Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

Sister Hope Rodenborn, OSB was one of four spiritual directors who led a Busy Student Retreat in February at St. Paul’s Newman Center at the University of Wyoming-Laramie.

Carving out prayer time can be difficult for a college student whose life is filled with classes, work, study and friends. St. Paul’s Newman Center’s Busy Student Retreat helps students recharge their spirituality and renew their faith by spending a small amount of time with a spiritual director each day.

Sister Hope

“Students met with their retreat director for guidance and growth in prayer for one hour for four days during the retreat,” Sister Hope said.

Many of the students had participated in retreats before and loved Adoration but had rarely utilized the Scriptures for prayer in order to know Jesus more deeply, Sister Hope said.

“It was a very impressive experience of sharing with these young people who wanted to grow in Christ,” she said.

Gathering for dinner during the retreat

St. Benedict instructs us to follow a life filled with Ora et Labora, Work and Prayer. Handcrafting products for Monastery Creations is a large part of that, so we are always grateful for extra hands, especially at our smallest community, San Benito Monastery in Dayton, Wyo.

Recently, Jane Medved and her sister, Susann, helped Sisters Hope and Regina label 320 jars of arnica salve.

Arnica is a flower that is only found in the mountains. Sister Hope and Jean and Jim McCabe helped pick the flowers on a Sunday afternoon. On the following Thursday, Sister Hope, Sister Josetta, Barbara Ransbottom and Jean picked hundreds more!

Arnica is used for pain and inflammation. Sister Hope handcrafts it into salve, each year increasing production. You can learn more about this wonderful product here.

This beautiful photo was taken by Sister Hope who lives at our San Benito Monastery in Dayton, Wyo.

She spotted this gorgeous site about 5:30 a.m. one day while in the mountains on retreat. The effect is called Alpine Glow, where a sunrise (or setting sun) sheds golden light upon the green trees in the background.

“My mouth fell open when I saw it,” Sister Hope said. Once again proving we can see God’s beauty everywhere we look.

Have a great day!

It is with great joy we welcomed the confirmation class from St. Edmund’s to our San Benito (Wyo.) monastery in March!

They spent a day in retreat with Sister Hope Rodenborn who served as their director. They ended the retreat with time in adoration.

As always, we love spending time with our young friends, sharing faith and fellowship with them.

Holy martyrs Faith, Hope and Charity, and their mother, Sophia. Novodevichy Convent, 1685.

Our Sister Hope celebrates her Name Day today in honor of St. Hope, one of three young sisters martyred. Sadly, we do not know much of St. Hope and her companions, St. Faith and St. Charity.

However, their legacy is a strong one in the Church, designating three important Christian values mentioned in Apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.

Sister Hope Rodenborn, OSB (above) received awards for best packaging and best show at the recent Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild 14^th Annual Conference in Miami.

310 small or cottage business makers of soaps/cosmetics attended the conference, representing all 50 states and nine foreign countries. Members were asked to vote for their choice of best soap in four different categories.

Barbara Corcoran, keynote speaker and contributor to NBC’s Today Show and ABC television, said she like Sister Hope’s scent of layered orange-lemon grapefruit peel in her soap.

Sister Hope’s new soap label was designed and tested by Julia Sherman and her friend, Heather, for Julia’s graduating project for her master’s degree in art at Columbia University in New York.

We are grateful for the help Julia gave the Sisters at our San Benito Monastery.  May our country’s youth continue to excel, enrich and bless all of us with their creativity and work ethic.

Sister Hope’s soap is one of the many items crafted by our Sisters to support our contemplative life. These works include altar breads, liturgical vestments, handcrafted soaps and lotions and a variety of other products available at our online store, Monastery Creations.