1. Red beets: Mom made Harvard beets, and we pretended the sauce was
lipstick, but the beets were not a favorite. I was probably 60 before being
introduced to root vegetables. Roasted root vegetables and even just roasted beets
have ascended to a top spot.
2. Bluegrass
music: Definitely wasn’t on my playlist. But then around ten years ago Sr.
Rita Bilz needed a driver to a Ralph Stanley concert. She watched out of the
corner of her eye to see my response. I was hooked. That was the beginning of
many bluegrass band trips. I don’t think Rita ever heard a song she didn’t
know.
3. The Civil War: I went to Gettysburg once and crossed it off my
to-do list. But I had noticed the quiet way people toured the battlefield. I
went back a second time. Learned there was far more than killing and brutality
to the war’s history and effects. Admitted my slim acquaintance with black
history, the war’s cultural impact on women, differences between north and
south, the roots of political strife and civil unrest. My education continues.
4. Psalm
119: This psalm has 176 verses. In
the Liturgy of the Hours it is always broken up into small sections and
sprinkled among the hours. Because, as I once thought, it says the same thing
over and over. Dear heaven, this ignorance is hard to admit in print. I am
going to study it, to find out why it now has so much appeal for me, and after
some work I will read what scholars say. In the meantime I will keep on praying
it. And enjoying it.
I
am grateful to those who introduce the new, who open a door, who provide an
experience that gives life in a surprising way. Jesus says he is the Gate. Then
Jesus must be present in the cook who served the red beets, Sr. Rita who took a
chance on a classical music lover, camping friends who’ve traveled from
Gettysburg to Appomattox, and the sisters with whom I pray Psalm 119. Their
gates are standing open.
Sr.
Christa Kreinbrink, OSB
