Narrow at the Outset

The End of the Blog

2008-11-11T14:00:00.002-05:00

REMEMBER: All views and opinions posted on this blog are strictly that -- views and opinions of the author alone. Contents should not be seen as representative of anyone other than this single individual author.

A year and a half ago, I closed down this blog. It was a decision made for a variety of reasons, none of which seem necessary to go into at the moment. I shut down Narrow, cleared out the posts (saved them as drafts, actually), and got myself all set up in a new location. But blogging there was sporadic at best. Not that there was nothing to say, but I was unsure of how to go about it. I felt as though I had lost my voice. I worked so long and hard to develop it, to feel confident enough that YES, I had something to say and YES there were people who actually might be interested, to begin to feel the push to think more deeply than just a passing snark.

And then I wiped out the blog. The old one, the one where I made such developments.

And then I found myself faced with a dilemma.

How do I start from scratch, and ignore all that past history?

How do I write my thoughts on some event of the day, with no ability for new readers to visit the archives and see what it is that I was referring to?

I didn't really want to. I even wrote about it on the new blog, various times, as I tried so hard to dig myself out of the rut. I wanted to write, I wanted to think, to share, I wanted to reconnect with that whole blogging community that existed beyond my simple little apartment .... that community of folks with whom I had connected myself before so very-abruptly vanishing.

I missed my wider world of people. I missed the friends I now know in real life (and yet still only call by their blog names) .... in dropping out of the blog, I dropped out of their lives, and some even live right across town.

And yet ..... it seemed too hard. It seemed too hard, like too much work. I had fought so hard to break free of myself the first time around, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go through that battle again.

I've fought, for a year and a half, to create my voice from scratch. It hasn't happened. I've tried to recreate the voice I discovered here in a brand new setting .... but with none of its old friends to offer comfort in a new place, the voice has refused to appear.

This blog is still closed. Comments are still closed. But this blog is no longer gone. The voice will live on, to be seen by those who wish to visit. And the voice will continue to grow, bloom, and develop (I hope!) over at the new place. No harm, disrespect, or offense is intended in this decision; only gratitude extended for the many and varied companions on this journey.

This road has been narrow, and continues to be thus. This road has taken many twists and turns and, I imagine, will continue to do thus. I hope that I may continue on undaunted, that I may never lose sight of God's mercy.

Clothed then with faith and the performance of good works, let us set out on this way, with the Gospel for our guide, that we may deserve to see him who has called us to his kingdom.

And may He who has begun this good work in us bring it to completion.

2007-06-20T12:55:00.002-04:00

This blog is closed. E-mail nuntime [at] gmail [dot] com for new address.

Ant Remedies

2007-06-01T08:51:00.001-04:00

Continuing the e-mail clear-out ....
My mom emailed that they had a parade of big ants in the kitchen, and she found an article that suggested the following remedy: Wash down counters or table with half and half solution of water and vinegar. Then sprinkle paprika, chili powder, cayenne, bay leaves, cinnamon or dried peppermint. Put bay leaves in your cupboards. Apparently the paprika combo worked well, although apparently my dad found it to be a rather tempting flavor mixture. A brother-in-law then replied with another, even better, suggestion: Keeping a large nest of spiders in the kitchen works well too.

Bit o' randomness

2007-06-01T08:36:00.001-04:00

As I try to go through my backlog of emails from the last couple weeks, what with house stuff and school stuff and such, I came across this forward. Not that I'm anti-evolution or anything like that, but I was amused by the logical progression that occurs.
One day a 6 year-old girl was sitting in a classroom. The teacher was going to explain evolution to the children. The teacher asked a little boy, "Tommy, do you see the tree outside?"
TOMMY: Yes.
TEACHER: Tommy, do you see the grass outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
TEACHER: Go outside and look up and see if you can see the sky.
TOMMY: Okay. (He returned a few minutes later) Yes, I saw the sky.
TEACHER: Did you see God up there?
TOMMY: No.
TEACHER: That's my point. We can't see God because he isn't there. Possibly he just doesn't exist.
A little girl spoke up and wanted to ask the boy some questions.
The teacher agreed and the little girl asked the boy, "Tommy, do you see the tree outside?"
TOMMY: Yes.
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy do you see the grass outside?
TOMMY: Yessssss!
LITTLE GIRL: Did you see the sky?
TOMMY: Yessssss!
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy, do you see the teacher?
TOMMY: Yes
LITTLE GIRL: Do you see her brain?
TOMMY: No
LITTLE GIRL: Then according to what we were taught today in school, she possibly may not even have one!

RB 4.47

2007-05-19T00:14:00.001-04:00

And now it's our turn.

One minute someone is standing there, grilling burgers for dinner. The next minute you're in the ER while they're asking you (and another housemate, neither of whom knows anything about checking someone into the hospital) about Advanced Directives and using words like "survivable" or "not".

Funny thing is, my blogger's block had seemed to disappear, and I was all set to post something about my kids' service "reflections" and friendships and all sorts of other bloggishly-appropriate content. Instead, I spend just under 24 hours (minus maybe six hours) in an ICU waiting room*.

No one could remember the last time someone died while "on mission", living out in one of the houses — one of my housemate's been in community 30 years, and she said it was long before her time.

Note to self: Massive bleeding stroke and blood thinners don't mix.

I figure it'll hit us next week, when things are back to "normal" .... when we have prayer and dinner with an empty chair ...... when I drive to school without dropping her off first .....

And yet, just as it's beginning to sink in, it'll be the end of the school year, and a couple of us will be heading back to the Hill for the summer ..... where the absence won't be that noticeable, since I wouldn't have seen her much this summer anyway. And then next fall someone else will probably be moving in. So I'm not quite sure how or even if I'll fully be able to wrap my mind around all this.

So, yeah ...... whaddya say? Just another piece of community life, I guess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, and the subject line? From Benedict's chapter on The Tools for Good Works. And what does that referenced line say? Day by day remind yourself you are going to die.

But Benedict shouldn't worry. Even if we forget to remember this on our own, God seems to do a great job of reminding us.

Sound too morbid for you? Let me give you a few bits of context: Place your hope in God alone. Yearn for everlasting life with holy desire. Day by day remind yourself you are going to die. Hour by hour keep careful watch over all you do, aware that God's gaze is upon you, wherever you may be. And finally, never lose hope in God's mercy.

The whole chapter is really good. Scroll down the link and read Chapter Four. Heck, read the whole Rule — it doesn't take all that long.

The moral of this story? Verse 73 .... If you have a dispute with someone, make peace with him before the sun goes down. Cuz you know neither the hour nor the day.

*And a big huge thank-you shout goes out to the Baptist East ICU staff, for all their wonderful phenomenalness to us about all of it. Just some amazingly accommodating sensitivity to everything. Thank you all for making such a tragic time that much more humane.

True Humility

2007-05-09T07:12:00.001-04:00

We could all stand to learn from the humility of fame. We just need to give them a chance, and not dismiss them as incomprehensibly self-absorbed.

Courtesy of the BBC ... Hilton backs online pardon appeal

The petition paints Ms Hilton as a role model who "provides hope for young people all over the US and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives".
"If the late former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake," it says.

Oops .... did I forget to mention that it's Opposite Day?

Where'd it go?

2007-04-29T21:50:00.001-04:00

Can I mention that I'm mildly stressed?????

Way too much to do. As of a couple weeks ago, I was way on-track, plenty of time to cover all that needed to be covered for school. Now, all of the sudden, it's all disappeared. And I haven't even gotten to the Reformation yet! Yes, I still (theoretically) have the whole month of May, but considering that we meet only every other day, and exams are coming up, and I need lots more grades, and ..... sigh. Between Spring Break and needing to ease back in after all the tragedies, things just kinda snuck up on me.

Anyone got a Time-Turner I can borrow? Please?!?!?

A friend for a friend .....

2007-04-23T21:58:00.001-04:00

I made one of these a while back for a friend of mine ..... after having made one for another very dear friend of mine, I discovered that there's really no way to send it to her, except via my blog (unless I just send the link for the page, but that's no fun, right?) So, without further ado ..... here's my little buddy for ya. (Click on his head for hiding, and feed him from the "More" tab)

adopt your own virtual pet!

And, in honor of a well-loved pastime of ours ..... (for some extra fun, you can taunt him with the food — give him a bite, then pull the bread away!)

adopt your own virtual pet!

Visit #20,000 ....

2007-04-19T19:16:00.001-04:00

..... comes from my Ol' Stomping Grounds of Balmer, Murland (or, Baltimore Maryland, for those of you not familiar with the world of "amblances")! Why, yes, though .... I can see the question brewing — "I thought she was from our Nation's Capital." And, well, yes, technically that's true. Well, sort of technically, anyway. I'm actually from the Maryland suburbs — if you remember the sniper from a few years back, how he killed five people within a 1-mile radius during the first couple hours of his rampage? Well, right in the middle of that circle is the house in which I grew up, and to which I still return on various holidays and vacations. So, while growing up, "Downtown" for me meant DC, the Beltway was I-495, and the professional sport to follow was football. However, for the last three years before I entered the community, I was living in Columbia, which pretty much straddles the Baltimore Metropolitan Area/Washington Metropolitan Area boundary line. My friends from there would refer to a totally different "downtown", refer to I-695 as the Beltway, and their sporting event of choice was baseball. The added bonus for me was that I was volunteering in my parish up there, and teaching at a Catholic school down by DC, so I couldn't even hear someone speak of the Archdiocese or the Cardinal without having to put lots of thought into where I was.

But ...... that's all a horribly moot point, and a full load of nothingness. All I really wanted to say was that it was nice to click to see where Visit #20,000 was visiting from, and to see what still holds a piece of "home" in my heart peeking back.

So thanks, Sinai Hospital, whoever you are. Say hi to the Harbor, and eat some crabcakes for me.

"No One Deserves a Tragedy"

2007-04-17T19:56:00.001-04:00

Driving home today, NPR's Talk of the Nation ended with Nikki Giovanni's words at the close of the convocation today at Virginia Tech (video clip).

I was especially struck by her broadening view of the word "tragedy" — extending it to not just the big deals that make the news, but simply stating that "No one deserves a tragedy."

Makes me think of the article in the paper last week about our student dying .... one of the comments posted was "Her obituary is posted on today's obituaries. Bless her heart, she's beautiful too." What, so it'd be OK if she was an ugly kid? Does that make it any worse that she's beautiful, or talented, or popular? Does being shy and homely make a student somehow more expendable?

According to Catholic social teaching, ALL of us are beloved children of God. ALL of us have been made in the image and likeness of God. As such, ALL of us are worthy of inherent dignity and respect.

As the Good Doctor (Seuss, that is) once said: "A person's a person, no matter how small."

We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on; we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly. We are brave enough to bend to cry, and sad enough to know we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it.

But neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS. Neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory. Neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water. Neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of night in his crib in the home its father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destablized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech.

The Hokie nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility. We will continue to invent the future.

Through our blood and tears, through all this sadness, we are the Hokies.

We will prevail, we will prevail, we will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

For all victims and perpetrators of violence .....

2007-04-16T22:35:00.001-04:00

The overriding theme in my classroom this year, in terms of rules, seems to be summed up in my oft-repeated "Play nice."

Play nice.

Such simple words, they almost seem inappropriate for a 10^th grade classroom.

Such a simple concept, too. You know, that whole "Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" idea?

And yet ..... apparently it's not that easy to learn.

Many thoughts and prayers go out to the Virginia Tech community.

Many thoughts and prayers, too, though, go out to those many many many more people who aren't part of the "deadliest shooting rampage in US history" .... and who therefore don't make the news.

At our monastery, we often add this intention at Morning Prayer: For _____, who is scheduled to be executed today in _____, for all victims and perpetrators of violence, and for an end to the death penalty, let us pause a moment in silence.

Today, I feel the need for a rewrite:
For all victims and perpetrators of violence, and for an end to all the craziness, hatred, and rage in the world, let us pause a moment in silence.

Is it really that hard to just play nice?

"You know neither the hour nor the day...."

2007-04-15T23:44:00.001-04:00

Over the course of the past five weeks or so, our school has encountered the following sudden deaths:
¤¤¤ husband of a counselling office secretary
¤¤¤ husband of the campus minister
¤¤¤ father of a sophomore
¤¤¤ husband of a counselor
¤¤¤ a sophomore

And that's not including the multitude of grandparents that we've had recently, either.

We've been on spring break for the last two, so I'm sure there will be folks arriving Monday morning who haven't heard. Still not really sure what happened with the sophomore — perhaps something heart-related (though I don't think she had heart problems), not a car crash or anything of that nature. However, she was on vacation with her mother and three friends (thank God it was her mother that was with them — can you imagine if you were the mother of a friend who was there when this happened?!?!?) .... I didn't have her, but I have all three of the friends she was with.

Different situation than another local school had to deal with this year, but still ..... which is worse, a preventable accident or an unexplainable unawakening?

Either way, it's not really the best time for the Clueless One (aka me) to get to be an official Sophomore Religion Teacher Nun ......

Makes me think of last year, when I did my "Life Lessons With Sister Stephanie", after some of the more tragic deaths at the monastery — about how you never know the impact your stupid little nothings might have on others, and how we never know how long we'll have people with us ......

We've got a faculty meeting at 7:15, then a prayer service first thing at 8:00. I just realized tonight, though, that the seniors got an extended spring break, so theoretically none of them will be there tomorrow. But then it'll be 80-minute periods, which somehow I'm thinking that this really won't be the time to explain the mutual hissy-fit temper-tantrums that led to the creation of the Orthodox Church as an independent entity separate from that of Rome. What we will do, however, is still a mystery to me .......

Our school has about 800 girls. I've got 120 of the 200 or so sophomores; there are probably another 50 or so of them that I had last semester but not this semester. Big enough school that people don't necessarily know her, but small enough that everyone will be hit pretty hard. And enough close ties to the other Catholic high schools that it's not just our issue to deal with.

So send prayers, please, to our little corner of Loovul. We could use all the help we can get.

What if ......?

2007-04-08T17:01:00.001-04:00

Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, was asked the same question. What did he think would occur, hypothetically, if one of the world's great violinists had performed incognito before a traveling rush-hour audience of 1,000-odd people?

The Washington Post wanted to find out. They got Joshua Bell to be just your average (excellent) street musician in a Metro station for an hour during rush-hour. Interesting to read the results. Even more interesting to see the video capsule of what happened.

On a more seasonal note ..... they apparently also had a Peeps Diorama Contest.

Blogging the Monastic Triduum

2007-04-07T17:36:00.001-04:00

Now might be the time, if'n ya wanna, to revisit my sequence from last year on "Blogging the Monastic Triduum" ....

Entering into the Silence
Prelude to Holy Week
Holy Thursday (aka Bells'n'Smells)
Good Friday (A Time to Reconcile)
Holy Saturday (As We Wait in the Silence)
Easter Vigil (The Readings)
Easter Vigil (Service of Light)
Easter Monday (aka The Morning After)
Kathleen Norris on Easter Monday

What is going on?????

2007-03-17T23:21:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago, the golf coach at my housemate Jeana's school (who also is dad to one of her kids) just randomly died in his sleep. A week and a half ago, one of our counselling secretaries' husband dropped dead — he was getting off their elliptical machine in their basement when she heard a thud, and that was pretty much it. This was a Tuesday night; they had this whole elaborate scheme worked out with their daughter's boyfriend so he could propose that Saturday; instead of a romantic proposal, she got her father's funeral. Tonight, I get home and find a note that my department chair called — the husband of our campus minister died unexpectedly. Their daughter lives in China, and they were going to be leaving in two weeks to go visit her for a couple weeks.

I was at a friend's house tonight, and one person came in from working at one of the hospitals (I'm assuming -- she was in scrubs) and said "It was a good day — the people who were supposed to live, did, and the people who were supposed to die, died." Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the way things are working these days.

And that's not even mentioning the grand return of the cancer emails from our prioress .....

Benedict tells us to "keep death daily before our eyes" ..... is this really what he meant, though?

Pi Day Greetings from Cow Country (aka Middle of Nowheresville)

2007-03-14T15:58:00.001-04:00

The Envelope, Please ....

2007-03-13T16:56:00.001-04:00

Random Bullets of Bulletable Randomness ... The Awards Edition

¤ The "Did-You-Really-Mean-To-Say-That" comment of the day: You look so cute in your shirt and pants. And the alternative?????

