News from the Benedictine Sisters of Rock Island
Centering Prayer: Be Still and Know that I am God
Listening to Whispers and Nudges: A 37-Year Discernment
Holding All Things Sacred: A Conversation between a Buddhist and a Benedictine
Benedictine Postulant Calls St. Mary Monastery "Home"
Letting Peace be Your Quest and Aim
Keys to Improving Relations at Home, Work
When St. Benedict founded the small monastic communities that would become the prototypes for Benedictine monasteries around the globe, he created an eminently workable lifestyle that American Benedictines embrace yet today, 1500 years later.
From our prayer schedule to our behavior, and our stewardship of tools and property to the way we make decisions, Benedict’s Rule provides an excellent guide for each community to live and work by. It provides an excellent guide for the rest of the world to live and work by, too. If you read the Rule (try Joan Chittister’s The Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages), you’ll glean
ancient wisdom - both spiritual and practical - that applies to your own life. Here are a few key nuggets to get you started.
* Listen with the ear of the heart.
The Rule begins with the word Listen, which is the single most important gift you can give both
to another person and to yourself. When you set aside your own biases, fears, thoughts and desires to really understand another person’s needs, what you learn may change your
thinking. It will create more peace in your life and in the lives of those to whom you listen.
* Do everything with counsel and you will not be sorry afterward.
Business-wise for St. Mary Monastery, this means quite literally consulting eight times yearly with
an internal council made up of seven members on everything from whether to buy a hybrid car as a statement for the environment to approving financial requests. Major decisions are brought before the entire community.
*Guard your lips from harmful or deceptive speech.
Many sayings encourage the judicious use of speech, from the old adage, “Think before you speak” to the Biblical warning, “In a flood of words, you will not avoid sinning.” (Prov: 10-19) It’s as true now as it was 1500 years ago. You will seldom hurt someone’s feelings by NOT saying something!
* If you have a dispute with someone, make peace with that person before the sun goes down.
Actively and honestly pursuing peace will reduce your stress level dramatically, both at home and at work.
* Always manifest humility in our bearing, no less than in our hearts.
Perhaps nothing is more aggravating than arrogance. It’s difficult, under the best
circumstances, to work with someone who behaves as if he or she is better than
others. Remember that, and practice reverence for others through humility. Give
whole-hearted credit where it is due, and own your own mistakes!
* All utensils and goods should be cared for as sacred vessels.
Whether the company’s computer or the family’s car, thoughtful care of material
goods honors those who produced them, the earth that they came from, and the
people who now share them. Practicing wise stewardship means your computer and
car will last longer, too!
* Refrain from grumbling
Nothing undermines morale at home or at work more than grumbling. If you can’t
help yourself in conversation, then take up another Benedictine practice: silence.
Be Still and Know that I Am God:
Quieting down so you can hear
When a desert abba once said, “Watching means to sit in your cell and be always mindful of God,” he could have been talking about Centering Prayer. An ancient practice that may lead to contemplation, Centering Prayer helps practitioners, through silence, learn to rest in God – and know God. It is stunningly simple. Referenced as early as the 5th century by the monk John Cassian, Centering Prayer has its roots in the desert, where abbas and ammas withdrew from the roar and clamor of civilization to seek God in silence. Although contemplative prayer fell out of favor for a period of several centuries, it has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity over the past several decades.
Similar to meditation
“Centering Prayer is a way of being with God without words,” Sr. Audrey Cleary, OSB, says. “It’s
an opportunity to get out of your busy mind and into quiet, inner consciousness. By cultivating interior
silence, you make space for God within you.”
In fact, Centering is very much like the eastern tradition of meditation, but the goal is different. The goal
is contemplation, or union with the Divine. Although many paths lead to contemplation – prayers that employ silence, such as the Jesus Prayer and Lectio Divina, for example – Centering Prayer is extraordinary in its simplicity and appeal. “Centering Prayer is a method of refining one’s intuitive faculties so that one can enter more easily into contemplative prayer,” Thomas Keating, OCSO, writes in his seminal book on the subject, Open Mind, Open Heart.
