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BENEDICTINES LXV:1 2012: SPRING/SUMMER

"Our task is to water the roots, cultivate the soil, and nurture the core practices of monastic life, the non-negotiable elements of monasticism. When the non-negotiables falter, so do monasteries. Faithful to and permeated by a life of lectio, Liturgy of the Hours, the common life, obedience, celibacy, renunciation oriented toward conversion of heart and all that we know to be authentically and perennially monastic, we can live confidently into future expressions of our beloved tradition. When those core identifying qualities or components of monastic life pervade our consciousness and our living experience, we can ride the waves of change like a master surfer, with skill and grace, thrilling at the sheer wonder of ever-new contours of this monastic experiment that has already adapted amazingly well for 16 centuries to a myriad of circumstances.”

Jeanne Ranek, OSB, p.16

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Nothing is more important than finding God -- falling in love in a quite absolute way. What you are in love with seizes your imagination, and will affect every-thing. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you will read, who you will know, what breaks your heart, and amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything for you. Pedro Arrupe, SJ

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Editor: Barbara Mayer, OSB; Associate Editors: Rita Killackey, OSB, Joan Offenburger, OSB; Poetry Editor: Diana Seago, OSB; Book Review Editor: Deborah Peters, OSB; Advisor: JoAnn Fellin, OSB; Layout: Dick Brummel, Obl.SB; Circulation: Grace Malaney, OSB, Jane Brummel, Obl.SB; Mailers: Barbara Conroy, OSB, Barbara Smith, OSB.

Benedictines is published semiannually Spring/Summer, Fall/Winter by Mount St. Scholastica. Subscrip-tion price, $15.00; Foreign subscriptions, $20.00; Canada and Mexico, $18.00. Subscription form is on back page of each issue. Copyright © 2010 by Mount St. Scholastica, Inc. All rights reserved. Address all communications to: The Editor, Benedictines Magazine; 801 South 8th St., Atchison, KS 66002 or call (913) 360-6200. Deadline for manuscripts for the Fall/Winter issue is September 1; for the Spring/Summer issue the deadline is March 1. Manuscripts should be in Microsoft Word, double spaced, with only essential formatting, and e-mailed to: [email protected]. Poetry should be sent to the Poetry Editor, Diana Seago at [email protected].

Contents

Editorial Barbara Mayer, OSB 4 Articles Women Monastics in Today’s Church Jeanne Ranek, OSB 6

The Passion of the Earth Teresa Jackson, OSB Melanie Weidner 20

First Fervor Revisited Renée Branigan, OSB 28

Poetry

Pondering the Potter

Susan Marie Lindstrom, OSB

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Prayer of Wild Violets

Therese Marie Furois, OSB

25

The Big Sister

Marva Hoeckelman, OSB

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35Conversatio Joanna Burley, OSBThe Moon, Near Full* (Psalm 16) Lisa InmanElizabeth Sherry Bupp 36

Book Reviews OUR ONE GREAT ACT OF FIDELITY: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist.

Ronald Rolheiser, OMI 42

THE ROAD TO ETERNAL LIFE: Reflections on the Prologue of Benedict’s Rule

Michael Casey, OCSO 43

THE EMERGENT CHRIST: Exploring the Meaning of Catholic in an Evolutionary Universe

Ilia Delio 44

FOLLOWING THE PATH: The Search for a Life of Passion, Purpose and Joy

Joan Chittister, OSB 46

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The Passion of Religious Life

I n the face of diminishment, aging, and merging in the majority of religious communities today, can we still echo Julian of Norwich’s words: “All shall be well”? Or have we succumbed to the inevita-

bility of becoming a dying breed? It depends a lot on how we look at the challenges facing religious life and how we decide to respond to them. We can decide it’s not worth the effort and struggle to keep our commu-nities alive, or we can use our creativity and courage to look at possibili-ties and forge a new future for religious life. The authors in this issue re-flect on our religious vocation and how passionate we are about living it to the full.

Sister Jeanne Ranek urges us to “see beyond our caterpillar’s-eye view of things” and adopt the spirit of adventure that our foremothers had in spite of the uncertainty that loomed ahead. She admits that this is a time of crisis, but instead of trying harder, she believes we need to “reframe the questions” about our future. “For monasticism to thrive, not only survive, in future decades, practical adaptations need to be but-tressed with distant vision – into our past and into our potential future,” she says. She calls us to be mystics and prophets and to remain rooted in the essentials of monastic life. She acknowledges that this will not be an easy task. It will require “labor, birth pains and the messy and wonderful business of midwifery and birthing.”

S ister Renée Branigan looks at the first fervor of new entrants to religious life and believes that it can inspire older members to re-trieve the original enthusiasm they had when they entered the no-

vitiate. “First fervor is that delicious course of sparkling desire, dyna-mism and clarity in our call to the monastic life that not only carries us across the threshold but also helps us set up housekeeping,” she writes. Just as the newcomer needs to be formed and undergo change, so also the community needs to be willing to change. Conversatio is a lifelong pro-cess and no one completes it until their last breath. She calls members of the community to see “each new beginning as everyone’s new begin-

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ning,” to encourage by example more than by words, and to “rejoice in the new fire, the new challenge.”

In the art and poetry depicting the “Passion of the Earth,” Sister Teresa Jackson, a member of the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cotton-wood, Idaho, and Melanie Weidner, a Quaker artist, create a meditation on the exploitation and destruction of our earth today. The display re-minds us of God’s passion in creating our beautiful world and urges us to participate in healing it “from the destructive forces assailing it.” These two women provide a whole new vision of Christ’s passion, the earth’s passion, and even the passion religious life is experiencing in our times.

These are complex yet hope-filled ideas for us to ponder. This is no time to sit back and relax. There is much work to be done and we cannot expect someone else to do it. We may be aging, but being active and en-gaged can provide renewed energy. Just as physical exercise is necessary to keep healthy, so spiritual exercise and involvement can enable our communities to be invigorated. W.H. Auden tells us, “What God does first and best and most is to trust people with their moment in history.” What we do with ours is up to us.

Barbara Mayer, OSB

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Women Monastics in Today’s Church

by Jeanne Ranek, OSB

Sister Jeanne Ranek gave this presentation at the American Benedictine Formation Conference in 2011. In this adaptation, she reflects on where women religious are today and how we envision our future. She faces the hard questions with hope and trust.


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D iminishment, merging, reconfig-uring, aging in place are flag words claiming pride of place on

monastic agendas and in our conversa-tions today. At times, our verbiage in this lean era sounds more like a cry for sur-vival than a commitment to the Benedic-tine vision for the long haul. It is clear from the demographic data alone that Diarmuid O’Murchu’s startling predic-tion is on the mark. He gave religious life as we know it another half century or so to be “sufficiently emptied out for the creative Spirit to breathe afresh.”1 Radi-cal change is on our monastery doorsteps, and the dynamics of change beg to be heeded.

A common reaction is to anesthetize oneself, hide from the painful truth. Suc-cumbing to claims of too busy, too old, too whatever to change, we unwittingly project an attitude which serves as an effective repellant to potential new mem-bers. Taking refuge in denial, some sis-ters fail to notice that all has not been well for some time, that our mean age has been climbing and there are few new faces in our monasteries. Others, seized by panic, are impelled into precipitous action without any sense of meaningful direction. Still others pause to ponder what resurrection life might emerge through this dying to old assumptions and patterns. In this response we find hope for a vital future.

Those with heads securely buried in the proverbial sand might be quick to criticize bearers of disturbing observa-tions, but the danger of not taking up the challenge is decay, and we all know what that smells like! As we face the challenge of our future, it seems to me that

complacency is deadly, and panic is dis-astrous. The challenge calls for faith -filled calm and rolled up sleeves. It has been said of us humans that we would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and see our illu-sions die. But, "What God does first and best and most is to trust people with their moment in history."2 What will we do with our moment? Facing Radical Change

T he gift of this time in our history is the privilege of birthing a re-newed vision. Ours is a pregnant

moment, a time to wake up and take cour-age because the embryo of a new era of monastic expression is growing silently in the darkness of the womb. How shall we nurture this fetus whose features we have not yet seen? How bring it to birth? I personally have a great deal of hope for our monastic future, but hope in times like ours requires more than naive opti-mism. We do not simply seek better solu-tions; we have to find out whether we are asking the right questions. The question for us today is not so much “Will we sur-vive?” We will. A more vitalizing question might be, “What is the gift of

Sister Jeanne Ranek, OSB, is a member of Sacred Heart Monastery, Yankton, SD, and Director of the Benedictine Peace Center. She ministers as retreat and spiritual director and conducts a ministry formation program for spiritual directors. She earned a PhD in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and a DMin in Spiritual Direction from the Graduate Theological Foundation.