¤ The "Really-I-Understand-You're-Just-Nervous" comment of Freshman Registration: [Standing at the R-Z basket of folders] Welcome. How can I help you tonight? I'm here to pick up my packet — my last name begins with R. And the second letter? A. [Meanwhile, chuckling mom is standing behind her, telling her to just say her name.] Fortunately, the kid could join us in enjoying the entertainment of the moment, though she was still somewhat sheepish and embarrassed. But really, it's allowed. After all, it's a big night for the eighth-graders. Besides, at least her mom had her go up and talk to us to get the packet, as opposed to the parents who were doing all the talking .... or the kids who just stood there on their cell phones and made their parents do everything ....

¤ The "What-A-Waste-Of-Random-Rebelliousness" thought of last Friday: Beautiful sunshiney day .... 70 degrees .... no school (because of freshman registration the night before) .... heading off to a weekend at the Monsterary for community meetings .... grand success in getting thoroughly caught up with all the grading (quarter ends this Friday) .... getting dressed (after a morning and early afternoon in pj's) .... deciding that Santa socks are really the way to go .... and no one even noticed!!!!!

¤ The "Nice-Save" comment of the classroom: [Student ~~working~~ supposed to be working on project with her group, yet somehow has managed to mislocate herself to the other side of the computer lab to a more entertaining conversational partner. Madame Teacher Nun reminds student's internal GPS to the actual location of her legitimate group, slightly irritating the positionally-challenged pupil.] Jesus Christ ... is my savior!

¤ The "I-Can't-Even-Answer-With-Anything-Other-Than-A-Laugh-And-Shaking-Of-The-Head" question of Group #3: [Students are in mini-monastic communities, deciding on and writing a Rule for Life, with various requirements that need to be hashed out, like how they'll do charity, elect superiors, etc.] Does it have to be all-boys or all-girls? We want to have a co-ed monastery, with hot tub parties every Friday.

¤ The "I'm-Beginning-To-Notice-A-Theme" moment of the afternoon: [Different group and class/section, same project] Can we do bikini carwashes to raise money for the poor? We'll do bikinis and a habit. This group also wins the "What-A-Difference-One-Letter-Could-Make" prize for the name of their group: Nuns in Naples [Got spring break on the minds, girls?]

¤ The "What-A-Difference-One-Hard-Return/Line-Break-Makes" snippet from emailed announcements: Someone had submitted a note in letter form to be included in the announcements; when it was included, it was in paragraph form. Consequently, what should probably have read as a "Sincerely yours" type of sentiment instead came out as the rather ambiguous "God bless you, Sister Mary Note-Writer."

¤ The "You-Have-A-Point-There" statement during a tornado drill: If this was the real thing, do you really think we'd all be quiet? [Although I suppose you don't have to talk to be texting ....]

¤ The "Aww, Shucks" line of the weekend: [The Reluctant Nun™ always thinks it's a cool idea to draw individual little Christmas cards for all 175+ members of her religious community ... until it's Christmas Eve, and she's kicking herself, wondering what she was thinking, while she's trying frantically to finish writing the little notes on the back. During community meetings this past weekend, a sister who TRN™ doesn't know all that well and who lives/works maybe 3 hours away from the monsterary passes TRN™ on the stairs] I want you to know that I only have two Christmas cards still — the one from my parents and yours. [TRN™ sheepishly kind of hems and haws, dismissing it as something that she kicks herself for] No, really ... it's a real ministry. [TRN™ just hopes that Distant Sister remembers to write that on TRN™'s evaluation form.]

¤ The "Wow-They-Really-Do-Listen-Sometimes" Lenten enlightenments [there's a tie]: A teacher reports being asked by a student what he's going to give up for Lent; he says he's giving up McDonald's so he can lose weight; student severely chastises him that if you're doing it just for you, then that doesn't count. A parent (of a different student) during conferences comments that her daughter says she's not religious, but the mom knows she's at least learning something — during a conversation about the beginning of Lent, mom gets told off by her daughter that losing weight is not the point of a Lenten resolution, that it can be a side benefit but not the primary purpose. Mom then says that she'll give up the vending machines at work; girl then questions the motivations there as well — is she doing it for the sacrifice, or just to not spend the money?

¤ The "OK-So-Maybe-It's-Worth-It" warm fuzzy of teaching: Last semester, while teaching New Testament, the students also received the bonus education of guided lectio divina. [Some perhaps liked it more for the quiet potential for semi-officially-sanctioned naptime, but still ...] Today, the practice was re-introduced for the first time this semester, with a quick overview given for the students who ~~missed out and got stuck with~~ had the other nun— and immediately the "old-timers" settled right back into it again.

¤ The "Just-When-You-Throught-It-Couldn't-Get-Any-More-Awkward" purely hypothetical trauma of the month: The Reluctant Nun™ has, on occasion, been known to feel mildly self-conscious about initiating conversations about even semi-serious stuff, especially if it is a situation in which her self-esteem-of-a-toothpick kicks in. So, to save the initial heebie-jeebiedness, she has, on occasion, been known to write a note instead, to at least get the ball rolling. That, of course, generates a realm of awkwardness all its own, for then there's the "What will they think? It's stupid to write a note when they're right there. Will they say something, or do I just squirm?" So perhaps, on an occasion when TRN™ knew there'd be some late-afternoon captive-audience time in a car for conversation, perhaps a note was dropped into the top of a purse. Squirminess may have been avoided for the bulk of the trip, until perhaps the passenger in the car went to put sunglasses away in the last moments of the trip and lets out an "Oh, what's this?" while pulling out a little folded paper, opening it up, and reading it. ~~I'm~~TRN™'s telling you, that ~~was~~ hypothetically could be the longest mile and a half ever travelled!!!

¤ And lastly, but definitely not leastly ... The "Will-You-All-Ever-Forgive-Me-And/Or-Believe-Me-When-I-Say-I'll-Be-Better-About-Blogging" question of the year: Ummm .... wait a second, I just asked it. Great, now I'll never be able to show my face around these parts again. .... Except .... my face doesn't show on here (not unless you look for it). And it's not like my face has been unshown much here lately anyway ..... hmmmmm.....

The Saddest E-mail Blog Post You Have Ever Seen

2007-03-12T22:44:00.001-04:00

Laundry Tip #749

2007-03-12T16:42:00.001-04:00

When using a Downy ball in the laundering process, it may be beneficial to occasionally check the machinery to ensure that aforementioned Downy ball has not nestled itself securely within a pants leg, thereby invalidating the use of said Downy ball and requiring a second-level laundering of the pants leg.

Overheard in the Classroom ... Deja Vu Edition

2007-03-08T16:13:00.001-05:00

This whole HPV vaccine is all the conversational rage these days ..... one kid had gotten it (the vaccine, NOT the disease), so someone else was asking her if it hurt or anything like that.

Questioning Student [turning suddenly to the teacher]: ~~Sr. Steph~~ Umm, I mean Madame Teacher Nun^*, have you gotten the vaccine yet?
Madame Teacher Nun [thinking nothing of the question]: No.
Neighbor of Questioning Student [with a very strong "What kind of a stupid idiot are you?" tone]: She doesn't need that — she's a NUN!

^*This is a purely hypothetical story. Any similarities to real names should be ignored. Oops!

Overheard in the Classroom

2007-03-07T20:03:00.001-05:00

Church History ..... doing a special segment on monasticism (gee, I wonder why?) .... I pulled out various bits from our book (since they have a little bit of monks in Chapter 5, a bit more in Chapter 6, even more in Chapter 7 — sometimes chronologically doesn't make the best sense), made up a worksheet of questions, and then split the kids into groups to read and present their section to the rest of the class.

First group? Presenting the sections on "Why Monasticism" and other background details.

Setting the stage .... Loquacious Student is describing how the early monks went out into the desert to seek God, detailing how desolate and wilderness-y the desert is.

Loquacious Student [interrupting herself to ask a nun-question]: Do you all ever do that?
Reluctant Nun™ [realizing she should be paying better attention]: Huh?
LS: Go out into the wilderness and just look at it, be all quiet and all that?
RN™ [pausing, beginning to comment about how nice that sounds]
LS #2 [surprisingly enough, there's more than one of them! Said with a bit of a "Duh" tone to LS #1]: Yeah, it's called "camping."
LS #1: I know that. But we talk when we camp.

I need to liveblog my classes more often .....

Why I've been muse-less ....

2007-03-04T17:16:00.001-05:00

Pot, stop calling Kettle names!

2007-02-16T20:28:00.001-05:00

From Wednesday's press conference:

The message to the Iranian people is that your leaders are making decisions that are isolating you in the world, thereby denying you a brighter future. And I believe Iran is an unbelievably vital nation. It's got a great history, it's got wonderful traditions, it's got very capable, smart people. There is -- I believe there's also a desire to not be isolated from the world. And our policies are all aimed at convincing the Iranian people there's a better way forward, and I hope their government hears that message.

Funny .... if you replace the word "Iran" with "America" it's even more true!

A Teacher's Prayer For Snow

2007-02-06T20:26:00.001-05:00

One night as I lay almost sleeping, I heard a voice, softly peeping. I saw my wife devoutly praying. This is the prayer I heard her saying:

Oh, Lord, Let it snow.
Let it drift and let it blow.
In the morning, no real fuss,
Just enough to stop the bus.

Enough to make the County say:
"There will be no school today."
Let the radio report: "Snow is deep!"
And I'll roll over for more sleep.

Then later on, say maybe ten,
I'll turn the radio on again.
Just in time to hear them say:
"It's strange: the snow has gone away!"

And then I'll know you made it stop,
So I can go to the mall and shop.
Please Lord, just hear my plea,
And make it snow for the kids and me!

Amen

Yawn ..... stretch ......

2007-02-02T13:01:00.001-05:00

Well, another Groundhog Day has arrived, and Steph emerged from her six weeks of hibernation to ..... ummm ..... oh wait, I screwed that up, didn't I ......

Ruh-roh ....

OK, so let's do a Weekend Wonderings — Groundhog Day Edition.

What's a legitimate excuse to justify Steph's extended absence from the BlogO'Sphere?

School, exams, new semester & new courses, funerals, and friendships don't count -- they're too legitimate!

The Twelve (Monastic) Days of Christmas

2006-12-26T14:59:00.001-05:00

I figured I'd have a little fun here with the twelve days of Christmas, as a lighter-yet-still-semi-accountable-holding option for these next couple days after Christmas. Unfortunately, as of right now, there are still a couple days for which I'm not sure what I'll do yet ... hopefully I'll come up with something by the time the day arrives! The lines should actually fit in the song, but you might have to do some creative syllabication to make it really work.

My quotes from the Rule of Benedict are from the RB1980 version (edited by Timothy Fry, OSB), a new translation which was done to celebrate 1500 of Benedictine life; this version can be found online in its entirity here, courtesy of Newark Abbey. (But, really, considering you can buy your own personal copy for a mere $2.95, why not consider that option as well?). For a little background on the Rule, there's an article that one of our sisters wrote that can be found here on our website; for a more inclusive collection of articles and translations, visit the Rule section of the online home of the Order of Saint Benedict.

Enjoy!

With Great Power ....

2006-12-23T22:33:00.001-05:00

Third Saturday of Advent
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24
Psalm 25:4-5AB, 8-9, 10 and 14
Luke 1:57-66
Someone had asked about Wednesday's posting: Why would a sign have been a bad thing? The line that came to my mind upon reading that I remember mostly from the ads for one of the recent Spiderman movies: "With great power comes great responsibility" (official attribution is up for debate). While initially, the thought of a sign, or additional power or whatever it might be, may sound nice .... once the reality sinks in, it sometimes loses its luster. For example, a few years ago I got to experience the election of our new prioress — I remember having the thought that, while it might be nice to have your name come up for consideration, it's probably just as nice to have it dropped out of consideration after a certain point. After all, being the ultimate head of a community of 185 women has an awful lot of responsibility that goes along with it — a lot of decisions to make, a lot of people to guide, and a lot of everything for which you are the end of the line; the buck stops there.

In some respects, it's a similar situation to my entering religious life. No longer do I get to be "just Steph"; now I am Sister Stephanie, a Sister of Saint Benedict of Ferdinand, Indiana. Anonymity is no longer a privilege that I get to exercise. I continually am reminded of the fact that any and everything that I may do or not do, say or not say, may be viewed not just as my doing or not doing, but as potentially representing my community, or perhaps all Benedictines, or maybe even women religious in general, or even all Catholics. In becoming a part of this community four years ago, I gained immeasurably in so many aspects of my life; at the same time, I also gained immeasurable levels of responsibility. And, while it might be nice sometimes to dream of the days when I used to be able to blend into the background and not be noticed, ultimately the challenges of the added responsibility are worth the blessings and gifts gained from the community.

But it's not necessarily something to enter into lightly. That's why church law dictates that the process to become a fully-committed member of a community takes a minimum of four years, with most communities requiring a couple more years beyond that. There's a lot involved, and they want us to be sure that we know what we're getting ourselves into. While you can enter into the life with some sense of what the idea of not getting married or having kids can mean, it's not until you've lived the life that you begin to fully understand how ideas like "obedience" can play out. "Oh sure, monastic poverty, I get that idea" .... until you start teaching and realize that you have to seriously calculate which of your student's plays you'll be able to attend. And then, of course, there's the practical issue of living in community .... with 184 other women. Many of the initial romantic ideas of "life in a convent" don't actually play out in real life. My kids always ask me if it's like The Sound of Music or Sister Act ..... ummmmm, not quite! It's a good life, definitely, but it's not always an easy life.

Of course it's hard! It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.
~ A League of Their Own
Think, too, of Mary. We've heard it so often, we see it as a nice, sweet little story. But think of the reality. This young girl, unmarried, becomes pregnant. I'm sure that goes over real well with family and friends, even with the story of the angel. And what about her fiance? I've got friends who have broken off engagements due to infidelity, and that's even without a resultant pregnancy. Plus, there's the added element that the culture of the time required that adulterous women (which would also apply to an unmarried pregnant girl) would be killed — specifically, by having big huge rocks thrown at them until they die. Not a happy situation, by any means. There was a whole heck of a lot of stuff involved in her "Yes." Sure, being Mother of God, that'd be pretty cool .... but there's a lot more to it, too.

Our readings today also show that paradox: something that seems great and wonderful at first glance, but then once reality sinks in somehow it doesn't necessarily seem quite so cool.

In Malachi, we are told that "suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek." Whoo-hoo! Yay! He's on his way. Except .... "Who will abide the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears?" Ruh-roh. Reality check. He's gonna come like "a refiner's fire ... to purify the sons of Levi" — that doesn't sound too cool. Purifying? That's like a massive scrubdown to make things really clean. When I think of the massive scrubdown I have to give pots and pans sometimes at dinner ..... I don't know, maybe this isn't such a cool idea. I'm not sure if I can abide that day .... that "great and terrible day."

And, in the gospel, with the birth of John the Baptist, there's a similarly change of heart among the villagers. Initially, they were pretty happy with what had happened: [Elizabeth's] neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. Pretty cool stuff — for so long this woman has been unable to have a kid, and now she's got one. That's awesome! But then Zechariah, who had been unable to speak even since the birth of the baby was foretold, was suddenly able to speak and began blessing God, the people began to get freaked out: Then fear came upon all their neighbors, [wondering] "What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him."

I guess the best part of these readings for me, then, is the reassurance that I'm not the only one who might be tempted to chicken out after looking beyond the first impression. The important thing, I think, is to realize that it's just human nature to freak out .... but at the same time to try, like Mary, to "do it anyway."

Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset. But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.
~ from the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict

Magnificat anima mea Dominum

2006-12-22T22:37:00.001-05:00

Third Friday of Advent
1 Samuel 1:24-28
1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8ABCD
Luke 1:46-56
Today's readings give us an interesting juxtaposition of new mothers. Just before the passage of the first reading, we have Hannah, who was praying in the temple so fervently for a new child that the priest Eli thought she must be drunk. In the first reading, then, we have Hannah returning to the temple, this time in gratitude for the child that God graced her with, whom she was now dedicating to the Lord and leaving behind to serve God in the temple; the responsorial is her hymn of praise that she sings, exalting the Lord for all the ways he remembers the downtrodden.

Luke's gospel, on the other hand, presents us with the young girl, Mary, who probably wasn't thinking much about kids at all before an angel showed up and told her that she was to bear a son; however, Mary's telling her family and friends that "an angel said it would happen" probably didn't get her too many more sanity points than when Eli watched Hannah's prayer. (Plus, Hannah willingly leaves her son at the temple; when Jesus gets left behind at the temple, it's inadvertent and the source of great consternation on the part of Mary.)