“Centering Prayer as a discipline is designed to withdraw our attention from the ordinary flow of our thoughts. We tend to identify ourselves with that flow. But there is a deeper part of ourselves. This prayer opens our awareness to the spiritual level of our being.”
How to do it
To experience Centering Prayer, choose a quiet place and time of day. Sit comfortably, back straight. Begin by saying a short prayer first, to prepare yourself for this sacred time. Close your eyes and take up a sacred word – choose a one- or two-syllable word like Peace, or God – to signal your intention to withdraw from the everyday world and go into the deepest part of yourself. Thoughts will surface, but when they do, gently take up your word again and return to interior silence. Begin with 20 minutes at a time.
Don’t be disheartened by how many thoughts fill your head at first. By intending to rest in God, you allow God to take charge. In this way, Centering is radically different from any other form of prayer.
“In Centering Prayer, you consent to the presence of God and the action of God within you,” Sr.
Catherine Cleary, OSB, says. “You don’t say any words. You let go of thoughts, emotions, feelings, day
dreams. This prayer is an act of will; it is not effort but consent. The will consents to God's presence, to grace. It consents to let God do the work.”
Closer than words
Benedictine Oblate Chris Kraft likens Centering Prayer to an experience she had as a child. “My dad traveled most of each week for work,” she remembers. “When he was home, my mom would
say, ‘Don’t bother your dad. He is tired.’ So I would crawl up on the side of his armchair and sit with him not speaking. He would acknowledge my presence byputting his arm around me and allowing
me to nestle inside as he continued to read. I rested in his presence. No words.
“There are so many times that I cannot find adequate words to pray,” she continues. “Centering Prayer is a method of prayer that moves beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Him. The silence of Centering Prayer draws me closer than words. I am blessed with grace that makes me more aware of the Divine Indwelling.”
Illinois Contemplative Outreach Coordinator Florrie Dammers says Centering Prayer is available to everyone. “Some people may feel called to Centering Prayer at a certain point in their spiritual journey,” she says. “They may experience a desire for silence or solitude, or find that their current methods of prayer are no longer satisfying. However, we are all called to deep intimacy with God. Centering
Prayer, as a preparation for the gift of contemplation, helps us move into that intimacy.”
As two friends sitting in silence
Centering Prayer can represent a particularly compelling practice for those who are ready to take another step on their spiritual journey. Sometimes that readiness is expressed by a sense of restlessness, sometimes by a growing feeling that the familiar prayers – the Rosary, say,
or word prayers – are no longer enough.
“People have come to me in spiritual direction to ask, What can I do? I feel like these prayers aren’t working anymore,” Sr. Catherine says. “They may be feeling a need and readiness to deepen their relationship with God. Centering Prayer is a good way to do that.”
Don’t look for results, however. Although you may feel relaxed or energized afterwards, that’s not the point. Centering Prayer is, as Keating says, a “very gentle kind of activity” designed to open yourself to God.
“Do not want to achieve something,” he writes. “This is the aim of the future. Centering Prayer is designed to bring you into the present. Allowing ordinary thoughts to pass by, while waiting without expectation, is sufficient activity. … (View it as) two friends sitting in silence, simply being in
each other’s presence.”
An expectation of results aside, those who practice Centering regularly do seem to have a quiet peace about them. Ask them why, and they use the word relationship.
“Contemplation is one of the anchors for my daily life and relationship with God,” Oblate Bruce Baumgartner says. “For me, listening prayerfully or meditatively to God allows me to move from conversation to communion.”
Chris Kraft echoes Bruce’s thoughts. “I have grown in my relationship with God,” she says. “Many times I find myself being more Christ-like than Chris-like in my daily life and interactions. The practice of centering prayer has been such a blessing in my life.”
