Newsletter of the Duluth Benedictine Sisters Duluth, Minnesota Vol. 28, No. 4 • Summer 2017 Dear Friends of the Monastery, PathwaysEWSLETTER N of the Benedictine Sisters There is a theme to this letter which I will name “greening” and “gratitude.” Spring and summer seem to be coming early this Published by: year and it is a joy to watch the greening from South to North Sisters of St. Scholastica in Minnesota. Leaves are a full dark green in the South, while Monastery, Duluth, MN in the North a haze of delicate green can be seen on the forested Produced by: hillsides. Patches of bloodroots are making their appearance Monastery Development / along with touches of blue violets, bright yellow daffodils, and Public Relations Office marsh marigolds. Editorial Board: I am reminded of the writings of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, a Sister Beverly Raway, Prioress Benedictine Abbess, in which she celebrates veriditas, the nurturing, Jan M. Barrett, director greening power of God. She writes, Sister Linda Wiggins Sister Mary Catherine Shambour I am the one whose praise echoes on high. Sister Sarah Smedman I adorn all the earth. Sister Therese Carson I am the breeze that nurtures all things green. Andi Therrien I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits. Contributors: I am led by the spirit to feed the purest streams. Sisters of the Community I am the rain coming from the dew Cover Photo Icon of Pentecost by that causes the grasses to laugh +Sister Mary Charles McGough with the joy of life. Unless otherwise attributed, I call forth tears, the aroma of holy work. photos were taken by our Sisters or employees I am the yearning for good.* PATHWAYS is published We live these days with praise and gratitude to God quarterly and is distributed for the beauty of life around us and for this year among friends, relatives, in which we celebrate 125 years of God’s grace associates and benefactors of in the life of our Community. Our history has not the Sisters of St. Scholastica been without the “aroma of tears.” We remember Monastery. our beginnings and the struggles of our Sisters past Copyright © and present who sacrificed so that the Community St. Scholastica Monastery could grow and serve the people of the region in the “holy work” of education, health care, and St. Scholastica Monastery pastoral and spiritual ministries. Bloodroot opening in Gethsemane Cemetery 1001 Kenwood Avenue Duluth, MN 55811 - 2300 As events unfold during this year, each provides an opportunity to say thank you over and Telephone: 218.723.6555 over again for the gift of God’s blessing throughout our history, and for the encouragement Fax: 218.723.5963 of the many people who have blessed us and supported us along the way. Among them we name those who have built and shaped our Community, those who have partnered Visit our website: with us in our ministries, our volunteers, students and alumni, our donors and all of you. www.DuluthBenedictines.org Our gratitude goes out especially to those who have contributed to our annual appeal which Facebook: Benedictine Monestary of will support the work of renovation and equip our newly blessed Center for Spirituality Duluth, MN and Enrichment. We hope that many of you will take advantage of opportunities which will be announced in a fall mailing and on our website. Twitter: @DuluthMonastery May God bless you and all of your loved ones in this greening summer time with laughter in the joy of life. Gratefully in Christ, Sister Beverly Raway, OSB *Quoted from Gabriele Uhlein, Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen Tweeting Monastic Life by Sister Edith Bogue Benedictines constantly grapple with the task of using a 1500-year-old Rule to guide our 21st century communities. We no longer copy books by hand nor begin our day of prayer in the wee hours of the morning. Yet we consider each change carefully. One telephone was enough for an entire community when calls were mostly for emergencies. Later, a shared telephone on each wing seemed good stewardship. Now we implement St. Benedict’s call to silence with individual telephones capable of receiving “silent” voicemail messages. Social media are now the new frontier for monastic communications. When Facebook and Twitter began a decade ago, monasteries were primarily concerned with their impact on our communal life. We didn’t want Sisters to become over- involved with distant relationships on their computers to the detriment of our life together and connections with our visitors. We didn’t imagine social media would become a ministry. Mobile devices and apps changed all that. More people connect to the internet on a phone or tablet. People and organizations connect more often through social media. A year ago, we intentionally focused on @DuluthMonastery on Twitter. We posted 140-character tidbits of Benedictine spirituality and encouragement to those exploring religious vocations. We connected with local government and organization leaders. We shared our daily life in casual