Remnants

Life consists of past, present, and future. Future is a secret that only God knows, but we have lived in the past and are now a part of the present. I love writing memoir and often think of my past, but now after COVID, I think of the Benedictine Monastery, and how I grieved when I could no longer be a part of it except by email.

The word, “Remnant” felt about right to describe how I felt before and after COVID. There are 163 total occurrences in the Bible about this word, here are two definitions:
A small remaining quantity of something

What is left over of a community after it undergoes a catastrophe?

Community can be family, friendships, and God’s believers.

COVID shut many doors to the outside and that included the Monastery. I could no longer take classes there and spend a day of prayer in a small room where I could be at peace with the Bible and go to Mass in the chapel or visit my friends, the Sisters.

Now, I feel such freedom as what God says, “When one door closes another door

opens”.

Now, I can think of the past as remnants of a catastrophe of a worldwide trauma, to the present as an open door, especially to the Monastery.

God has given me a gift and I thank Him for not only the past that I survived through trusting Him, but now a stronger faith feeling His presence as I walk the past and present and hope for the future.

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Karen Fleming

Karen Fleming is a regular contributor to the St. Paul's Monastery Newsletter. She is a good friend to the Sisters of St. Benedict and, prior to COVID, was a regular Monastery visitor and volunteer.