And for others. As Sr. Catherine points out, Centering Prayer is not just a prayer "for God and me. It draws one to greater love of neighbor, greater awareness of the world, and a growing desire to help change where change is needed."
For more information on Centering Prayer, contact Sr. Catherine
Cleary, OSB, at (309) 283-2118 or ccleary@smmsisters.org.
Many wonderful books are available, as well. The following are
good ones to begin with: "Open Mind, Open Heart" by Thomas
Keating, OSCO; "Daily We Touch Him" by Basil Pennington,
OCSO; "The Cloud of Unknowing," edited by William Johnston.
Listening to Whispers and Nudges:
A 37-Year Discernment
Nancy Offenhiser (shown above at her entrance into our community, with Sr. Phyllis McMurray) was a 12-year-old Episcopal girl, standing in a strange and wonderful Japanese temple 7,000 miles from home, when she suddenly was pierced with a profound and unshakeable feeling. She experienced God. With the confidence of youth, she knew in that moment that she would spend her life seeking the Divine.
In the 37 years since that day in the temple, Nancy’s search has taken her to many places. She delved into Buddhism. She eyed Lutheranism. She became a Catholic. She explored religious life with different communities, from the Precious Blood Sisters to the Carmelites and the Dominicans to the Benedictines. Always, she was seeking. Always, she had a hunger that could not be sated.
Now she has a spiritual home. Nancy entered the Benedictine community at St. Mary Monastery on November 1, following her heart into a life of balanced prayer and work that supports her search for God.
Life’s Complications
Nancy’s call to religious life had – despite her longing for God - seemed to be at an end over the past few years. She had settled into life as a Realtor in Freeport, Ill., committed to living with and caring for her aging, widowed father. Then one Friday evening she experienced another moment of knowing.
“About a year and a half ago, I was in my bedroom praying and I felt God touch my heart in a very deep way,” she says. “I told the Lord, I know you’re calling me again and I’m willing. But please make it possible for my dad. Remember the fifth commandment! I won’t abandon him!”
Another complication was Nancy’s age. At 48, she knew fewer and fewer communities would be open to her discernment. God, she knew, would have to move fast.
Another Nudge
Two days later, over Sunday dinner, Nancy’s father asked, “You’re not happy, are you?”
Instead of giving him the standard Of course I am answer, Nancy says she surprised herself by saying, simply, No.
Her father continued, “I don’t think you’ll ever be happy in your life unless you are practicing your religious vocation. I’m giving you my blessing to go do that.”
“I almost fell out of my chair,” Nancy says. “I Googled women’s monastic communities in Illinois the next day, and contacted Sister Bobbi Bussan via the Benedictines’ blog. I also began discernment with other communities, most actively the Carmelites of Cleveland.”
The Final Choice
After a few months and extended stays at both communities – 10 days with the Benedictines and 6 days with the Carmelites – Nancy says she had enough information.
“I put away all my spiritual books, watched TV, went for walks and prayed,” she says. “I asked God to make the decision for me. I said, it’s not my will but yours.”
Nancy’s sense of urgency continued to grow as she waited for the decision.
“I was ready to leave the world and get about my business,” she says. “I knew I loved the Benedictine Sisters and felt at home here, but wasn’t sure. No matter how impatient I felt, though, I couldn’t hurry the process. God speaks in whispers and nudges. It’s very gentle.”
The process culminated quietly one day in her spiritual director’s office, during a task completely unrelated to the question. Out of nowhere, her director asked Nancy to – without thinking - sign her name on a sheet of paper, putting the initials of the order she wanted to see after her name.
“I wrote, Nancy L. Offenhiser, OSB,” she says. “I felt an unbelievable sense of peace. I know I’m where I’m supposed to be, because of the peace I feel.”
