Celebrating Our Uniqueness

On July 8, the Mount community celebrated the 50th anniversary of Sr. Helen Mueting’s monastic profession. In her homily at the Jubilee mass, Sr. Esther Fangman noted that the people in Jesus’ home town didn’t know what to make of him because he didn’t fit their expectations of a person from Nazareth. Just so, in 50 years of monastic life, God has molded Sr. Helen in ways that might be surprising to others and even to herself. When we say yes to having a relationship with God, one thing we know for sure is that life will unfold in unexpected ways.

Sr. Esther also pointed out that Sr. Helen is unique in the way God has molded her. No one else has her exact combination of faithfulness, teaching skills, love for the earth, and dedication to advocacy for justice. We can be inspired by her fidelity, hard work, and creativity, but we will exemplify them in different ways in our own lives. As Mary Jo Koch noted in her book Flight Plans, “Not all birds fly or sing or build nests. Yet all birds share one feature: feathers.” Similarly, not all Benedictines are teachers or gardeners, but we all seek God through stability, obedience, and fidelity to the monastic life. I am grateful to Sr. Helen for being a model of fidelity to this way of life as I anticipate the day I will make my first profession.

The Courage of a Glad Heart

People of compassion have a lot to grieve about these days: the callous treatment of refugees, increasing rates of violence and suicide, and exploitation of the earth, to name just a few crises. However, we can take counsel from the words of Sirach, which echo back to us from the third century BC:

“Do not give in to sadness, or torment yourself deliberately. Gladness of heart is the very life of a person, and cheerfulness prolongs his or her days. Distract yourself and renew your courage, drive resentment far away from you; for grief has killed many, and nothing is to be gained from resentment. Envy and anger shorten one's days, and anxiety brings on premature old age" (Sirach 30:21-24).

We are called to respond to the day’s needs as best we can, remembering that many others are doing the same, and offer our prayers for the people we can’t reach personally. To give in to sadness and grief is of no benefit to anyone, but to gladden our own hearts and those of others through kindness is a real act of courage in the midst of difficult times. May your heart be glad today, remembering the generosity of God and the resilience of the earth, gifts that can help us all to thrive when used wisely.

Why I Live in a "Monastery"

Recently I encountered a member of my prison ministry group at a friend’s funeral, and when I mentioned something I was doing at the monastery, he gave me an odd look. “You’re calling it a monastery now, not a convent?” he asked.

Benedictine women have reclaimed the words “monastery” and “monastic” because of their rich meaning. “Monos” means “one” in Greek. On the surface, “one” could mean being single (unmarried), but it also means having a singleness of purpose (the search for God); thus a monastic seeks to be one in the One. Within communal life, this singleness of purpose means having one heart and one community of goods. Referring to our home as the “monastery” and ourselves as “monastics” (because “monk” is used exclusively to describe a man in the English language) reminds us of that oneness we seek, that singleness of purpose.

Interestingly, the word “nun” comes from the Latin word “nonna,” which is the feminine of the word “nonnus,” which means “monk.” Thus nuns originally were considered to be female monks. The term “sister” began to be used when apostolic orders were founded in which women took vows but were no longer cloistered. Benedictines are something of a hybrid; we take a vow of stability, meaning we will live at one particular monastery, and we are rooted in place through our communal prayer, but we also go outside the monastery to minister to others in various ways. Thus our life includes elements of both cloistered nuns and apostolic sisters, and both terms are used to describe us. However, at heart we are monastic—one in heart, one in the body of Christ.

Seeking Peace with Holy Perseverance

Many organizations throughout the world are working to assist people whose lives have been upended by war, oppression, and natural disasters. For example, my friend Kate Steger works at the International Rescue Committee, which delivers aid to people in crisis worldwide and helps resettle refugees. In the face of all the suffering being experienced by refugees, my own response—that is, prayers and contacting my elected officials—seems paltry. However, recently Kate gave me another perspective:

“I’m grateful for the encouragement and your prayers when you have a chance to include me in them. The work you do is so important for the world. We shared the experience of praying for the world at Shantivanam without the direct assurance that it had any effect. But now that I’m out in the world with all of its troubles and distractions…I not only know how much the prayers of your community are needed, but I rely on them to put peace into the world when I can’t find it in myself or in others. I’m thankful to know there is someone counteracting the turmoil.”

