For over 75 years, the Twin Cities have been gifted with the presence of the most remarkable and dynamic supermodels. Women who have courageously modeled humility, hospitality, community, and the search for God as the way to strengthen one’s being in a global culture that would rather prioritize individuality and separation.
Notably, these Benedictine supermodels, our Sisters of St. Paul’s Monastery, have also gifted us with the invitation to come learn these values directly from them, or as they’d be more comfortable saying, learning in the “school for God’s service” with them. And the primary way they learn is through the experience of prayer; and the practice of prayer.
Sharing the experience of prayer with the Sisters is one of the most valuable spiritual apprenticeships available in the Benedictine Tradition. It is an apprenticeship that teaches us how to live the values of the gospels and into relationship with the divine—all in the ordinariness of daily life. And our Sisters are our best available mentors.
Though most Sisters are now retired from external ministry, they are available every day to share the experience of prayer—this mentoring—with us. All are invited to daily prayer with the Sisters at the Monastery and to participate in the prayer-based ministries of our Benedictine Center.
Our ongoing Benedictine CARE Wellness Program formed through the commitment of the Sisters to explore creative ways to continue to bring forward their healing ministries, this experiential learning of divine relationship through prayer. Benedictine CARE integrates Sister Virginia Matter’s long history of teaching Biospiritual Focusing, an embodied method of prayer that listens to the wisdom held within the physical body, as well as Centering Prayer, a contemplative practice Sisters Virgina and Mary White embraced and helped introduce to the Twin Cities community.
Benedictine CARE isn’t as much a “new” program as it is the “next” program, the “next” form of creative Benedictine ministry, being brought forward into the community through the mentorship of our Sisters of St. Paul’s Monastery.
As Sister Catherine Nehotte, Prioress, said when introducing CARE, “Benedictine Spirituality will always be there to meet seekers where they are and to companion them in their search for Christ. We, the Sisters of St Paul’s Monastery, are grateful for our role in wise counsel and leadership as the Benedictine Tradition becomes co-stewarded by our Oblate community and laity. Benedictine CARE has the potential to be an example of how this can come together in both healing and growth.”
For more information about CARE contact: Teri Rose, OblSB, trose@perfectlyproduce.com, or visit www.perfectlyproduce.com
