One
of the beautiful rituals of monastic life at Mount St. Scholastica is the
blessing of ministries that occurs at the end of our community
meeting in August. Although the time when hundreds of sisters departed at the
end of summer to teach in schools throughout Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa,
and Colorado is long past, we continue to embrace the Benedictine values of ora
et labora—work and prayer—at Keeler Women’s Center, Sophia Spirituality Center,
Maur Hill–Mount Academy, Benedictine College, Donnelly College, various health
care settings, and the monastery.
At
the blessing ritual, we accept the call to ministry by committing ourselves to
seek God, lovingly receive others as Christ, extend compassion to the poor, and
undertake the work entrusted to us in the name of the community. Each sister then
receives a personal blessing from the prioress, including each sister in Dooley
Center, whose ministry is to pray for a specific person, group, or intention.
I
wish that each person in our society was able to have his or her work affirmed
in such a way. Every type of work is important because it allows us to serve
each other, which affirms our value as humans. Performing some type of
work—including prayer, which is the work of God—is an acknowledgment that I
have time, effort, and/or a talent to give, and you are worthy of receiving it.
We may not perform our work perfectly, but it is important that we offer
ourselves to God as we are, invite God to dwell in us, and allow God to continue to form us, as expressed so eloquently in the song Take, O Take Me As I Am by John L. Bell:
Take,
O take me as I am
Summon
out what I shall be
Set
your seal upon my heart
and
live in me
No comments:
Post a Comment