Listen “Let anyone with ears listen”! (Matthew 11:15)Sometimes I wonder if people are awake and making an effort to hear. When I have made a doctors’ appointment, I give all the information they ask for: name, birthdate, address, telephone, email, insurance, etc. I tell them and then they ask for it again, which I give…
Read more
Featured
Crossing Ending and Beginning
February 2024
Crossing, Ending, and Beginning In most Catholic parishes around the world, if you were to attend Mass this March 21, the celebration would be that of a normal weekday in Lent. And if you were to ask the liturgist when St. Benedict’s feast day is, the most likely answer would be July 11. It’s a…
Read more
Featured
Harriet Tubman
January 2024
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer… you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” -Harriet Tubman Born into slavery in 1820 in Maryland, amidst the chaos and violence of the Civil War, Harriet’s dream was to cast off the yoke of slavery for…
Read more
Featured
Maria Varsho, 2024 St. Scholastica Honoree
January 2024
In 2018, the year of their 70th anniversary, the Sisters of St. Benedict of St. Paul’s Monastery established the St. Scholastica Honor. The honor celebrates the virtues of St. Scholastica (Community, Hospitality, Listening, Dignity of Work, Respect for Persons, Stability, Justice, Awareness of God, Stewardship, and Moderation), and this honor is presented…
Read more
Featured
Humility, The Eleventh Step
“The eleventh step of humility is that you speak gently and without laughter, seriously and with becoming modesty, briefly and reasonably, but without raising your voice, as it is written: “The wise are known by their few words.” RB 7:60-61 Speaking is a primary way in which we communicate and interact with others. The words…
Read more
Featured
Again We Keep This Solemn Fast
The hymn “Ex more docti mystico”, attributed to Gregory the Great (d. 604) is a classic reflection on the meaning and practice of Lent. The translation in our hymnal at St. Paul’s Monastery, “Again we keep this solemn fast,” describes Lent as “a gift ... which binds us … to faith and hope and charity”.…
Read more