Shortly after Gabriel visits Mary, she goes to see her cousin Elizabeth and, while there, Mary also sings a hymn of praise, exalting the Lord for all the ways he remembers the downtrodden. This hymn, presented to us today in the gospel, greatly parallels the hymn sung by Hannah so many years earlier, but this just shows us the depth of Mary's immersion into her own scriptural heritage.

The version of Mary's, though, is the one most often used by the Church. In fact, it is called the "Magnificat" because of the Latin translation of the first line, and is recited every evening during the Liturgy of the Hours, the "official prayer" of the church. With its daily recitation, however, it becomes rather easy (at least for me) to lose sight of the truly controversial nature of this hymn. In fact, according to Benedictine oblate and author Kathleen Norris: The Magnificat's message is so subversive that for a period during the 1980's the government of Guatemala banned its public recitation.

And yet, how often do I even think about that side of things? Every night, somewhere around 5:22 (if I'm at the monastery) or maybe 6:47 (if I'm at the house in Louisville), I recite this string of words. Do I even notice what I'm saying? Sad to admit, many times I don't. Many times my mind is more on what we'll be having for dinner, or how I really liked that song we sang, or wondering where Sr. So-and-so is tonight, or any number of other things. Even if I'm not distracted with those not-so-prayerful thoughts and I'm actually thinking about what I'm saying, I generally still don't realize how "subversive" I'm being.

It's kinda like the Lord's Prayer that we recite shortly thereafter — do I really want God to forgive me in the same way in which I forgive others? Or perhaps to put it another way .... am I willing to forgive others in the same manner in which I want God to forgive me?

But then, every once in a while, something seeps through. God sneaks through the rote-autopilot to catch us off-guard and ask: "Did you really mean that?" Some bizarre little coincidence to make you realize that maybe you should pay a little more attention to what exactly it is that you're saying. But even when we don't realize, I think it still sinks in, somehow. It becomes such a part of our routine that we no longer think it's odd to think of "the hungry being filled while the rich are sent away empty" ... and so maybe then we're a little more willing to work for a time when the lowly will be lifted up, or even a time where swords will become plowshares.

Kathleen Norris, in that same article, says of the hymns of these two women: They are a poetic rendering of a theme that pervades the entire biblical narrative — when God comes into our midst, it is to upset the status quo. May we remember this as we daily recite the Magnificat, if for no other reason than to remind us to keep looking for ways that God, even today, upsets our status quo.

Do you see what I see?

2006-12-21T15:45:00.001-05:00

Third Thursday of Advent
Song of Songs 2:8-14 OR Zephaniah 3:14-18A
Psalm 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21
Luke 1:39-45
My mom loves coincidences. She's always pointing out what a small world it is, because of someone from church whose cousin's nephew's next-door-neighbor's sister also teaches high school religion, or something like that. My dad likes to mess with her, pointing out that "Today, I saw a car with license plate number 482GKZ" --- she asks what's the big deal about that, and my logicial computer-minded science-guy father says that that's just as likely an occurance as some of the things she points out, like a license plate that has her birthday and initials.

Doing a simple google search on coincidence gives a variety of articles that discuss the supernatural status, or not, of such unlikely co-occurances. In fact, mathematician John Allen Paulos is quoted as observing that: "In reality, the most astonishingly incredible coincidence imaginable would be the complete absence of all coincidences." Psychologist David Meyers, author of that same article, concludes: That a particular specified event or coincidence will occur is very unlikely. That some astonishing unspecified events will occur is certain. That is why remarkable coincidences are noted in hindsight, not predicted with foresight. You can even discover your birthday hidden in the random string of numbers that is pi.

It's all a matter of perspective. For me to discover a license plate of 117SAY would be something to point out, but to anyone else, it'd be a simple "So what?" We assign meaning to things as they speak to us, and our background oftens determines how we assign that meaning. It's the same as when we talk about getting a sign. What might seem to me a random collection of events not even worth noticing might seem to someone else to be the lightning bolt from heaven that makes it all clear.

And so it's important to be aware of the context out of which we operate. How is it that we interpret these events that occur in our lives? What is the framework through which we hear things that people say? Lonni Collins Pratt, in Benedict's Way, says the following about lectio divina:

Lectio teaches us to listen. Benedictine spirituality is about listening to God and listening to life. Lectio eventually moves us beyond reading Scripture to reading our lives, to reading our world. The important, key idea here is listen. Listen.

A little while after beginning Lectio, you discover that movies speak God, music speaks God, your friends become prophetic oracles. God begins to speak so persistently in all of life that you awake every day amazed that you didn't hear all this God-noise before. Lectio opens the ears of your heart.

I know various people who, because of the filter of faith through which they view their lives, call these events "godincidences" rather that "coincidences" — these are "Incidences with God."

For me, this has been one of the biggest ways that God has "spoken" to me. All the little things that fit together too perfectly .... someone saying the right thing at the right time ..... throwing the CD player on shuffle and the song with "the answer" coming on .... all the stuff that could just as easily be chalked up to "fate" and ignored. But, because of the lens through which I view my life, I see it as God's "movement and action in my life." But in order to view things in that way, I also have to believe that God is active in my life. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of random unrelated stuff.

And, while coincidences are most noticed in hindsight, sometimes we find ourselves looking and hoping for them based on what we want, or have prayed for, or are expecting (and/or dreading).

After all, Elizabeth in today's gospel could have just seen it as chance timing that "the infant in [her] womb leaped for joy" just as Mary greeted her; instead, she took it as a sign that "the Mother of [her] Lord" was visiting. Likewise, I could dismiss any of the ways in which I believe I've received a "sign" .... or I could take it on faith that perhaps there's a deeper meaning to it all. It's all in the perspective taken towards life.

Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.

I just wanna know

2006-12-20T11:53:00.001-05:00

Third Wednesday of Advent
Isaiah 7:10-14
Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4AB, 5-6
Luke 1:26-38
So, in this reading from Isaiah, we've got God telling Ahaz to ask for a sign?!?!? I thought we weren't supposed to ask for signs. I thought we were supposed to take things on faith and trust and all that, praying that we'll "discover" the proper way to go ... not ask for signs and proof.

Or maybe Ahaz is trying a little "reverse psychology" here .... "I'll pretend like I don't want a sign, that it would go against everything I believe in, and then maybe God'll give me a sign anyway." Who knows .... could make sense ...

It reminds me of a time back in college, at a point when I was obsessing over the whole "nun-thing" .... there was one week at the end of September where I just had everything coming due and had no clue how it was all going to happen — major exam in Music History, game board due in Recreational Music, arrangement due in Music Theory, and I don't even remember what all else was up. I think it was either that Sunday or Monday night when I began the thought "If I can just make it through this week ...." but then I stopped. I knew it wasn't right to play that game with God, and so I stopped myself right there. The follow-up thought would have been something dealing with the whole nun-thing, but, like I said, I didn't go there. After all, "You should not put the Lord your God to the test" (Deut 6:16).

So, like I said, I didn't go there. It was just left hanging, a simple "If I just make it through this week ...." and was completely forgotten. At least, until the beginning of University Chorale on Friday, right after Music History, and I looked again at the test we just got back ..... and noticed that I got a 98% ..... which was beyond good ..... and I thought about the great score that I got on my arrangement .... and the game board that was not-quite-finished-but-done-enough-to-get-major-gush-points .... and the everything else that had been completed .....

Which, while I was grateful for having survived, at the same time I wasn't quite sure what this meant about the nun-thing. Would I still be held liable even if I hadn't finished the thought officially? And how did this work anyway? I specifically didn't throw that little fleece out there because I knew it wasn't the right thing to do. And yet ... I got it anyway.

All of which is the reason why I'm a firm believer in the line: Be careful what you ask for.

It's funny, though, because we so often think our life would be easier if we just had a sign. "Oh, if only I could have the big loud voice booming down from heaven telling me what to do" .... and yet, do we really want that? I mean, seriously. If all the sudden an angel showed up and told me "Thou shalt become a nun" .... somehow I think I'd put myself in a very different kind of institution. And would we even listen, even if we did get the "voice"? I often joke that God kept smashing me over the head with those cartoon anvils, but I still wouldn't get the point. Sure, I'd hear it for a little bit, but then I'd move on to whatever it was that I wanted to do. Just because we get the voice doesn't mean we listen to the message; just because we see the sign doesn't mean we still don't make wrong turns.

So maybe that's what it was with Ahaz. Maybe he didn't want the sign, not for pious and holy reasons, but for more purely practical reasons. If you don't get the sign, you don't have to act on it.

And that's what makes Mary's fiat so noteworthy. Not only did she hear the sign and accept it, she followed through with it, even after the angel left. It's one thing to get a sign; it's another thing to live it out.

So .... do you still want a sign?

Happy ..... umm, what're we supposed to call it again?

2006-12-14T16:29:00.001-05:00

OK, so school has kinda interfered with my good intentions for reflections --- (but only 20 more hours or so till I'm free!) {well, at least free of having to go -- I'm thinkin' I might not have all my stuff done by then ....} I've got some snippets jotted down; I'll post and back-date them to the appropriate date as I get the chance. In the meantime, I thought I'd share something a teacher sent. I'm usually not big on email forwards, but I liked the reasonable spirit of this one.

Letter from Jesus, concerning his birthday celebration
Dear children,

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born December 25th and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival - although I do appreciate being remembered anytime. How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth just, GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Now, having said that, let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town. Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can & may remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching explaining who I am in relation to you & what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15:1-8. If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it.

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference. Also, you might consider supporting the local Hot-Line: they talk with people like that every day.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families.

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary, especially one who takes My love & Good News to those who have never heard My name. You may already know someone like that.

9. Here's a good one. There are individuals & whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them (and I suspect you don't) buy some food & a few gifts & give them to the Marines, the Salvation Army or some other charity & they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

P.S. Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me & do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above &amp; get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember, I LOVE YOU!

But I Don't Wanna

2006-12-08T10:57:00.001-05:00

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Psalm 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Luke 1:26-38

What struck me from this first reading from Genesis (besides the throwback once more to the Peaceable Kingdom from Tuesday) is how truly deep-seated our human inclination for blame really is. Even back then, barely a week into the world's existence, when humanity was a mere three or four days old, there's already this urge to hide, blame, pass the buck, or otherwise create excuses to take the attention off of our own wrong-doing.

But that's not the only use of our traditional blame- and excuse-making. Often, these tactics are also used to get us out of things. That, too, is a legacy that dates back to the early scriptures. Moses did it. Jeremiah did it. Heck, Jonah even got himself swallowed by a whale to avoid God's call. (All of which, I suppose, puts me in good company, but somehow I still don't see myself on the same level as these folks!) Yeah, sure, all these folks eventually did God's will, but it wasn't their first (or second or even third) choice.

But Mary .... she's different. True, it's not an immediate yes from her, but she only asks one question: How can this be? And, even without a logical answer to the question (because you can't tell me that the angel's answer makes immediate perfect sense once taken out of the scriptural context) ... Mary agrees. It's almost like an "Ummm.... I'm still not sure if I get it, but ..... OK. If you say so."

That immediate acceptance, that almost unquestioning agreement ... consent without hesitation, without having to run off and consult with this person, or "take some time to think about it" ... but just a full giving of self: Whatever you say, let it be done.

Now that's obedience. Saint Benedict, in his Rule, stresses the importance of obedience. In fact, "unhesitating obedience" is seen to be the "first step of humility" (another big important thing for Benedict): Almost at the same moment, then, as the master gives the instruction the disciple quickly puts it into practice in the fear of God; and both actions together are swiftly completed as one (RB 5:9). Fortunately for us, Benedict includes himself as one of the "slothful and negligent" (RB 73:7), and thus reminds us that much of what he teaches is the ideal for which we should strive, and that it will be a life-long journey to get us there.

But, considering Mary's unhesitating obedience on such a huge instruction as an out-of-wedlock pregnancy (which, at that time, was generally rewarded by having big huge rocks thrown at you until you died!) .... I suppose it's only fitting that we see her as such a model for us all. And, especially those of us Benedictines from Ferdinand, who make our home at Monastery Immaculate Conception .... this is our patronal feast; the Mary that we celebrate today is our special patron and our guide. May we learn from her the obedience that will lead us to God's will.

But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. Never swerving from his instructions, then, but faithfully observing his teaching in the monastery until death, we shall through patience share in the sufferings of Christ that we may deserve also to share in his kingdom. (RB Prologue 49-50)

Shifting Sand

2006-12-07T21:59:00.001-05:00

Lifted from last year's monastery reflections, which I figure is OK since I never actually posted it here ...

First Thursday of Advent
Isaiah 26:1-6
Psalm 118:1, 8 and 9, 19-21, 25-27A
Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Perhaps it’s because I’ve got a student who transferred into one of my classes from New Orleans back in September, or perhaps it’s because I spent two years living and working in Cajun Country myself, but I found all three of these passages for today sending my mind repeatedly back to tsunamis and hurricanes and landslides and earthquakes.

Opening the gates, tumbling cities to the ground, winds and floods – levees, ninth wards, superdomes … is that really the imagery God wants us to take from this? “A nation that is just and keeps faith” – doesn’t that just support the people who say that the sinful New Orleans deserved its destruction? If the needy trample the lofty city underfoot, then why are they the ones most left out in the cold? How in the world does this fit?

So maybe we need to dig a little deeper. Perhaps the trust in God’s protection is the “strong” house, and trusting our own abilities builds the “weak” house. Maybe having the physical house is the “Lord, Lord”; to merely hide in the house will gain us nothing. The Three Little Pigs didn’t just hide from the Big Bad Wolf’s buffeting winds; they took action. In the same way, if we’re going to beg God to let us win the lottery, we have to at least purchase a ticket. If we insist that “My God will save me,” we must be willing to acknowledge God’s saving actions in the boats, helicopters, and friends that he sends our way.

But … sometimes the floods do come, and sometimes our faith gets shaken. Sometimes we open the gates, expecting to see how strongly we stand; sometimes we open them only to discover that our trust isn’t as solidly in the Lord as we’d like to think. But that’s when we discover what’s truly at our core.

Maybe … sometimes … it takes the buffeting winds to make us realize that we don’t always realize what our foundation is.

Waters rose as my doubts reigned
My sand-castle faith it slipped away
Found myself standing on your grace
It’d been there all the time
My faith is like shifting sand
Changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand
So I stand on grace
~ “Shifting Sand” by Caedmon’s Call

God Will Provide ...

2006-12-06T22:58:00.001-05:00

The title that came to mind was actually "Feed Me, Seymour" ... but then I wasn't sure how appropriate that'd be, given how holy I'm trying to be with these ....

First Wednesday of Advent
Isaiah 25:6-10A
Psalm 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6
Matthew 15:29-37
In some respects, I find it almost unfortunate that these readings fit so well together .... I almost feel like there's nothing to say, it's so obvious. But then I wonder if anyone would actually complain if I wrote a post that was less than twelve gazillion pages long ....

Basically, what I saw in these readings, all three of them, was the whole concept continually reinforced that God will provide. In fact, the first reading even opens up with that idea: On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples.

This brings me to another piece that struck me over and over again in that passage from Isaiah — the repeated use of the word ALL. The Lord will provide for all peoples ... he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations ... wipe away the tears from all faces. We get that again in the gospel; after Jesus feeds the crowd, they all ate and were satisfied.

There are no qualifications placed, no restrictions. This will happen to all. And with the ever-famous psalm 23, we see ourselves in the first person enjoying all that the Lord provides us.

Too bad we can't be as all-inclusive as Isaiah presents the Lord to be. Too bad, too, that we can't allow the Lord to be as all-inclusive as Isaiah presents the Lord to be. Nah, we're too busy deciding who gets in and who gets smitethed.

And yet, Isaiah also speaks of a time when our false self gets stripped away, when we are seen for who we are at our inmost core -- the veil, the web that covers us will be gone; we will be left undisguised. And yet, after that true self is revealed .... the tears will be wiped away, the shame will be removed, and we will rejoice and be glad.

While we like the thought of being known, loved, and appreciated for who we are at our deepest core .... how often do we allow that luxury to others? How often do we withhold judgment, and try to see that person as God sees them? Or, as is more often the case (at least with me) ... how often do I instead begrudge them the good things that God bestows on them, deeming myself to be more worthy of those blessings?