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monasticism today for our world and Church?”

B y now it is quite clear that super-ficial adjustments will never meet the challenge and that radical

change is required. What new sprouts emerging from our deep monastic roots will look like depends on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and our imaginative creativity. What we cannot do without is a good measure of hope. Rooted in Christ and in the essentials of our charism, we have nothing to fear – except, of course, the chaos and pain of uncertainty, the turbulence and struggle of living into un-familiar but authentic ways of being mo-nastic in our time and place. We must be realistic, resilient and hope-filled to hear the Word to us today and follow whole-heartedly. We have to see beyond our caterpillar’s-eye view of things. Sitting in the same pew, so to speak, with the terror over so much change and uncertainty sits a refreshing quality of adventure. I won-der whether our foremothers experienced something like these twin responses to challenges on the frontier of monastic life in America.

Can we be catalysts, facilitating the death of the old while being midwife for birthing the new? We need the inner free-dom to lament, grieve and “bury the dead” and then embrace the new. We must start telling new stories, alternative visions of how things might be for a dif-ferent future. We need to confront any shriveled-up consciousness with fresh perceptions and clearer vision.

Our moment in history calls for noth-ing short of a new consciousness, a con-templative/mystic consciousness – one that will provide meaning for new ways of being, a contemplative vision that will enable us to find sense in the confusion and envision ways in which new life might emerge if we have the courage for it. The prophetic call to monasticism for our time requires contemplative vision; it is part of living the "good zeal" recom-mended to us in Chapter 72 of the Rule. It is in times of chaos and troubles in the Church and in the larger society that mys-ticism flowers. Could that be said of our times? In dark nights of sense and spirit, God works powerfully and fruitfully ex-actly when we feel most barren and vul-nerable, when we encounter an impasse and are forced to go deeper.

Developmental Stages

R esearch has demonstrated devel-opmental patterns in organiza-tions. Monastic communities,

like other organizations, reflect a com-mon developmental pattern. Of course, unusual events and conscious interven-tions can alter the pattern, but several stages of development are typical of or-ganizations and shed light on the condi-tion of numerous monasteries today.

It is in times of chaos and troubles in the Church and in the larger society that mysticism flowers.


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Stages in the life of an organization in-clude (1) Inspiration and Innovation, (2) Rapid Growth and Experimentation, (3) Stabilization and Maintenance, (4) De-cline and Destabilization.3

Most of us have experienced many

years of monastic life at stage three, a rational, systematic and predictable mode of life. The one thing we failed to predict, though, is the stage four phenomena of decline with its narrow focus on survival, the stage that confronts us today. It is now commonly observed that “Most communities in North America are in the latter stages of this normal developmental cycle…The time, energy and resources needed for radical change are running out.”4 Indicants of stage four are dimin-ishing numbers, advancing age, few if any new vocations, increased tensions between the demands of maintenance and the call to mission, a smaller pool of will-ing and able leaders and actuarial tables that only project a continuation of these trends.

L arge, secure communities have the dubious luxury of coasting or even basking in smug arrogance

because future realities have not forced a keen awareness of impending crisis. Fragile communities, on the other hand, can be tempted to employ stop-gap ef-forts to deal with immediate crises with-out a sense of where it all might lead. All of our communities would be well ad-vised to ask whether our concrete actions

are situated in some emergent vision for monastic life as we iron out wrinkles in today’s monastic robes.

This is indeed a time of crisis. A natural reaction to signs of decline is to try harder. In his final work crowning a lifetime of observing patterns of human interaction, Edwin Friedman observed that we tend to function in a locked-in perspective.5 The problem is that faithful to an outdated vision, working harder and harder for solutions (e.g., new vocations) does not work because what is needed is a new question. What we need to do is to reframe the questions.

Caution in Lean Times

A s the implications of contempo-rary circumstances in our monas-tic communities gradually get

our attention, conversations about our predicament might be riddled with fear or buoyant with creative energy. Amidst contemporary turbulence, tough demo-graphic realities and immediate needs, we strive for distance vision. Of course, it is not so simple to be far-sighted when no one knows what that future will look like! Until recently we haven’t paid much at-tention to the future. Father Terrence Kardong observed that our Benedictine journals are full of historical studies and that “Our understanding of the monastic past becomes richer and richer, while our vision of the monastic future becomes murkier.”6 Now is a good time to heed the Scriptural caution that when vision ceases, the people perish.7

We can ill afford to assume a delu-sionally-positive stance in the face of hard data and practical wisdom. Naïve

All of our communities would be well advised to ask whether our concrete actions are situated in some emergent vision for monastic life as we iron out wrinkles in today’s monastic robes.

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optimism, a blind positivism, won’t make the challenges go away. Nostalgia or fear could tempt us to stretch the present on the Procrustean bed of the past, or engage in the equally dangerous opposite ex-treme and presume with an easy and naïve optimism that the future will play out nicely without much serious reckon-ing and difficult choices.

A recent book8 challenges Amer-ica’s obsession with presenting a “positive” image at all times and

at all costs and the tendency to adopt a cheerful, optimistic and upbeat take, dis-regarding data and effectively thwarting intelligent responses in crises. If we are

to survive and thrive, we need to have the difficult conversations and face the changes that will surely be required to transmigrate from the model of monastic life today to a vital model that will work in the future.

Another error to avoid is a tendency to observe trends and extrapolate the fu-ture. A healthy vision adjusts for unan-ticipated events and allows for new choices and alternative plans as a group lives into its future.

The past is by no means a blueprint for the future, but centuries past have provided a legacy that must not be ig-nored. Mindfulness of a monastic legacy is critical. The values and practices that have sustained our way of life through incredibly diverse times and circumstances will once again provide the

sustenance for authenticity as we open our minds to yet new ways unimagined previously. How shall we hold the ten-sion between legacy and vision as we seek wisdom and balance?

Call to Be Prophetic

W ith Julian of Norwich, I be-lieve that “All shall be well.” There is hope, a lot of it. But,

that is a very different reality from denial of problems and challenges facing us. “Hope,” says Vaclav Havel, “is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”9 Christian hope has nothing to do with naïve positivism so prevalent in American culture.

What, in the divine view, is trying to emerge during this time of uncertainty? What will it look like? Will we flop about, grasping promises of survival? Or will we courageously live into a fresh vision of authentic monastic life? Will we be able to cross challenging chasms with great leaps of faith when small steps would lead to disaster?

We monastics have proved to be ca-

pable of the stretching to new realities throughout our long history. We haven’t lasted for so many centuries without

Our way of living into the future must be very different from long-range planning.

If we are to survive and thrive, we need to have the difficult conversations and face the changes that will surely be required to transmigrate from the model of monastic life today to a vital model that will work in the future.


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massive doses of vision and creativity. You and I have found vital Benedictine communities to join because our fore-mothers and forefathers in the tradition had the wisdom to nurture those core es-sentials of monastic life in every circum-stance and time. Over and over again, monasticism has engaged cultural forces, political threats, social support or ani-mosity, economic realities and decline to forge an outward expression suited to time and place while preserving more or less well those essentials that define Benedictine monasticism.

We need to be mystics and prophets

– that is our legacy and that is our call today! Our times beg for it. And monastic women and men today dare not ignore the call to claim our prophetic voice. Wis-dom from the Tradition10 calls our Bene-dictine monasteries to be oases of hope as we have been in the past whenever we have dared to live prophetically, letting ourselves be attracted by the mystery of God’s unexpected call.

O ur way of living into the future must be very different from long-range planning. How often has a

long-range plan, painstakingly designed and laboriously implemented, actually been a stumbling block for a community of women committed to the mysterious impelling of the Holy Spirit of God in our midst? Planning – short- or long-range –has a place, but a plan must not be al-lowed final authority.

