The Blessings of Routine

 

    Sometimes I’m really grateful for routine. Special event, guests for dinner, change in schedule, a celebration, all so welcome at the time. Later I am happy to have done something different, and also glad it’s over.

    Travel carries with it an illusion of freedom. Freedom from normal responsibilities, the ability to do what you want when you want. Or so you think. But what will you do and when will you do it? How will you each show hospitality to the other’s preference?

It is a revelation to learn from yourself and others that vacationing calls for creating routines. It is a relief to do “what we usually do” at least part of the time. St. Benedict advises moderation. Is the key a balance of routine and “specials”?

            St. Aelred of Rievaulx gives practical advice on dealing with routine in his Rule for Recluses:

 

Make use of the psalms as long as you find them helpful.

When they begin to be burdensome, turn to reading;

            as soon as that wearies you, give yourself to prayer.

When you are tired of all these exercises, go to work.

Thus by a healthy alternation

            you will refresh your spirit and drive off weariness. 

How often have you heard from friends returning from work or fun trips, “It was great, and I’m glad to be back home.” Would that we each can find that healthy alternation, the usual patterns in our good life that root us, and the special occasions that refresh the spirit.

                Sr. Christa Kreinbrink, OSB

 

 

Habits

Have you ever thought about the role of habits or routine in your life? Some of us are more habitual than others, but I think everyone is to some extent. It could be as simple as how you comb your hair, use a phone, or feed the dog.

Habits can make life easier and more comfortable because they eliminate hundreds of minute decisions every day. On the other hand, habits can be detrimental. Author Samuel Beckett says “Habit is a great deadener.” I can see how at times this could be true because judgments and creativity aren’t often tapped when habit already has the plan laid out.

Habits or routine can also make us blind or deaf. If we are sure we know what is going to happen or what someone is going to say, we don’t expect anything other than what is already in our own head. As Jean Cocteau said, habits keep things covered and prevent us from seeing. In fact, they can lock us into routines that become semi-rules we expect for ourselves or others and prevent something new from ruffling our expectations.

These thoughts about habit are not exactly theological language, but God’s life-giving actions don’t follow the rules that we humans create for ourselves. In fact, God breaks rules a lot.  Have you ever noticed how many times the OT prophets did irrational things following God’s commands? One strange story has Jeremiah buying new underwear then burying it so it would rot. (Jer. 13:1-11) Then, in the New Testament, Jesus’ life was one unexpected action after another, beginning with a virgin as mother. Time after time he broke with the expectations of religious leaders and his own apostles. In the end he broke out of the box of a tomb. All of this was the surprising work of God.

These scripture stories tell us God’s ways are not ours, but we often unconsciously act as though the divine will and our will is the same. We forget or ignore the fact that the God of surprises is beyond our grasp. This situation should make us more attuned to not letting our habits get the upper hand in our daily lives. As St. Augustine said, “Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.”

Where does this meandering leave my thinking? I need to continue to give time to reflection about God’s value system and the way Jesus exemplified them; I need to pay more attention to the people around me and how God loves them; when I pray, even for the end of horrible things, I need to remember that God has shown us many times if we pay attention, that good can emerge from evil. The crucifix is our perpetual reminder of this.--Sr. Colleen Winston, OSB

The mystery unfolds gradually

 

    This Sunday’s readings of the cedar tree from Ezekiel, which when cut down and planted on the heights, then withers, still blooms again, and Mark’s parable of the mustard seed, too small, but grows big enough for the birds of the air to build their nests in its branches, stirred many stories for me. 

    I grew up in a family of farmers.  Dad’s father dreamt of having a farm early in his life, starting the poultry business in his yard and basement immediately after marriage, and became an avid flower and vegetable gardener as well.  Mother’s dad started a farm early on with cows, pigs and large fields of hay to cut and bail.  We all learnt the importance of patience and waiting for the crops and animals to grow and become productive, and then we worked together to prepare them and move them to the customers.

