A Change in the Weather

I decided to go for a bike ride when I got home this afternoon. I was pedaling up the road, and the wind started rolling, the rain drops starting dripping. I started pedaling harder. I couldn't help but sing with Teresa de Avila, who we celebrate today:

Nothing shall disturb you,

Nothing frighten you,

Patience obtains all things,

In God you lack for nothing,

For God never changes,

God alone is enough.

I thought I would make it home before the sky broke open, but as I made my last turn, I was proven wrong. Evidence:

The weather has been changing fast; at dinner there was talk of the first frost! Yesterday I went for a walk during my reflection day. I think this picture of Lake Erie captures the season nicely.

This weekend, we will travel to Bristow, VA for a formation conference with other monasteries on the east coast. I will report back next week!

Let us walk in the holy presence.

Turn, Turn, Turn

It is official - fall has arrived. My mother and grandmother have been visiting the past few days, and yesterday we were fortunate enough to take in some of the glorious colors as we visited a local winery, a local farm, and Findley Lake.

Findley Lake

fall colors

I have many more trees surrounding me here in Erie as compared to life back in Philadelphia, so it has been easier to pay attention to the changing colors. Monastics are called to conversatio morum, or conversion of life. Monastics recognize that each day is a new start, an opportunity to do better than yesterday. We are called to change and to grow. Trees are nature's way of reminding me of this call.

As my first class on monastic values has ended, I have started a class about the Liturgy of the Hours. We took some time to do lectio reading with parts of the Rule of Benedict relating to prayer. Often times, Benedict adjusts prayer according to the season. As I commented on living with the natural cycle of the earth, we began discussing the fact that we do not do that in today's world. We continued on to talk about how we might grow in mindfulness if we were to live by the seasons. Someone commented, "We'd learn to wait."

Wow - this comment gave me pause to reflect. If we actually waited to eat lettuce until spring or strawberries until summer or apples until fall, we might learn to wait; we might learn to be patient as trees, or flowers, or seeds waiting to germinate. We might learn to live in harmony with our earth.

Maybe as I am watching these trees turning, I, too, am beginning to turn a bit. Maybe I am changing and growing into someone more whole, more able to listen to God's call deep within.

Let us walk in the holy presence.

Relationship

My lectio partner and I met earlier this week. She had picked up a book of poetry, but later realized that she already had a copy. I benefitted! The book is called, Love Poems From God. Daniel Ladinsky compiled poetry from twelve different men and women, some of which include Rumi, St. Francis of Assisi, Hafiz, and St. Teresa of Avila - a pretty strong line-up!

This week's gospel reading brings to our attention the importance of relationship - relationship with others and relationship with God. I found these words from St. Catherine of Siena a comforting reminder of our relationship with our Creator. The title is The Foundation of God.

My perfect Lord sang,

"Less likely is God to condemn my hand's action

than condemn any

soul."

How could that be possible,

my heart thought?

And the Christ, knowing all minds, replied,

"Forgiveness is the foundation of God's

being."

What are you doing to build relationships in your life right now?

Let us walk in the holy presence.

A Single Ray of Light

When writing a blog was still just an idea that I had, I was telling a sister about it while we were driving home one day. At that point I was still on the search for the right name for the blog. As we were chatting, I was telling her about some of the things that I was noticing at the monastery. She kept saying, "That's a blog post right there!" I hadn't thought of these experiences that way before she pointed it out. She was able to see the worth of each moment that I was sharing with her; I was grateful for her perspective.

To be attentive to the life around us takes practice. To recognize the beauty in all the life around us takes even more practice. On Monday night we wrapped up our monastic values class. Some values of monasticism include: prayer, work, community, peace, holy leisure, and stewardship. As Benedictines, our daily practices should cultivate these values in our lives. Being attentive certainly plays a role in this cultivation.

I think that being attentive also allows us to see the interconnectedness in all life. Saint Benedict is our example. To learn about the life of Benedict, one looks to The Dialogues of Gregory the Great. In one chapter, we read about an experience that Benedict had one evening where "he saw the whole world as in a single ray of light."