But really .... who are we to dictate who God likes and doesn't like? Let us try to allow that veil that separates us from others to be torn away, and let us help others find themselves freed of the web as well. Then we too may be able to dwell in the house of the Lord, on that holy mountain.

Let us rejoice and be glad that the Lord has saved us!

Testing

2006-12-06T16:29:00.001-05:00

This is a test of the Palm-centered blogging system (other suggestions would be appreciated as well). If this were not a test, but were an actual post, there would be some legitimate content enclosed.

Aww, heck, who am I kidding. Like my other posts have content!

I like this keyboard, though (courtesy of eBay), though it will take some getting used to .... especially since the spot in which I'm used to hitting the space bar falls right where the hinge is. Very unhelpful. But, if that's the worst problem I've got ...... (well, that, and having to get used to where my punctuation is, and that my landscaped screen ends up upside down).

This should help, though, with the TeenPage posting stress. And maybe with school, too!

Oh yeah, school ..... aren't I supposed to be planning out an exam? Or at least a lesson for tomorrow?

And why do we say "Aren't I" instead of "Amn't I"? Wouldn't that be more gramatically correct?

The Peaceable Kingdom

2006-12-05T21:23:00.001-05:00

Lifted from last year, which was lifted from three years ago. Hey, at least it's something!

First Tuesday of Advent
Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
Luke 10:21-24
"You have revealed them to the childlike." Of course … it's obvious. Probably one of the oldest children's games is "Hide and Seek." Kids love it, and are great at it. Why? Because they see things differently. Where an adult would see an old rotting decayed tree stump, a child's eye is caught by the swirling pattern, the creeping bugs, the tiny little flower growing up from the wood. Where an adult would see someone from the "wrong" family, a child sees only a playmate. Kids don't discriminate, don't judge from appearances; they don't get bogged down in complexities. They see things as they are, and their simple perspectives often give profound insights to the grownups in their midst.

Not to overly humanize the animals of today's first reading, but … a lamb hanging out with a wolf? The poor little innocent creature, doesn't it know it's going to get eaten that way? Doesn't it know any better? Perhaps, though … being too young to be overly set in its ways of judging, the small creature's innocence allows it to be more open to the wolf. And maybe, just maybe, the naïve trust of the lamb, its confidence in the wolf … maybe it makes the wolf stop and think. After all, everyone else runs away from him. They cower in terror at his big terrible fangs. But this little quivering fluffball, without even any claws with which to defend itself, the creature with the most need of such fear, is not afraid? Not only is it not afraid, but the lamb has actually invited the wolf as guest? No one has ever shown such a kindness, such hospitality, to the wolf before. And so maybe, just maybe, the wolf begins to rethink itself, to rethink how it views the world. Maybe then, that leads to a shift in the behavior of the wolf. The empty space allowing the freedom to change has been offered; the innocence of the child opens the door for the conversion of the adult.

The child, then, presents a unique perspective, seeing that which we grownups overlook. We see the fangs, they see the fur. We see the stump, they see the sprout. We often speak of new life coming from the wood of the cross, but how many of us notice the new life coming from the wood of a stump?

"With a little child to guide them." If we follow their lead, follow their example … maybe then we, too, can set aside judgments, giving others permission to grow and change. Maybe then we, too, can notice the details of God's movement in our life, rather than dismissing it as an old cut-down tree. Maybe then we, too, can see the new life springing from death.

Let There Be Peace on Earth

2006-12-05T16:52:00.001-05:00

Pay no attention to that date at the top. Sigh.

First Monday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4B, 4CD-5, 6-7, 8-9
Matthew 8:5-11
Today's first reading gives us the very familiar peace-making refrain: They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. Of course, most of us today have no concept of either plowshares or pruning hooks, and, unfortunately, destroying the swords and spears would have no effect on the tanks and bombers. But the idea is there ... this dream of a day without war, without violence; this leads us very nicely into the Peaceable Kingdom passage of tomorrow.

I was then struck when I read the psalm for the day, with its opening of "I rejoiced when they said to me, 'We will go up to the house of the Lord.'" Considering the first reading, which speaks of the nations "climbing the Lord's mountain" on this day when the swords are beaten into plowshares and when the spears do become pruning hooks ... then perhaps maybe we do have peace; we rejoice on that day when we finally go to the house because that peace has finally been achieved.

Unfortunately for us, we have not yet gone up to "the house"; our swords and spears are plentiful, and the plowshares used to create good out of the earth are lacking. There's the saying that often makes the rounds: "It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." I'm not denying the need for well-equipped forces, particularly in this day and age when they are laying their lives on the line for us, but at the same time we do need to consider where our priorities as a nation lie. (As an aside ... as I was looking up the quote, I came across people holding bake sales for body armor. While apparently that was a big election ploy that got cited in the National Review as having absolutely no evidence whatsoever, the link that first made me wonder was an unacknowledge [by the Review] sale in Oklahoma. I haven't done the research to see the legitimacy of either argument but ... valid or not, it's still not the way to treat our troops.) We give all this hype to "No Child Left Behind" but we have teachers, even in the best of schools, paying out of pocket for classroom supplies; if nothing else, look at the salary arrangements. Although on that same front ... the emphasis on the military doesn't always come through financially, either -- I remember before I entered the community reading a series in the Washington Post about the number of active-duty service personnel who are living below the poverty line (I can't find that article, but here's a related story). There also has been some efforts made recently to create a US Department of Peace. We have a Department of Defense (formerly called the War Department); shouldn't we also give a title to our efforts for peace? Giving things a name really goes a long way in demonstrating the level of importance assigned to something.

If we want peace, we must work for justice. Isaiah speaks of terms "being imposed upon the people" — it's not easy; it's not an automatic. The swords don't just magically transform one day into plowshares; spears don't mysteriously get rebent and reformed into pruning hooks. The metal must get heated to an extremely high temperature and are beaten (literally!), pounded, and forced into its new shape. It takes a lot of work, strength, and hard effort. But, if you want something badly enough ....

We say we want peace, but do we really? Remember, peace isn't just about big tanks and machine guns. How am I contributing to our culture of violence and competition? How am I helping to create a new idea of peace in my own little corner of the world? Is there hatred and vengeance (and even annoyance) in my heart, or is it love, patience, and compassion (even for those annoyances)?

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.

What A Pleasant Perspective!

2006-12-05T14:24:00.001-05:00

E.J. Dionne, writing about Barack Obama's visit to Rick Warren's megachurch to speak about AIDS:

When it came his turn to speak, Obama took on the moral message of evangelical AIDS activists -- and then challenged them.

"Let me say this and let me say this loud and clear: I don't think that we can deny that there is a moral and spiritual component to prevention," he declared. "In too many places . . . the relationship between men and women, between sexuality and spirituality, has broken down and needs to be repaired."

Then Obama got to what "may be the difficult part for some," as he put it, that "abstinence and fidelity, although the ideal, may not always be the reality."

"We're dealing with flesh-and-blood men and women, and not abstractions," Obama said, and "if condoms and potentially things like microbicides can prevent millions of deaths, then they should be made more widely available. . . . I don't accept the notion that those who make mistakes in their lives should be given an effective death sentence."

What an total breath of fresh air. To not be so absolutely hung up on the ideal that we lose sight of the reality. I heard an abstinence speaker once negate safe sex teachings with the following argument: "We don't say 'Don't drink and drive -- but if you do, then stay on the right side of the road and don't speed." I disagreed. True, we don't say that. But what we do say: "You shouldn't drink. But, if you do, then make sure you have a designated driver. Do not get behind the wheel. Call someone to come pick you up."

Yeah, by all means, fight for the ideal. But don't ignore those suffering the reality in the process.

The Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the @&#&^#@#^&^!

2006-12-05T08:09:00.001-05:00

In French-Speaking Canada, the Sacred Is Also Profane
"Oh, tabernacle!" The man swore in French as a car splashed through a puddle, sending water onto his pants. He could never be quoted in the papers here. It is too profane.
So are other angry oaths that sound innocuous in English: chalice, host, baptism. In French-speaking Quebec, swearing sounds like an inventory being taken at a church.

Hmmm .... I'm always on the look-out for fun new creative ways to say things .... although I think this would just make me laugh! I mean, really. "Chausible you! " "Why, you ... you ... mantilla!"

Of course, coming from the girl whose favorite curses involve calling someone a poodle-brain or an elephant turd ... somehow I don't think I've got much room to comment ...

Ruh-roh!

2006-12-04T23:14:00.001-05:00

So ... I thought this TeenPage thing wouldn't be too big of a deal, with just cross-posting reflections on the readings .... Heck, once I learned enough HTML on the fly to fake the little calendar on the side there, it was just a simple matter of copy/paste to add it to the other site, with some minor adjustments for color.

BUT .... if I'm doing this TeenPage for my community, as a part of the Vocations Office and the Communications Department ... then that means that I'm using that site as a tool to not only help young people of all varieties delve deeper into the mystery, but I'm also potentially planting the seed for someone who might later decide to join us.

And so, if that's the case, I need to be extra-welcoming, and really live out that Benedictine value of hospitality.

In other words, I need to reply to comments.

Which can be a bit overwhelming, especially if I've just begun and had three or four different questions from the same commenter. Questions that remind me that I can't assume certain elements of "common knowledge" with this target audience. Questions that are sometimes hard to clarify in a little comment box. Questions that then preclude my getting the next reflection created.

And it's not really even out there yet!

Perhaps down the road, when there are more visitors, they'll answer for each other. Or maybe I can recruit a fellow nun to answer some comment questions.

In the meantime though ....

GACK!!!!!

Lifted Straight Outta Last Year

2006-12-04T21:32:00.001-05:00

Nice fresh Advent Reflections ... get 'em while they're hot!

To see the ultimate in monastic lectionary reflections, click here!
To see other monastic spiritual stuff, click here! (As web-headed by my very own Jeana-commenter herself)
To just check out our page, click here.
To go nowhere and stay on my blog, click here. :-)

P.S. ~ New this year ... you can revisit A Light Blazes in the Darkness: Advent Devotionals from an Intentional Online Community in its entirity — of course, you'll have to start at the bottom. Or, save yourself the trouble and just buy the book!

And, at least so far, we've got Advent reflections right here at your very own Nuntime, and cross-posted to Fishing for Faith for those special young people in your life.

Plus various random remnant thoughts posted last year.

So ... what are you doing still here reading this??? Go get thyself holyified!

The Reversals of Luke

2006-12-03T20:56:00.001-05:00

First Sunday of Advent
Jeremiah 33:14-16Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 141 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2Luke 21:25-28, 35-36
When I was just a postulant, the newest of the new kids, I took a course on Luke/Acts over at St. Meinrad. A great class, though it didn't seem it when I first walked in — me, with virtually no theology background, in what ended up being a seminar consisting primarily of fifth-year seminarians, those on the cusp of being ordained. While I felt quite in over my head, once I got my feet under me I loved the class, and ended up probably learning tons more than if I were in a class on my level.

One of the big things I remember being so greatly emphasized as we worked our way through the scripture texts, and particularly the gospel, was just how much Luke loves reversals. Things are never what they seem; there's always a trick ending. I'm sure a good part of that is simply a consequence to such a strong emphasis on the acceptance of outcasts — in showing that Jesus came for the sinners and outcasts, lepers and prostitutes, women and poverty-stricken, there's no way to avoid a seeming "reversal of fortune."

So ... Luke's Jesus tells a story about some guy getting beaten up and left on the side of the road, and, instead of the nice leader-type people, it's only the most vile and despicable Samaritan who helps him – and thus is held up by Jesus as the model to follow. Luke's Jesus tells another story about the kid who basically says to his dad: "I don't feel like waiting for you to die, so can I just pretend you're dead and get my stuff now?" But, instead of getting mad at the kid when he comes crawling home, the dad practically makes him Head of the Household! Needless to say, the kid's brother gets more-than-slightly annoyed.

Even the Magnificat, the Canticle of Mary sung nightly by all who pray the Liturgy of the Hours, the prayer of the church ... the hungry are filled, the rich go away empty; rulers will be thrown from their thrones, while the lowly are lifted high. Luke really likes that whole "Last shall be first" kind of idea!

And then we have these readings for today, this first Sunday of Advent, Cycle C. As I read these readings over yesterday, I had the thought that I never realized that this first day of Advent was so "Last Day" focused (which I later discovered isn't always the case – just every three years). But, when you think about it ... Year C in the Catholic calendar uses texts primarily drawn from Luke's gospel. So, I suppose it only makes sense that we begin our year by looking towards the end — and not just the end of the year, but the end times.

However, when this day's passages are read in the context of being the first day of Advent, this time of awaiting the earthly arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ, the reversals take on an additional level of meaning. The first reading from Jeremiah is pretty straight-forward; in fact, he's got the "sprouting of a shoot" that always makes me think of Isaiah's lion laying down with the lamb. Nothing odd here — just a foretelling of the arrival of the just offspring of Judah that will fulfill God's promise.

But in the gospel ... if you ignore the fact that Jesus is the speaker, and instead consider this as we await the coming of Jesus, the reversals become ever-more amplified:

People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

And yet how does Luke have the Son of Man coming? Certainly not in a cloud of glory and might. Not in this big earth-shattering event. No, as a little baby, born in a feed trough. I can't think of too many people who worry about "dying of fright" at the prospect of a new life being brought into the world (with the exception perhaps of Matthew's Herod, who decides to kill all the other little kids). Of course not. We throw parties, and buy minitature versions of our favorite hiking boots, and tell the new parents that "their lives will never be the same." Think of Linus' famous monologue, and tell me where there's the violent sky-rending apocalypse that we see pictured here. It's all cute little sheep and quiet snowfall (with a few creative liberties taken here for effect!).

Basically, what we see here sets the stage for what is to come. We expect a thunder-inducing giant, and we receive instead a baby in a manger. We expect a glorious savior, and we get some guy who hangs out in fishing boats. We expect a victor who will overcome our enemies, and instead we get some schmuck who gets himself killed. We expect to be told that our "doing the right thing" will get us to heaven, and instead we hear how these sinners and prostitutes get in too. Nothing's happening the way we think it should happen. Which, I suppose, makes this a good time to remind us of the Rule of Benedict, 4:21-22: Your way of acting should be different from the world's way; the love of Christ must come before all else.

What better way to live into this idea of "being different from the world's way" then to examine these reversals of Luke. We've heard them so often, they don't even seem odd to us. But when we truly listen ... then they really do shake the heavens.

So, as we begin this new year, let us open ourselves to hear these texts anew. May we allow Luke to shake things up and keep us on our toes with the unexpectedness of his teachings. Perhaps then we can become vigilant, lest "that day catch [us] by surprise like a trap." Perhaps then our way of acting may begin to diverge from the world's way.

And perhaps then we may begin to truly "prefer nothing whatever to Christ."

The Trajectory of a Year

2006-12-02T23:54:00.001-05:00

The first Sunday of Advent marks the start of the liturgical year. What struck me earlier this week as I was thinking about the arrival of Advent, though, is that the liturgical year doesn’t work the way logic would dictate. After all, wouldn’t it make sense that if the church year begins with getting ready for the birth of Christ, that the church year should end with the death and resurrection of Christ? But it doesn’t work that way.

We’ve got four weeks (or less, like this year!) of Advent, and then the baby Jesus is born. Only three or four months later, we’re commemorating the end of his earthly existence. That still leaves us with a full thirty weeks or so that are completely unaccounted for in terms of the life of Jesus.

And yet, if you think about it … in the grand scheme of the history of Christianity, the life of Jesus is a mere blip. In fact, if we put things in proportion – our liturgical year actually gives Jesus a lot more “earth” time. And isn’t that what the Christian life is all about? After all, the Christian mission didn’t die with Jesus; Christ lives on in his church even today, two thousand years after his death.

In light of that, then, the church year actually makes sense. We get Jesus walking the earth for three months, and then all those months of Ordinary Time are when we get to learn how things work after Jesus is dead, raised, and ascended … which is where we’re still at today, which helps make it “ordinary.”

