Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
 my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
 From this day all generations will call me blessed: 
the Almighty has done great things for me,
 and holy is his Name.” (Luke 1:46-49)

Mary traveled several days to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, to prove to herself that the angel told the truth when it was claimed that Elizabeth, too, was with child. (Luke 1:44)

Mary’s response focuses attention on God’s handiwork. Indeed, her soul and her total being proclaimed the greatness of God, not for her family alone, not only for Israel, but for the entire world.

God takes action in our day and time as well through miracles and through the mystical body of Jesus, the church. The favor of God rests upon all those who do good, who love beyond limits, who work to bring peace in a peaceable way, who trust in grace. The Beatitudes teach us how to do just that, to be visitators of blessedness. (Matthew 5: 3-12)

May we have eyes that see and hearts that believe so that we may know how blessed we are by being the children of Almighty God. Let us respond like Elizabeth and say, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?…Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1: 43,45)

And like Mary, we too can acclaim, “The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is the name of God.” (Luke 1: 49)

Pentecost inaugurates the return to ordinary time. Here at the monastery we return to the weekly antiphons while chanting the Divine Office.

The Easter candle is put away in the sacristy to await a reappearance for the death of a Sister. The sanctuary is plainly beautiful and the Easter decorations are taken down. We also reclaim our tradition of two days without meat at our common table. These are all visible signs of our return to ordinary time.

Does this mean that the psalms are commonplace? That life itself has returned to the dullness that can reshape anything that is routine? I draw our attention to what Pentecost is all about – the coming of the Holy Spirit, a spirit of wisdom and courage. The Holy Spirit came and STAYS with us.

The challenge for us all is to find the uncommon in the ordinary, the sacred in the daily. Let us resist just marking time; instead let us make time by being alive in the Spirit. Let us embrace our uncommon gift to build a life worth living, worth celebrating, and, yes, worthy of God’s gift to us.

Today we remember and honor those who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

They have given their all to help make this nation what it is today. The history of this celebration varies according to what source you read. Perhaps it is best summed up that the living folks of those who had died wanted to commemorate their efforts and valor. Thus, several grassroots efforts are part of the tradition. We carry on in their footsteps.

We are not a perfect nation, nor is there any such country. We continue to face the challenges and crises of our time. However, we can and ought to remember all those fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends who have helped make this one nation under God.

Today would be a great time to do so. Let us keep in our prayers all those who have lost loved ones in our nation’s service. May God comfort them and bring them peace.

“[Jesus] said, ‘Peace be with you…(and) breathed on them, saying, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20:21-22)

Jesus shared his living and lasting peace as well as his breath of life, his breath of creation, his breath of God. We Christians became the church on this day; we were given everything we need to be Christ’s body, everything necessary for our holiness and greatest call – to be the children of God.

Jesus’s peace is powerful. It sets the world on its head. Everlasting peace vanquishes all need to earn our way into heaven. Heaven is our gift. But with the gift comes the responsibility to share it as all gifts are given for the common good. Do not our hearts stir when we try not to share this peace? Jesus’s peace negates the hatred and violence of the world and their pull on our souls. As Christians we joyfully share this peace and faithfully bring others into the fold.

Jesus’s breath is powerful. Like a mighty wind, able to move mountains and oceans, able to bring forth order from chaos, able to bear life from nothing. The Holy Spirit is the promise Jesus gave us that he would not leave us alone. The Holy Spirit dwells in our human bodies and brings gifts for each of us. We are enabled to be the people we are called forth to be. We are enabled to do the unthinkable, the unimaginable and the impossible. We have truly become the body, soul and divinity of Christ. We take on Christ and are welcomed into the cosmic dance of creation, into the inner sanctum of the sacred, the Triune God, and strengthen this unity every time we celebrate the Eucharist.

Now that we have received the ability and the ensuing gifts, let us go forth proclaiming the good news, co-creating peace to the ends of the earth. Let us each speak, with tongues set on fire, the words of eternal salvation. Let us together be a sign of God’s divine love.

There was a time when our correspondence department looked like this:

The early years of the correspondence department when it was a large network of Sisters working together to bring the word of God to the people.

In the beginning, the correspondence department worked closely with our former printing house and sold booklets, leaflets and our magazine Tabernacle and Purgatory (later called Spirit & Life). For most of the 20^th century, the department and the Benedictine Publication Center were two branches of one large, important ministry.

It’s undergone many changes over the years, but the message remains the same: God loves you. Today it answers prayer requests, handles direct mailings regarding prayer intentions and keeps the records for the Association of Perpetual Adoration, an affiliation of those who are remembered daily in our prayers and ministry.

Technology has helped this ministry immensely! Gone are the days when Sisters pecked on typewriters. We still receive handwritten letters (always a treat!), but many people take advantage of the Internet, sharing their prayer needs through our website and e-mail.

Today’s correspondence department

“We get messages from people of all faiths, even atheists and agnostics,” Sister Dawn Annette Mills said. “We answer them all. God isn’t bothered by your background.”