snapshots of nature or events. We highlighted issues of social justice. Our circle of connections has grown to over 1000 followers. “Communication is a means of expressing the missionary vocation of the entire Church. Today, the social networks are one way to experience this call to discover the beauty of faith, the beauty of encountering Christ,” wrote Pope Francis in his message for World Communications Day in 2014. Our tweets will never replace the relationship of person-to-person conversation with visitors, discerners, friends, or pilgrims. They can – and we hope they do – make the beauty and vitality of monastic life visible to those we would never meet in any other way. Pathways • Summer 2017 • www.DuluthBenedictines.org 3 Of Wind, Noise, and Fiery Tongues by Sister Mary Catherine Shambour ([email protected]) “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit of God dwelling in us, alleluia!” Romans 5:5 On June 4 this year, Christians about the millions of American around the world celebrate Catholics who have abandoned the feast of Pentecost, often the Church completely as having referred to as “the birthday no relevance to their lives? of the Church.” And what a These are difficult questions celebration that first Pentecost to answer, but they are vital was! Talk about noise and to the survival of a dynamic, wind and fire displays and living Church that provides wild exuberance! Once the joy and meaning to our lives divine power, symbolized by and guidance to society. To wind and parted tongues of those who feel that their faith fire, had descended upon Jesus’ has no answers to offer them, followers gathered in prayer, I ask them to recall that the such a great transformation same Holy Spirit that dwelt in overcame them that they burst Jesus and his followers has been into the streets of Jerusalem to given to them and is pleading proclaim the good news. The for them: “Likewise, the Spirit risen Jesus, whom they had helps us in our weakness: for crucified, God has made both we do not know how to pray as Lord and Messiah, and now Icon of Pentecost by +Sister Mary Charles McGough we ought, but the spirit himself they, too, through repentance and baptism in his name intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” (Romans can receive the same Spirit! That day alone, some 3,000 8:26). What is left for us is to call upon and to plead with persons were baptized. (Acts 2:41) the Holy Spirit to assist us. The rest of the story we know. Currently, after more than Many of my own generation were taught to say certain 2,000 years of trial and triumph, more than two billion prayers and find consolation in them. However, not as much currently living persons have received the same Holy emphasis was placed upon personal and contemplative Spirit. Do we share the same excitement and commitment prayer. Finding privacy and time to pray may be a as those first believers, or even that of some of our own problem for many, but we all need some space and time ancestors in the faith? Catholic and Orthodox Christians to do so, even for a few minutes daily. The important honor the Holy Spirit each time we make the sign of the thing is to present ourselves to the Lord as we are, honor cross before and after our prayers, and believe that we Him, present our needs honestly and beg for the Holy receive the Holy Spirit at baptism and throughout life Spirit to enlighten us, and then to listen to what the Spirit through the sacraments. Yet how many of us call on and may be asking of us. This kind of prayer is especially live in the Holy Spirit daily? necessary before making important life decisions, be they Because of their very busy lives, many Catholics who personal or corporate, and should continue even after we actually make it to Mass on Sunday feel that is about have made them. In today’s hectic world it is still – and all they can manage, and they trust all will be well with always – Pentecost. Today especially we need the Holy them. Surely, God who reads their hearts will bless them Spirit to serve as our “auto pilot” in guiding our day to accordingly; but what about the rest of the week? What day existence. 4 Pathways • Summer 2017 • www.DuluthBenedictines.org When we say that the Church must make changes in the faith in the 21st century. The Holy Spirit is at work order to be relevant today, we forget that WE ARE THE “making all things new.” A recent remarkable book, The CHURCH! Though the hierarchical Church, for good Divine Dance by Father Richard Rohr, helps explain the reasons, makes major changes slowly (even Pope Francis Trinity as the continual flow of love between the three finds this so), all baptized members of the Church share divine persons that brings all things into existence, the same Spirit, and through earnest prayer should follow and how we, through our baptism and the Holy Spirit the Spirit’s counsel to do what God is asking them to do dwelling within us, are called to participate in the very in helping to build the kingdom of God on earth.