or heard on the other’s journey.

Benedict is solicitous of his monks sent on a journey that they appear neither embarrassingly shabby nor be clad in “rich folks” clothing.  He charges the superior with checking that hemlines are a decent length and the members’ clothing be suited to the weather.   And, it’s obvious that times were different when Benedict walked the earth.  He makes provision that the members be LOANED underwear from the wardrobe that is to be laundered and returned after the trip.

In line with his admonition to pray always, Benedict reminds his monks when they are on a journey to keep an eye on the sun and listen for the bells from neighboring abbeys announcing prayer times. Benedict reminds them though at a distance too far to join the community, they should “observe the prescribed hours” as best they can.  Thus, probably began the custom of the Angelus.

The Rule closes with this journey-question: “Are you hastening toward your heavenly home?  Then keep this little rule … as you set out for loftier summits of the teaching and virtues we’ve mentioned.”  Benedict, in his own unique way, shares Paul’s message to the Philippians: “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”   Benedict adds this promise: “Under God’s protection” (together) we will reach our heavenly home.”  That’s the same promise Jesus makes to his trustworthy followers: Because “You were faithful in small matters … come, share your Master’s joy.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

Have a pleasant Thanksgiving… give thanks for all that has been and open your heart to all that will be…give another a reason to rejoice on this day.

 

First Reading:   Proverbs 31         Second Reading:  1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Gospel:   Matthew 25:14-30
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If God came to you in a dream…

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If tonight God came in your dream and told you to ask for one thing and one thing only, what would it be? 

 

Once upon a time there was a farmer who owned a small parcel of land. The land was stony, but the farmer worked hard, and for a while he was blessed with a certain happiness and contentment. But then he began to feel that there was something missing in his life, and he felt empty as a result. One evening a stranger passed that way and asked for a night’s lodgings. The farmer was grateful for the distraction.

Around the fire that night the stranger began to talk about diamonds. He told the farmer that if he could find a diamond, even one no bigger than the nail of his little finger, he would never have to do another type of work. The farmer was very impressed. He didn’t get a wink of sleep all that night thinking about diamonds.

Next day the stranger departed leaving the farmer more than a little unhappy. As the days went by he got more and more restless. He began to neglect his farm. Finally, he sold it cheaply, and went off roaming the world in search of diamonds. He travelled far and wide but never found any.  Meanwhile, the man who bought his farm was out ploughing. One day the plough turned up a stone which shone in the sunlight. It turned out to be a very valuable diamond. When he went back to the spot, he found lots more. It turned out to be one of the richest diamond mines ever found.

Come to think about it, our story is much like that. Many years ago, perhaps over a hundred or so, our predecessors recognized a treasure across the street from their home.  There was this piece of land with a stunning view and a perpetual breeze, awesome sunrises and sunsets.  They buried it with a citrus grove and went out with joy to serve the people of God in many places.  And, when the time was right, our time, we sold what we had and came back with joy to reclaim our treasured “pearl.”

When Jesus told his story He asked the disciples: “Do you understand all these things?”  Like the disciples we answer without hesitation, “Yes.”  But, maybe our voices quiver and there’s a question mark in our expression.  But, there is also the conviction in our hearts that we will extend God’s kingdom wherever we live, whatever the restrictions we struggle with, whatever the types of resources we have at hand or are missing.

 The Kingdom of God was always clear to Jesus but to us it will always be somewhat mysterious.  As we are formed in the mind of Jesus – and identify with His mindset, His vision becomes ever more clear to us.  In everyday terms, we who live here in east Pasco County Florida, have not changed our mission or our vision and likely will not change.  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 education hungers of the local children?  Long before we wrote formalized philosophy statements and directional goals, our Sisters “fed hungers” in a variety of roles in Texas and Louisiana and from the top to the bottom of Florida. They worked in internal ministries and as nurses and home caretakers, seamstresses, coif makers, packing house workers, gardeners, … you name it, 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. “Be the first to show respect to the other”.  Or in our own words: to be the first “to respond with the compassion of Christ to the hungers of the other.”

Jesus presents to us a variety of examples to help us conceptualize His Kingdom: a hidden treasure, a box filled with gold coins buried somewhere in a field; the Kingdom as a precious pearl, a jewel found by a businessman who astutely sold everything he owned in order to buy it; a fishing net filled with fish both good and bad, wheat and weeds growing together.  The illustrations abound: leaven in dough, light, salt, a seed, a ripe harvest, a pearl, a royal feast and a wedding banquet. These parables all have to do with a person finding something of such tremendous value that they are willing to give up everything they have to possess it.  The Gospel reading concludes with a curious statement about the scribe who understands the kingdom of heaven.   How do we identify God’s Kingdom here on earth?

 

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

First Reading:  1 Kings 3:5,7-12         Second Reading:  Romans 8:28-30
Gospel:   Matthew 13:44-52

 

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St. Benedict Feast Day

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Today we Benedictine will celebrate the summer feast of St. Benedict.  Our nearby neighbor, Saint Leo University will be hosting a BBQ lunch for the monks of Saint Leo Abbey, the university staff and us, the Sisters of Holy Name Monastery.  What a grand way to celebrate our legacy and Benedictine values.

Now, those of you 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.

 

~Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

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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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