Compassion for the Needy

Chapters 36 and 37 of the Rule (yesterday's chapter and today's) deal with the compassion that needs to be shown to those among us with special needs. We are all among the needy at different times whether through illness, age, strength, or personal weakness. There are always some among us that need our love in a special way.

This reality is something that I need to remember daily. Being fairly healthy, capable and independent, I tend to lose patience when I feel that I am having to adjust MY plans or timetable to help another...even when it really is not costing me anything. I get impatient waiting in lines, being stuck in traffic behind a slower driver or having to patiently wait to get my meal in our buffet line. I need to constantly find ways to reframe these times into something positive rather than more infuriating annoyances.

Here are some ways in which I might do this in even small ways:

• When stuck in traffic, use the opportunity to use the Jesus Prayer.
• Being grateful for my health and independence--and thanking God for that especially when needing to wait behind someone who needs extra help.
• Taking time to notice the beauty of the world around me...something I sometimes miss when I am either rushing around or stressing about having to wait for something.
• Looking for ways that I can help at least one person who needs assistance--even if it's just with a smile or a hug.

How else can I learn patience and compassion for others today?

Sr. Catherine, OSB

Gospel Living

The opening verses of Chapter 4 of the Rule of Benedict (The Tools of Good Works) provides me with a pretty clear blue-print of what is necessary to be a Christian. This enterprise is about taking the Scripture teachings into my life and making them part of me.

When I was completing my Masters in Theology, I mentioned in one of my Comps questions that part of living monastic life for a number of years is that eventually the psalms and scripture passages that we pray seep into our bones. Someone asked me to elaborate on this idea at the time but I could not adequately put into words the mystery of how this happens in our daily prayer. I truly do believe that over the years we do eventually become a living scripture of sorts.

I do realize though that this is a process...it does not happen overnight or in a few years. It is a lifelong process. It is my personal goal.

May I remain open to God's word speaking within me.

Sr. Catherine, OSB

The Sick--A Face of Christ

The sick are to be cared for before and above all else, for it is really Christ who is served in them. (Benedict's Rule: A Translation, Kardong, 36.1)

I don't deal well with illness. I am fortunate that I am very rarely ill because I am a total wimp when it comes to pain and I do not have much patience with others when they are sick either. The slightest rash or itch or cough is enough to depress me for days. So again, I am extremely grateful for me good health.

That being said, I still need to deal with Benedict's invitation to have compassion and care for those around me who might be sick--whether it be a head ache, diabetes, cancer or arthritis.

What lessons can I learn from working with the sick that will help me in life? How can I learn to see the face of Christ in the ill rather than just the blood, the mess, and the unpleasantness?

My uneasiness comes from not feeling real in control of situations. So...maybe all that I need to learn today about the ill is to pray for patience or to learn to slow down. Maybe my lesson might be to listen carefully to others and their needs. Maybe I am just being called to be there with the person through their pain.

May I remain open to God's presence in life especially when it is difficult to just be.

Sr. Catherine, OSB

The Cellarer

As cellarer of the monastery, there should be chosen from the community someone who is wise, mature in conduct, temperate, not an excessive eater, not proud, excitable, offensive, dilatory or wasteful, but God-fearing, and like a father to the whole community. He will take care of everything, but will do nothing without an order from the abbot. Let him keep to his orders.
He should not annoy the brothers. If any brother happens to make an unreasonable demand of him, he should not reject him with disdain and cause him distress, but reasonably and humbly deny the improper request. Let him keep watch over his own soul, ever mindful of that saying of the Apostle: He who serves well secures a good standing for himself (1 Tim 3:13). He must show every care and concern for the sick, children, guests and the poor, knowing for certain that he will be held accountable for all of them on the day of judgment. He will regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar, aware that nothing is to be neglected. He should not be prone to greed, nor be wasteful and extravagant with the goods of the monastery, but should do everything with moderation and according to the abbot’s orders. (RB80.31.1-12)

Benedict provides us today with the qualities required of the monastery cellarer. Every group has a "cellarer" of sorts...just under a different guise. Families have parents, sports teams have the team manager, work places have HR. There is a need for a person or persons who are the "go to" person on projects, events or activities.

Benedict's ideal person is not excitable, reasonable, kind, considerate and wise. This person has the skill necessary to say no and leave the person feeling as though they received a gift. The superior possesses many qualities that parallel those required for the cellarer. They are so close that the cellarer is warned twice to not do anything that would not be readily endorsed by the leader. There needs to be a trust that whether the superior asks it or one of her assistants ask that the same values and philosophy will be proposed.

The qualities of the cellarer are personal traits that I hope to possess someday. May I remain open to God's voice in my life to accept these qualities when they are offered to me.