Dom Bernardo Olivera, OCSO, urges monastics to be radical – rooted and grounded in love (Eph 3:17), rooted in Christ and built up on Him (Col 2:7), to have more passion and slightly less logic

as we claim our voice and look to the future. “If monastic life in the future is not a living, updated edition of the Song of Songs, it will have very little to say to tomorrow’s generations!”11

If we wish to confront our culture

with countervailing monastic values, we need to do it symbolically, poetically. I wonder whether the very fundamental elements of monastic living – including the beauty of song and psalmody, of lit-urgy and the rhythm of hours – aren’t the best evidence of our potential for pro-phetic living and transformative presence.

A transformation of consciousness will be required to undergird our call to be prophetic today. In Wisdom from the Tradition we are reminded that “…the monastic vocation is by its very nature prophetic. The monastic way of life nur-tures discomfort with whatever values of the dominant culture are incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”12 A prophet always functions within a time and place in history – within the context of one's own culture. Working out of a framework that asks questions about jus-tice and rightness, the prophet often pro-

poses a slightly different Weltan-schauung, a modified world view –complete with new assumptions that tend

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to pull the rug out from under complacent feet.

We are living in a time that begs for a

prophetic word. Are we willing to ask the hard questions as we live into our future? "Today the monastic community is called to be a community of affirmation, declar-ing values that must be sustained; of pro-

test, opposing social trends and forces which threaten those values; and, finally, of active resistance when protest alone proves unavailing." 13

Marginal Status

H ow we understand our position with the Church and larger cul-ture has everything to do with

our choices in this time of diminishment, those conditions we fervently hope are the ashes out of which the phoenix will arise for the decades before us.

Monasticism holds a unique place in society, one that situates us ideally to provide an alternative consciousness. The location issue I wish to underscore in this brief space is the characteristic marginal status of monasticism within a culture.14 Monasticism has a unique advantage of

being a marginal institution, of being situated on the edge of society. It stands somewhat apart yet not separate from the larger society. We have traditionally challenged ourselves to be “in the world but not of the world.” Too much empha-sis on a fuga mundi mentality and monas-ticism loses relevance, credibility and effectiveness within the culture. Exces-sively fused with the larger culture we fall victim to the same excesses, depriva-tions, and blind-spots, the same imbal-ances that plague the larger culture.

At its best, monasticism has been a

countervailing presence, unafraid to live on the margins of society, standing enough apart and interfacing sufficiently, to witness to another way of being in re-lation to God, to one another, to all of creation. It is a place for perspective. It can be a place from which to exercise a corporate prophetic voice.

Many of our monastic homes are symbolically located on hilltops. What-ever the physical terrain, a consciously chosen marginal position supporting and nurturing a transformed consciousness can serve as a corrective to the cultural imbalance tipped toward individualism. If we are too much entangled in any situa-tion, we will never have the courage to confront evils and imbalance in the larger society. How are we part of American culture? Are the habits of our hearts like those of the conventional American as defined by Robert Bellah and associates? How well formed are we in countervail-ing habits, habits of the monastic heart?

Monasticism has a unique advantage of being a marginal institution, of being situated on the edge of society.


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A discerned perspective from the margins has the potential to en-ergize monastics toward a hope-

filled and just future. Structural marginal-ity provides freedom for a community, profoundly and hopelessly permeated with the Word, to discern and project a collective prophetic voice in the Church and larger culture with authenticity and power.

Current conditions of diminishment

signal a wake-up call alerting us to claim the dimension of our monastic identity that has receded during the long period of

stability and maintenance. Our contempo-rary mission is to become anew who we are called to be. From the margins of so-ciety – neither removed from nor en-meshed in the values and structures of the

larger culture – we dare not fail to speak prophetically, to proclaim the Word for the inspiration and encouragement of our sisters and brothers.

"The task of prophetic ministry is to

nurture, nourish, and evoke a conscious-ness and perception alternative to the

consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us."15 Rooted in the Word through liturgy and lectio, every ministry we undertake has the po-tential of prophetic influence. An alterna-tive consciousness both challenges and criticizes the status quo and energizes people by holding out the hope and prom-ise of an alternative future. That is the character of Gospel living, of monastic living.

L iving on the margins while mari-nating in the Word we muster the creativity and bold faith to speak

prophetically. How shall we speak wis-dom in the face of raging fundamental-ism? How will we persist in renewal in the face of reactionary elements that chal-lenge every gift emerging from the Sec-ond Vatican Council? How shall we speak to those crippled by our culture of fear and alienation? How shall we con-front party politics that lose sight of the common good? What is our role in shap-ing economic policies that assist rather than oppress the poor? And with all due deference to ecclesiastical officials, how shall we monastic women help to educate the laity in discernment and conscience formation regarding the role of women

Western culture has over-extended itself in the direction of ego-driven achievement.

At its best, monasticism has been a countervailing presence, unafraid to live on the margins of society, standing enough apart and interfacing sufficiently, to witness to another way of being in relation to God, to one another, to all of creation.

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and the prophetic roles among God’s people, and enable once again comple-mentary and respect-filled interaction between the sensus fidei element with our Church and the official teaching magiste-rium?

Mystic Consciousness16

I f we wonder where we are going as women monastics and what our gift to church and culture might be, per-

haps our monastery guests and retreatants

have much to teach us. It can be argued that their hunger for contemplative ex-perience and attraction to monastic space and values reflect a yearning for a con-templative/mystical consciousness. We monastics share that yearning for bal-ance, for integration of the contemplative dimension of life, and we draw upon the deep roots of our tradition to nourish our-selves and our guests. Having come of age as Benedictine women in America,

we have begun to speak with conviction of our contemplative monastic identity. We could paraphrase Rahner’s prescient statement with conviction: In the future, monastics will be mystics or they will not exist at all.

W estern culture has over-extended itself in the direction of ego-driven achievement.

Martha has run amok in our world, in our churches and, sadly, in our monasteries. With Jesus, we invite Mary to tame her harried sister and together serve with a compassion born of contemplation rather than ego-driven busyness. We experience within American monastic life a “work ethic” giving way to a “contemplative ethic,” and we sense a nascent transfor-mation of consciousness among spiritual seekers.

Ego-consciousness, well developed in

the West, is characterized by efforts to control and manage. It is the typical mo-dus operandi of organizations in the maintenance stage of development. Achievement orientation and good man-agement, being in control of the situation is prized and fostered at every level of the socialization process. Action and man-agement, over-emphasized and developed out of proportion and unchecked, evolves into a malignant form of activism. De-emphasized is the other dimension, the contemplative. A Newtonian view of re-ality emphasizes subduing the elements, coercing them into service of our ego-driven wants. In this mode, psycho-spiritual development is truncated, ar-rested at a relatively elementary stage of development. This attitude then invades the spiritual realm where we find indi-viduals sincerely but naively caught in


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spiritual do-it-yourself efforts rather than recognizing themselves as vessels in the Potter's hands in a gradual process of transformation.

M ystic-consciousness is very different. And it is fostered with great difficulty in most

Western societies busy about other mat-ters. More receptive-responsive than ac-tive, mystic consciousness notices, waits, listens deeply to what simply is. There is

no ego support for this more passive, re-ceptive stance. Activity is not absent, but does not initiate. It is, rather, a response to Another's initiative, to what is known through deep, attentive awareness to the small, still Voice. The connection be-tween the quantum view of reality and

the mystical view is unmistakable. Paral-leling scientific theory, there is emerging a new, unitive consciousness which goes beyond dualistic thinking.

One senses a whole culture being driven by some inherent homeostatic im-pulse to a more balanced and contempla-tive orientation. Groups and societies as well as individuals seek balance. A cul-ture in extremis seeks that which will re-store equilibrium and health. This view is consistent with the presuppositions of a quantum view of reality and chaos the-ory. Certainly, a more contemplative way is emerging in the process.

G oing beyond the level of ego, contemplation reverently allows truth/Truth to arise. The mystic

does not create unity. He/she comes to recognize a pre-existing bond of union hitherto hidden from sight because the glory of it could not be seen until the eyes were ready. Contemplation opens our eyes to the all in all. Freed of the isolat-ing effects of extreme individualism but without stifling a unique individuality, the mystic consciously enters into union with all. And, freed from the self-centered preoccupations and motivations of ego-consciousness, the individual en-gages in service with a Christ-consciousness. Benedict’s vision reveals a keen sense of this mystic view of all creation; he beheld the world in a single ray of light.

