Just before I formally entered the novitiate, I attended a
conference by Franciscan Sister Ilia Delio entitled “God, Evolution, and the
Unfinished Self.” Sr. Ilia is a scientist and a theologian who is exploring and
building on the groundbreaking work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Here are just
a few of the concepts she touched on:
• Matter is not building blocks but webs of relations
• The nature of the universe is undivided wholeness
• God is always doing new things; life ceaselessly begins
anew because God is ever newness in love
• Our task is to awaken to the love that is already at the
center of our life
• We make a difference to the eternal God
• The mystics show that we need silence, solitude, and
surrender to create a place in us for
God to dwell
It all can seem overwhelming … but then, on Saturday night,
I stood before the Mount community and asked to be received into the novitiate
so I may seek God in the spirit of St. Benedict and serve God with the sisters
of Mount St. Scholastica. The sisters in turn promised to support me during the
novitiate year. As the poet Jane Hirshfield says, “Softly, calmly, immensity
taps at your life.” I feel that immensity tapping, but the call of St. Benedict
to listen, pray, and live in community grounds me. Participating in God's life is surely awesome, and yet the day-to-dayness of prayer and relationship makes it possible for us to respond softly and calmly out of love. It’s going to be a wonderful
year!
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