This has made me think a lot about the trajectory of a year, though. Thinking about the trajectory of my year. One year ago, things were less than ideal for me. Not that I necessarily realized it to its fullest extent, but I was three months old as a religion teacher. Three months old as a nun living “out in the world.” Having to get used to the whole role of “being a religious.” Having to get used to life in a small community so far away from the big community I had just begun to be able to trust. Having suffered the deaths of several sisters – sisters who were not old and thus shouldn’t have had to die, sisters to whom I was pretty close – and having to have life just continue on in my “real world” life without the real time to mourn the loss. The Pit was sneaking up on me, but I didn’t really notice and/or acknowledge it at that point. A whole bunch of other non-bloggables. One year ago tonight, a conversation with a friend where I was seriously considering simply walking away and starting a new life for myself somewhere else. One year later and seeming worlds away … recalling recent frustrations that made me want to be able to wish I could just say “screw this” and walk away – and yet, I couldn’t even really hold even a hint of that wish in my head; this place, these people are my all.

What a difference a year can make.

This evening, before First Vespers for the First Sunday of Advent, we gathered in our Cloister Hall for the blessing of the Advent wreath. In the quiet between the ringing of the bells and the chanting “O God, come to my assistance,” I was aware of us all waiting there in silence for the lighting of the candle; I was reminded of another communal gathering in Cloister Hall, which also is structured around a candle, though that time it's lit from the Easter fire. I began to think about the fire, the flame, and the candles that provide a framework for what we’re really about.

We light the Advent candle tonight, marking the beginning of Advent and the liturgical year. In a few months, we will gather again in this space, lighting our Paschal candle to mark Jesus' conquering of death, his resurrection from the tomb. As we begin Advent tonight, we begin a period of anticipation, of waiting the arrival of the Christ-child at Christmas. When we conclude our Triduum, the mission will be complete. We are waiting patiently for the arrival of the One Who Will Come To Save Us; with his resurrection that Sunday morning, that salvation will be achieved.

That cycle of salvation only takes a few months. But we need those intervening months of "Ordinary Time" because, after all, we're not Jesus. There's a lot in life that's not the eager anticipation, not the glory of the resurrection, not the obvious success of the salvation journey; we need to grapple with our mundane lives as well. Besides, it's the Ordinary that makes these big events so special. We've been looking at the priest wear green for six months; the purple vestments of Advent are an obvious sign that something is different. The startled realization that it's not "same old same old" shakes us up, reminds us that this is special. We appreciate it that much more once we realize how long it's been since we've seen it. It gives us a starting point, another opportunity for us to try once again, to pick up those fizzled-out good intentions. "Always we begin again" — the coming of a new season gives us a nice excuse to "begin again." There's a freshness, an eagerness; a willingness to kick it back up a notch once more.

And so we begin this new year once more. We enter once more into this mystery of our faith, and renew our commitment to dive in ever deeper. Beginning the cycle anew, we wait in vigil once more and cry out with the anticipatory prayer of our faith:
Come, O Lord, and set us free. Maranatha.

The Dawn of Advent

2006-12-02T23:32:00.001-05:00

I’ve been thinking during the last week or so about the arrival of Advent, because I often think about some various “New Year’s Resolutions” that I’ll do to make my Advent extra-special holy and pray-ey, with the additional thought that perhaps it’ll stick into the official new year. Course, the way things tend to work with me, if I even realize that it’s Advent it’s a huge event; coming up with ideas, bigger still; and if I actually even do the practice(s) for three days – it’s time to stop the presses!

But, as always, I’m thinking this year will be different. For one thing, I’m slightly more chill about school this year (yeah, right!), my pit of despair has been somewhat cleaned such that I at least have a corner clear enough to actually attempt to utilize (as opposed to the traditional needing-to-create-a-peaceful-space), etc. Oh yeah, and then there’s this TeenPage thing that I’m supposed to have going, and wouldn’t Advent be a good time to kick it off without having to come up with a whole ton of material on my own (except for committing myself to doing a whole season's worth of Advent reflections!)?

So … I’m thinking of maybe trying to do little somethings for the scriptures, or something else Adventy each day. That way maybe the external accountability will help me actually do it … either that, or you’ll realize that I’m not kidding when I talk about my complete and total lack of follow-through!

Either way, for what it’s worth … blessings for a peaceful and blessingful Advent to all of you.

Oh yeah … and Happy New Year!

Heads-up to any parents and/or youth workers out there ....

2006-12-01T08:02:00.001-05:00

Web Sites That Promote Eating Disorders
A growing number of web sites are part of a disturbing trend. They promote self-destructive behaviors, including anorexia – and have a large teenage audience.
Read more ...

via the Connect with Kids newsletter that our assistant principal forwards us

School = Stress

2006-11-29T07:28:00.001-05:00

http://typogenerator.net/index.php
I got nuttin' more to say.

The Day of Eatingness

2006-11-23T00:00:00.002-05:00

¹O Turkey Day, O Turkey Day
It's time to eat some yams and play
Football with all the family
While Dad's inside just eating brie.

It's time for stuffing and green beans
And pumpkin pie and good ice cream.
O Turkey Day, O Turkey Day,
Good times for all my friends, I pray.

As I discussed with my kids the latest round of political correctness while trying to up the can food drive intake (which, at least from what I've seen, has been very minimal), I tried to explain that my intent was not to make them feel guilty. Rather, it was just to get them thinking about all it is that they have been blessed with, and all the people who have brought them to where they are today .... leading them to reflect on how they can be appreciative for what they've received and share that with others.

That being said ..... there will be no shortage of food security at my parent's house this evening. So if I'm absent from the blogging world, simply pay no attention to the turkey-induced coma. Actually, though, I don't usually eat too much on Thanksgiving — probably because Thanksgiving is more of the Brussel Sprout variety. Now, if we had Thanksgiving cookies ......

And so, on that note, I share with you a touchingly heartfelt holiday scene.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
¹To be sung very loosely to the tune of ~~O Christmas Tree~~ O Maryland

Turkey Delurking

2006-11-22T01:48:00.001-05:00

courtesy of the RevGals ...

I've been a little out of my bloggish loop since the summertime craziness, and I've only been gradually reacclimating myself. I still have not even uploaded and/or finished the post of my Octobreian absence, which was all about all the connections that get made in spite of the absence of face time. Alas, slacker-me never posted it .... but now there's motivation to return to it.

While this is a time to be grateful for all the blessings, I am also grateful for this forum. Not just for the connections made and the broadening of my own horizons, but also for the simple development of my written thoughts .... and how that has brought me to places now that I wouldn't have thought a year ago.

Apparently I'm not the only one to think this way; thus, the RevGals have declared Thanksgiving Delurking Week.

Place this image on your blog and announce Delurking Week, starting today and going until November 26th. When you visit a blog, you can either just say "Thank you for blogging" or place a blogstone (o) (The invention of PPB of The Ice Floe) or whatever verbage the Spirit moves you to leave.

My delurking might have to wait until I'm back into Cow Country, but until then ..... Happy Thanksgiving Day.^*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
^*Offer not valid outside the continental United States, Hawaii, or Alaska; retroactively applied a month previous to our friends north of the border.

Reason #82,391 Why I Love My Kids

2006-11-19T00:29:00.001-05:00

Telling them at the tail end of class yesterday about the latest politically correct terminology:

Wait, you guys gotta hear this. Apparently the FDA or whoever has decided to stop using the word "hungry."
What are they gonna use? Starving?
Nope, "very low food security."
That's dumb. They'll still be starving.

Some Americans Lack Food, but USDA Won't Call Them Hungry
Yeah, apparently it's too scientifically vague. Like "a potential consequence of food insecurity that, because of prolonged, involuntary lack of food, results in discomfort, illness, weakness, or pain that goes beyond the usual uneasy sensation" makes more sense? Believe me, if you ask those who are most in need if they're hungry, they can tell you. If you give them that line about "potential consequence" and ask whether a "lack of eating led to these more severe conditions" .... they probably won't have any desire to even try to translate that out in their brain, let alone give an answer.

Old terminology ~ "food insecurity without hunger," meaning people who ate, though sometimes not well, and "food insecurity with hunger," for those who sometimes had no food.
New terminology ~ "very low food security," described as experiencing "multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake." Slightly better-off people who aren't always sure where their next meal is coming from are labeled "low food security."

Unique tidbit to learn: That 35 million people in this wealthy nation feel insecure about their next meal can be hard to believe, even in the highest circles. In 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, then running for president, said he thought the annual USDA report -- which consistently finds his home state one of the hungriest in the nation -- was fabricated.

Report: Fewer People in U.S. Are Hungry

A Post editorial expresses appreciation that the USDA doesn't control national monuments: "Give me your energy-deficient, your financially challenged, your space-impaired masses yearning to breathe free."

Joel Achenbach, WaPo blogger, offers us the Curmudgeon's Cure for All Human Misery (just scroll down slightly) ... this includes alternatives to everything from thirst (personal hydration overexpectation) to bubonic plague (rodentially transmitted rapid wellness deterioration mode) {not to be confused with the probabilistic, irreversible wellness termination that is sometimes referred to as the black plague}, death (end-stage wellness), and even the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Quadro-Equestrian Hardship Demonstration Team; also Mounted Eschatology End-Stage Wellness Unit). Commenters added such gems as the redefinition of a nice cup of hot chicken soup to be re-represented as ".24 liters of thermally elevated gallinaceous hydration libation having potentially wellness-inducing placebo effect."

But, just as a rose by any other name would smell as sweet ..... starvation by any other name would gnaw as hard.

And our making up goofy names, especially in some official capacity of those who are allegedly trying to eliminate hunger ..... it makes a mockery of those who are living this reality every day.

Hungry or gastronomically unfulfilled — either way, let's put our energy into figuring out why people feel that way, and what can be done to stop it. Let's focus on the more helpful aspect of rendering those words, or any thesaurusly compelling counterparts, thoroughly unnecessary.

They're hungry, OK? Let's just get 'em some food!

Baltimore Bloggers and Washington Writers

2006-11-19T00:10:00.001-05:00

STICKY POST ... SCROLL DOWN FOR NEW STUFF

I'll be passing through the DC area next week .... not sure what my schedule is yet, so I'm not sure about meet-up potentialities, but I think it'd be cool if it could work.
So, any Baltimore-Washington folks ..... drop me a comment or an email — I'd love to broaden my real-world horizons! srstephosb { } gmail { } com

If you're in Louisville or Evansville or thereabouts ....

2006-11-19T00:00:00.001-05:00

I'll be playing bells on Sunday .... but the whole thing is pretty cool. Plus, you might even get to meet me! :-)

Click here for more info.

2006-11-15T20:47:00.001-05:00

Which Pooh character are you?

You choose your friends wisely and even though they may be few in number, they are high in importance.You feel most comfortable when you can follow the crowd and let others make decisions. But that's not to say you can't make up your own mind if you need to.Faithful and true, Piglets make the best friends.
Take this quiz!

Quizilla
Join

Make A Quiz More Quizzes Grab Code

Two Bits of WaPo Religion

2006-11-15T10:43:00.001-05:00

For Georgetown 'Apostles,' A Rowhouse Rebellion

The $2.4 million house that J. Brian O'Neill Sr. bought for his son is allowed only six unrelated residents under zoning laws. But if it's a residence for a "religious community," the number jumps to 15. ... The solution? The Apostles of O'Neill. That's the name the young men used Oct. 2 when they filed paperwork to incorporate as a nonprofit religious organization.

3 Christian Groups Move To Condemn Gay Sex

For many religious groups, the biblical injunction to hate the sin but love the sinner is no longer sufficient, because many believers do not view homosexuality as a sin ... The impulse to restate traditional teachings against same-sex activity is complicated by the simultaneous desire to minister to gays. (On a strictly Catholic front, Bishops Pass Guidelines to Gay Ministry : trying to support gay parishioners while strictly affirming the church stance that same-sex relationships are "disordered." ... Yet bishops insisted that they're trying to be more "welcoming than condemning." )

I Wonder ....

2006-11-13T22:27:00.001-05:00

..... why it's not Monday the 13th. Wouldn't that seem more appropriate?

Especially if you're in a house of five people and four of them ("them" meaning "not me") are sick. Especially if you're stressing over fitting stuff into the rest of the semester. Especially if you load the car up with recycling right after school only to remember as you're driving in that they're closed on Mondays. Especially if you decide to get a haircut (as long as you're out) and the wait means that you'd be late for community dinner, so that's pointless too.

And, most annoyingly ..... especially if you remember coming across this beyond-perfect assignment online, which would take high-schoolers through a week of reflecting on a single gospel text and culminating in the writing of a homily/reflection, but all crafted in such a way that they'd actually have to do a little each night. Especially if you can't imagine your packratitis letting you get away with not bookmarking it, printing it, or emailing the link to yourself, but you can't seem to find where you would have sent it. Especially if you've spent an entire evening trying extremely unsuccessfully to recreate the exact string of search terms that brought you to that site before.

Especially if you're still clueless on what you're teaching tomorrow.

Stupid Google and its eighteen million and three search results.

Tonight's TV

2006-11-12T19:51:00.001-05:00

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition tonight is a house they did at Saint Meinrad, town of our favorite confreres .... check it out. I'll post later (if I can get it) a picture of me helping, complete with secret service curlique earpiece -- I felt all important! (My monks and seminarians will be featured with the moving-in of furniture!)

Pardon my panic ....

2006-11-09T21:53:00.001-05:00

Yeah, cuz if you plan ahead, there's more to panic about. If you're working last-minute, there's too little time you're trying to account for.

But it's supposed to make me a better teacher, right?

Even still ..... there's a whole lotta stuff to cover in the nine (yes, I said nine!) classes between now and the end of the semester.

Bonus points to those who actually look up the passage. Because, of course, the important thing about trying to plan the rest of the semester is finding the right scripture passage to post on the blog .......

Last One, I Promise for now, anyways!

2006-11-08T21:33:00.001-05:00

Your
Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

20% Yankee

10% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

OK, so I'm bored .....

2006-11-08T20:45:00.001-05:00

You Are a Glazed Donut

Okay, you know that you're plain - and you're cool with that.
You prefer not to let anything distract from your sweetness.
Your appeal is understated yet universal. Everyone dig you.
And in a pinch, you'll probably get eaten.

What Donut Are You?

Nah .... I just miss fireplaces!

2006-11-08T20:41:00.001-05:00

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are very passionate and quite temperamental. While you can be moody, you always crave comfort.

You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds.

You believe that people see you for how you are, not how you look. But deep down, you know that's not exactly true.

Your near future is still unknown, and a little scary. You'll get through wild times - and you'll textually enjoy it.

For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

No Shock Here .....

2006-11-08T20:38:00.001-05:00

You Are 35% Normal

You sure do march to your own beat...
But you're so weird, people wonder if it's a beat at all
You think on a totally different wavelength
And it's often a chore to get people to understand you

How Normal Are You?

2006-11-07T23:29:00.001-05:00

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

If I Were Jesus ....

2006-11-07T17:19:00.001-05:00

Got a card from my parents wherein my mom wished me a "Happy 33^rd Birthday." Jeana and I both looked at it rather quizzically.

J: Are you really 33?
Me: Huh.
J: Wow.
M: Yeah. If I were Jesus, I'd be dead.

Today, my mom sent one of her all-family e-mails: CHEERS TO STEPH ON HER 33rd BIRTHDAY!!
So I replied all with: Yup ..... If I were Jesus, I'd be dead.
And my brother's response: If you were Jesus, [Dad] would be God and, well, that's just ridiculous.

Unfortunately, my father (who insists on being called Noble Ancestor and therefore needs no encouragement) has already called, identified himself as God, and told me that he's sitting on his throne and if I ever need anything, like water changed into wine or anything like that, just to let him know.
And I wonder about the lack of nunly-familial-respect???

Scripture Scribblings -- Play Nice!!!

2006-11-06T22:18:00.001-05:00

Mk 12:28b-34 ~ The Greatest Commandment

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, 'He is One and there is no other than he.' And 'to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself' is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

It seems interesting (to me, anyway) to hear this gospel just two days before the election. Maybe if we weren't so busy pouring all our money into negative advertising, we could put more energy into absorbing the message of this passage.

After all, it's not that tough of a message to get. Nothing like Jesus zapping a fig tree for not bearing fruit "when it was not the season for figs" — top question I get as my kids read through the Gospel of Mark. No, this one's pretty straight forward ... something I keep coming back to. Play nice.

Simple story .... guy comes along, asks Jesus about the greatest commandment. Presumably, given the use of the word "greatest", he's looking for a single answer. He doesn't get it, though — Jesus gives him two. "I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me." That one's pretty familiar. Number One on Moses' Top Ten List of "Things Thou Shaltn't Do".

