a Sister on vacation

I had the great pleasure of being on vacation last week.  My idea of vacationing is pitching a tent and going hiking in the mountains which I don't get to do very often here in northwest Missouri.  The closest 'mountains' to us would be in the Ozarks which is a several hours drive to the south.   We, Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, are fortunate to have a little monastery in Dayton, WY at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains (real mountains!) so that was a good excuse to head west for a little R&R.  My intrepid companion was our novice Maria who also loves to hike and camp.   

The fastest route to Dayton is through South Dakota so we had to make some side trips to some notable sites.   One cannot be close to Mt. Rushmore and not drop in.  I am also fascinated by the area known as the 'Badlands.'   It's like a 'moonscape' in many areas.    

The colors are incredible, though, as your eyes travel down the formations and you travel eons through time.  It just goes to show that even something called the Badlands can be a place of great beauty.  Even here there are grassy meadows so there is sustenance for creatures even amidst the 'moon scape.'

Once we hit the mountains we sought out cold refreshing mountain streams.  Neither one of us fish, (the fish are certainly grateful) but we would plop on a rock and meditate on the water rushing by. If you have ever sat on a rock in the middle of a madly rushing mountain stream, you will know what it feels like to read Psalm 36 verses 8 - 9:

They feast on the abundance of your house,
    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

In the stream there are little waterfalls, pools of quiet water and always the water rushing down, down, down.  Some of the droplets leap as they race over the rocks...if this water could talk, I would imagine it screaming wildly for joy and perhaps some fear too.   I am reminded of the book Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard.  It is an allegory of the Christian life and the journey of faith as we make our way toward the High Places of the Shepherd.   I read this book when I was discerning a religious vocation many years ago.  I highly recommend it for anyone who has not read it.  I just finished re-reading it a few weeks ago.   When I was discerning I could very much identify with the main character 'Much Afraid', who belongs to the Fearing family.   Even as I re-read it, I had to admit there are areas where I am still 'Much Afraid.'  

In one chapter she is standing at the foot of a high water fall.  The Shepherd asks her,
 "What do you think of this fall of great waters in their abandonment of self-giving?"  

"I think they are beautiful and terrible beyond anything which I ever saw before.  It is the leap they have to make, the awful height from which they must cast themselves down to the depths beneath, there to be broken on the rocks."

The Shepherd asks her to watch the water from the moment it leaps over the edge until it reaches the bottom.  Once over the edge, the waters were like winged things, alive with joy, so utterly abandoned to the ecstasy of giving themselves that she could almost have supposed that she was looking at a host of angels floating down on rainbow wings, singing with rapture as they went.

"It looks as though they think it is the loveliest movement in all the world, as though to cast oneself down is to abandon oneself to ecstasy and joy indescribable." 

This is what I thought as I watched the river race down, down, down... exploding on rocks... leaping in the air...perhaps a respite in a quiet pool until once again a water droplet was drawn into the current to start down again.  

I have to ask myself, am I still ready to abandon myself in the Lord's river of delights even though it might mean crashing into rocks and leaps of faith.  Hopefully, I say YES!!!  And hopefully you do too!

Summer Hiatus

It's been a couple months since I posted anything.  I didn't intentionally take a summer hiatus...it was lack of inspiration...or pure laziness.   It's not that it has been a really dull summer; although some may wonder if ANYTHING exciting ever happens in a contemplative, semi-cloistered monastery located conveniently next to no-where.  

We had a lovely college student volunteer for most of the summer here in Clyde.  She was the best volunteer ever!  She also happens to be my niece Sarah (not surprising that she was the best ever, then).  She is going to be a senior at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS this fall.  You can read her story here at  student volunteers.  She decided that hanging out with the sisters would be more exciting than assembling sandwiches at the local Subway where she has spent other less than exciting summers.   I must say, at her age I think volunteering at a convent would have been the last thing I would have wanted to do.  I wanted to go work in Yellowstone Nat'l Park during my college summers, which I never did do!

Just this past Tuesday we had another woman cross the threshold of our monastery chapel to enter our postulancy.   We have the ritual at our Noon Prayer and it began by having Arana  knock on the chapel doors while we awaited her coming in.   (If anyone was going to cut and run, that would be the time to do so because she is out there by herself...nobody ever has, though :)

Sr. Cheryl, Assistant Prioress General and Sr. Lynn, formation director, officially welcomed her into the postulancy during the ceremony.  Arana brings Cajun cooking skills to our midwest monastery which will be something new for our meat and potatoes type of community.   But, we do have other sisters among our newer entrants who like 'hot' food with a kick to it.

We also hosted a week-long monastic experience here in July.  "Listen with the Ear of your Heart" was our theme.   The attendees received input on - Why pray the Psalms?, Lectio Divina, Centering Prayer, Discernment, Life in Formation and heard great vocation stories.

One highlight when guests come to our abode is to take them out for ice cream 10 miles away to the nearest ice cream stand.  That might not sound so exciting but the local town of Clyde has a population of 82 and Baskin Robbins is 45 miles away!  

One can also get fried gizzards at this
ice cream stand, but I generally pass on that
option.  I would say both Dairy Queen and
Baskin Robbins would have a hard time matching
up with that!!!!  

Postulant Rosa enjoying a cone as it
quickly melts and starts to drip.