To see the whole world "as in a single ray of light" did not make his world smaller; on the contrary, it enlarged the world for Benedict. When we have purity of heart, we can call it single-mindedness. You read about it in the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God." Seeing life in a single ray of light allows us, then, to be attentive to God in each moment -- what my sister did for me in the car that day.

Imagine being able to see God in all of life. When you think about it, of course it enlarges your world, and your heart; suddenly nothing can be excluded because everything has God's love poured into it. Inclusion requires a place and a space for all God's creation. For me right now, I am learning to see God in and through prayer, work, community, peace, holy leisure, and stewardship, among other values, as I cultivate a monastic heart that sees the whole world as a single ray of light.

Let us walk in the holy presence.

One Origin

I have been spending my weekend sitting in on a retreat offered here at the Mount called "Seasons of the Spirit." Our sister who facilitates these retreats put together a wonderful program on the topic of pursuing peace. We spent Saturday listening to perspectives on Rosa Parks, Thomas Gumbleton, the women martyrs in El Salvador, Thomas Merton, and Pope Francis.

We also did a communal painting activity where we sat in a group of four. Each person used a different shade of green as we passed papers around our table. We had to listen to what was already on the paper before we added our own brush strokes. At night we were treated to a documentary about Bishop Gumbleton, learning about his ministry of nonviolence.

It was a great experience, but it was a different experience for me. This was the first time that I attended a retreat as a member of the hosting community. My perspective changed as a result. So, I started thinking about the way that our identity affects our perspective. My perspective of the world might be different if I were a veterinarian instead of a teacher, a male instead of a female, a wife instead of a woman seeking religious life, a realist instead of an idealist.

We see this all the time in our society. The businesspeople often see the world much differently than the environmentalists. Liberals often see the world much differently than the conservatives. You see where I'm going. We can easily divorce ourselves from one another because of the way we identify.

But, what if, what if, we all claimed our true identity first and foremost, seeing the world through that perspective? Then, we would identify by and recognize our common humanity. If we could all see the homeless man or woman as human, too. If we could all see the immigrant as human, too. If, before any other identity, we could all see each other as human, I think we would treat one another much differently. I think we might unite.

How can we find our common humanity and use it to pursue peace in our world?

Let us walk in the holy presence.

-Picasso-

Honest Truth

Thank you, Stephen Colbert. (Watch the first two minutes, in particular.)

Let us walk in the holy presence.

c/o cbs.com

Only the Essentials

In the spirit of trying new things (like, you know, a whole new way of living!) I have embraced another change in my life. For the past three weeks, I have been transitioning out of shampoo and conditioner and into baking soda and vinegar. Before you call me crazy, I'm not the only one!

This move has prompted some interesting conversation at the dinner table as I explain my choice to sisters in the community. My reason for swapping out the shampoo is to go natural. Our scalp, as well as the rest of our body, naturally produces an oil called sebum; it is what makes our hair oily. Rather than using chemicals to get rid of those oils, I am using baking soda. I can't lie - the baking soda leaves your hair a bit gritty. This is where the apple cider vinegar comes in; it does a great job rinsing out and conditioning. The goal of this whole experiment is to balance out the sebum production, which can be elevated through the use of too much shampoo.

So - is it working? Well, I think so. From what I've read, getting over the three-week hill is a bit trying, but once you get to the other side, your hair is healthier. I do think that my hair feels better after I wash it with baking soda and AC vinegar, but it is an on-going experiment.

There is also the group of people who question what your hair smells like after conditioning with vinegar. Great question! It does dry fairly odorless, but I am also counteracting the stinky possibility with another experiment - lavender oil. When I told one of our sisters about this, I entered into another phase of this journey.

Our community is blessed with many sisters who have lots and lots of interests; this gives us some pretty cool ministries - one of them being Wellness. As our Wellness director introduced me to everything available through the Wellness ministry (much more than I could have imagined!), she showed me a book she had on the ministry's shelf called, Aromatherapy A-Z. The book gives suggestions for how to counteract illnesses or other issues with essential oils. Had I known that lavender oil can be used for ADD, allergies, anger, and anxiety, I would have had a school-year's worth stashed in my classroom closet!

I have enjoyed journeying through the world of natural hair cleaning. Next up, toothpaste!

Let us walk in the holy presence.

lavender fields discovered during a summer road trip