Remembering Pope Francis in America

     A real historic moment in our history was when Pope Francis addressed the U.S. Congress on Sept. 24,2015. Besides the Congress, the Supreme Court and the members of the president's cabinet were present.The pope said that he was "most pleased to address you in the land of the free and the home of the brave."
     Francis began by addressing the Congress and those present by citing four famous Americans and their accomplishments to society. They were: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. They are three sons and daughters of this land.
    Francis urged Americans to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. Every life is sacred. He said society can only benefit from the abolition of the death penalty. He offered encouragement for rehabilitation. He spoke of welcoming immigrants, stating that we are descendants of immigrants ourselves.
   The pope urged that we keep in mind all those around us who are in a cycle of poverty. Part of the cycle is the creation and distribution of wealth, and he urged the development of an economy that Is moderate, inclusive and sustainable--one that seeks the creation of jobs in service to the common good.
    He said that we need conversation on the environment. We must re-direct our steps, we can make a difference. He urged Congress to play a courageous role: protect nature, combat poverty, put technology at the service of that which is more human and more social. Congress can make a big positive contribution in the years ahead
 . The pope also spoke of the richness and beauty of family life. I am sure we will be hearing more on this as the Synod on Family Life comes to a close this month.
     Sr. Barbara Woeste, OSB

Deer, the life of trees and memories

       On a recent bright and sunny afternoon, I was staffing the monastery front desk, looked up and saw three young deer munching acorns fallen from the standing oaks lining the walk to the monastery door. One, two then three, cars passed at intervals; the deer absorbed in their feast did not budge. But soon the steady parade of cars arriving to pick students distracted the deer; they took off for the tree covered hillside

        Here in Kentucky trees have been in the forefront lately, particularly the ash tree. Everywhere we see stumps of these trees. Not too long ago a visit to our cemetery shocked me. Many dead trees had been cut down; stumps and logs covered the cemetery. The abundance of stumps and logs had been too large for the maintenance crew to clear away quickly. It took some time but now the cemetery is clear, green, beautiful again with a few healthy young trees. A short distance beyond, behind a wall of trees, is a regular mountain of logs. Periodically someone will call for permission to take one or two, perhaps to create a bird bath in their back yard.

       A road trip between local hills reveals several large patches of dead trees, mostly ash. It will be interesting to see what falls brings when the live trees will no longer be obvious—but what will next year show?  My absorption seems to be with dead tress! I must come back, however, to those mighty oaks which line the walk to the monastery entrance. They are, a great source for memory, gratitude, beauty.

       I remember as if it were yesterday that long ago day, September 8, 1944, when my parents and two very young brothers brought me to St. Walburg Monastery to be postulant. The present oak trees had not been in the ground too long but had many branches and lots of acorns. We walked up steps, met Sr. Domitilla and Sr. Germaine, and I went through the steps of becoming a postulant. Then my family left, going down that same walk, my young brothers in tears. I look at those large oaks today and think of the years in between.The oaks bring many memories of all the happenings in community and family life that have occurred during the years. The oaks have been there through it all.

       May our newly planted trees have healthy ground and weather, and our community of St. Walburg Monastery continue to serve God and the Church through our Benedictine life. All this from a three deer visit to the front lawn!

                                    Sr. Andrea Collopy, OSB

Jubilee and Gratitude: One in the Same

       Pope Francis designated 2015 the year of consecrated religious life. The first of his three stated aims is for us to look to the past with gratitude. Gratitude is what I experience as I celebrate this Jubilee.

       I am grateful to my parents, John and Aileen and my siblings for the love and life lessons I learned and experienced in belonging to the Bankemper family. I feel especially blessed and grateful to God for calling me to the community at St. Walburg Monastery and giving me life among such wonderful women. I have so much appreciation for the members of the community both living and deceased, who have loved, mentored, challenged and forgiven me over these many years.

       My first profession was in 1965, the year the Vatican II Council ended. It was a time of change and huge changes were on the way.  In light of the Gospel and contemporary times all religious were called to study their origins, examine the meaning and purpose of their lives and update practices for present times. As Benedictines we were founded “to seek God in community, to live under the Rule of Benedict and a prioress.”  Along with countless communities our community heeded the Council’s call and since that time has engaged in examining every aspect of our lives; through ongoing in depth study of the Rule of Benedict, reclaiming our monastic heritage, revising our psalter (prayer books) even to the right sizing of our tables in the dining room to allow everyone the opportunity to hear and participate. 