Mysticism seems always to thrive in times of cultural and religious chaos and turbulence. Why? In those times, old and comfortable answers no longer suffice. When the old answers fail us, we have to dig deeper, ask new questions and risk

Whatever else women monastics are called to be and do in the Church, any genuinely prophetic gift for Church and world will surely flow out of our life of prayer – poetic, creative, energizing and transformative.

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the adventure that new questions intro-duce. Monasticism has always been ori-ented to the needs of time and place, so we dare not ignore the flagrant needs that confront us. Surely, we have something of great value to offer – despite, or per-haps in the strength of, our humbled con-dition of diminishment.

Our Task Today

I t seems to me that the more genu-inely monastic we become in our day, the more truly prophetic we will

be as well. Our world is crying for the gift that we as Benedictines have to give – if only we can reclaim, recover, savor, own it – or whatever we have to do, so that we can give it. One thing seems clear, that we need to draw upon our re-sources for fostering a contemplative vi-sion and offer that to the world we live in.

What goes without saying – and yet cannot be said often or emphatically enough – is the critical importance of being rooted in monastic essentials. We can boast of 1500+ years of rise and fall dynamics in Benedictine history because, at some level, some critical defining char-acteristics of what we know as monastic life were never completely obscured.

Whatever else women monastics are

called to be and do in the Church, any genuinely prophetic gift for Church and world will surely flow out of our life of

prayer – poetic, creative, energizing and transformative.

Our task today – and the task of con-temporary monasticism – is perhaps not to figure out what shape monasticism will take in the future. That would be to at-tempt to control something that truly will not be controlled and to follow the illu-sion that we have the power to impose a particular shape on future monastic life without squelching that life itself. Rather, our task, I believe, is to prepare ourselves to be surprised by the creative potential within monastic life. I do not mean that we should do nothing or that vital new forms of monastic living will simply hap-pen without labor, birth pains and the messy and wonderful business of mid-wifery and birthing.

Our task is to water the roots, culti-

vate the soil and nurture the core practices of monastic life, the non-negotiable elements of monasticism. When the non-negotiables falter, so do monasteries. Faithful to and permeated by a life of lectio, Liturgy of the Hours, the common life, obedience, celibacy, renunciation oriented toward conversion of heart and all that we know to be au-thentically and perennially monastic, we can live confidently into future expres-sions of our beloved tradition. When those core identifying qualities or compo-nents of monastic life pervade our con-sciousness and our living experience, we can ride the waves of change like a mas-ter surfer, with skill and grace, thrilling at the sheer wonder of ever-new contours of this monastic experiment that has already adapted amazingly well for 16 centuries to a myriad of circumstances.

One thing seems clear, that we need to draw upon our resources for fostering a contemplative vision and offer that to the world we live in.


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Endnotes 1Diarmuid O’Murchu, Consecrated Reli-gious Life: The Changing Paradigms. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2006, ix. 2W. H. Auden. http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/524417.W_H_Auden. 3Ted Dunn, “Refounding Religious Life: A Choice for Transformational Change,” Human Development 30:3 (Fall, 2009): 5-13. 4Dunn, 7. 5Edwin Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. New York: Seabury Books, 2007: 37. 6Terrence Kardong, “Thoughts on the Future of Western Monasticism,” in Pat-rick Hart (ed.), A Monastic Vision for the 21st Century: Where Do We Go From Here? Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publi-cations, 2006, 58. 7Proverbs 29:18 paraphrased. 8Barbara Ehrenreich, Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining Amer-ica. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2009. 9Vaclav Havel. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/v/vaclav_havel.html.

10Wisdom from the Tradition: A Statement of North American Benedictine Women in Response to Our Times. Conference of Benedictine Prioresses, 2006. 11Dom Bernardo Olivero, OCSO, “Introduction,” A Monastic Vision for the 21st Century. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2006, xv. 12Wisdom, 8. 13Gordon Zahn, “Monasticism and Peace,” Benedictines, XXXVII:II (Fall-Winter, 1982-83): 27. 14One may also fruitfully conceptualize mo-nasticism as centrally located in Church and society. Both views, marginal and central, accurately reflect dimensions of our reality. It seems unwise to lose sight of either per-spective. 15Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978, 13. 16For a treatment of transformation from ego-consciousness to mystic-consciousness and the evolution of human consciousness see Jeanne Ranek, OSB, “The Role of Contem-plative Vision in Multi-Religious Global Consciousness,“ American Benedictine Re-view 62:3 (September, 2011): 291-310.

Don Richmond

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Pondering the Potter

Long before I was aware of my existence,

God knew me…

placed the clay that was my essence

on the potter’s wheel

and began to give it form,

kneaded and worked with me

until I became pliable in God’s hands;

smoothed my roughness with the caress of a hand

sometimes gentle, sometimes forceful,

always offering boundaries

in which I might discover

both freedom and limitation.

God watered me to make me pliable,

spun the wheel slowly… quickly

to give me definition,

stature,

beauty and grace.

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Yes, God is the Potter…

rethrowing the clay that is my life,

reworking the design

as God offers me opportunities

for conversion and reconciliation.

I lose nothing of who I am

or who I have become in the process

for God places the clay that is my essence

on the potter’s wheel

and gives it form

day

after day

after day.

Susan Marie Lindstrom, OSB Beech Grove, Ind.

BENEDICTINES

20

BENEDICTINES

22

THE PASSION OF THE EARTH by Teresa Jackson, OSB and Melanie Weidner

Is our earth going through a passion like that of Jesus on the cross? Was God passionate in creating the earth? Do we feel passion when we think of the earth that nurtures and sus-tains us? These are some of the questions that gave rise to the “Passion of the Earth” project at the Monastery of St. Gertrude’s Spirit Center retreat and conference facility. Out of these questions Sr. Teresa Jackson, a member of the monastery, and Melanie Weidner, a Quaker artist, collaborated to create a project that incorporated art and text to create seven “stations” of the “Passion of the Earth.” The project, which consists of seven stanzas of a poem on circular wooden plaques and seven fabric art mandalas, is on display in the Spirit Center. The project echoes the Passion of Christ by showing the passion, exploitation and destruc-tion currently being suffered by our earth. It also shows God’s passion in creating this beautiful world which came to birth as an expression of God’s love. Finally, the project echoes the deep creative energy which God and humanity bring to bear in seeking to heal the earth from the destructive forces assailing it. The seven narrative stations tell a new story of creation. It begins with allusions to the story of Genesis but leads into the new story, the present moment of decision: will the passion of the earth become our passion?

Passion of the Earth on display at the Spirit Center

21


We live

not in majestic gardens or decorative urns

but between cracks in sidewalks,

tucked into lawns or obscure corners.

Our little violet flowers are not ostentatious;

we do not try to compete with show-offs

like dramatic dahlias

super sunflowers,

or royal roses.

The big ones put on a pretentious display

and attract attention to themselves.

We humbly bloom

just to do God’s will

and give glory to our Creator.

Thank you, God.

Amen.

Therese Marie Furois, OSB Rapid City, South Dakota

The Passion of the Earth

23

Station One: Mystery In the beginning, perhaps God was lonely,

aching to share and express God’s very self in a vast emptiness.

Station Two: Flare

Only God knows why, in a paroxysm of energy, in a single moment, the universe exploded into matter until billions of years, atoms,

cosmic dust and divine desire collided to form the blue-green jewel of our home.

BENEDICTINES

22

THE PASSION OF THE EARTH by Teresa Jackson, OSB and Melanie Weidner

Is our earth going through a passion like that of Jesus on the cross? Was God passionate in creating the earth? Do we feel passion when we think of the earth that nurtures and sus-tains us? These are some of the questions that gave rise to the “Passion of the Earth” project at the Monastery of St. Gertrude’s Spirit Center retreat and conference facility. Out of these questions Sr. Teresa Jackson, a member of the monastery, and Melanie Weidner, a Quaker artist, collaborated to create a project that incorporated art and text to create seven “stations” of the “Passion of the Earth.” The project, which consists of seven stanzas of a poem on circular wooden plaques and seven fabric art mandalas, is on display in the Spirit Center. The project echoes the Passion of Christ by showing the passion, exploitation and destruc-tion currently being suffered by our earth. It also shows God’s passion in creating this beautiful world which came to birth as an expression of God’s love. Finally, the project echoes the deep creative energy which God and humanity bring to bear in seeking to heal the earth from the destructive forces assailing it. The seven narrative stations tell a new story of creation. It begins with allusions to the story of Genesis but leads into the new story, the present moment of decision: will the passion of the earth become our passion?

