What 2nd graders teach me

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of helping out with a tour group from the nearby Catholic grade school in Maryville, MO.  These 2nd graders just made their first communion on Sunday.  

I remember making my first communion many years ago and thinking I was a 'big person' now that I could go to communion and not have to stay back in the pew while everyone deserted me and went up to do something I couldn't really make out.  

Do these kids look happy or what?   This picture was taken outside of a Marian Grotto we have on our property.  Now of course a field trip day always makes kids happy.  

The kids received a tour of our main chapel and relic chapel and then I gave them a little speech on where their communion breads come from.  The thing I love about 2nd graders is that they are pretty attentive (not sure what the attention span for an average 8 yr old is), do look at you, listen to what you are saying and aren't afraid to ask questions...perhaps with their teacher and parent chaperones hovering over them they do better.  :)  My experience with teen agers is often that they don't look at you and are pretending that they aren't interested in what you have to say lest their peers pick up on that and tease them.  However, once being a teenager myself, I can't hardly blame them!

I told them we use 100 pounds of flour and 16 gallons of water in each mix of batter.   In one week of production we use 5200 - 6500 pounds of flour and 832-1040 gallons of water.  We also produce approximately 2 million breads per week.   If you were to stack up all the breads we make in one week it would stretch 1.97 miles!   It is really a sacred work for our community to produce the bread that will be changed into the body of Christ.

The beauty of these kids is that the whole Eucharist experience is new for them.  They are excited to receive Jesus and proud to be one of the older crowd now.  They haven't been jaded by scandal in the church and they aren't arguing about church doctrine.  They are just happy to be receiving Jesus.  (Once you get through the scariness of your first confession, everything is pretty much downhill when you are 8 yrs old.)  These kids are the ones just doing what Jesus commanded 2000 years ago, "Do this in remembrance of me."   

 So what these kids teach me is to see the beauty of our Eucharist with fresh eyes.   As a daily Mass goer, I know that the Eucharist can lose it's luster when you receive every day.   I can take it for granted and be very complacent.  

As a Conception Abbey Monk used to say in his homilies to us - "those things you do daily, you do dully, unless you do them deeply."

Did St. Benedict really say THAT?

This past weekend my community celebrated one of our postulants moving on to the novitiate.   One sister remarked that it was significant to happen on Divine Mercy Sunday, "Let's pray your novice director has mercy on you!"   Poor Maria had to endure for the first couple of weeks after entering as a postulant hearing sisters sing, "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"  Not because she WAS a problem but because The Sound of Music is a perennial favorite movie of nuns.

Sr. Pat gives Maria the
Benedictine medal to wear during
her novitiate

Sr. Pat gives Maria a copy of
the Rule of St. Benedict 

Our dear holy father St. Benedict in his Rule starts out Chapter 58 (The Procedure for Receiving Members) by writing - "Do not grant newcomers an easy entry, but, as the Apostle says, Test the spirits to see if they are from God."   

It seems a little harsh to say that...it doesn't seem to be very inviting.  

Benedict apparently made those poor men stand outside knocking for 4 or 5 days and made them bear 'harsh treatment' to see if they had patience and persistence.  He doesn't describe what the 'harsh treatment' is, however.   Apparently it wasn't too devastating because men did enter the community.  

Candidates often remark to me, even in 2013, "You really don't make it very easy to enter religious life."   They are referring to the autobiography they have to write, various interviews and the dreaded psychological testing.  I've been tempted to make them wait outside the door but I'm sure my community would disapprove.  :0  "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger," is not always a good maxim to live by!

Postulant Rosa shares in the
joy with new novice Maria.

Suffice it to say that while we do still have to test the spirits; we go about it in a more civilized manner  (I think).  Life in general tends to be enough of a tester without adding more to it!

Another year older...

Christos anesti!  Alithos anesti! (Greek)
Christ is risen!  He is truly risen!

I took a hiatus from by blog during Holy Week and the days of Triduum to enter into the quiet and meditate on the great events of the Paschal mystery.  Here we are now in Easter Week and I am one year older as of yesterday, the Feast of Fools, and as it so happens this year - Easter Monday.  If anybody wants to do the math, I was born in 1964.

Today I showed my age by coming in late for Lauds...accidentally, of course.  My clock radio/alarm was set but the volume was turned down so while it 'went off' at 5:10am I was awakened by the bells for Lauds at 6:30.   I knew I had less than 3 minutes to get to chapel so the adrenaline rush got me out of bed at least.

This has happened to me twice in my monastic life - which covers a 20 year time span so that isn't too bad a record.   On one occasion I dashed out of bed with my heart a pumpin', threw some clothes on and ran (as fleet as a deer) down the halls and arrived in chapel with about 30 seconds to spare.  The other previous time I lay in bed and said, "I'm never going to make it, now" so I decided to sleep a little longer.

Today, I knew I wouldn't make it but I am the organist so I knew showing up late was better than not showing up at all.   It's amazing how you can't find things right in front of your face when you are in a hurry.  My hair was a bit askew and I couldn't find my emblem (it was sitting in plain sight on my sink) but I managed to look at least presentable.  I did not rush madly down the stairs, (I'm more dignified in my 'old' age) but I did make it to chapel by the end of the opening hymn.   Apparently there was an awkward silence after the bells stopped ringing, which is when the organ usually intones "O Lord open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise."  Sisters were looking over at the organ wondering why nothing was happening.   Sr. Cheryl, another organist, covered things over by going to the piano and beginning Lauds when she realized I wasn't there.   Sr. Nancy Rose who is taking lessons to play the organ, was just hoping she didn't have to play because she hasn't learned the Lauds Office, yet.

I sheepishly strode in, signaled Cheryl I was there and was on the organ bench for the 2nd psalm.  Even St. Benedict in his holy Rule has a chapter on tardiness at the Work of God so things haven't changed much in 1500 years since he lived.

Thanks be to God my alarm did go off at 3:10am on Easter Sunday morning.  Our Easter Vigil began at the un-Godly hour of 4 am.  There is a reason I did not become a Trappistine - I didn't want to get up every morning to pray Vigils at 3:30am!  Usually I don't sleep well on a night like that because I'm worried I won't hear my alarm and I usually set another one as a back up.  But my alarm went off like it was supposed to.  I went down for just a bit of coffee to help the wake up process and stuck my head out the door to get a take on the early morning weather.  There had been a chance of rain.  It was chilly, but the stars were bright, the moon was shining, a great horned owl called into the night and the Spring Peepers were singing down in our lower pond.

Spring Peepers

As I stood there listening I smiled to myself and said, "It's a good day to rise...It's a good day to rise."