Our daily prayers for those in need and for peace in our world are more powerful than we realize. They model trust that God hears the cry of the poor, that creating peace is possible, that we won’t allow greed and violence to have the last word. Staying faithful to prayer can be difficult because generally we don’t see the direct results that come with feeding the hungry and housing the homeless, for example. However, “putting peace in the world” by cultivating peace within ourselves, offering hospitality to those who come to our door, and praying for others offers comfort and hope, and thus can change lives. May all who seek peace and pursue it, whether through direct care of others or through the ministry of prayer, be blessed with holy perseverance.

Paying It Forward

The days of my canonical novitiate year are drawing to a close—as of June 25, I will have spent a year and a day in the novitiate. In anticipation of that milestone, my formation director gifted me with an empty box to hold “A memory from your novitiate that you hope to always carry with you.”

When I thought back over all the past year has held—retreats, liturgies, classes, assigned tasks, meals, celebrations, community meetings, desert days, “vow camp” in Yankton—the most distinct memory is of the day I entered the novitiate because of the many hugs, cards, and other expressions of support I received from the community. I will never forget the encouragement and support I received, and I will carry that with me as I continue my life as a Benedictine.

It doesn’t take much time to offer encouragement to others, but the effects can be remarkable. I am grateful for the example of how to be supportive of others and hope to “pay it forward” in the years to come.

Our Divine DNA

Recently a friend, Teka Childress, was interviewed by St. Louis Magazine after being named a 2018 Woman of Achievement for community betterment. She recalled a story from her childhood: “A man came to our door in St. Louis Hills, and my grandmother told me, ‘We have to give him food; he could be Christ.’ I thought, ‘Christ pops into people’s bodies!’” 

Although Christ popping into people’s bodies is a cool image, I suspect that because we are made in God’s image, when we are born, Christ’s DNA is already a part of us. As Richard Rohr notes, “You are created in the image of God from the very beginning (Genesis 1:26-27). This is the basis for God’s justice: Since everyone is made in the image of God, then we need to recognize, honor, and respect the image of God in everyone. No exceptions.”

It is difficult to recognize the image of God in people whose brokenness or obsession with power, wealth, and prestige leads them to perform selfish and cruel acts. Nonetheless, we can acknowledge that they were made by God and are loved by God. Even as we work to contain the suffering they cause and condemn their actions, we cannot write them off as irredeemable, because that would place limits on God’s mercy, love, and transforming power.

Treating others with dignity, honor, and respect because they carry the seeds of Christ in them makes it more likely that those seeds will take root and grow. We know this from our own lives; we respond to kindness and to persons who see something in us that we can’t yet see ourselves. It’s not a matter of waiting for Christ to pop into someone’s body—it’s recognizing that Christ is already there, and acting accordingly.

Developing Resiliency

On Saturday I went to a Kansas City Royals baseball game with six sisters to celebrate Sr. Janelle Maes’ birthday. As we passed by corn and soybean fields en route to the stadium, it was amazing to see how green and sturdy the crops looked despite the recent scorching heat and lack of rain. What is the secret to their resilience? It is an important question to consider, because with the rising rates of suicide and violence in our culture, we seem to be losing the quality of resiliency.

I can think of at least two lessons plants can teach us about resiliency. First, they are deeply rooted in the soil and thus can find reserves of water deep underground. Benedictines believe that being deeply rooted is so important that they take a vow of stability. Our consumer culture, on the other hand, promotes restlessness through the notion that life has got to be better somewhere—anywhere—else, where we are sure to find a better job, a better house, a better spouse. Plants tell us that to become resilient, we need to stay put so we have reserves to deal with the inevitable struggles of life.

Second, plants live within a supportive community. Strength in numbers provides support in the midst of wind storms, for example, and allows sharing of resources. Peter Wohlleben, a German forester and author, noted in the March 2018 Smithsonian Magazine, “All the trees here, and in every forest that is not too damaged, are connected to each other through underground fungal networks. Trees share water and nutrients through the networks, and also use them to communicate. They send distress signals about drought and disease, for example, or insect attacks, and other trees alter their behavior when they receive these messages.” Similarly, humans become more resilient in the face of disease and dwindling resources when they live within a supportive community.

Setting down roots and living in community are key aspects of developing resiliency. They are also keys to the Benedictine way of life, and our witness of how to live such a life is a gift to the world in great need of a resilient spirit.