But then Jesus gives him the zinger, some claptrap about loving your neighbor. What's up with that? "There's no other commandment greater than these"?!?!? So .... which one's the greatest? They can't both be the greatest, can they?

And yet .... seems to me that loving your neighbor has just become inextricably linked to loving God. And, unfortunately for us faulty flawed human beings, that apparently will also include those less-than-desirable neighbors of ours, like the ones who scrape their forks on their teeth or clip their nails at the symphony or drive the speed limit or are personal-space-bubble-y challenged or talk funny or have a different belief system or, God forbid, even vote for the other guy.

It also struck me how it's kinda the Old Testament focus of being all about "you & God" and the New Testament focus where it's all about "you & others" .... and they both get sandwiched together in this single teaching. They're both important; they're both essential.

And yet .... we seem to have a bit of a challenge living that one out!

Then, of course, there's the second half of that line: Love your neighbor as yourself. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm pretty darn good at the whole me-bashing thing. I'm great at the double-standard, too — I don't want to bug anyone or drag them down if I'm upset, but I totally want to be there for a friend if they need it .... "but it's different for me." A lot of times, I seem to need even more practice at the "as myself" part of the phrase than the "neighbor" part. I'm not sure how often we consider that side of things. After all, I don't think Jesus'd be too happy with me if I treated my neighbor the way I treat myself sometimes. Of course, on the flip side, I know I wouldn't be too happy with me if I treated myself the way I treat my neighbor sometimes, so I guess it goes both ways!

As an aside .... perhaps it's just the cynic in me, but I've never been able to understand this passage unless I turn the scribe into a full-force smart-aleck. Think Homer Simpson sarcasm — "Oh, sure. All the burnt offerings and sacrifices that we've been doing for hundreds of years, exactly as our scriptures tell us .... yeah, of course they're worthless when compared to playing nice with Flanders. I wonder why I didn't think of that before!" Otherwise, why would they suddenly "not dare to ask him any more questions"? Especially if you consider that the next big story is Jesus telling them to "Beware the scribes, those fakes and hypocrites" .... somehow that doesn't seem to be the response of someone who's particularly pleased with them. But maybe that's just me.....

Of course, then the smart-aleck in me thinks: If we're supposed to love God with "all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength" ..... then what's left for us to use to love our neighbor? :-Þ

Methinks I've been a bit too long with high schoolers. A couple weeks ago, as we read the Rule at the monastery before dinner, we heard how Benedict wants us to be sure to recite all 150 psalms during the week. We read, after all, that our holy Fathers, energetic as they were, did all this in a single day. Let us hope that we, lukewarm as we are, can achieve it in a whole week. (RB 18:22-25) My thought? "Oh yeah? And if our holy Fathers jumped off a bridge ....?"

Not only are they badmouthing everyone else .....

2006-11-03T09:47:00.001-05:00

.... they're spending millions of dollars to do it.
"Politics is probably the only business in the world where they spend the most money when they have the least number of available customers to pitch to," [Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group] said.
Over 600 brand-new ads are being put out for a mere four days. According to the Post, "This final thrust will boost spending on political and issue advertising past $2 billion in this campaign, or $400 million more than in the 2004 presidential campaign. "
I'm just so glad that there's nothing else in the world more worthy of 2 billion dollars ..... otherwise, I might have to be a bit peeved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: WaPo's MediaNote's comments? I believe I can say, without fear of contradiction, that this year is the worst I've seen in terms of smarmy and sleazy spots that take some little kernel of a fact and twist and pound it out of shape until the opponent is rendered as a sex-crazed, tax-raising, criminal-coddling, terrorist-hugging loon.

No Comment

2006-11-02T23:47:00.001-05:00

From this morning's Louisville Courier-Journal ...

Disputed Death Sentence Upheld
A federal appeals court yesterday upheld the death sentence of a brain-damaged Louisville man whose lawyer did such a poor job researching his case that the attorney didn't know his real name.

At least the victim's nephew added in the comments: As long as he is never able to be out and hurt another family, I don't see how his death does anything to remove our sadness.

UPDATE: The Washington Post's "Bench Conference" blog addresses this issue, calling it Another Death Penalty Debacle.

No excuses ....

2006-10-31T22:58:00.001-05:00

.... 'cuz you've heard 'em all before, things like school and monastic blogs and funerals and procrastinatitis and .....

And that doesn't even include the recent issues of foundational wetness (living in a basement that's gotten a bit too damp), which has led one of my housemates to be paranoid that I'm about to die of mold inhalation....

But, on the plus side ..... the Pit of Despair actually got cleaned. All the way. Well, maybe not the closet and under the bed and in the desk drawers and on the book shelves, but ..... it's a vast improvement. And at least I didn't stuff more under my bed or in the closet or on the shelves on in the drawers. Under the bed did at least get neatened. In the closet got pulled out and rearranged (hence, the first discovery of aforementioned foundational wetness) {and yes, I mean "first" in the truest most unfortunate sense of the word!}, but the room got put together after the first damp dismemberment and subsequent dousing with Lysol. Second de-damping resulted in boxes being stored out in the open of the not-so-spacious basement cave, but it's not in the way either. I need to do a little maintenance neatening, but all in all, I'm pretty proud of myself ....

Teen Page is looking pretty cool .... still have a LOT to do, especially since we've got the Vocations Dinner with the Archbishop Friday night and I'm hoping to get the kids there hooked into it ..... so it'd be good if there's some content on the cool-looking page for them to actually LOOK at.

To my credit, I do have a couple different posts for my sadly neglected Nuntime begun in Palmy, and several more keep floating through my head, but ..... it don't mean nuttin' till I push that "Publish" button. (Like it? I just made it up! Maybe I should copyright it.....)

I think a lot of it, though, has just been major disillusionment, discouragement, or diffuse disgruntledness. All the violence & school shootings, all the escalated rhetoric about the war, all the blame-hurling.

And, of course, there's the priceless joy of Election Day. The time where the {allegedly} top nation in the world chooses its leaders simply on the basis of "Me? Let's not talk about me. Let's talk instead about that slimeball over there. You know what I've heard? I heard he's got COOTIES!!!!!"

Ask not what your nation can do for you; ask what you can do for your nation. Or, even better, ask what your opponent has done that is worse for your nation than what you've done.

"When their record's great, insinuate!" (Another Sr. Steph original ... you like?)

For those who might join me in my disgust at this, let me point out that, apparently, none of this is negative campaigning, because "Negative campaigning is vicious personal attacks. This isn't personal at all." Needless to say, I was thrilled when I heard about the group of high schoolers spearheading the Unity Petition --- but I almost feel like I've given up on even that. I'm not feeling too positive that anything's gonna change this rampant hatred and bitterness and competition and all-around yucky behavior.

Hence, my absence of sarcastic snark.

Nargh. What a waste of a perfectly good November 7^th.

Oh well .... in the meantime, can I appease you with my pDNA? I stole it off the RevGals .... I'm not sure how well it actually applies to me, but when my brain decides to function again, perhaps I'll be able find more connections. Maybe if I didn't have all my answers so close to the middle ...... Regardless, hover over colors for brief blurbs.

Prayer Request

2006-10-15T10:31:00.001-04:00

My friend, housemate, confrere, frequent commenter and first-year teacher Jeana just began at a local Catholic high school two months ago. This morning, while at the monastery, she received a phone call that one of her kids was killed. Apparently, an (uninjured) senior has been arrested for driving drunk and having drug paraphernalia; she ran into a car being driven by a junior (who was announced dead at the scene) with a junior passenger (who is currently hospitalized).

Jeana thinks she may have helped the senior driver once, and also thinks she might teach her sister; she didn't have the name or anything of the girl who was hospitalized. The guy who was killed, though, was one of her top kids. Either way, as the only junior religion teacher ...... she's got one hell of a time ahead of her. And then once you add the nun-factor in ......

So for her, for the school, for the family and friends, for the girl now in jail .... and for an end to all these stupid decisions that leave people pointlessly dead.

I always tell my kids that their assignment over the weekend is to "Be Smart" .... unfortunately, it doesn't always work if the other people out there don't play the same way.

Weekend Wonderings --- What If ....?

2006-10-06T09:04:00.001-04:00

What if, rather than a US Congressman, Mark Foley was instead a Roman Catholic priest?

It's always interesting to see who gets benefit of the doubt and who gets immediately blamed.

Weekend Wonderings

2006-10-05T22:19:00.001-04:00

Had Charles Carl Roberts IV not killed himself ....

How would we be balancing out our society's thirst for blood with the deep-seated Amish belief in forgiveness?

And will we ever learn?????????

Only the Beginning .....

2006-09-11T00:00:00.001-04:00

Pressure's On

2006-09-07T21:17:00.001-04:00

Actually, that's both literally and figuratively speaking! Evil cold-like-illness struck yesterday morning, inspiring me to concoct a "Top # Reasons Colds Stink" list, but felt too gunky to even write it. That, plus we had some big thing at school that had started out as a not-so-big thing that I had to do music for and it was just a very very very very long day. Went to bed pretty much as soon as I got home (9:00?!?!?) and woke up at 2:00 with the lower half of face imploding .... one of those things where I couldn't blow my nose b/c it made my ears hurt too much and besides, it didn't blow anything out anyway. After lying there for two hours, sucking down a couple Advil, I realized that I really only had two classes today and it was going to be just taking them to the library so they could work on presentations, so I decided to stay home. Of course, when I re-awoke at 6:00 for Morning Prayer, it had shifted to "just a cold" so I felt a little guilty, but a housemate assured me of swollen glands and the need to not get kids sick. So I had a day of lots of sleep, lots of snot, and a long-neglected Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince --- the only problem with it is that it's not the most conducive for lying-in-bed reading. But, nevertheless, I survived and am halfway through .... though I read book five so long ago I don't remember all the details they keep referencing.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with why I'm posting.... and unfortunately, there's too much evidence here to the contrary for me to blame this latest round of randomness simply on my illness.

As an aside .... helping aforementioned housemate find some fun saint patronages for her kids tomorrow, I discovered a patron saint of suriphobia, which apparently is a fear of rats or mice. As I told her about it, I was struck by a thought:

Suriphobia = fear of rats and mice
Using my unbounded knowledge of etymology, I dissect the word into its component parts:
suri + phobia
And, knowing that phobia means fear of I determine that suri must mean rat or mouse.

Unfortunately, in the haze of my snot-filled delirium, the thought ended there. But I can't help but think that there must be a deeper meaning in all of that somewhere .....

But, I have digressed from my non-existent point.

While I'm still off-track, though, I'd like to point out that I just discovered the difference between "entymology" and "etymology" .... funny how one little letter can mean the difference between the study of worms and the study of words!

And yes, I'm well aware that worms technically aren't insects and therefore that was a flawed and faulty funny, please don't ruin my fun or I'll be forced to sneeze on you!

The figurative pressure comes from discovering that our monastery webpage now shows a "Coming Soon" heads-up about the new look. Which makes me realize that I really need to get this Teen Page thing up and running. So pressure's on to find a fun cool name that gives a sense of spirituality without stagnation, of faith that's still fun, of religion with rebellion, of Benedictines not boredom, of holiness that's humorous, of piety that's punny, of vocations that are vacationable and not vacant, of nuns that are none of what you'd expect.

Any thoughts? PLEASE?!?!?

The Plot Thickens .... or the Bible Thinnens?

2006-09-05T22:04:00.001-04:00

E-mail sent from a certain religion teacher to the Assistant Principal In Charge Of Books:

To: Assistant Principal In Charge Of Books
From: Aforementioned Not-So-Nunly-Nun
Subject: You're the Book Lady, right?

We have a slight problem ..... one of my students is missing a gospel. Now I know all about stuff like "The Lost Gospel of Judas" for example, but she's missing the more mainstream versions. More specifically, her Bible seems to have misplaced everything from Mark 4 through Luke 12. Considering that we will be focusing on the gospels this year, I think this might prove to make her semester a little more challenging than we anticipated.

Yeah, I know .... not nearly as interesting as this e-mail thread from last year. Maybe if the ANSNN had gotten more people involved ......

Komments from the Konvent Kitchen

2006-09-03T23:34:00.001-04:00

Hypothetical situation here, but as I was contemplating life today, I had this grand revelation that I felt might help some folks out there, so I decided to share it with you.

If you're ever hanging out in the basement of a nun's house while a housemate nun is doing laundry and you notice an ice cream maker and think that this could be a wonderful long weekend kind of activity (perhaps Labor Day?) ..... it might behoove you to check and make sure the thing works before you have it all loaded up with ingredients and ice!

On the plus side, we actually had another machine that did work and, since it was a bigger machine, our smaller amount of ice cream mixture made us OK with the fact that we didn't have enough ice to pack the thing all the way. And it still managed to taste pretty good, too!
I forgot .... I was speaking hypothetically!

Eternal Rest ...

2006-08-31T07:40:00.002-04:00

http://nuntime.blogspot.com/2006/04/prayer-requests.html

Good News/Bad News

2006-08-30T23:29:00.001-04:00

Both from today's Louisville Courier-Journal....
First, from the "It's Funny ... As Long As It's Not Me" Department:

NBC is developing "Real Wedding Crashers" based on the hit movie by using hidden cameras and uninvited guests, says industry trade publication TV Week.

But, from the "Can I Get An Amen" Department:

The following statement was signed by over 100 Muslims attending the Sunday, Aug. 27, afternoon picnic in Cherokee Park here in Louisville. We would appreciate your assistance in publishing this message to the community, from the undersigned Muslims who reside in Louisville and Southern Indiana:
I am a Muslim, and maybe I am your neighbor. I do not advocate or support terrorism, or attacks against innocent people, under any name, or in any cause.

Islam teaches me that if you kill one innocent person, it is as if you have killed all of humanity.

My heroes are Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, not people who incite hatred and violence.

I believe in the Islamic values of tolerance, compassion and peace. I believe in the American values of equality and justice for all. I abhor violence, and pray for peace.

In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful, please join me in my prayer for peace.

The More Things Change....?

2006-08-29T22:32:00.001-04:00

Funny what entering religious life can do to you ..... of course, ten years ago I was fresh outta college and getting ready for a music therapy internship and not even close to seriously looking at the nun-thing. I mean, it was there, but in terms of looking at it ....
seen at Sister Susan's Spot

You've Changed 64% in 10 Years

Compared to who you were ten years ago, you've changed a great deal. In fact, you're probably in a completely different phase of your life - and very happy about it!

How Much Have You Changed in 10 Years?

As seen on a bumper sticker ....

2006-08-26T22:44:00.001-04:00

courtesy of National Catholic Reporter

God wants spiritual fruits not religious nuts.

Year Two, Day Three

2006-08-25T23:06:00.001-04:00

After all that on my Blogiversary post, I find myself rather stumped with regards to what these bloggish roots are that I'm attempting to revisit here.

Thinking about it tonight, though .... I wonder if it's perhaps the fact that the novelty's worn off. After all, even though I am still a relatively new member, I've actually been doing this for a while ... and even longer if you count all the years of running & hiding that I did while attempting to get used to the idea. So perhaps it's that, for me, it's not any different. On some levels, the monastery has been my world; thus, in my mind, perhaps monastic ways are the world's ways.

Or perhaps this is just some big cop-out attempt .....

Seriously, though, I'm not sure where exactly I'm trying to go. And I think, for some extent, what would seem strange to someone else or worthy of question-asking or wondering is by now to me perfectly normal and understandable.

So ..... while my brain is spinning with how best to avoid grading tests, does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I got loads of warm fuzzies & smiles out of the comments .... is there anything in particular you folks are wondering and/or wanting to hear about? Otherwise, I might be forced to revert back to the creation of ~~crap~~ masterpieces like this.

And, while you're at it, send some big ol' warm-fuzzy-socks-kinda-thoughts to ~~Omis~~ Jason (a week late!) and Susan, who are both beginning the full-force move-into-the-big-house adjustment into the real-world-religious-life, also known as the novitiate, and ~~commonly~~ lovingly referred to as "Lockdown". Here's where it gets really real. And, for us here at my place, the real-nun-move-in happens with Entrance to Postulancy .... and we've got two folks doing that very thing Sunday right before Morning Prayer (though they'll be moving in tomorrow). Guess it's just the start of a new year on all fronts!

Quote o' the Day

2006-08-24T16:32:00.001-04:00

One of the secretaries sends out a "Thought for the Day" every morning. I really liked the one for today:

If you never had any distractions, you don't know how to pray.
~ Thomas Merton

One Year ..... So What?