The CD Sisters refrain from giving medical, psychological or financial advice. Instead, they serve as a sounding board for those in need. It is important that those asking for prayer know we hold them in our prayers. They write about having cancer, needing a job, their marital problems and taking care of aging parents. And we think we have problems in our community?

Check out the May print issue of Catholic Digest, which includes a feature on Mother’s Day.

Sister Lynn was interviewed for the story and shared our Sisters’ tradition of displaying photographs of our mothers.

As Sister Lynn remarked, “It’s fun to guess which mom belongs to which Sister. Sometimes the resemblance is striking.”

Sister Rita (left) visits with Sister Laurentia in our altar bread department

This week, the Small Business Administration is hosting National Small Business Week with a conference in Washington, D.C. to recognize and support all those who help make America great!

First and foremost, we are monastics with a distinct dedication to the Eucharist and offer the world our ministry of prayer. In order to do that effectively, we employ several works that support our contemplative life.

Our vow of conversatio (which predates the more recognizable vow of poverty) includes a commitment to embrace all of monastic life as a path to holiness and conversion. This includes poverty and a simplicity of life. So, no, we’re not striving to become Donald Trump. But we still need to provide a roof over our heads and food for our table.

Prayerfully Popped: Corn from the Cloister

Like most monastic orders, we are not funded by local dioceses. Instead, we persevere through sound business planning and common sense. We routinely laugh, “Marketing budget? What marketing budget?” when advertising representatives suggest multi-thousand-dollar campaigns. Instead we rely on quality goods and great customer service to brand our businesses.

ScriptSure Ink and Toner

As a small business, we also strive to support our fellow monastics. We offer wholesale altar bread services to many religious orders so they too may sell a quality product tied to their charism, enabling them to keep their doors open during these trying times.

Monastery Creations, handcrafted soaps, lotions and salves

Whether you’re buying altar breads, handcrafted salves and soap with a drop of holy water, gourmet popcorn, recycled ink/toner cartridges or liturgical vestments, your purchase directly supports our Sisters and their monastic goals.

Liturgical Vestments and Linens

So please join us in celebrating all small businesses this week and throughout the year!

Today we celebrate Jesus’s ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. This day is all about power – divine power, which rescues creation from the power of death. What exactly is this power?

The power that we were promised by Jesus is nothing less than the power of divine love. It comes as a gift to those who choose to believe, and it empowers us to confront evil and overcome its trappings.

Divine love is given to us by the Holy Spirit and holds us together, untied in one hope and one faith. This faith is ours to pass on, entrusted to us mere humans, commanded by Christ to spread to the ends of the world.

We cannot do this on our own and without being taught the truth. It is the indwelling of Divine Love that gives us the power to proclaim Christ’s truth that he was crucified, that he was raised and now has ascended into heaven. It is the same power that allowed Jesus to hope for resurrection and ascension into heaven while enduring crucifixion and death. It is the same divine power that allows us to have hope in and follow him.

Let us join in praising and giving thanks with all creation echoing the words of Psalm 47: “God mounts his throne to shouts of joy. Shout to God with cries of gladness, for the Lord, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth.”

As we prepared for those celebrating their 60th jubilees of monastic profession this year, our archivist unearthed this wonderful photo of our novices in 1951. It’s remarkable how many familiar faces there are in this group (please click on the photo to enlarge).

Here are the numbers: Twenty-one novices stand on the steps to the front entry of the Clyde monastery in May 1951. Twelve of these young women later made monastic profession – many who are celebrating or just recently marked their 60th jubilee.

Six have since passed and many will recognize the remaining, those who have devoted their lives to a monastic calling to God and to the Eucharist: Sister Mary Jane Romero (front row, third from right); Sister Carmela Rall (front row, second from left); Sister Maryellen (front row, far right); Sister Bede (second row, second from left); Sister Pascaline Coff (second row, far right); and Sister Lucilla Scurlock (third row, second from right).

As our Sister Ruth Elaine recently remarked, “Even though there is much talk about the aging population of religious communities today, to have these wisdom figures in our community is truly a blessing. One of our ‘elders’ was visiting a newly founded community a few years ago and a young sister told her, ‘We wish we had some wisdom figures in our own community.’”

St. Isidore the Farmer (artist unknown)

God calls each of us in our own way, and sometimes it can lead to turning (what some might call) an ordinary life into an extraordinary one.

Isidore was a farmer who lived in the 12th century near Madrid, Spain. He and his wife lost their only child, a son, at an early age.  His relationship with God was a deep and devout one. He followed Christ’s example, helping feed the poor, and held a deep regard for the proper care of animals.

He died in 1130 and was named a saint in 1622, due in part to miraculous accounts of his feeding of the poor. Let St. Isidore, the patron saint of farmers and rural communities, be an example for all of us. That we may strive to live according to God’s will, that we show compassion and love for those in need.

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so.” (Genesis I:28-30)