Taking Scripture to Heart

       This week we are having our annual community retreat here at St. Walburg Monastery. Our Retreat Master, Benedictine Father Gregory Mohrman is leading us in reflecting on various scripture stories from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Resurrection. It’s been great. No matter how often I hear the stories, there is always more to the message that is especially significant for what’s happening now. I’m sure that Holy Scripture is one of God’s ways of communicating. We all believe that the bible is God’s Word. But I sometimes benefit from being reminded that THIS MEANS ME, NOW. 

       I am also grateful that, as a monastic, I have the privilege and duty of praying the Divine Office. The Liturgy of the Hours puts the Word of God, i.e. psalms and other scriptures, on our lips and hopefully in our hearts, daily. In the past two years a few of us sisters have lead the semi-annual weekend retreat for women entitled Encountering Christ in the Psalms. The title captures what we aspire to do as we invite our retreatants to pray the Divine Office with us during the weekend and use Lectio Divina format to reflect on the meaning for ourselves of what we have just prayed in community. 

      While it may be true that many Christians find the Psalms hard to understand and not that helpful as a prayer form, we hope that through this experience people will discover that psalm-prayer is beyond the personal format we may be used to; instead it is a channel for our voices to join those of all Christians and our ancestor Israelites throughout all time and place. Our prayer is the prayer of the Mystical Body of Christ. Through psalms we praise God; we beg forgiveness; recall God’s saving actions; join in the sorrows, poverty, rejection, pain and loneliness of all God’s children, just at Jesus did in his life, passion, death and resurrection.

       Our next Encountering Christ in the Psalms retreat will be October 23-25, 2015 at the St. Walburg Monastery Guest House. If you would like more information, please contact Sr. Dorothy at dorothysosb@gmail.com or 859-739-7520. So far we have only held this retreat for women, but are open to providing one for men if there is an interest. So let us know. Thank you

                 .   Sr. Dorothy Schuette, OSB