Holding All Things Sacred:
A Conversation between a Buddhist and a Benedictine
When we speak about the path, we should keep in mind that there is only one path, and everyone who is going is on that one path. It may look as if people were going in different directions; but as long as they are going, they are just on the path. David Standl-Rast, OSB
St. Mary Monastery was a sight for curious onlookers over Labor Day weekend, when the grounds filled with smooth-headed Buddhist nuns wearing flowing robes, broad smiles and simple sandals. Responding to the call for deeper religious understanding across cultures, they had come to participate in "Nuns in the West," a project sponsored by the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.* They had come to share their practices, and to learn more about those of the Benedictines, who also had come from all around the country.
What they discovered - the Benedictines and the Buddhists - was that their practices, while arising from profoundly different origins, are surprisingly similar. Sr. Anne McCarthy, OSB (Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Penn., pictured at left above) and Rev. Vivian Gruenenfelder (Soto Zen Buddhist of Shasta Abbey, Mount Shasta, Calif., pictured at right) agreed to answer some questions about their beliefs and practices for Connecting Point.
CP: Can you describe your prayer practices?
Rev. Vivian: Actually, Buddhists don't pray. Prayer implies a duality where there's a self and an other. We don't think in terms of an ‘other.' Buddhism begins with unity and oneness with Buddhist Nature. There's no one to pray to or supplicate or express gratitude or contrition to.
We see everything as sacred, and experience that truth in meditation. We understand we are completely united with all things.
Sr. Anne: That reminds me of Benedict's 12th Step of Humility, bowing in reverence not just in the chapel but in the field or wherever you are.
Rev. Vivian: Yes! And how about his instruction to care for all tools as if they were vessels of the altar?
Sr. Anne: Mindfulness is very important in monasticism, and monasticism is important to opening us to wisdom. Is the world different because monasticism exists? My great hope is yes; that our emphasis on love and healing helps reduce suffering. Are we, as monastics, bringing more healing and love into the world?
Rev. Vivian: Someone has to hold everything in the world sacred, and that depends more on practice than on doctrine.
CP: What is your daily life like?
Rev. Vivian: It can vary a lot, but it goes something like this:
5:30-6:30 a.m. meditation, 6:30-7:30 chant, 7:30-8:15 a short work period, and
8:15 breakfast. We work until our midday meal, followed by an hour of rest, and work until 4 p.m. We have a short meditation and chant then, followed by a light supper, rest and spiritual reading. We meditate and chant before bed, which is at 9 p.m. We recite the core Sutras - Buddha's teachings - together every day.
Sr. Anne: That reminds me of the Benedictine recitation of the Psalms during our Liturgy of the Hours. (Although all Benedictine monasteries adopt their own schedules, most pray Lauds in the morning, Noon Day before lunch, and Vespers in the evening, along with Eucharist.) We follow Jesus' instruction to "pray always" by chanting the Psalms and by doing Lectio Divina, or spiritual reading. It's not just intellectual reading, but a deeper way of reading that allows us to become the Scriptures.
Rev. Vivian: We seek to be "mindful always" with our meditation and readings. Also, work is integral to our meditation process. We consider ourselves a contemplative order, but spend a lot of time working.
CP: In what ways do you believe your orders to be profoundly different?
Rev. Vivian: One visible difference is that, since Vatican II, the Benedictines no longer wear robes, while we have gone back to our roots and now wear robes. The Buddha instructed us to dress differently from the laity, to make us visible in the world as monks.
Sr. Anne: (laughing) Even there we are alike, it seems to me. Catholic monastics were urged to return to their roots after Vatican II. We stopped wearing habits because we were to dress like the simple people of our day, as Benedict urged in his time. The habit came from medieval times.
Rev. Vivian: As monastics, we are profoundly similar. Our doctrine is profoundly different, however. We don't pray to the Buddha. He's a teacher and we follow his teachings - although Jesus was, too.
Sr. Anne: Our individual relationships with Jesus certainly are different. We pray to him, pray to God.