       Throughout the many changes, a commitment to ministry has been a mainstay. My own involvement in meaningful ministry continues to be a priority. I love my work as a psychologist and the many persons I have had the privilege to serve. I feel especially blessed for the past twelve years of facilitating groups at Cancer Support Community and the Women’s Federal Prison Camp in Lexington.

       It is difficult to describe how much these groups have influenced my life. They bid me to appreciate the one precious life with which I and all of us have been gifted; to recognize that it is an accident of birth to the families and situations into which one is born: that all of us make mistakes, some serious, yet all of us need forgiveness and healing. Pope Francis designated 2016 as a year of mercy.  I hope his message will seep deeper into my being and allow me to walk in the shoes of those who suffer, particularly with the women in prison.

       The color and beauty of my life would be less without the richness and fidelity of friends. I am thankful for their fidelity in both the good times and the difficult ones. I feel especially blessed and grateful to God for calling me to St. Walburg Monastery and giving me life among such wonderful, giving women.

      Sr. Aileen Bankemper, OSB

Downsizing: A Complex and Challenging Process

       For one reason or another, a lot of people seem to be downsizing lately, and I'm one of them. I'm moving from one of our smaller houses on the monastery grounds to the main building. This has entailed sifting through years of files, libraries of books and photos, archives, and much else. 

       What a journey! Dust covered memories resurrect names, faces, and forces that helped create the person I am today. Gratitude spills out of packs of old letters, cards, and meeting notes as I unearth encounters with people who were important and whose imprint is still somewhere deep within me. 

       My mind dances through the reminders of people I loved, projects I relished, and trips I embraced. My heart once again wraps itself around the painful contacts that generated growth into new relationships even while it grieves over losses. 

       Questions arise about long-ago sharings: Where is he now? Does she remember like I do? Is he still living? What is she doing these days? (I've even created a little file of "lost contacts" to see about tracking them down, something made feasible today by the internet.) 

       The downsizing process is also an exercise in discerning treasure from trash. It's hard when one part of me treasures something at the same time another part of me says it's more sentimentality than treasure. Which is more true? 

       Then there's the physical and psychological stress of the process brought about by deadlines met and missed, goals that seem unachievable, and all the other demands that don't stop because of the need to move. 

       Yes, downsizing is a 2-sided coin, joy and pleasure on one side and painful challenges on the other. We do need to spend the coin, however, to reach a different phase in our life, a place where we can use our past more effectively to renew ourselves and those around us. And, if we are lucky enough to have folks willing to help with this stripping-down process, even our "thank you's" are tinged with the pain of the process. Maybe it's something like mountain climbing: to get to the top is a lot more possible with the support of a team, but it is still a personal act we have to perform, this alternation between releasing one thing and grabbing something new. 

       To all who have downsizing in their present or future, may the joys of remembering and reconnecting outweigh by far the pains of letting go. 

       Sr. Colleen Winston, OSB

Resilience and Benedict

            As I’ve listened to the news, read the paper and talk with people, I hear the many struggles, losses and challenges facing people around the world. In the midst of the turmoil I am also hearing about the resilience present in so many, their capacity to adapt and overcome risk and adversity. Each of us, in different ways, experience challenges as we move through life.  We also each have the opportunity to cultivate resilience in others and in ourselves. 

            I found myself wondering one evening last week how the Rule of St. Benedict supports resilience both within and outside the monastery. Benedict’s Rule is lived out in community and the goal is for all to move forward together towards everlasting life.  Community is a source of support, a witness of fidelity and some days provides us with opportunities to move through challenging times together (not so different from any family). Benedict’s rhythm of work and prayer creates a framework which builds character and confidence both of which contribute to our resilience. Benedict understood our humanness and provides forgiveness (often more than one chance), wisdom figures to intervene, and good zeal to urge us to be the first to do good for another.