Passion of the Earth on display at the Spirit Center

BENEDICTINES

24

Station Three: Laughter

And God let forth a laugh that shook the cosmos for it was wonderful and very, very good.

Station Four: Balance

And so it began, the cosmic dance of life and death, creation and destruction; for from the death of one came the life of another and each was food for the other.

And still it was good.


23

Station One: Mystery In the beginning, perhaps God was lonely,

aching to share and express God’s very self in a vast emptiness.

Station Two: Flare

Only God knows why, in a paroxysm of energy, in a single moment, the universe exploded into matter until billions of years, atoms,

cosmic dust and divine desire collided to form the blue-green jewel of our home.


25

Station Five: Greed But God’s laughter died as sin entered the world in the senseless hoarding of humanity.

The music of earth’s fecund abundance struggles to be heard over the cacophonous greed of a few.

Station Six: Choice And so God dreams and hopes as the cosmos stands poised at a point of decision.

A new paroxysm of divine, human, and cosmic energy stands ready to explode and heal. We will decide: a re-creation or continue destruction; a dream of hope or the

nightmare of our greed.

BENEDICTINES

24

Station Three: Laughter

And God let forth a laugh that shook the cosmos for it was wonderful and very, very good.

Station Four: Balance

And so it began, the cosmic dance of life and death, creation and destruction; for from the death of one came the life of another and each was food for the other.

And still it was good.

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26

Station Seven: Abundance Divine tears and anger mix with the scars and blood of a once beautiful,

now tortured world. But God still dances abundance in the cosmos and in the hearts of those who cherish

this gift of earth and long for its redemption.

Teresa Jackson, OSB, is a member of the Monastery of St. Gertrude, Cottonwood, Idaho, where she is the membership director (vocations, volunteers, oblates). She is also a retreat leader and spiritual director. Melanie Weider, M.Div, is an artist, retreat leader, and spiritual director formed in the Quaker tradition. She lives in Albuquerque, NM. Her website is www.listenforjoy. com


25

Station Five: Greed But God’s laughter died as sin entered the world in the senseless hoarding of humanity.

The music of earth’s fecund abundance struggles to be heard over the cacophonous greed of a few.

Station Six: Choice And so God dreams and hopes as the cosmos stands poised at a point of decision.

A new paroxysm of divine, human, and cosmic energy stands ready to explode and heal. We will decide: a re-creation or continue destruction; a dream of hope or the

nightmare of our greed.

BENEDICTINES

20


We livenot in majestic gardens or decorative urnsbut between cracks in sidewalks,tucked into lawns or obscure corners.Our little violet flowers are not ostentatious;we do not try to compete with show-offslike dramatic dahliassuper sunflowers,or royal roses.The big ones put on a pretentious displayand attract attention to themselves.We humbly bloomjust to do God’s willand give glory to our Creator.Thank you, God.Amen.

Therese Marie Furois, OSBRapid City, South Dakota

BENEDICTINES

26

Station Seven: Abundance Divine tears and anger mix with the scars and blood of a once beautiful,

now tortured world. But God still dances abundance in the cosmos and in the hearts of those who cherish

this gift of earth and long for its redemption.

Teresa Jackson, OSB, is a member of the Monastery of St. Gertrude, Cottonwood, Idaho, where she is the membership director (vocations, volunteers, oblates). She is also a retreat leader and spiritual director. Melanie Weider, M.Div, is an artist, retreat leader, and spiritual director formed in the Quaker tradition. She lives in Albuquerque, NM. Her website is www.listenforjoy. com

The Big Sister

She was all of 86,tiny, wobbly, and three-legged.He had been dead for millenniums,but she still wore black dress and hat,with tidy white collar and cuffs,and matching white hair.

He was just a kid, only 80,in a gray pin-striped vested suit,tall, thin, dignified, and proudof his loving big sister on his arm.He gently led her down the hall,oblivious of her handbag flapping like a turkeyon his other arm.

Marva Hoeckelman, OSBWatertown, South Dakota

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Conversatio

Remake my heart, O God

as you will:

reform

refashion

restore

renew

recreate it all, my Lord

I am not afraid.

Just grant me as you work

one gift:

a gracious faith

steady, sure and true

that dares in darkness

to dance.

Joanna Burley, OSB

Bristow, Virginia

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28

Sister Renée Branigan looks at first fervor from the viewpoint of the new entrant as well as the community she has chosen. Both are chal-lenged to undergo change and conversion. We are all encouraged to reignite the flames of "first fervor."

First Fervor Revisited by Renée Branigan, OSB

First Fervor Revisited

29

Sister Renée Branigan, OSB, is a mem-ber of Sacred Heart Monastery, Richard-ton, ND, serving her community as director of their Foundation, vocations and ongoing formation. After retiring from teaching communications and English for over forty years on the high school and college levels, she continues her 30-year positions as editorial assis-tant for the American Benedictine Review and managing editor for the American Monastic Newsletter.

Y ears ago while I was in early formation whenever we were in the midst of having great fun,

someone would stop suddenly, get our attention and solemnly announce, “Let us pause and discourse on our heavenly Bridegroom.” This was guaranteed to send us into peals of laughter. Perhaps any line delivered with solemnity would have sufficed because laughter bubbled easily in those days, but there was some-thing about this one that just really worked. I think it was because it was true; it was why after all – at least vaguely – we had come to the monas-tery. The problem was that I really did want to talk about such things because I was flush with first fervor, but it seemed so deeply personal and intensely private that I did not dare to do so. I was aware I did not know much, but I had come to stay so I could not risk finding anything that might jeopardize what I knew to be true for me.

First fervor, though not common par-

lance these days, is nonetheless still a reality. It is a somewhat elusive concept because it is a fusion of earnestness, en-ergy, and emotion. Yet it serves as a pre-cious resource, a sort of start-up capital if used wisely, for both the new entrant and the community. This invaluable grace freely emerges to invigorate and make joyful the journey.

In the beginning of my reflections on

this topic, I did what almost everyone does these days when starting a new ven-ture: I googled it. I got four somewhat spiritual references to the term and the fifth was a horse named First Fervor Bugs. I cannot begin to explain the latter, but I would like to spend some effort

unpacking the monastic life aspect of first fervor.

First fervor is that delicious course of

sparkling desire, dynamism and clarity in our call to the monastic life that not only carries us across the threshold but also helps us set up housekeeping. This fresh-life beginning with a shiny new slate em-braces an enormous sense of surety and strength in setting out on life’s great ad-venture. There is an aura with an aria of “This only! This always!” While later it may fade to “This only? This always?” it will not happen in the spiritual infatua-tion phase of first fervor.

Community Response

W e have usually viewed this first fervor as God’s gift to the entrant, but in these times of

fewer new members, I would propose communities receive their own strain of fervor when a new candidate comes. Be-cause entrance is a rare rather than com-monplace occurrence, community reac-tions are not as business-as-usual as they used to be; the new fervor enkindles old flames. This abundance of new energy and exuberance may also cause a sense of

BENEDICTINES

30

communal disequilibrium or awkward-ness both with the new entrant and among the community members. Life is enhanced when a new member comes

through the door. The goal should not be to have the newcomer just “settle in” right away to things as they are, for this can be an occasion for the community to consider what might be called “disrupted” for conversatio in life as they know it. If the community does not change with the new entrant, something

is dying. Is the call to live with greater authenticity? More vibrancy? With more trust in the future God has planned? It is an uneasy balance but a life-giving one.

M ost entrants these days are older, with fuller lives and ca-reers behind them than when

most of the present members came.

Those newly joining the stream of com-munity perhaps look and sound more as if they know the part than did those of yes-teryear, but they need to be formed in community nonetheless. Guest-to-entrant is a major shift in relationship for both the one entering and the community re-ceiving, leading both into new terrain.

