Still Shopping ....by Sr. Anna-Camille
I am the Sisters Speak Week 5 blogger, so I only write every few months. My last two posts were about my experiences as the Main Kitchen grocery shopper. It’s been almost exactly 6 months since I began this adventure, and I thought after two blog posts there really couldn’t be anything else to say. I was wrong. So, I am hoping you are able to bear with me through one more post about shopping.
Foggy Solstice Daybreak ...by Sr. Raphaela
"Deep night, Dark night Night of the longest sigh. . . " --from the poem "Winter Solstice" by Mary Saracino It was the breaking of the shortest day leading into the longest night, the night of the longest sigh--the winter solstice. The weather channel had declared for that morning “Beware of patches of dense fog.
Read the full post: Foggy Solstice Daybreak ...by Sr. Raphaela
Wait ....by Sr. Monika
I was born in the front seat of our car. Dad made it to the hospital driveway. The doctor and nurses came outside on that early, snowy February morning to help Mom and me. One nurse took my 11 month old sister, one nurse took me, one nurse took Mom, and Dad went to the ER to have his broken thumb looked at.
A Mysterious Visitor
Last month I had two unusual encounters with an owl. One afternoon, in the monastery dining room, I heard an unusual snapping of branches and flapping of wings. I ran to one of the windows and discovered a baby owl that was learning to fly. It was a Barred Owl that caused commotion among the sisters. We were afraid it would end up on the ground.
Stories We Tell Ourselves ....by Sr. Dorothy
I don't know who wrote this story and don't recall where I found it. If you happen to know its author, please get in touch and I will give credit. The Queen's Choice Once upon a time, in a kingdom that probably never really existed, a woman was caught stealing some coins from a local merchant in the market.
Read the full post: Stories We Tell Ourselves ....by Sr. Dorothy
Thankful for Autumn! ....by Sr. Raphaela
I love this time of the year! We have returned to standard time and my circadian rhythms are able to breathe easier again. I experience the invigorating crispness of the clear darkness of early morning, steam coming from my mouth and nose as I take the bin of used coffee grounds out to the compost. The majority of the leaves have fallen to the ground, allowing the deciduous trees to show off their sculpted, naked physiques.
Read the full post: Thankful for Autumn! ....by Sr. Raphaela
Why oh why? Y, indeed ....by Sr. Monika
Human beings like to ask, “Why?” Why did that earthquake happen? Why does it rain so much in the Pacific Northwest? Why do people have to suffer? “Why?” can be a rather useless, unhelpful question. Many times it simply cannot be answered. Frustrating. Now, “Y’s” are everywhere to be seen. Y’s are in trees, bushes and architecture. Once you start looking for them, you will see thousands of Y’s around you.
Hildegard of Bingen: Greening ....by Sr. Angela
“I (God) am the breeze that nurtures all things green. I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits. I am the rain coming from the dew that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life. ” from Gabriele Uhlein, Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen (Santa Fe: 1982) Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179), a Benedictine Abbess whose reputation as a visionary, healer, scientist, author, speaker, poet, artist, and musician, was well known in her lifetime.
Read the full post: Hildegard of Bingen: Greening ....by Sr. Angela
Day of the Dead | Feast of All Souls
These last years, with the pandemic and the wars, the people of the whole planet have a strong need to mourn all our losses. Our sense of safety and tranquility has been challenged, and we don’t have a communal way of acknowledging, mourning, and processing all these losses. For this, we can return to the wisdom of the ancients—like the Mexican cultures and Benedictine wisdom—and make them new. St. Benedict exhorts us: “Keep death daily before your eyes.
Modern Beguines
Marcella Pattyn (d. 2013) was touted as the “last beguine. ” Yet, while researching the history of beguines for my book, The Wisdom of the Beguines, I kept hearing word that there were contemporary beguines, but no one knew where, or who, or how to contact them. Then I heard from two beguines outside Dublin and one from Australia. But nothing more.