    First of all, todays date, June 16, was a very special day in the life of my family.  It was 112 years ago today that my TEWES grandparents got married, then 85 years ago so did my parents, then, 76 years ago one aunt, and 72 years ago the other of dad’s sisters.  So, this was a day when the TEWES clan celebrated.  We all gathered for Mass, as my mother had organized, then to our farm for a family photo and a big picnic dinner, complete with mother’s fried chicken.  Every year the photo got larger and larger.  If we were still able to meet that would include some 425 persons today.  (My mother’s family would be another whole story.)  Notice how long it took for that large family tree to grow, and is still growing.

    In 1937 our monastery building was completed.  And 8 young oak trees were planted in the front yard.  Over these many years they grew to be very tall sturdy oaks, weathered many storms, and finally became too unsafe to walk or park under.  So, 82 years later they were taken down leaving a whole in our hearts as well as in the view of our monastery.  By Dec. 7, 2019 a grove of 18 young trees were planted to fill up the front yard.  They are a joy to watch day after day.

    There are moments when we are powerless to do anything more than plant whatever seed we have, then go on, sleeping and rising, night and day.

    Mary M. McGlone reminds us that “as we enter into these summer months, hoping that this is the end of COVID-19, the liturgy invites us to imitate the farmer of Jesus’ parable and watch for the wonders God is working - hidden in plain sight.  We can no more predict what the harvest will be than we can cause its growth.  This is how it is with the kingdom of God.”   We are confident and full of hope, for the reign is not just our project – it is God’s.  As Ezekiel says with such power; “As I, the Holy One, have spoken, so will I do.”  But it is our project too, God creating in and through us.  So, we need to nurture and support one another, to accept our own gifts, to live the Gospel as faithful community.  Our ordinary lives of love, joy, patience, goodness, gentleness – make a difference!  So, we can say, “We will do it!”

                 
  Sr. Mary Tewes, OSB

Anti-Racism

 Anti-Racism: A Benedictine Concern

            The recent national observance of the 100^th year marker on June 1^st of the Tulsa Race Massacre and my current awareness of the upcoming celebration of Juneteenth (June 19^th) woke me to the question, “How is this my concern?”

            The responses to this question have been developing throughout my whole life. My parents raised me to respect all people regardless of color or creed. (Ageism and sexism were not “on the table” in those days.) Mother’s consistent emphasis that black people were treat
ed unfairly, and often with malice, influenced my life-long thinking, study and real-life observations and interactions with and about people of color.

            In the Rule of St. Benedict which governs our life here at St. Walburg Monastery, we discover that this 6^th Century author was sensitive to the social factors that keep people from becoming family to each other. He specified that there shall be no distinction between high-born and low-born monastics. All follow the same schedule, all wear the clothing and use the tools provided by the monastery and call each other brother/sister. This wisdom for the ages has been faithfully passed down to us to practice in our varying circumstances across the world. In fact, the solidarity of Benedictine Communities around the world witnesses to the equality we experience throughout our global family.

            Personally, I am honored to be trusted as an ally by a number of people of color whom I have encountered through my ministries over the years. I recognize that there are bridges yet to be built. And I welcome those opportunities to develop additional multi-cultural relationships that are in God’s Providence for me and my community.

            In solidarity with these friends and potential friends, I mourn the injustice and cruelties inflicted especially upon black people in the past and which are still in the hearts of so many. And I pray that God may remove the stones of fear, anger and vengeance for all who maintain the wall of separation.

 

https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth

 

Sr. Dorothy Schuette, OSB

Remembering Those Who Serve

 

As I write this on Tuesday morning, we as a nation just celebrated Memorial Day weekend. Here at the monastery, we also buried the remains of Srs. Charles, Rita, and Margaret Mary in our cemetery. While they did not die serving in the Armed Forces, it seemed an appropriate weekend.

 

The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers. It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

 

Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars, including World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/memorial-day-history).

 

This weekend I  honored and prayed for those who have gone before us, our Sisters, but also those who gave their lives in defense of freedom. I also remember that with that freedom comes great responsibility. St. Benedict tells us in the prologue to his Rule, “If you desire true and eternal life, let peace be your quest and aim.” We now carry the torch. As we hold it high, may it light the way to peace.

 

“In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae

 

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Sr. Eileen O'Connell