MARY LOU KOZMIK
Becoming a Benedictine Associate has been a great blessing.
Mary Lou Kozmik, 2018. Photo by John Ilg.
The first year of becoming a Benedictine Associate has been one of great blessings and fulfillment. It is a joy to participate frequently with the Sisters in community, the sharing of the Scriptures, singing the Psalms that console and feed the soul in Liturgy of the Hours, not to mention the liturgical ministries performed at Eucharist, pausing for centering prayer, with a monthly treat of Taize prayer. It is my prayerful wish to become involved as a participant that has been fulfilled. When the Sisters say they are holding us in prayer, believe it!
Becoming a participant was enhanced when I was approved as one of the Community’s representatives to attend the annual monastic institute at St. John’s University. Four days in July we spent among monastics from all over the country sharing their concerns and outlook for the future of monasticism in the United States. It was a heartwarming experience and I/we came away feeling optimistic from evidence that monastics, as “countercultural” persons, are part of the conversation about the need to adapt to our present changing times.
Mary Lou Kozmik, Linda Anderson, Benedictine Associates