            Benedict’s values of community, a rhythm of life which nurtures balance and wholeness, forgiveness and striving towards good can set us towards being more resilient. We have the opportunity in our lives, both within and outside the monastery, to provide support, forgiveness, celebrate strengths in each another and spread good zeal. May we each find a way to tap into our potential for goodness and resilience in the rhythms of our lives. 

          Sr. Kimberly Porter, OSB

A prayer before Pope Francis comes to the United States

          This summer I attended the Benedictine Development Symposium in Schuyler, Nebraska and met a extraordinary speaker and writer. He may not thank me for this mention, but I was impressed by his writing skils and passion. And so I share with you a snippet of Brian Doyle, editor of Portland magazine at the University of Portland. He is the author of Leaping: Revelations and Epiphanies, A Shimmer of Something: Lean Stories of Spiritual Substance, and many more.

         Today I‘m sharing with you a prayer from Brian Doyle's A Book of Uncommon Prayer:100 Celebrations of the Miracle and Muddle of the Ordinary. Sorin Books, 2014, pp. 17-18

          Brian’s prayers remind me of Daniel Berrigan’s psalm prayers in Uncommon Prayer: a Book of Psalms and Walter Brueggemann’s prayers in Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth. Brian, Daniel and Walter share the same passion for the apt word/ phrase, for social justice, for an intense struggling relationship with God and for speaking the hard truth of human suffering and small delights. Their prayers are not easy to pray, just as many of the psalms are not easy to pray. Their prayers like the psalms come from the deepest part of us and stun us with their power.

          I present Brian Doyle’s prayer as an example of a modern yet Biblical way of calling out to God It is also a good prayer for the week before Pope Francis comes to visit.

Furious Prayer for the Church I Love and Have Always Loved but Which Drives me Insane with Is Fussy Fidgety Prim Tin-Eared Thirst for Control and Rules and Power and Money Rather Than the One Simple Thing the Founder Insisted On

Granted, it’s a tough assignment, the original assignment. I get that. Love—Lord help us, could we not have been assigned something easier, like astrophysics or quantum mechanics? But no—love those you cannot love. Love those who are poor and broken and fouled and dirty and sick with sores. Love those who wish to strike you on both cheeks. Love the blowhard, the pompous ass, the arrogant liar. Find the Christ in each heart, even those. Preach the Gospel and only if necessary talk about it. Be the Word. It is easy to advise and pronounce and counsel and suggest and lecture; it is not so easy to do what must be done without sometimes shrieking. Bring love like a bright weapon against the dark. The Rabbi did not say build churches, or retreat houses, or secure a fleet of cars for general use, or convene conferences or issue position papers. He was pretty blunt about the hungry and the naked and the sick. He was not reasonable. We forget this. The Church is not a reasonable idea. The Church should be a verb. When it is only a noun it is not what the Founder asked of us. Let us pray that we are ever after dissolving the formal officious arrogant thing that wants to rise, and ever fomenting the contradictory revolutionary counter-cultural thing that could change life on this planet. It could, you know. Let’s try again today. And so: amen.

Thank you, Brian Doyle.

        Sr. Deborah Harmeling, OSB

"Good evening. St. Walburg Monastery"

       “Good evening.  St. Walburg Monastery.”  I gave my usual message when answering the phone.

       “Are you taking new members?”

       “We are.”

       “Well what are the qualifications?”

Taken back by the bluntness of the question I hesitated and then blurted out, “Your best bet is to come and see and we can find out if we would be a good match.”

The brief conversation prompted me to reflect on my own journey.  B.C.; that is, Before Convent I enjoyed life, school and all the pleasures of youth. I thought I was on the path to be married. I also prayed, going to daily Mass frequently, being quietly reflective and studying the Gospels with friends.  One of my favorite places to pray then, and still is, is flat on my back in bed.  So one night I said to Jesus, “I wonder what I’ll be doing next year at this time.”  The answer came back, “You’ll be in the convent (monastery).”  I was shocked.  It was out of the blue.

            So the path began, talking to a priest several times, being interviewed by the prioress, being given a date to enter, finally telling my family and friends, not all of whom were happy. I did come to live here and thus began several years of what might be called the engagement period.  It was a time of discovery for me and for the members of the community.  Needless to say, I did make a life-long commitment. The journey continues. We are a good match.

       Sr. Mary Rabe, OSB