Envision Benedictine Stability through Visio Divina (Divine Seeing)
This is the fifth of 6 Visio Divina Meditations, as an alternative to New Years Resolutions. Professed Benedictine monastics formally promise to uphold a 3-fold commitment to listening (obedience), stability, and fidelity (conversatio morum) while living within their communities. Oblates (lay associates) strive to apply these principles while living “in the world” outside the monastery, believing all can benefit from incorporating the timeless wisdom of The Rule of Benedict into their lives. The Benedictine Promise of Stability “Stability” Fiber Art by Pat Picket Stability for a Benedictine monastic is the promise to stay put, to live out one’s life in this community, …
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Envision Benedictine "conversatio morum" though Visio Divina (Divine Seeing)
This is the fourth of 6 Visio Divina Meditations, as an alternative to New Years Resolutions. Professed Benedictine monastics formally promise to uphold a 3-fold commitment to listening (obedience), stability, and fidelity (conversatio morum) while living within their communities. Oblates (lay associates) strive to apply these principles while living “in the world” outside the monastery. We believe all can benefit from incorporating the timeless wisdom of The Rule of Benedict into their lives. The Benedictine Promise of Fidelity to Growth (conversatio morum) “Conversatio” Fiber Art by Pat Picket Conversatio Morum, Brother Ignacio Gonzales writes, “is an act of the will that says, ‘I want …
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Envision the Benedictine Value of Community through Visio Divina (Divine Seeing)
This is the third of 6 Visio Divina Meditations, as an alternative to New Years Resolutions. The Benedictine Value of Community This limestone sculpture of “Community” by Joseph O’Connell (1927-1995) stands in the Gathering Place at Saint Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota. This depiction of the first sisters supporting their monastery’s foundress, Mother Benedicta Riepp, at her death, serves as a reminder that the sisters in this community promise to support each other in life and through the changes demanded by life. On one of my first tours of the monastery, my guide said a sister rarely dies without another …
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Envision the Benedictine value of Work through Visio Divina (Divine Seeing)
This is the second of 6 Visio Divina Meditations, as an alternative to New Years Resolutions. The Benedictine Value of Work through Visio Divina (Divine Seeing) The Rule of Benedict says, “When they live by the labor of their hands . . . then they are really monastics.” In Benedictine spirituality the purpose of work is life sustaining, work nurtures and serves. The Sisters of Saint Benedict’s Monastery tell us in a brochure about Joseph O’Connell’s limestone sculptures in their Gathering Place that this sculpture depicts the work of 19th century Sisters who “taught European immigrant children and American Indian girls …
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Envision the Benedictine value of Prayer through Visio Divina (Divine Seeing)
This is the fist of 6 Visio Divina Meditations, as an alternative to New Years Resolutions. Joseph O’Connell’s Sculptures: Prayer, Work and Community The brochure “Vision Through Sculpture,” published by The Sisters of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, explains that “In 1982, Joseph O’Connell . . . was commissioned by the Emerson Hynes family” to create a sculpture for the monastery. Using the Benedictine women who first came to St. Joseph, Minnesota as his inspiration, he portrays the Benedictine values of prayer, work and community that sustained the women as they “struggled with the pioneer challenges of poverty, hard work, hunger and illness.” …
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Visio Divina (Divine Seeing) as an alternative to New Year Resolutions: envision your new self-story based on Benedictine values and commitments
This is the introduction to 6 Visio Divina Meditations, as an alternative to New Years Resolutions. Visio Divina (Divine Seeing) as an Alternative to New Years Resolutions Benedictine Spirituality is not a self-improvement project, rather, because it is rooted in humility and relies on the gracious love of a divine power greater than ourselves, the Benedictine way of life is the opposite of self-improvement. As a practical guide to authentic gospel living, The Rule of Benedict calls us to ever deeper and more loving relationships–with God, with ourselves, with the people and communities surrounding us, and with all things. By seeking …
Exploring Inner Rooms: an online 12 days of Christmas retreat at Cloister Seminars
It’s not too late to join a heart-stirring, soul-deepening, online “12 days of Christmas” retreat at Cloister Seminars Retreat leaders, married couple Chuck Huff and Almut Furchert invite you to “take a break from the hustle and bustle, to breathe, and to wonder, guided and sustained by wise women and men.” Elaborating on the reflections of Johannes Eckert, Abbot of St. Boniface and Andechs Abbeys in Munich, they will invite us to “think about our own dwelling places and about how we might welcome the Christ child” into our lives, no matter what are lives are right now. From my experience with them …
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4 characteristics of vibrant, strong communities from The Rule of Benedict
The poet Emily Dickinson, now recognized alongside Walt Whitman as one of the cofounders of a uniquely American poetic voice, lived in almost complete social isolation. If a poet wants to write remarkable, enduring poems, is it, therefore, best for her to live an isolationist life? Paul the Hermit lived his long adult life alone in the Egyptian desert. Legend says he was so saintly that a raven supplied his bread and two lions assisted in the digging of his grave. Does a solitary life, therefore, make a person holier (whole-ier?) While there have been a few poets who produced …
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What nuns, monks and poets know about heartfelt listening and how we learn compassion
What is heartfelt listening? Scientifically, the heart is the organ that pumps the blood. Philosophically or spiritually, however, the idea of “heart” is more difficult to put into words. Heartbreak is emotional anguish. Heartland is the center of a country. The heartless are unfeeling; to know something by heart requires intimate familiarity; and a heartwarming moment will give us a rush a pleasure. The heart is the essence of individuality, the combination of the way people think, their attachments, prejudices and affections, what they want and how they go about getting or giving up their desires. The heart is the …
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What nuns, monks and poets know about confirmation bias, with 3 practices to help overcome the fear of change
What is confirmation bias? It clouds vision and causes the prejudice that makes people irrational and illogical. It can negatively effect our health and well being. It increases the likelihood we will falsely accuse innocent people and will readily believe malicious, unfounded lies. It leads to miscommunication and conflict in relationships. It is confirmation bias. Psychologists tell us that while most of us believe that our opinions and “convictions are rational, logical, and impartial,” in reality, instead of analyzing facts objectively to understand what they mean, we are programmed to interpret facts in a way that will confirm whatever we already …