Mutual awkwardness is always an

uncomfortable stance, but it can also be a sign of a growth and a new invitation to conversion. While this is not meant as a literal example, it is not unlike the lack of sure footing some parents feel when their children transform from great kids to those uneasy, unpredictable adolescents.

The roles of those involved (those who guide and those who seek guidance) re-main the same, but they change.

It is a fact that whenever someone

enters (or leaves) community, the com-munity is changed. The nature of the change may be overt or subtle, but it is nonetheless inevitable. When these changes, and reactions to them among the members, are not discerned or discussed openly, the messages sent to new mem-bers may be other than what is intended and/or less than what is desired. Too much enchantment with the newcomer can be burdensome to them; too little can be deflating. It is the nature of the interest shown them that may either help strengthen or weaken the possibility of that person remaining in the monastic life. Conversely, it is the degree of inter-est and effort the community puts into its

Too much enchantment with the newcomer can be burdensome to them; too little can be deflating.

If the community does not change with the new entrant, something is dying.


31

own conversion and adjustment to the new member that will help the newcomer fit. As they are woven into the tapestry of the community there can be neither too much nor too little accommodation, but all of this takes time, prayer, discernment, and a willingness to be changed on every-one’s part. Continuing Conversatio

W hat I propose in this article is to consider first fervor from both perspectives, of the new

member and of the community, and then to offer some recommendations for mutu-ally expending this precious commodity of first fervor for the benefit of all.

One of the most memorable quotes

from my entire time in the Christian

Spirituality program at Creighton Univer-sity was Vince O’Flaherty, SJ,’s spar-kling observation in our Discernment class: “Every time you fall in love, it is the only and most real.” This captures the essence of first fervor for the entrant.

It begins with the Lord’s invitation to

come and follow. As with the early apos-tles, it is a drop-everything-and-change-

your-life stunner that takes time to tame a bit. It is a wild idea but it has beauty and appeal as well as deep wells of energy and excitement for the earnest soul. After the tentative forays into finding the community to which one is called, trav-ersing the entrance process and the vari-ous visits, the day for actually moving in arrives. This is the moment: a public proclamation of one’s intention in a bold, solid action. Perhaps there is a tingle of trepidation, but joy of the journey takes the upper hand.

A fter adjusting to the routine there is so much to learn and so many ways to grow. Besides the com-

munity mores which demand fairly astute observation, there are formation classes that feed and form. Mentors and kindly souls abound; good, holy example is abundant. Formation programs are tweaked for each entrant according to need, which is understandable given the variety of backgrounds; the days of one-size-fits-all are long past. Coming to the monastery is not so much a matter of re-location of one’s life as learning new navigation skills to get through it; con-versatio will be the essential element of any formation. That first fervor will be tested for its strength and endurance es-pecially as the day of entry recedes and the daily becomes the regular.

It is the nature of first fervor that it

has no content in itself; it is pure desire, therefore adaptive to whatever captivates one’s focus. For some it may be master-ing the externals, but history has proven they are not the ones who last the longest. For others it may be the perfectionist or

Information alone is not formation.

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32

the minimalist approach to the monastic life. At all times, however, St. Benedict’s question about truly seeking God needs to be kept operative by both the community and the entrant especially during their early formation.

W e might look to our popular culture for an obvious exam-ple. Notice how many TV re-

ality shows take people in their first fer-vor of a venture and follow them through: “Amazing Race,” “Biggest Loser,” “Dancing with the Stars,” etc. The focus of each program is the application of that great desire in each contestant to do the work necessary in order to achieve the goal. In most cases it is strenuous to the point of grueling and often humiliating, but this genre definitely attracts viewers as can be proven by the proliferation of such programs listed in the TV Guide. Yes, all this drama is for short-term goals and somewhat hyped for TV viewership, but there are elements of truth in it never-theless.

We can draw parallels for the one

who comes with first fervor to achieve the goal of living and dying as a monas-tic. I will perch on a fragile limb here and dare to say that an entrant comes with a greater de-sire to sacrifice and convert than we in community are willing to accept and enable. Generally, we offer marvelous formation classes of great con-tent, but our calls to change one’s way of life are often timid at a time when one is most fervent and fertile. Information alone is not formation. We do not have to measure ourselves by the draconian

degrees of the TV dramas, of course, but we still might learn something from them.

Good and Bad Examples

Y ears ago, one of our juniors was standing next to me as we ob-served a rather unpleasant be-

havior of one of the sisters. She stunned me with the most astute question: “Are you going to let me get that way?” That was a flavor of first fervor I had never considered before. I had entered young – too young to consider deeper conversion as part of my first fervor.

The converse would also be true.

Anyone who has spent time with a com-munity, and especially one just entering, has arrived at least tentatively at this spo-ken or unspoken observation: “So this is what x number of years in this commu-nity does to a person.” Communities I know have good, holy people in them – especially “Holy Oldies.” There are those who have come to the monastery, sought God in community and been found. They are marvelous examples of holy monas-tics today. They are and do, most often quietly, the right and good, lovingly day after day. They nourish themselves in prayer, spend their energy in its service, strive to grow in love, and live in joy.

T hese monastics are precious sub-tleties in a world which feeds on the boldly blatant. Every commu-

nity has them, just as every community has its share of “characters.” Whenever communities gather, one of the most re-galing conversations is about those be-loved community characters, and every monastic I know is grateful they have


33

theirs and not the others’! Each commu-nity is blessed with a range of individuals who strive to help one another seek God as they try to live with and love one another. When a new member comes, everyone must be open to conversatio

anew, engage it consciously and in depth, especially as our communities are smaller and a new member is a more significant change.

T he “Are you going to let me get this way?” question is a core one for both the entrant and the com-

munity in dealing with first fervor. To the community, it is one of “What are we

teaching by our example of living with one another as monastics?” Benedict’s only question is if the entrant truly seeks God, but it has not ceased to be the op-erative question of each community member no matter how long one has been in community. Of course, that “only” question is not enough. Seeing again the desire that bids someone to come to the monastery is the opportune time to revi-talize our reason for remaining.

Another operative question would be what is the community’s desire in accept-ing them? Of course we are thinking of our future and who will carry on after we are gone, but that is hardly a substantial enough reason for accepting a member.

In community, regardless of when one was first in formation, we find those who serve and those who expect to be served – and if we are honest, we admit to stand-ing in both lines at different times in our lives. When an entrant comes to commu-nity, no matter how desperate the com-munity is for new membership, if the newcomer has a be-served attitude, then that is a definite red flag they do not be-long or at least that they have much to learn. By the same token, if the commu-nity has the attitude of “being saved” by the newcomers instead of helping them seek God, the motivation is just as dis-torted. A community’s future does not rest on the shoulders of the newcomers; the community should not imply or im-pose this responsibility and the newcomer should not be led or allowed to assume it.

That first fervor will be tested for its strength and endurance especially as the day of entry recedes and the daily becomes the regular.

When a new member comes, everyone must be open to conversatio anew, engage it consciously and in depth, especially as our communities are smaller and a new member is a more significant change.

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While all this may appear obvious when stated so bluntly, the lived experience has a tendency to be more muddied.

Three Challenges

S o what can communities do to fan the flames of first fervor in the en-trant and re-engage the fervor of

the community? I propose three elemen-tal things.

First of all, recognize that each new beginning is everyone’s new beginning. While most communities are small enough that new members are met quickly, even larger ones have means of travel and communication that make it possible to meet and engage the new-comer early in the monastic journey. In a real sense, we all help form one another by our lives, so we must be open to being changed by the gifts the entrant brings. To accept an entrant is to embark on a new course of conversatio for all in-volved, led by the Spirit, fueled by fervor and hope.

Second, communities can and do en-courage more by example than by any number of well-chosen words. How we engage one another reveals (or not) that “good zeal which must foster fervent love” of which St. Benedict speaks in RB, chapter 72. The newcomer is astute enough to know they will be “one of the others” sometime, so they will observe how we treat one another for the measure

of how we will eventually treat them. Will this be a community in which one can grow or are there signs one will even-tually be drained of vitality? Will one grow holy here or merely old?

Third, as communities we can rejoice

in the new fire, the new challenge. We hear pining for new members but the “toos” set in almost immediately when possibilities present themselves: too old, too much baggage, too different, too tat-tooed. Yet the fire is there in the one who knocks to pursue a monastic vocation with this monastic community. Have we lost our fervor, our sense of conversatio to new realities? When newcomers come, let us celebrate their desire for this voca-tion by reviving and renewing our own fervor.

