Fr. Bill is a scholar whose knowledge of Hebrew and Greek gives him an understanding of Scripture which he passed on to us each day. He gave us new perspectives on familiar stories and parables. Knowing the language and culture of Biblical times added so much to our own reflections. Even the titles of his talks were thought provoking; for example, the Good Samaritan—We lie by the side of the road, bleeding and helpless; the Prodigal Son—Every saint has a past; every sinner has a future; Deuteronomy 32:10-18—How did we wind up in the desert?
Besides
being a scholar Fr. Bill is truly pastoral and relates the Scripture to our
everyday lives, especially in this time of the pandemic. He shared a poem by
Lynn Ungar http://www.lynnungar.com/poems/pandemic/whose message was to view the pandemic as a time of Sabbath, a time
to cease from activities, a time to “center down”.
I
have had frustrations with the suspension of normal activities and the poem and
the entire retreat helped me see these changes in a different and more
life-giving light.
Take
this time and use it well. Center down. Stop and listen and pray. Touch those
you love in ways that are less familiar. Reach out with words, with your heart.
I
thank Fr. Bill for his caring and thoughtful presentations that gave me and the
community new ways of seeing and being. God bless him in all he does.
Sr. Nancy Kordenbrock, OSB
Dear Sister, thank you for sharing this good news of happy study. I have been proofing my new little book (poems for Saint Mary) which bridges between East and West and I had a good thought about miracles. There are three kinds of miracle text: the text of the Holy Bible, which tells us of the holy miracles of ancient days and the Gospel; the miracle text of the life of the Christian faith, involving so many miracles of understanding, witnessing, apparition, and dreams. Then there is the miracle text of modern science, a text increasingly revealed in the last 200 years, showing in previously unknown complexity the miracle of the created world, and at the same time, modern medicine, the miracle of healing. Thinking on this, the cure of leprosy in the lifetime of my father seems such an important step for the human race. Why are miracles given to us? To understand and learn, if we can, May the Lord send to us a good teacher! God bless OSB, amen
ReplyDelete