Inspired by Scholastica

When the grass needs mowing, Sister Helen Mueting is always ready to pitch in. I recently heard a sister say one of her practices for Lent was a willingness to be inconvenienced. I thought about how difficult that is for most of us. We have our agendas and want to get things accomplished. It's hard when something (or someone) interferes with our plans. Yet don't we find that often the unplanned situations are times of grace? I remember someone asking my help with a project and in the process I learned some new skills. Another time I stopped to assist an older sister who was having difficulty navigating, and her grateful smile made my day. I also recall getting irritated when something caused me to be late for dinner or miss my favorite TV program. I began thinking about how often Jesus interrupted his preaching to heal someone in the crowd or gather children around him. He was never too busy to reach out to those in need. Why do I think my schedule is so important that I ...

Deserts seem like huge wastelands, wide stretches of wind-swept sand and prickly shriveled cacti plants. Yet dryness actually causes cacti to bloom, to produce delicate flowers of pink, purple, and gold, according to botanists. Our own arid times that span out  like parched arroyos carved into our souls perhaps can birth beauty too if we allow God to hollow out our egos and let our true selves emerge in full blossom, radiant and alive, ablaze with a fire that never goes out, overflowing with a love that touches      all the desolate places of the world.  

Bishop Robert McElroy Bishop Robert McElroy, the new bishop of San Diego, is of the same mind as Pope Francis. He envisions a church for the poor, a church of inclusion, a church of compassion. He was the keynote speaker for Social Justice Week at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., this week. He challenged the students to personal and cultural conversion. We live in a culture of comfort that makes us think only of ourselves, a culture of waste that desecrates the environment, and a culture of indifference that blinds us to the suffering around us, he said. He offered the parable of the rich man and Lazarus as a antidote to our materialistic culture. The rich man was not an evil person, the bishop pointed out. He didn't abuse, hate, or malign Lazarus. He even wanted someone to warn his brothers so they would not suffer his plight. Yet he loses everything because he did not see or alleviate Lazarus' misery. Most Americans think the United States is very generous to poor...

Mother Teresa with Sister Janice (Kathleen) Egan Sister Kathleen Egan, a Benedictine Sister of Mount St. Scholastica, in Atchison, KS, turns 100 on March 13. She was my speech teacher in college and my mentor and friend in later years. She is a remarkable woman who was a strong advocate for peace and justice throughout her life. She began the Neighborhood Center for tutoring and activities for Atchison youth in the 1960s, and chaired the regional Co-Workers of Mother Teresa of Calcutta in the 1970s and 1980s. She co-authored books about Mother Teresa with her sister, Eileen. I think she always felt overshadowed by Eileen, who was well-known for her work with Catholic Relief Services and Pax Christi USA and the recipient of many awards. But for me Sister Kathleen is the epitome of what it means to be a Benedictine woman, prophetic and courageous, who never took no for an answer. She was a promoter of women's equality long before that became a rallying cry. Her ready smile and co...

Waiting for Spring I look out at the shriveled stalks, dried-up leaves, barren earth, hoping to see some sign of life, a frail crocus or tuft of green, a robin pecking for a worm. . . Nothing but bleak gray days. Yet memory reminds me spring hovers in the stillness, underground growth slowly stirs, awaiting warmth and rain and seeds to sprout. Soon forsythia will burst forth in buttered glory to take my breath away and pencil-stemmed tulips shoot up with cups of scarlet, lavender and gold. Each spring the earth is recreated with a freshness that never grows old. 

A friend recently recommended the book "God First Loved Us" by Antony Campbell. Cathedral of the Incarnation (Nashville, Tennessee)  - interior, stained glass It's a small book dealing with the difficulty people have believing in God's unconditional love. Most of us can't seem to get rid of the idea of God as judge or benefactor. We think he will reward us if we are good and punish us if we do bad things. But to really believe God loves us passionately with no strings attached is a bit of a stretch. Reverence and fear often get in the way of our relationship with God. Fear especially keeps us at a distance from God. Words in Scripture and the liturgy don't help much to eradicate that fear. Phrases like "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge," (Prv.1:7) and Peter's "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,"(Lk 5:8) seem to approve fear. In the liturgy we often speak of God's power and might which tends to evok...