Inspired by Scholastica

We lost a talented, dedicated member of our monastic community last Thursday. Sister Joachim Holthaus was a gifted musician, playing organ, piano, and harp, and writing many psalm tones and compositions for our Liturgy of the Hours. She held a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Southern California. She was an exacting teacher and many of her pupils won awards at their competitions. She also directed the monastery schola (choir) and made a record of Gregorian Chant by the monastic choir in the 1970s. She was named "Educator of the Year" at Benedictine college in 1985. She directed a liturgical drama called "Play of Daniel"(in Latin) along with Sister Lillian Harrington, featuring over 70 of the Mount sisters for our 125th anniversary. In 1990, she founded the Mount Conservatory of Music in St. Cecilia's where she taught organ, piano, and harp until the age of 90. Sister Joachim was an active member of our monastic community and also participated in many...

Some people find solace in poetry in words wrenched from the depths of despair or the heights of ecstasy, symbolic imagery that take one to other worlds where dolphins speak and doors lead to exotic places, where darkness holds secrets hidden under layers of commonplace things. Poets have a way of turning life upside down and inside out, nothing is as it seems. Their eyes behold sights that escape the superficial, they penetrate deep-down to break open the ordinary and find a freshness, a beauty, a brilliance unseen by those who live on the surface of life. Their vision provides bread for those who hunger for nourishment beyond  humdrum routine and dull conversations, who yearn for delights they cannot find on their own.

Pope Francis will be in the United States next month and thousands of people will flock to Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, DC, to see him. They will hear him speak, but few will be able to speak to him. If I could talk to the pope I would like to tell him of my hopes for the Church and ask him a few questions. I would tell him that I admire his openness to people and his simple lifestyle. I also appreciate his bold stance on caring for the earth as expressed in his latest encyclical, " Laudato Si. " I would thank him  for his concern for the poor, for gay people, for divorced and remarried Catholics, for the alienated. I hope his leadership will make the Church more relevant to young people who are searching to make a difference in our world. I also hope he will find a way to heal the divisions in the Church and continue to bring bishops and priests to accountability for the sexual abuse scandals. A few questions I might ask him: How will you use your influence...

I visit a sister in her mid-80's regularly and she is always interested in the news and books. She loves to watch the political commentaries on TV, especially the "McLaughlin Report" and the "Charlie Rose Show." She enjoys the controversies and debates of the presidential candidates. She reads voraciously, especially old children's classics and biographies of historical figures. The local library often doesn't have the books she requests, but they are quite accommodating in getting them for her through the inter-library loan system. She also relishes the latest gossip around the monastery and might share a scoop she's heard. Although she uses a walker and often needs a magnifying glass to read, she doesn't miss much. She tries to find a chair that's comfortable, usually in the sun, and reads contentedly for hours. She likes to take a nap in the afternoon, but never misses prayer times. She is a delightful conversationalist and never complai...

Sometimes I complain that God is silent, never speaks or shows his presence. Then I hear a cardinal singing, catch sight of a fawn in a forest, gaze in awe at a Kansas sunset, watch snowflakes twirling in the air, sniff aromatic lilies or wild roses, touch a baby’s velvety skin, observe an elderly sister at prayer, read a poem that touches my soul, and know God whispers through all the beauty that surrounds me: “I love you, love you, love you. ” I need to turn up the volume, adjust my lenses, unclog my nose, be more aware in order not to miss the profundity of his message. Douglas County, Kansas

When I am tempted to think one person can't do much to change the world, I think of the article I read in  Yes! magazine (Summer 2015), "One Poem that Saved a Forest." The author  wrote poems at people's requests at a farmers' market in Arcata, Calif., in exchange for a donation.When the senior vice president of a timber harvesting company asked her to write a poem about his recently deceased wife, they began an unlikely friendship that led to the timber baron changing his business practices to preserve the McKay Tract of forest land and turn it into a community forest. Her poem made a difference. Then I got an e-mail about Richard Glossip, a man on death row scheduled to be executed on September 16 for a murder he did not commit. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking , is convinced of his innocence and asked for people to write letters to the governor and newspapers requesting a stay of execution. There is no physical evidence to prove his guilt, onl...

I am not a morning person, I rarely see radiant rosy rays of dawn streaking the horizon,  outlining trees and hills with glowing haloes,  blotting out moon and stars, slowly creeping over houses and gardens with a magic wand, waking up birds to warble and flowers to open their petals. Everything tiptoes quietly in the first blush of light,  hushed to drink in the majesty of morning dew on blades of grass and spider webs. It is a sacred time to pray, to give praise for the renewal  of the earth as it stretches out in expectation of the surprises to come as day breaks. Early risers soak in all this beauty while the rest of us remain oblivious.