November 2020

 

    It has been years since November has topped my list as a favorite month. The trees without their crowns, left unadorned stand out in stark beauty. Shades of brown replace much of the landscape. It is often a quiet month, with fewer distractions (well, with recent elections, maybe not this year). The simplicity of physical surroundings draws one to a deeper connection with the Holy. November lends itself to reflecting on the essentials of life and the importance of relationships tops the list. The month is bookended with remembrance of deceased loved ones at the beginning and ends with Thanksgiving, a time of gratitude for the persons in one’s life.

    However, this November is like no other.  What occurred at the end of October provided an interesting challenge for the community. Due to a positive COVID-19 case our main kitchen staff were quarantined. This meant we were on our own for all the meals! Many of us have had the experience of cooking for 4-6, but cooking for 35 plus is another type of experience! It was heartwarming how many in the community volunteered and helped in myriads of ways. The food was plentiful, varied and delicious and no one has lost weight! (though some of us wish we did!). We are also most grateful to a generous benefactor who provided several evening meals from local restaurants.

    This year the celebration of Thanksgiving, too, will be different. As is true for so many, there will be no guests or visiting with family at the Monastery. What rejoicing there will be when this pandemic is over. The promise of a vaccine does give hope for life beyond the virus.  In the meantime, during this November of 2020 my daily reflections are on gratitude and the many blessings in my life that have multiplied.

    Our community continues to pray daily for those suffering from COVID-19 and those isolated from family members.  We are grateful for all the blessings we have received from our friends and family. 

                                        Sister Aileen Bankemper

Tears in a Bottle

 

    November is the month when St. Walburg Monastery , like many church communities, displays a Book of Remembrance for our Dead, especially those who have died within the past year. In some churches the names are read aloud and the bell is tolled. It calls us to reflect on what these individuals have meant to us during their lives on earth and how they are present to us in our Eternal Home.

    Today, Veterans’ Day, we especially honor those who have served our country in all the armed services throughout the history of our country. Along with other first responders, law enforcement and peace keeping personnel, they put themselves between us and danger to uphold the ideals of freedom, equality and justice.

    As I walk to our cemetery mourning for all my sisters and brothers my thoughts are drawn especially to our Veterans and their sacrifices. I mourn for them and also for the death and diminishment of the ideals for which they died and endured hardships. I mourn with them whenever we, the people, allow or act with hatred, injustice and indifference.

·            I mourn for the people stuck at our border, especially the children – the thousands I did not meet last summer when I worked there, because these have had no chance for asylum in our country even though they are in grave danger and cannot go home.

·            I mourn for all who are affected by Covid-19 –patients, their loved ones who are not able to be with them in their last agony and their heroic care givers.

·            I mourn for Black men, women and children who have been deprived of their history, safety, dignity and rights as citizens for centuries.

·            I mourn for all who are affected by death, dying, persecution, oppression, and violence of every sort.

·            I mourn for the diminishment of truth in public speech.

·            I mourn for the greed that we each hold in our fearful hearts.

·            I mourn for us all in our struggling need for God to awaken us

 from the deaths in which we are entombed.

O God, you notice all my sorrows.

Have you not collected all my tears in your bottle?       --Psalm 56

     
 Sr. Dorothy Schuette, OSB