The newcomer is astute enough to know they will be “one of the others” sometime, so they will observe how we treat one another for the measure of how we will eventually treat them.

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The Moon, Near Full* (Psalm 16) On the rough grey bench I draw up my feet. The moon is high in the sky, silver-white and all mine in the silence. She lays her light around me on the ground, a milk-water shadow one could almost read by – but there is no need for reading anything but the silent light. All mine; and you are where she comes from. I am enchanted by your gifts. I could kick up my feet in the field of your stars as dreamers did before me, and will do after me. I imbibe the scent and sound and light of my majority. The change is coming; every day it comes. Every day I wish my heart increscent, to be silent and bright in a field of stars, a gift to mirror the gift, clear and unquestioned: unquestionable. Surely you will form me in the secret outdoors of your own heart, to be such a pleasure as the pleasures you give me!

Lisa Inman Dunnegan, Missouri

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ELIZABETH

I was thirteen – a girl – when first I bled. My mother wept; my father turned away. Not many moon-turns more, father brought home A young priest with kind eyes: Zechariah. With solemn dignity, he took my hand; The blood rushed to my face, we were betrothed. I walked so proud to mikvah, that first time, Past hushed gaze of my playmates, children still. The smiling eyes of women welcomed me; Beneath the waters sank the girl, and rose Again the woman: radiant, purified. ‘Mid music, wine and dancing, we were wed. A woman, I, a wife, and soon would be A mother – no, for here, again, the blood. I trembled at the bath; the women’s eyes Were kind, “All in good time, the Holy gives.” My husband smiled, and took me in his arms, “We shall trust Ha’shem, keep the sacred laws, And will be blest with children, as God please.” But moon still followed moon – and with each, blood. The mikvah bath became a bitter draught, The women’s smiles, more forced, the soothing words Soft-mumbled, till they nothing said at all, Nor looked into my face, but dropped their eyes As my tears mingled with the gathered rain. My husband blamed himself, instead of me, Redoubled study, prayer and sacrifice, And daily grew more dignified and wise, More kind toward me, but sadness filled his eyes. As year birthed year birthed year, our hope ran dry, And I heard others whisper in the streets, “Elizabeth is barren; the priest’s wife Is cursed!” “What is her sin?” I wondered that Myself. In love, and blood and water cried My shame. “What must I do, that I’ve not done? What law observe? What sacrifice give God That will secure a blessing for my house?” Heaven was silent. Then the bleeding stopped. The time had passed for children. Out of tears,

37

I made my final mikvah in a daze, And went home, empty, to my husband’s arms. A year or two went past, Zechariah Was honored to burn incense at Temple. He stayed so long within, I strained to see, Then he emerged, pale, silent, gesturing Toward his mouth – his mouth, from which no sound Was heard; my husband was struck dumb. His eyes Scanned o’er the crowd, found mine – his lips formed words, A soundless shout, his face transformed – in hope? My heart leaped – something else within me moved… The days since then have flown, and I have grown, Who once thought life had passed – now feel it fill My drying frame with water and with blood. Though heavy, still I dance about my work, And speak for Zachariah of our dreams. We’ll call him John, for God has gracious been; We’ll dedicate his life to serve the Lord. Our curse is ended, greatly are we blest! The women gape to see me bloom, at last! And now you come, sweet Mary, cousin mine, To help with preparations, as is done By custom – but you bring more blessings, still. You called my name, my baby leaped to reach To you – or not to you, but what you bear. And suddenly, one sign was not enough – For God has filled you too, a very child, Before first mikvah even, not yet wed, Yet mother of the savior of the world! I hold you close; two mothers, kinswomen, In shame so different, in blessing the same. I am your elder, yet you honor me, The mother of my Lord, within my house! And these, our sons, together bring God’s life To change the people, now and evermore, And open heaven’s gates to welcome all Through these, their signs, the water and the blood.

Sherry Bupp Lacey, Washington

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Book Reviews

OUR ONE GREAT ACT OF FIDEL-ITY: Waiting for Christ in the Eucha-rist. By Ronald Rolheiser. Doubleday, 2011, 139 pages, $18.00, ISBN 978-0-307-88703-0.

R olheiser begins this book by saying that it is a “personal state-ment of how I understand the

Eucharist and why, unless some major circumstance prevents me from doing so, I celebrate Eucharist every day.” While he points out that he uses scripture, theo-logians' insights, and church teachings, he is quick to say this book is his own personal reflection of the meaning of the Eucharist for him.

He is a great storyteller and uses his

stories effectively to make his points con-cerning the meaning of the Eucharist. At the very beginning of the book he tells the story of the small girl who became very frightened by the dark when she awoke one night. She ran to her parents' room and her mother took her back to her room, turning on the light to show her nothing was there in the dark and she was safe. She also told her that God was al-ways there to protect her; but the child quickly contradicted her saying “I know that God is here with me, but I need someone here who has some skin!”

Thus begins the book: Rolheiser

wants us to know that the Eucharist is God's way of showing us Someone with skin is with us. He speaks of the

Eucharist as God's physical embrace, closer to us than an intimate sexual en-counter. He calls this fact “the radical, shocking, raw, and physical character of the Eucharist.”

The way Rolheiser explains the

Eucharist is not only instructive, but also inspirational. One of his best chapters is the one on the Eucharist being the priestly prayer of Christ. Here he very well distinguishes between personal and public (he uses this interchangeably with priestly) prayer. Not to know the differ-ence does not help one to pray either one well. The purpose of the first has a sim-ple aim – ”to draw us and our loved ones into deeper intimacy with Christ.” The second is what all of us are called to do: pray for the salvation of the world in the Eucharist and the Office of the Church. This is not an injunction just for priests and religious, but for all of us. He men-tions that when we do not distinguish between the two kinds of prayer we “water” them down and have different expectations which can interfere with our prayer life. He goes so far as to say we could probably use two different prayer shawls: one for our affective prayer and one for the priestly prayer of the Church. This is a chapter worth reading.

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39

T he book is short and well written; it is divided into five sections: 1) the Eucharist and the Incarnation,

2) the many dimensions of the Eucharist, 3) a spirituality of the Eucharist, 4) our one great act of fidelity, and 5) three fa-mous sermons on the Eucharist.

He ends the book with this quote in

explaining why he wants Eucharist daily: “With age, I am growing less confident or sure about my knowledge of God, re-ligion, and life...I now live with the sense that my understanding of God's ways is a long way from being adequate, let alone normative...God truly is beyond us, be-yond language, beyond imagination, and even beyond feeling. We can know God, but can never understand God. And so we must be more humble, both in our theology and in our ecclesiology. Mostly we don't know what we are doing. The Eucharist, because it is the one ritual given us by Jesus himself, is one of our places of confidence.”

This quote brings us back to Rol-

heiser's purpose for writing the book: his own personal understanding of the Eucharist and why it is important for him to celebrate it daily.

Janelle Maes, OSB

Atchison, Kan.

THE ROAD TO ETERNAL LIFE: Reflections on the Prologue of Bene-dict’s Rule. By Michael Casey, OCSO. Liturgical Press, 2011, 182 pages, $19.95, ISBN 978-0-8146-3384-7.

A bout two years ago I stumbled onto the podcast from Tar-rawarra Abbey. Fr. Michael Ca-

sey was giving a series of conferences on the Prologue. I had just become involved in Initial Formation so the timing could not have been better. More recently, news of the latest Michael Casey work, pub-lished by Liturgical Press, sounded vaguely familiar. I raced to the Internet and found that the podcast was no longer available. The spoken word had become text. When the publication announcement came through e-mail, I immediately or-dered enough copies for every novice and member of the Formation Team. This book, I thought, will be important. This book will become part of the unofficial monastic “classics” that feel indispensi-ble in the formation of the listening heart. Now I can affirm that Casey’s latest work does not disappoint me in my hope.