Sr. Catherine, OSB

The Superior=The Good Shepherd

He is to imitate the loving example of the Good Shepherd who left the ninety-nine sheep in the mountains and went in search of the one sheep that had strayed, So great was his compassion for its weakness that he mercifully placed it on his sacred shoulders and so carried it back to the flock (Luke 15:5). (RB80.27.8-9)

In discussing how to deal with community members who happen to stray from the community, either physically, mentally or spiritually, Benedict uses an image of the Superior as Christ (The Good Shepherd). Rather than be grateful that at least one trouble has been abolished (through the loss of the wayward and troublesome), the leader is encouraged to try to talk the person into amending his ways.

Maybe he didn't realize how serious the personal fault was. Maybe the person was just straying through inattention--not malice. It might even be something that the person had little control over. Through the compassion, patience and love of the Superior, the erring might return, and might end up stronger in the end.

I find consolation in this since I have done my own share of wandering through potential danger in former days. The security, love and support of my community always gave me the courage to work through the issues involved and to gain wisdom and strength.

May I be a source of wisdom and strength for others when they struggle.

Sr. Catherine, OSB

Forgive as We Forgive

Assuredly, the celebration of Lauds and Vespers must never pass by without the superior’s reciting the entire Lord’s Prayer at the end for all to hear, because thorns of contention are likely to spring up. Thus warned by the pledge they make to one another in the very words of this prayer: Forgive us as we forgive (Matt 6:12), they may cleanse themselves of this kind of vice. (RB80.13.12-13)

Three times a day during our common prayer there is a time for praying the Our Father together. Why is there such a need? Isn't a quick sorry enough to cover all the hurts of the day?

Living in a group (family, community, dorm, roommates, etc) there are plenty of opportunities each day to practice forgiveness. The hurts can be the person who cuts me off on the BA on the way to work, the person who did not bother to hold the door open for me when they saw I was juggling five packages, or the visitor I was rude to because I was in a hurry. All of these are daily minor injuries that are part of living with others and interacting, even casually.

Just when I think I might be saved since I am asking God to forgive me, I am stopped by reading the last part of the sentence. It's not just forgive me but forgive me as I forgive others. Would I really want God to be as slow to extend forgiveness to me as I am in extending forgiveness at times? Afterall, I can still remember a careless comment someone made my first day at the monastery (25 years ago), do I really want God to remember my faults that long?

May I remember to be as forgiving and patient with others as I would like them to be with me.

Sr. Catherine

Perseverence

The fourth step of humility is that in this obedience under difficult, unfavorable, or even unjust conditions, his heart quietly embraces suffering and endures it without weakening or seeking escape. (RB80.7.35-36)


When I was in school, I usually ended up being one of the students the principal knew on a first name basis. It wasn't that I was a poor student or always doing the wrong thing. I would just kind of end up at the wrong place about the time the principal was coming around the corner.

One time in eighth grade I went into the girl's restroom at lunch time to wash my hands. Seemed fairly innocuous to me except that I was supposed to ask the teacher before re-entering the building at lunch--and I didn't. I figured she would not miss me. Just as I was walking out of the restroom, the principal met me at the door. Someone had reported that someone had vandalized the restroom. Since I was the only one there, the principal asked me what I had done. I was unaware of the vandalism, so I told her about washing my hands. She told me to go to the office and wait for her. I couldn't figure out how washing your hands could get me in so much trouble. When the pricipal arrived, she asked me to write an essay about what I did in the restroom. Now, I was frustrated. I wrote, "I washed my hands!" After a while, I was sent back to class. The principal called for me later that afternoon to give me another chance to confess. I told her again about washing my hands--this time in tears.

The person who had vandalized the restroom finally confessed the next day. I was happy to be proven innocent but still angry that no one believed me.

Today's reading on humility talks about being obedient even in adverse situations. In these situations, I think back to my eigth grade experience. My tendency is still to proclaim my innocence, loudly to everyone, and to point out the injustice that is happening.

While I hope to be able to bear wrongs patiently someday, I am still far from the ideal.

Sr. Catherine, OSB

Getting the Right Blend

Benedict asks the leader of the community to have a multitude of people skills. It would almost be easier for all leaders to be extroverts but then we would lose much wisdom from the more reserved leaders among us.

In reading the list of qualities and attributes that the superior needs to lead a group well, I am reminded of an artist mixing paints. My parents and younger sister are all artists of sorts and I remember watching them spend hours mixing and blending paints to get various nuances of colors. Where I (a definite, non-artist) would be tempted to just slosh some colors together and call it good enough, my sister would patiently add a dab of two or three colors, stir and evaluate before finishing. That is the type of care that is required of the Prioress.

Every person and every situation must be considered individually--what is good in one situation is totally inappropriate in another. Care must be taken to ponder every option and do what seems best. This process is usually not a rush job. The leader holds the burden of everyone's failure as well as the glory of all successes. Benedict encourages those in authority to pray well and to adjust all responses to the particular circumstance.

Sr. Catherine, OSB

Ora et Labora

One of the better known Benedictine mottos is "Ora et Labora" (pray and work). There is much teasing in communities that the day is filled with prayer and work except for the times of eating and sleeping. Many of our older Sisters still remember their times of "recreation" that were filled with needle work, mending, or peeling vegetables--hardly leisure to our 21st century minds.

