Catholic Benedictine Sisters of St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island, Ill., blog with inquirers discerning their religious calling to monastic life.
Posted in Benedictine monastic retreat, Benedictine practices, Benedictine vows on Jun 11th, 2013
By Sister Stefanie MacDonald, OSB Living obediently was a topic of yesterday’s retreat conference. Obedience is one of our monastic promises. But what does it mean today? To obey comes from the Latin, obedire, to listen. In practice, what that means is to listen to – obey – God. We do so by reading Scripture, [...]
Posted in Benedictine vows on Nov 3rd, 2012
One of the differences between apostolic communities (like the Franciscans and Dominicans) and Benedictine monastic communities is our vows. In fact, we don’t actually make “vows.” We make promises. It’s more than a word difference! (Watch Sister Mary’s video overview of Monastic Vows and video on the vow of Stability.)
Posted in Benedictine practices, Benedictine video, Benedictine vows, monastic life, monastic profession, religious life, video on Aug 19th, 2012
Sister Stefanie MacDonald made her First Monastic Profession to our Benedictine community in Rock Island, Ill. 2 years ago. Here, she signs her monastic promises during a simple but beautiful ceremony in our chapel. One of the differences between apostolic communities (like the Franciscans and Dominicans) and Benedictine monastic communities is our vows. In fact, [...]
Posted in Benedictine values, Benedictine vows, Monastic Life Experience, monastic life, monastic profession, religious life on Jul 8th, 2012
For the past 2 weeks, Sister Stefanie has been posting reflections about the Benedictine values, as well as her adventure with other Sisters in Beech Grove, Ind. Don’t miss them … they are a wonderful window into Benedictine monastic life.
Posted in Benedictine Sisters, Benedictine practices, Benedictine values, Benedictine vows, monastic life, religious life, retreat on Jun 7th, 2012
That’s a mouthful of a title! Although the path to holiness can be lived out in other ways – marriage, singlehood – we Benedictine Sisters have chosen religious life (St. Scholastica, left, founded the women’s community to follow her twin brother’s Holy Rule, which we follow 1,500 years later). Today, Bishop Joe – a member [...]
Posted in Benedictine practices, Benedictine values, Benedictine vows, community life, monastic life, religious life on Apr 6th, 2011
By Novice Jackie Walsh There’s very little stability in the world today. The economy, natural disasters and relations in war-torn countries around the world are examples of instability. So is the fact that people change jobs, cities, houses, cars and even spouses more than ever before. Yet, even though we may be considered countercultural by [...]