2006-08-22T22:49:00.002-04:00

Part of our formation class on Saturday involved a discussion of the address that our prioress gave at the beginning of July Community Days. As all of us "new kids" shared something that struck us as we read the talk, I was taken by the comment made by one of my semi-adopted classmates. She was referencing the centerpiece of Chapter Four of the Rule, where Benedict tells us that Your way of acting should be different from the world's way; the love of Christ must come before all else. Her thought was... how different is our way?? She was particularly stumped as she attempted to explain nunness to an inquisitive first grader. Yeah, sure, we live together, work together, pray together, and all that, but still... I could do that "out there" too. I'm a nun, a Benedictine. So what?

One year ago today, I began this blog. Somehow, I had discovered Susan Rose, and I was really intrigued by this idea of Musings of a Discerning Woman. A big part of my own vocational journey involved a struggle of ''normalcy" (you can stop laughing now!), and I realized what a gift Susan was giving the world of discerners as she shared her story.... and how much something like that would have helped me "back in the day".

Inspired by her openness, I decided to step up and contribute my own perspective on this seemingly odd and freakish journey that is called religious life. True, I'm a little bit removed from the initial discernment process, but I can give the heads-up of what's coming down the road from someone who's been there.

At least, that was how I saw it originally. Reality is .... I haven't said much about the journey at all, or even how I ended up here.

It's something that's been more and more on my mind, especially as I see various bloggy buddies reach various milestones along their way (deepest apologies if I missed anyone!). Religious life is so counter-cultural, and seemingly so rare, and yet to have this community that has formed of all these semi-normal people my age making this choice .... it's kinda cool.

But even cooler than that is the fact of how they use their blogs to spread the word about what this life is and isn't.

Not so cool is the fact that I haven't.

And then the question of this weekend .... how is my way different from the world's way?

Or maybe .... how is my blog different from the world's blog?

I came here to dispel the nun-myths that I myself still hold, but I end up not saying much about them at all. Sure, I talk about deaths and community meetings, and occasionally quote the Rule and/or Scripture, but so what? Lots of other people do that, too.

So .... what is it?

What makes my way different?

Is it different?

This is also especially on my mind as I begin another year with a whole new group of students. What is it that I am portraying to them? And as I get geared up to run this Teen Page blog ... what is it that I will be offering to these youth?

I think some of it is that "nun-denial" that Natty referenced. But I'm beginning my fifth year here. It's time to step up and claim that, despite the fact that I'm a big ol' chicken and constantly nervous about presenting myself as something that I'm not or making myself seem better than I am. I'm so apprehensive about the nun-pedestal that I won't even let myself claim it enough to shatter it.

So I'm rethinking, revisiting, refocusing. My first post spoke of "Blogging my Benedictine experience" .... I think it's time to return to the roots.

And it begins once more .....

2006-08-18T22:55:00.001-04:00

.... the back-and-forth travels of your favorite nun-blogger. And, for the record, I'm not just talking about the wandering that I do from classroom to classroom (though that's much better this year --- I'm mostly in two rooms side-by-side). But I'm back at the monastery for our first formation class of the year. So I don't have much time to write right now, but I didn't want you all to think that I didn't survive these first few days, cuz really, they've actually gone rather well. Exhausting, definitely, but cool. And now's when I get to see if my kids from last year actually liked me --- do they still talk to me even after they don't have to anymore? Tune in next week ..... :-)

Quotes of Randomness

2006-08-17T23:19:00.001-04:00

As swiped from LAMLand ....

Go here, to the random quotes generator, and look through random quotes until you find five that you think:
a) reflect who you are
OR
b) reflect what you believe.

Whatever God's dream about man may be, it seems certain it cannot come true unless man cooperates.
Stella Terrill Mann

He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680)

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.
Alan Alda (1936 - )

Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.
Thomas Fuller (1608 - 1661)

Genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum.
Charles Spencer

The highest courage is to dare to appear to be what one is.
John Lancaster Spalding

I just have one question ......

2006-08-16T21:38:00.001-04:00

Is it June yet?

Did I say that out loud?

Modern Church

2006-08-16T21:35:00.001-04:00

As forwarded from a teacherly colleague:

The elderly priest, speaking to the younger priest, said, "It was a good idea to replace the first four pews with plush bucket theater seats. It worked like a charm. The front of the church always fills first now."

The young priest nodded, and the old priest continued, "And you told me adding a little more beat to the music would bring young people back to church, so I supported you when you brought in that rock'n'roll gospel choir. Now our services are consistently packed to the balcony."

"Thank you, Father," answered the young priest. "I am pleased that you are open to the new ideas of youth."

"All of these ideas have been well and good," said the elderly priest, "But I'm afraid you've gone too far with the drive-thru confessional."

"But, Father," protested the young priest, "my confessions and the donations have nearly doubled since I began that!"

"Yes," replied the elderly priest, "And I appreciate that. But the flashing neon sign, 'Toot 'n Tell or Go to Hell' cannot stay on the church roof."

Slightly Panicked

2006-08-15T07:24:00.001-04:00

Before I do my petty little wimpering .... please check out the RevGalBlogPals request for prayers from 1-5 CDT today on behalf of Cheesehead. Posts from the 10^th forward tell of a beloved leader in her parish who was brutally murdered by her (victim's, not Cheesehead's) son; Cheesehead has to officiate the funeral this afternoon.

Amazing network, this RevGal group.

And, while you're at it ..... ellipsis and her friend Barb could still use some prayers as well, as could my mom and her best friend Barbara. And all the latest cancer and heart stuff that's winding its way through my community. And then there's the minor detail of people killing people all over the world.

Sigh.

Click here to see how I'm beginning to really feel about all this .....

Hmmmm ..... I saw the Cheeshead bit after I typed my petty whine that follows. Seems kinda pathetic, stupid, and insignificant now. But I'll leave it, if for nothing else than to explain my sporadic absences. But the above post kinda puts the rest of this crapioca into perspective.....

Realization this morning ..... school starts tomorrow! I mean, I knew it started tomorrow, but there's a difference between knowing something and realizing it. That means I have to have the syllabus not only written but also polished and run off .... student info sheets polished and run off .... plans for tomorrow .... room situations figured out (especially since one of my floating rooms can only seat 24 and I have 22, 26, and 29 in that room!) .... classroom procedures ready to go .... first night homework ready to assign ..... organization system set up .... and today we have a Commissioning Mass and big lunch at school .... and then I go back to Saint Meinrad for Vespers and Supper to celebrate the Solemn Profession of two of my brother monks .... and then to my monastery for yet another wake (and an update from the prioress this morning has more folks in the hospital -- grrrr!) .... and therefore probably not getting back to the house until 10:30-ish tonight ..... and I still need to get/make a card for the monks ..... and I really need to get the as-yet-unnamed Teen Page worked out ..... and ..... and .... and .....

GACK!!!

This speaks for itself

2006-08-13T14:33:00.002-04:00

Today's second reading comes from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, 4:30-5:2:

Brothers and sisters:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

I got nuttin' else to say.

Update ...

2006-08-11T07:30:00.001-04:00

.... to this post. Apparently I overreacted. So, our deepest sympathy is extended to the poor sophomores who are gonna get one or the other of us, and the department chair who is stuck with the both of us. In other words, she seems to be as much of an instigator as I am! (I'll have to tell her my initial reaction -- I think she'll appreciate it!)

Practicalities of Prayer

2006-08-11T07:07:00.001-04:00

Sr.MaryHasta has provided us today with her Ten Practical Tips for Prayer, wherein she addresses such issues as praying for people to die, praying for a pony, antacids and gastroenterologists, and grocery store PA systems. Curious? Then check it out.

1. Never ask God “Why?” because the answer is, inevitably, “Because I AM said so.”Likewise, don’t pray for patience, ‘cause God will make you learn it the hard way, and if you’re stubborn like me, you wind up with physical scars. Ow.

How nice ....

2006-08-10T07:51:00.001-04:00

After that last post of "Play nice"ness .... I discover that someone arrived at my site via the search phrase "People who deserve to die horribly." Granted, it took them to my post about Moussaoui and how I didn't think it would be right for us to kill him, but still ..... And then there are still people arriving here via the description of the Redneck Hunter game -- I wonder if the Reluctant Nun^TM is really want they're expecting to find ....

But .... off to Day 2 of faculty inservice. And I'm already behind .....

By the way .... Happy (day after the) Feast of Dominic to all my Dominican buddies out there -- you know who you are!

What is it that we communicate via our blogs?

2006-08-08T14:09:00.001-04:00

DeaconDanWright posted today about the fact that, while there is a strong Catholic presence on the web these days, much of it belongs to individuals and their blogs .... some of which may not be the most effective means of presenting what exactly it is that we're all about. It's nothing new — there was a nice rash of "Let's play nice" back at the end of May. However, it's a message that bears repeating over and over again.

The Gospel for today comes from Matthew 15, and includes Jesus telling the crowds: "It is not what enters one's mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one." One of the sisters I live with had commented during a discussion last year that she has a different understanding of the commandment to not take the Lord's name in vain. In her mind, it has nothing to do with saying "God" at inopportune times; rather, it occurs more when we presume to speak for God with regards to who God likes or doesn't like. Dan references this with regards to some of the less-than-community-mindness, pointing out: "I’ve heard it said that the eyes are the windows of the soul, but it seems more to me that the mouth is a better indicator." (Funny .... isn't that what some folks are saying about Mel Gibson?)

But ... I'll let his words speak for himself.

Before we can explore what it means to say that God is love, I have to tell you what love isn’t. Unfortunately, it isn’t what you find on many religion blogs and websites. We have to be discerning in the matter because there's a lot that can mislead us. I find myself constantly frustrated, but I hear in my spirit, "The Lord has given you the good sense to recognize him." We can't let it get us down when we visit a website claiming orthodoxy and instead find hate. Jesus warned us about these folks. Just yesterday I looked in on one blog, one of the really popular ones, and found them trashing a parish half-way across the county, so I looked at the parish's web site. I found nothing objectionable, just a socially progressive urban parish attempting to tackle the tougher questions of life. All I could think was, "God bless this parish. They're looking for the God who is love."

Check out the full thing, though. He's got a great take on the difference between "mercy in admonishing the sinner" and just-plain-rudeness. Which, from reading the post that inspired his post (which is intentionally left unlinked) .... rudeness is by far the theme. I just don't get it. Do they really think that mockery and ridicule is the way to win someone over? Whatever happened to "one holy catholic apostolic Church" that we recite each week in the Creed? The word catholic with a lower-case "c" to mean universal, the word one to imply unity?

I remember one of the Benedictine Life Weekends when I was just visiting this community. Someone was talking about the whole thing of how if someone's bugging you, you should pray for them. However, praying that they go away doesn't count, nor does avoiding them so you don't have to pray for them. And yet it seems that many folks out there are merely biding their time until liberal Catholics "stop stealing oxygen from those who use it for reason" and finish out their "death throes".

Oh, no, we can't engage in any reasonable civilized dialogue. We'll just "find (ourselves) suffering from an unreasonable desire to open a can of whoop-ass" on the people we don't like, those suffering from "the cardinal virtue of heretics such as yourself: stupidity".

Well. I'm curious. If that's what they say about their fellow Catholics, I'd hate to see what they say about those they don't like!

Something else has struck me throughout my blog-wandering career. It seems to me that it's often the "ultra-conservatives" that mock the "liberals" with excessive ridicule, while the "liberals" reply with a plea for civility. Have I just not come across the mocking liberals, or is this actually a legitmate trend?

And, for the record ..... this is by no means applicable to all bloggers, not even all the Catholic bloggers. But, when I do come across blogs that are mocking and ridiculing other Catholics generically, it tends to be going in the conservative ==> liberal direction. But, there are many many bloggers out there on both sides of the traditionalism spectrum that can speak with civility and respect.

And for that .... I thank them. And as for those who have more-frequent-than-necessary lapses of civility .... well, I guess I'm supposed to pray for them.
go to main page

Technical Question about Palm Blogging

2006-08-04T11:36:00.001-04:00

You may remember my mentioning of a little blogging task that has been assigned to me by our vocation director. I've got my nice little Palmy that I'm hoping will help me with composing posts "on the road" (or in the classroom!), thereby making a higher likelihood of regularity. My question is .... does anyone have any opinions on mobile blogging? This blog is on Blogger (obviously!), and the new monastery one is gonna be on MovableType. Wi-fi may or may not be available (depending on if I go to Starbucks, library, etc. or not), so it might just be composing the posts and then posting later. If worst comes to worse, I can always just do it in Word with DocumentsToGo and then copy/paste it over later. But, if there are decent programs out there .... I'd much prefer to make use of them.

So ..... anyone got any words of wisdom for me?

And, while you're at it ..... any advice about MovableType that might help me as I get started? Which probably needed to be last week sometime!

Fact versus Faith

2006-08-01T22:18:00.001-04:00

A while back I posted about the Intelligent Design/Evolution debate, and was reminded of it today when I read an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal about a Creation Museum that'll be opening up in Northern Kentucky (by Cincinnati) sometime next year. It will have a re-creation of Noah's ark, as well as an explanation of how humans lived alongside dinosaurs.

The closing quote of the article?

John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research in San Diego, an organization that promotes creationism, said the museum will affirm the doubts many people have about science, namely the notion that humans evolved from lower forms of life. "Americans just aren't gullible enough to believe that they came from a fish," he said.

Now, to give some different context, the museum founder Ken Ham is quoted earlier as saying:

"If the Bible is the word of God, and its history really is true, that's our presupposition or axiom, and we are starting there."

Ken Ham gives us his bias, and tells us up front from what direction he is approaching this project: Coming from a faith background that says that scripture is true, then this is what we see. John Morris, on the other hand, makes a generalized statement that kind of backfires on him, in my mind.

Here's the thing. In case you missed it, I'm a Christian. True, I'm a Catholic, and some folks might say that this means I'm not a Christian, but I'm not here to argue that point. As such, I believe in God, Jesus, the bible, and all that other stuff. So I'm theoretically coming from the same direction as these guys.

However, there's one tiny little detail that Morris seems to forget as he speaks on behalf of "Americans" .....

It's called faith.

Just to clarify .... the Catholic understanding of scripture is that they contain religious meaning as opposed to historical meaning. In other words, we look at the deeper meaning of the story — what is this story trying to tell us? What message is the author wanting to convey? For example, some stories have Jesus feeding 5,000 people, while others say 4,000, and the number of fish & bread varies. The question I put to my kids is: Does it matter? What if Jesus actually fed 3,742 people? Would your faith be shattered? They thought I was being absurd; of course not. The number is a detail; it doesn't change the basic idea of the story.

While there are all sorts of situations in the New Testament that point to issues with an exactly historical account, my immediate question for those who view the Bible as an engineering logbook starts right in the very beginning. You wanna talk creation? Then what came first — the world or the people?

Back in the spring, when the articles came out that maybe Jesus walked on ice instead of water, I remember being very struck by one of the responses in the article: If you need miracles to prop up your faith, then maybe your faith is weak to begin with. As I pointed out the detail of Peter's failure to walk on the ~~water~~ ice, my kids wondered how the boat got out there in the first place. Was their faith destroyed by the possibility? Of course not. In fact, Jesus often refuses "miracles on demand" because he's not just about performing magic tricks. And let's not forget about the whole "Blessed are those who have not seen" .....

But the thing of it is ..... it's faith. It's about what I believe, what I hold to be my truth, or at least my understanding of it. There's no proof for any of it. That's what this whole "faith" thing is all about. As Paul puts it: "Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for that which is seen?"

Faith is about mystery. It's about trust. It's about holding in our heart that which we may not logically comprehend in our mind. Answers.com defines faith as a belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. So, if you've got the evidence, then it's not faith. For me, then, faith rests on neither proving nor disproving the historical accuracy of any given detail.

All of which has gotten me horribly off-track from where I was intending to go .... and it's late .... and I'm really hoping I haven't come across as a horrible heritic or anything like that .... but it's hard to think straight right now and have myself make sense ..... so I'll just get back to Creation-dude ......

I would like to ask Mr. Morris to step back from his faith for a moment, and try to view this whole debate through a lens other than that of his Christian background. Without the benefit of that faith perspective, how does his viewpoint look?

Which takes more "gullibility" — the scientific evidence that supports a logical progression of gradual improvement and perfection, or legends out of some book that can't even get its story straight about what was created when?