In his introduction Casey suggests

that his loving gaze at the Prologue is unprecedented in form. This book makes no claim to be commentary in a scholarly sense. It is about something else entirely. It is reflection on the Prologue – one pre-cious verse at a time – through the lens of one monastic life. This format allows Casey to dwell and digress. There is a “stream of consciousness” feel to the text as several key themes emerge here and again there. As reflection this text has no boundaries. Casey gratefully affirms the work of scholars who have been

The book's one weakness may be in not addressing how one can do away with seeing the Eucharist as magic. He does refer to this, yet could say more than he does. Also he did not talk about depend-ing on male clergy for the Eucharist. Neither of these reasons, however, may have been in his intent since this was his personal book.

BENEDICTINES

40

through which all other thought must pass. This book offers the monastic world a seat in the Junior Master’s conferences. It is an intimate place where nothing is more important than the goal of God. Ours, Casey suggests, is a life of ultimate concern. Verse by verse he leads us down the “road to eternal life” – a road paved with uneven stones and studded with spiritual potholes.

Casey asks us to consider the strength of our commitment to this unrelenting search. He cautions us to move quickly yet with considerable gravity. This Pro-logue, he reminds us, is more than an in-vitation. It is a challenge for Christians who will not rest until they see the face of God. Read this book as he wishes – slowly. Put it down when your mind fills with light or your heart starts to pray. Pick it up again when you want to re-member why you entered the monastery and, more importantly, why you remain within its walls.

Vicki Ix, OSB Bristow, VA

THE EMERGENT CHRIST: Explor-ing the Meaning of Catholic in an Evo-lutionary Universe by Ilia Delio, Mary-land, NY, 2011, Orbis Books, 197 pages, 978-1-57075-908- 6 ISBN

S ometimes you may get the feeling that you really need to look into what your Church is saying in re-

gard to the science of today. You think that you would like to see what is being written about the relation between relig-ion and science. Perhaps you can

significant in his own understanding of the text. Sister Aquinata Böckmann, nota-bly receives the first nod, with other fa-miliar experts following.

Yet his intent is not so much to add to our knowledge of the Prologue as it is to help us use the Prologue for our own lectio. Casey has offered us something utterly new here – a methodology for as-sessing the vitality of our own vocations. Who among us will read the Prologue today as we did at the very beginning? What has emerged in us as we’ve strug-gled and conquered, failed and perse-vered? This mode of line-by-line reflec-tion, Casey admits, is a clear homage to Bernard and other 12th century Cistercian writers.

In this unconstrained environment,

Casey can ponder and provoke. Some of the sentences are so dense with meaning – so spot-on – that we might pause there and do lectio on what must be the fruit of his lectio. “The choice of God is most potent when it is made in the context of many attractive alternatives [p.48].” “Monastic life is not meant to be drudg-ery. It is, rather, the work of enthusiasm [p.49].” “We are not so much called to do as to become [p.55].” For those among you who cannot abide highlighter, you might just have to get over it.

P erhaps, the most delightful thing about this book isn’t even the con-tent but Casey’s contemplative

style. Like the great monk, Benedict, whose Rule was redolent with Scripture, Casey’s reflection on the Prologue is redolent with Benedict’s Rule. Internal-ized by decades of study and a lifetime of practice, the Rule has become the lens

Book Reviews

41

remember de Chardin and reading his writings in the early sixties. But then changes from Vatican II occupied your time and you became busy about other things. You find yourself wondering about evolution, “the Big Bang Theory” and just what has happened to Adam and Eve. Did they evolve? You might wonder how Jesus and his birth, death and resur-rection is perceived now. In other words, you want to find out how evolution has impacted the Catholic Church.

If that’s the case, there is a book by Illa Delio called The Emergent Christ that may be just for you. Delio, a Francis-can, is a senior fellow in science and re-ligion at Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University. She is the win-ner of the 2000 Templeton Course Award in Science and Religion and the author of several books including Christ in Evolution. She integrates the amazing insights of science with Catholicism. As chapter after chapter unfolds, we can be-gin to see the wonders of the universe and our part as we contemplate again the sacredness of the Incarnation and the im-portance of the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It seems to me that she is asking us to

look carefully at the progress of evolution and try to somehow begin to see that there can be an integration of science into religion. She tells us that it might be nec-essary. Then she carefully takes us on a journey. Laying the groundwork in the first chapters, she challenges us to look at the cosmos story. Creation begins with the new findings of science, namely, evolution and quantum physics as we are moving from that safe, secure world that

we have known into a changing, dynamic and evolving world environment.

W e are gradually introduced to the God-centered universe of Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit

paleontologist, who writes of the gift of evolution and the strange quantum world of science. In the sixties he writes of the important relationship between religion and science. The universe, moving and evolving toward greater unity, is calling on our cooperation. The evolutionary process is moving toward the evolution of consciousness and, ultimately, toward the evolution of spirit from birth to death. The fullness of Christ is the creative di-versity of all that exists. This is held to-gether by a spirit of luminous love.

Delio writes that the whole of Chris-tianity rests on the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the symbol and starting point of our new world. The resurrection is a transformation into a new mold of physicality and is an event for which there is no precedent and that remains, as yet, no subsequent example. She reminds us that Jesus is the Christ but Christ is more than Jesus. Christ is the integrated field of the cosmos in which the next act always anticipates something creative and new emerging from the chaos of the old. The resurrection of Jesus speaks of a new future for the whole cosmos.

Presently our inner universe is ex-

periencing a crisis in an over-stressed planet, excessive energy consumption, and global warming. As we face an envi-ronment of break-down and disorder, De-lio writes that this could be seen as a call to new life. Perhaps God is creating us from the inside out by way of the heart.

BENEDICTINES

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Here we would move into poverty of being and begin our journey in unselfish love to the God of love. Here one may suffer a mystical death in a journey to self-knowledge and growth in wisdom. This is a process of rebirth in the Christ within. We need to let go of controlling God, controlling our lives, controlling the Church and controlling the world. Read the book!

Sheila Carroll, OSB Atchison, Kan.

FOLLOWING THE PATH: The Search for a Life of Passion, Purpose and Joy, by Joan Chittister. Image Books: The Crown Publishing Company, New York, 2012. 188 p. $18.

J oan Chittister seems to have an un-ending output of wisdom. Following the Path, written in her clear, read-

able style, contains answers to everyone’s search for meaning. She explores call, purpose, happiness, and fulfillment in 22 short chapters. She uses personal exam-ples from her own life and others to show how to identify what it means to find our path and pursue it. It will jar those who have settled for a career or job that brings no satisfaction or sense of contributing to the world.

Sister Joan says she decided to write the book for everyone who wants to ex-perience more abundant life – to feel that they have not lived in vain. She urges readers to use the natural gifts they have to benefit others and in the process find their true selves. She speaks of answering a call deep within us that sometimes is silenced or hidden or glossed over for

many years in the pursuit of wealth, power, and prestige.

Each chapter starts with a brief dia-

logue and ends with a quote that focuses on the message. One of my favorite quotes is Christopher Morley’s “Life is a foreign language; everyone mispro-nounces it.” It reminds us that finding our path in life is not easy and many of us spend years doing things we don’t want to do, but eventually we find the way home to our real selves. We jokingly tell someone who seems aimless or small minded to “get a life,” but that holds a kernel of truth we all need to hear.

Sister Joan assures readers that it is

never too late to pursue our call and that we can have second and third calls. Some people follow a call that may have lain latent until they lost their job or retired. We have second chances to follow our dream.

When we look at our ancestors who

pulled up roots to cross the ocean or the early pioneers who headed to the Wild West, we wonder how they had the cour-age to do that. Some of them were young, but others were middle-aged or older. They were searching for a better life, freedom, or adventure. We are all searchers for more meaningful lives.

This book will make you stop and look at your own life and maybe decide to change paths. Or you may discover that while some directions you took seemed wrong, they led finally to a path that brought you happiness.

Barbara Mayer, OSB

Atchison, Kan.

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Book Reviewers

Janelle Maes, OSB is a member of Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kan. She is a licensed marriage counselor and family therapist. Vicki Ix, OSB, is a member of Saint Benedict Monastery, Bristow, VA. She currently serves her community as Voca-tion Director, Coordinator of Formation and Novice Director. Sheila Carroll, OSB, is a member of Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kan. She is on the staff of Sophia Center where she gives retreats and talks on the mystics. Barbara Mayer, OSB, is a member of Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kan. She is editor of Benedictines magazine and a freelance writer.

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