CP (to Rev. Vivian): If you don't believe in God, how do you explain creation?
Rev. Vivian: It's a good question, but we don't try to answer it. We're here, so we want to make the best of it. We have no creation story, no end story. We work to bring an end to suffering and to experience our union with all that is, and we hold that sacred.
* Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID) is an organization of Benedictine and Trappist monks and nuns committed to fostering interreligious and intermonastic dialogue at the level of spiritual practice and experience between North American Catholic monastic women and men and contemplative practitioners of diverse religious traditions.
Benedictine Postulant Calls St. Mary Monastery "Home"
Amid great joy during a simple but beautiful ceremony in St. Mary Monastery chapel on September 6, Jackie Walsh entered the Benedictine Sisters' community. Shown above with Prioress Sr. Phyllis McMurray, left, and Formation Director Sr. Mary Core, right, Jackie will now begin her Postulancy, a nine-month period during which she will live with and learn more about her Benedictine community. Read about Jackie's thoughts!
Jackie joins Stefanie MacDonald, below, and Sr. Claudia Scharf in initial formation. New members study theology and Benedictinism throughout their initial formation, before making Perpetual Monastic Profession. Perpetual Monastic Profession occurs about six years after a sister begins her Postulancy. Read more about life as a Postulant.
Journeying Toward God
When Stefanie MacDonald began her Canonical Novice Year this summer, she took a major step along her path to becoming a Benedictine Sister. In accordance with Church law, she will stay close to the monastery this year, studying the Rule, Benedictine spirituality and theology. She will expand and deepen her “unwavering focus on God.” She will continue with a spiritual formation program that will be foundational for her entire life.
"I was nervous and excited to become a Novice," Stefanie says. "I've never not worked, so leaving my job as a school teacher gave me some anxiety. But after two months, I see that I am becoming calmerand quieter. I am spending more time in prayer. And I am reading deeply in spirituality topics. This is going to be a very special time for me."
New Member Spiritual Formation
The purpose of a Benedictine Novice's spiritual formation is neither to mold nor to dogmatize about Church rules, Initial Formation Director Sr. Mary Core, OSB, says. It is, rather, to promote the growth and development of spiritual life. “Our formation program is created within the context of religious life,” she says. “We seek to help new members form their faith lives and deepen their relationships with God. In Benedictine tradition, that includes community life, Liturgy of the Hours and Lectio Divina.”
As Stefanie steps back from worldly ccncerns this year to study, reflect and grow, she’ll follow St. Benedict’s advice to question her call. “Benedict says you are to spend this time in prayer and in reading the Rule,” Sr. Mary says. “At the end of your Novice years, you are to make up your mind whether God is truly calling you into this way of life.”
Sisters' Life Formation
Even after final profession, though, the Benedictine community continues to develop their spiritual formation. “Our Life Formation program provides all members, young and older, the opportunity tocontinue to grow spiritually,” Sr. Mary says. “Currently, we are studying Contemplative Dialogue, which emphasizes openness and deep listening. Tremendous learning takes place with everyone participating. We all seek to deepen our relationship with God, and we do that with and through one another. Formation gives us an avenue for that.”
This autumn, the Sisters expect to welcome two new Postulants into the community, and look forward to sharing in their spiritual development.
St. Joseph the Worker House for homeless women and children, sponsored in part by the Benedictine
Sisters of St. Mary Monastery, was recognized by USA Today Weekender and Newman’s Own
Foundation as a national top-ten Make A Difference Day Project. Royal Neighbors of America, a project
partner, submitted the project and announced the award March 27th during a reception attended by
Sisters Bobbi Bussan (St. Joseph Board Chair) and Germaine Cupp. USA Today Weekender featured
the top ten projects in its April 27/28 edition. For more information about St. Joseph House, visit
www.stjosephworkerhouse.org.
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When Illness or Loss Interrupts our Prayers
Book Review
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