Inspired by Scholastica

  Our Water Carrier If you see a short sister in a bib apron, she is our plant waterer. We have plants  in little nooks all around the monastery. She also talks to the plants, replants them              when necessary, and thins out extra foliage.          This is a big job since we have over two hundred plants: ferns, ivies, orchids, rubber, jade, tulips, African violets, geraniums, and more.   She knows which plants require more attention, just like people. She sometimes needs to prop the leaves up with a stick. or divide them into two pots.   Whether they are green leaves or blooming flowers, water is rejuvenating, refreshing, keeping roots moist, and leaves sprouting. . Thanks to our faithful water carrier with her magical touch, our plants thrive and live long lives, like our sisters.    

  Inspired by Scholastica Human Rights for All At our retreat last week, we reflected on St. Benedict’s Rule and the Eucharist. The retreat director was articulate, focused, and humorous. That’s A+ in my book. At the last session, he told us to “go,” and I think he gave some suggestions like “Go now and be loving,” “Go and forgive,” and all the other things Jesus told us to do. My mind slid into thoughts about things I wanted to do or should do. In our present political climate, I need to contact my Senators and Representatives about my concerns such as federal workers losing their jobs and the possibility of cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. And I ought to voice my anxieties about deporting undocumented workers and their families. I should also make known my apprehensions about the Ukraine/Russia situation and how that could affect the United States and other countries. I need to clarify my fears about destroying the environmental progress the US has made, wh...

Inspired by Scholastica   Withstanding the Enemy The Dalai Lama said that he learned a lot from those different from him in views, skin color, or even those who didn’t like him. They told him things others would not and he learned from their perspectives. So can we when we meet people with opposing viewpoints. This is especially necessary in this period of turbulent religious and political interchanges. When we commit ourselves to viewing people that we do not agree with differently, what kinds of friends would lend us support? Robert Wicks speaks of four types that would help us keep this commitment: the prophet, the cheerleader, the harasser, and the inspirer. These kinds of friends would help us to be “resilient, challenged, supported and encouraged to live a spiritually rich life,” Wicks says. The prophet type asks whose voices are you listening to? Prophets are not popular because they goad us relentlessly to listen and to discern. The second type of friend is the ...

  Inspired by Scholastica   Virtue of Humility We don’t often think of praying for the virtue of humility. It might seem degrading or self-negating. Yet we admire people who are humble, like Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, and Mary, mother of God. They are models of goodness and simplicity. St. Benedict thought so much of humility that he put 12 steps to attain it in his Rule. The first step is to keep the fear of God always before his eyes. That is hard to do in this age of instant communication and myriad distractions. So it’s a goal, but not easily achieved. The second step is that a person loves not his own will nor takes pleasure in the satisfaction of his desires.   Another difficult step. We are reluctant to give up our independence and want to have our pleasures. There is value in practicing humility. One value is to listen to another’s point of view and not to think we have all the answers. This is extremely difficult in the current world with fake news ...

  Inspired by Scholastica   Immigration History All of us are descendants of immigrants except the Native Americans who were born here. Most of our ancestors came from Europe, Ireland, or Mexico. Some of them took the land from the Native Americans and relegated them to reservations. Even worse, some of our ancestors (often religious teachers) made the native children speak English and dress like the white children. They also removed them from their families and punished them if they spoke in their native tongue. Most of us are not proud of how some of our ancestors treated Native American children. We know that some of our white forebearers were cruel and inhumane to them. We are just beginning to acknowledge the mistreatment of Native American children and are trying to make some kind of restitution. Now our government wants to banish undocumented immigrants, many of whom have lived most of their lives in the U.S. Many immigrants have come here to flee violence and...

    Inspired by Scholastica Hugging Trees Did you ever hug a tree?   Considering their value and beauty, we ought to promote tree hugging.   They provide oxygen to keep us alive and filter the poisons out of the air. They also purify our water and provide food for animals and humans.   In addition, they also provide homes for animals, wood for making houses, and shade on hot summer days. I’m sure the first farmers, fishermen, and lumbermen planted trees to provide for their livelihoods.   When they cut down too many trees, they found that they upset the balance of nature, and many trees died. Trees are essential to life, and I don’t think we could ever have too many. In the Amazon Rain Forest in South America, companies are cutting down trees and ruining the natives’ source of food and homes for the variety of animals that live there. The rain forest also provides 20 percent of the world’s oxygen and has the most biodiversity in the world. More than...