I don't remember how it's been asked, but I know my kids have somehow referred to the question of the texts of other faith traditions and are they just "stories" ..... and I point out that it's all in the perspective. They may view the Book of Mormon as "something someone wrote"; yet, as I point out to them, that is how perhaps Judaism may view the New Testament.

One man's sacred text is another man's story?

Mr. Ham points out his perspective .... Coming from this faith background, this is what I am presenting. Mr. Morris ..... loses credibility with his assumptions about everyone else's perspective.

Regardless .... could be an interesting place to visit.

Photographic Evidence

2006-07-31T22:42:00.001-04:00

Photos referenced on my July Community Days post are now available on Home at the Dome (anyone know how to get Blogger to allow me to put the @ in where it's supposed to be without turning it into an address?). I'm not visible in any of the Missioning or Familien Fest photos (though frequent commenter JV will be unhappily pointed out as the peach-shirted skirt-wearing jockey #3 in the second race!). However ..... if you click the "Next Page" option and scroll down to June 15, you'll see me being GrillMaster for our Junior High Camp. Scroll down a little farther to June 10, and you'll see me heading off from third base. So, despite the craziness of my summer, it had a good bit of fun in it, too!

Let the Records Show ....

2006-07-30T22:29:00.001-04:00

.... that I am NOT this kind of "Christian":

Snippets from a New York Times article, Families Challenging Religious Influence in Delaware Schools

After her family moved to this small town 30 years ago, Mona Dobrich grew up as the only Jew in school. Mrs. Dobrich, 39, married a local man, bought the house behind her parents’ home and brought up her two children as Jews.

For years, she and her daughter, Samantha, listened to Christian prayers at public school potlucks, award dinners and parent-teacher group meetings, she said. But at Samantha’s high school graduation in June 2004, a minister’s prayer proclaiming Jesus as the only way to the truth nudged Mrs. Dobrich to act.

“It was as if no matter how much hard work, no matter how good a person you are, the only way you’ll ever be anything is through Jesus Christ,” Mrs. Dobrich said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~After the graduation, Mrs. Dobrich asked the Indian River district school board to consider prayers that were more generic and, she said, less exclusionary. As news of her request spread, many local Christians saw it as an effort to limit their free exercise of religion, residents said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"We have a way of doing things here, and it’s not going to change to accommodate a very small minority,’’ said Kenneth R. Stevens, 41, a businessman sitting in the Georgetown Diner. “If they feel singled out, they should find another school or excuse themselves from those functions. It’s our way of life.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mrs. Dobrich, who is Orthodox, said that when she was a girl, Christians here had treated her faith with respectful interest. Now, she said, her son was ridiculed in school for wearing his yarmulke. She described a classmate of his drawing a picture of a pathway to heaven for everyone except “Alex the Jew.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Later, another speaker turned to Mrs. Dobrich and said, according to several witnesses, “If you want people to stop calling him ‘Jew boy,’ you tell him to give his heart to Jesus.”

What's Wrong With This Picture?

2006-07-29T22:46:00.001-04:00

Back in Loovul .... room covered with various duffel bags and other not-yet-unpacked chaos .... but I also got my "School Starts Soon" letter from work. I opened it, eager to see if they had hired another sophomore religion teacher (since I don't think I could handle 200 kids on my own).

I open the packet.

I skim through the letter.

I see the words ... "theology department."

I read the words surrounding "theology department."

I re-read to make sure I associated the right new-teacher-name with the right new-teacher-department.

I cringe.

I wimper.

I get majorly stressed and heebie-jeebied.

Me, of all people! Panicked?!?

Why, you might ask? What might the words be that escaped from my monumentally traumatized mouth?

I'm sorry, it's just too horrible to admit on the front page here.

I'm worse than my kids.

And what right have I to react in such a frightful manner?

I'm so ashamed of myself.

I really am the Reluctant Nun^TM

Of course, none of that changes my initial reaction, regardless of how my friend-and-now-housemate tries to console me.

What was that reaction, you ask?

"Aw, crap --- it's a nun?!?!?!?"

And then I went to Google.

go to main page

Familien Fest ... complete with footnotes!

2006-07-28T23:18:00.001-04:00

July Community Days are something special. True, we're not in the days anymore where people get sent out "on mission" to teach and then don't show up again until the school year is over .... but even still, there's something different about this set of meetings. It always seems like an even bigger deal than the other times we meet throughout the year, that folks who often can't make it home for the other meetings¹ manage to make it home for these days.

These days kind of kick off our monastic year. There's all this hustle & bustle on Tuesday afternoon when the new table assignments get posted² -- everyone looks to see who they'll be with this year. Plus there's just more people, as the various mission folk³ begin coming in.

Wednesday was our more business-y kind of day; Thursday we had an excellent (and rather entertaining!) communication workshop. Throughout this time it's great to have a "full house" in church. Even more cool, though, is the time with everyone home .... especially on Friday.

Friday starts off with a chance for people to share or ask whatever they want, which often turns into a dreaming session of "What if we ______?" More people get up with other ideas that play off it, and we all leave the morning hugely energized about where we might be going, what we might be heading towards.

Then it's time for lunch and then ..... Familien Fest. A day to celebrate family and have fun. One year we were on a "cruise ship" with various activities and ports of call; last year it had this whole farm theme.

And this year? The ~~Kentucky Derby~~ Dome Cup.

St. Gertrude Hall was converted into "Gertrude Downs". Folks were all decked out in their Derby best, and we served various iced teas (mint, peach, etc.) and lemonade as we entered. Living groups had designated jockeys for their very-creatively-named horse, and so we had our own "Run For Heaven's Sake"⁴ .... all the races were appropriately titled for monastic horse racing but I can't for the life of me remember any of them! We even had our own bugler⁵ for the post call. The races themselves were rather entertaining, but I'm sure there will be pictures online shortly, so I'll let them speak for themselves. I will say that my race was a tight one, but I ended up losing by a nose⁶. We had a break for ice cream, with the MC having an open mike for jokes and/or stories; there was also the obligatory Derby Hat⁷ parade, where everyone showed off their creations (again, I'm sure photos of that will get posted).

Dinner was burgers and dogs, baked beans and potato salad, Derby pie⁸ and peach cobbler. Then we finished off the night with a "Drive-in Movie"⁹ with Dreamer, a cute feel-good horse movie. That, I think, in some respects, was the crowning moment of the day. I'm guessing there were maybe 100 of us in there, and it was just an awesome feel, to have so many of us just watching a movie together, laughing at the occasional comments that someone in the back might make¹⁰. Plus, there was the obligatory burst of applause and cheering when the race was won¹¹.

But it was awesome. A real reinforcement of community, family, and our relationships here in the monastery.

Then, tomorrow morning, we have Missioning. These days it's more symbolic than it was in the past --- most of us already know where we're living and where we'll be working. But it still is a special time to each receive our assignment for the year from our prioress as she sends us out for the year.¹² We go from all this major togetherness, and then everyone goes their separate ways. It's good, though, because it sends us off with a real sense of the bigger picture, of who we are and what we're about .... and that we're not in it alone.

Like I said earlier today, it's not about the money. And we're definitely not dying out.

Need I mention ..... I'm lovin' community life right now!

___________________
¹We have community meetings I think maybe four or five weekends a year, plus various whole-community formation days and other things.
²We have what we call "Stable Tables" where we're assigned to the same table for community meetings throughout the year; this allows us get to know different sisters better while at the same time providing some consistency for table discussions throughout the year.
³Benedictines traditionally live at the monastery. However, since our Middle-of-Nowheresville location is not conducive to gainful employment for 180+ sisters, we have a number of people who are living "on mission" --- which for us is generally places within an hour or so of the monastery, which makes it easier for people to come back for various committee meetings, community events, formation days, funerals, etc. Evansville & Louisville are the big places, but we do have a few scattered elsewhere (Rome, Peru, Illinois, Indianapolis, etc.).
⁴For Heaven's Sake is the name of our monastery gift shop.
⁵Technically, it was a trumpeter, but who's really checking anyway?
⁶It's not my fault, though. I had no control over her rolling a 2 instead of a 3 for that last step of the race! (That's how we "raced" --- the dice would roll, and if your number came up, you got to move)
⁷Apparently hats are the big thing for Derby? Am I showing off my non-Kentucky-ish-ness yet?
⁸And Derby Pie is apparently another big thing. I know, it's rather shameful, especially considering the fact that I actually was living in Louisville at the time of the Derby this year. Lorem, do we have some work to do next year?
⁹Again, not technically .... more like a screen hung on the wall of The-Space-Formerly-Known-As-Gertrude-Downs-But-Now-Converted-Into-A-Movie-Theater-Complete-With-Powerpoint-Projector-And-DVD-Player. But it just shows we're adaptable, right?
¹⁰For example .... I was in the third row. Then, during the final horse race, I noticed that the sister in front of me wasn't there ---- because she was up kneeling between the two chairs in front of her, leaning forward and gripping the chairs and she cheered the horse on. Those of us around her got a great laugh once we saw how into it she was getting.
¹¹And no, I'm not giving it away. It's a feel-good horse movie --- I don't think it's any big surprise that the race gets won.
¹²There'll probably be photos of that online too. Just keep checking out http://www.thedome.org/new/HomeDome/index.html --- we've always got new photos and stuff showing up there.go to main page

Myth-Busters!

2006-07-28T13:56:00.001-04:00

Catholics Face Crisis Over Retired Nuns

With tens of thousands of U.S. nuns over age 70, the Roman Catholic Church is facing a massive financial shortfall for the care of retirees in religious orders -- a gap that over the long term dwarfs costs from the clergy abuse crisis.
A June survey by the church's National Religious Retirement Office, not yet released to the public, puts spending for retiree care at $926 million last year alone. That compares with a total of $499 million received over the last 18 years from annual special parish collections to aid retirees.

So..... One of the top nun myths? That the church provides for us. Same goes for men's orders as well. Diocesan priests draw a salary from their parish and then (I think) their diocese takes care of them at the end, but religious communities, both men & women, are on their own.

An additional problem with nun-retirement is that "back in the day" when there were bazillions of them running Catholic schools all over the place, they were kind of "cheap labor" ..... not exactly earning a fair salary. I don't know specifics, but I know even now there's talk in our community about wanting to be sure that our sisters are receiving a "just wage" when we get jobs. But, back in the day, there wasn't too much ability to build up extensive savings when you weren't even remotely getting paid what your work was worth. Also, we weren't putting into Social Security back then --- I think we couldn't for a long time --- so there's not as much that we're drawing off of with that.

So, there's often this thought that "Well, you work for the church, so the church must be paying you" ..... but that's not how it works. We get what we get from our salaries and donations. We've got investments and all that too, but in terms of the money that goes into the investments? Salaries and donations.

Our community is probably better off than some, but it's still tough. On the one hand, we've got a big community, so there are more salaries coming in ... but at the same time, that also means more bills to pay and more "retired" sisters to support. We're taking steps, though; our monastery infirmary is now Medicare-certified, so we receive funding help for that. Our vocation program is top-notch, so we're bringing in new members to help sustain us. We're beginning this whole new as-yet-unnamed Spirituality Ministry that will help people get to know us and know that we're still here and offering good things. We're also exploring various new ways to generate income, and that gets our creative juices flowing.

So it's cool stuff, exciting stuff. But then ..... we have cancer. Lots of it. In our "young" "healthy" sisters. Which saps not just the energy (and sometimes the life) out of those who are sick, but also from those of us who help care for them and/or are left behind. But it also pulls us together, makes us appreciate each other more, and makes us truly recognize the gift that we have in community --- there's someone to go to your appointments with you, someone to drive you to chemo, someone to help you to the bathroom when you get home. One in particular said she didn't know how she'd do it if she wasn't in community, if she was on her own.

But then we read articles like this, hear people say how religious life is dying out. And yet .... that doesn't stop us. Even folks who are considering orders where they'd be the youngest member by far --- that's not the issue. Like I was saying to one friend the other night: "At least I have 180 people who have to die out before I'm left all alone. If I were married, the odds are much more likely that I'd be left alone after a death!" The call to community involves so much more than that.

Is religious life dying out? No. Is the face of religious life changing? Yes. Are the numbers of priests and religious decreasing? Yes. But does that mean we're dying out? No. Quantity isn't everything. And while we need to plan for the future, that doesn't mean we should give up our present. We're being proactive, we're doing what we can, and we're also doing the sometimes-less-desired donor-generating. But that's asking for help, and we ask for help in a way that says: "This is who we are, and we're not giving up." Religious life throughout history has faced challenges, especially religious women, and especially here in the United States. But we're fighters. I saw that in sisters like Ethel, Terence, Elaine, Tess ..... and all the others, even the ones still fighting.

Does it stink that we're facing retirement funding issues? Yes. Is that all that different from the rest of society? Not necessarily. Does it make me want to quit and build up my own personal IRA? No. The life is about more than the money (like anyone enters this life for the money!). It'll work out. It's part of that trust/"faith" thing. "Consider the lilies of the field" and all that.

God will provide. Trite, but I gotta trust it, whether I'm in religious life or not. Does that mean I don't have to do my part? Of course not. But religious life isn't dying out. Nor are we going anywhere anytime soon.

Course, if anyone wants to throw a little tax deduction our way, I won't complain. But that wasn't the point of this post.go to main page

Sorry .....

2006-07-28T00:05:00.001-04:00

..... but Community Meetings have been going on all week. Tomorrow is our fun day, with our own version of the Kentucky Derby. Should be entertaining, especially since very few of us even know what's going to be happening. I know I'm a jockey, and that's about it.

Lots to say, but no time to type it.

In the interim, though ..... today we had an On-Going Formation speaker talking to us about communication. Someone had pointed out that, though we often ask, "How are you doing," we don't always actually want an answer. As one of our older sisters then got up and pointed out:
When someone asks how you're doing, they don't want an organ recital.
And now, back to sleep before more meetings. We finish Saturday morning, but then it's time to move back to Loovul, so it might be a bit before I get my typing fingers under me again. So, in the meantime, have a happy Friday!

Knock Knock ....

2006-07-24T21:08:00.001-04:00

So we had this big ol' celebration yesterday with our founding monastery and the monasteries that we founded as a culmination of church restoration shindigs, one of my fellow semi-new-kids from the monastery in Indianapolis commented (falsely, of course!) that she saw in the program that I would be giving the talk during Mass. I said yes, and she asked what I would be speaking about.

Knock knock jokes.
Really.
After all, knock knock jokes require a response; you don't know quite who or what is knocking but you take it on faith that it will all make sense eventually .... just as God knocks and waits for our response before proceeding. It's also about hospitality —which we Benedictines are so famous for —opening the door to the stranger, welcoming them as they are. And Benedict also speaks about how we are to greet the stranger, just as knock-knock decorum and tradition also dictates.
And what's really scary is that it seems like you've really thought about this.
Nah .... what's even scarier is that I'm making it up right now as I go along!

But I'm thinking .... perhaps I should develop a Spirituality of Knock Knock Jokes, maybe make a retreat or even a book about it. Think it'd fly?

Although .... during my last session of the One Bread One Cup conference, when my kids had all done their witness talks, we were doing impromptu speeches on "God is like ______", with the appropriate word or item contributed by the four non-speakers among us. I must admit I did pretty well with my turns, having been given such things as underwear (actually, I rescued someone else on that one), toilet paper, shoestring potato sticks (another semi-rescue) and the like. Everyone did pretty well, though, with toenails and softball and tootsie pops and bubble gum and other such randomness. Course, that's what I did all last year at school -- take all the kids' off-topic conversations and pull them right back around to either the New Testament or Church History. Gotta love thinking on the fly!

So ..... any challenges for me out there?

Always Look on the Bright Side of War {whistle}

2006-07-21T11:35:00.001-04:00

Bush Sees Mideast Strife As a Step Toward Peace
A couple possible explanations occurred to me as I tried to wrap my mind around this concept ....

It's opposite day.
It's true — if everyone bombs out everybody else .... a world of dead bodies could seem pretty peaceful.
It's actually a typo: He meant to say a "Step Toward Peach" — peaches seem kinda solid, but when they get smashed, all sorts of gooeyness oozes outta them, kinda like the seeming solidity of people when they're actually made up of gooey innards that ooze out when they're smashed by bombs.

And, as a perfect example of our bringing peace to the Mideast and, thusly, to the world, there was this smaller headline on the WaPo front page: Somali Militia Leader Urges Holy War on Ethiopia

And I think to myself .... what a wonderful world.