There is a wholesomeness to working together and praying together. On those occasions when we all do projects together things seem to get done much faster and we get to know one another in a much different way. There are many lessons about community life that can be learned by doing things together--some learn the value of patience, others the trait of compromise, we learn to slow down from the more methodical and to work quickly from the young. We all learn something.

As we approach Spring and Easter, may there be an openness in me to learn something new from every encounter.

Sr. Catherine, OSB

Holding On To Patience

The 4th Step of Humility is to hold on patiently when difficulties come. This is definitely one of the steps of humility that I still have a long way to go and grow before I reach maturity.

I have never been one to suffer well or to suffer quietly. I tend to like an audience around when I things are going wrong so that I have someone to listen to my whining. It does not even have to be a big issue that is causing the distress, actually with me it generally can take something pretty small. At the first sign of difficulty I tend to start planning my best defense, just in case things continue heading south.

The 4th Step encourages me to bear hardship and wrongs graciously. Rather than ranting that the alarm clock not going off, the bad traffic or the burdens of the day all set the world against me, I can look for where God and God's love can be found even in the hardest of daily situations. Once I can do that I quickly realize that no matter what is happening with me or to me, God does have a hand in my life and my life is not really all that miserable.

How have you been able to find God in your life lately?

Sr. Catherine, OSB

The Lord's Prayer

Assuredly, the celebration of Lauds and Vespers must never pass by without the superior's reciting the entire Lord's Prayer at the end for all to hear, because thorns of contention are likely to spring up. (RB 13. 12)

In our community, the Lord's Prayer is recited at least 3 times daily in our common prayer. Benedict requires recitation of this prayer at least twice daily. Since we live in community and at times bitterness and resentments can arise, Benedict recommends that we also put forgiveness into practice daily.

The phrase "forgive us as we forgive" is meant to remind us that we should give others the same forgiveness and benefit of the doubt that we desire for ourselves. It is sometimes difficult for me to forgive those who have slighted me in some way. When I consider how much I have been forgiven any injury to me suddenly pales.

May God continue to be more gracious to me than I might tend to be to others.

Sr. Catherine, OSB

A New Kind of #1

...a monk is content with the lowest and most menial treatment,… (RB 7.49).

Humility is starting to lose its appeal. Not only am I being asked to be honest about whom I really am, now Benedict invites me to be happy with the worst and with being the last! What kind of program would ask that of me?

This section causes major problems for me since I’ve always thought that it is healthy and natural to be competitive, to want to be #1. Here I am invited to be #1 in different way—to be #1 in love, patience, gentleness, trust, listening and serving…a new kind of #1. In this kind of quiet competition, I can strive to be #1 in imitating Jesus and the saints. Those aren’t bad role models to have.

Sr. Catherine, OSB

Bearing Suffering

…his heart quietly embraces suffering and endures it without weakening or seeking escape. (RB 7.35-36)

I envy people who can suffer silently without making a big deal about it. That is definitely not me. If I am suffering or in pain, I make sure that everyone knows about it, knows the cause, and shares in the sorrow of it. (Sometimes it’s TMI but that’s okay.)

Here Benedict is inviting me to accept hardship and suffering patiently and quietly as a normal part of life. Not only am I supposed to accept suffering but pray for the grace not to weaken or to seek an easy escape path.

May God grant me the grace needed to accept my little sufferings quietly and patiently.

Sr. Catherine

The Strong Kind of Monk

“Let us pass them by, then, and with the help of the Lord, proceed to draw up a plan for the strong kind, the cenobites.” (RB 1.13)



Living with others can be one of the challenging parts of our lives, yet also one of the most life-giving aspects. We all share the experience of living in “communities” of sorts. Whether it’s a family, a college dorm, a club, an office or a religious community, we all have the experience of living with and working with others.


For me, the challenge comes in learning to deal with all of the personalities and eccentricities of others. (Not that I would ever have some quirks of my own.) I am constantly called to have the same patience with others as I would like for them to have with me. It’s in learning to deal with my co-workers excessive need for organization and their being patient with my non-stop motion and chatter that we both grow in our ability to see beauty, uniqueness, strength and, yes, even God in the other.


Sr. Catherine, OSB

The Patience of God

“..the Lord waits for us daily to translate into action, as we should, his holy teachings.” (RB Pro. 35)

I am not good at waiting for anything. I get impatient when meetings don’t start on time. I rip open birthday presents as soon as I receive them whether it’s on my actual birthday or a month before. I like to act on things as soon as I decide. Patience is just not my thing.

But God waits for us—not just once or sometimes, but every single day. God waits for us to be ready to accept his teachings, to follow his way. God waits daily and never tires of the waiting, no matter how long it takes.


I pray that in my "human-ness" I may grow daily in my capacity for patience.


Sr. Catherine, OSB