Sunday, August 29, 2010

School Year Has Begun

My school year has begun. I teach 4th graders at Saint Bernard Catholic School in Rockport, Indiana. I have 15 students this year. We are doing fun stuff like multiplication, division, magnetism, electricity, and studying our great state of Indiana.

I am also working on my Masters in Education. I am taking classes at the University of Southern Indiana. I am taking a class on Thursday evenings. It's called Thinking in the Classroom. It starts this week and I hope that it will be useful for my teaching.

I am also taking a class at the Monastery. Sister Kathy and I are taking a seminar class. We are reading the book Benedictines by Terrence Kardong. We will meet once a month and discuss the book. We also asked 4 other sisters to join us. It is going to be great. As you can tell with all of these activities I stay pretty busy.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

When I Get Everything Together

I didn't forget about the blog; I've just been preoccupied with other things. It does seem that I took the summer off, but I'd like to now get back to writing . . . . I hope someone is reading. If not, I do find that writing can be therapeutic.

One thing that I find myself saying from time to time is "When I get everything together . . . ." Do you ever say this? I find it nonsense really. When I get everything together, I'll start exercising or when I get everything together, I'll focus more on my prayer life. Who in the world has everything together? If I keep saying that to myself, I'll end up 90 years old and wonder where my life has gone.

School has started and things are in full swing. I don't expect to have everything together (although that would be nice). Until that miraculous day, I'll just have to make time for the things that are necessary. Things don't make time for me. I have to make time for them.

Crazy as it may seem, I am trying to exercise and eat better. I chose an apple over ice cream last night. Crazy! We also have nice parks here in Louisville. I can come up with lots of excuses, but really I need to just dive right in.

Here's to everyone who doesn't have it all together. May God grant us the grace to make time for what is necessary and the determination to keep trying.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

My life as a Novice here in Ferdinand

I entered the novitiate on April 24. It was a beautiful ceremony that took place in the dining room here at the monastery. I stood in the enterance way while everyone went in and sat down. Then I had a brief dialouge with Sister Kristine Anne our prioress. She asked me what my intention was and I answered her by saying that I wanted to learn the monastic way of life and follow the Gospels every day of my life. Then I slowly entered the dining room. When I got to Sister Kristine Anne, I stopped and stood in front of her. My director, Sister Rose, was standing next to her. I was presented with my own copy of the Rule of Benedict and the documents of our federation. Then Sister Rose agreed to accompany me on this next step of formation. The community then blessed Sister Rose and I. My parents came into town for the ceremony which made it all the more special!

This summer has been very busy! I have been doing various tasks! I have worked in the kitchen, worked in housekeeping, worked in the infermary, the dining room, and the laundry! I also was on a directed retreat the week of July 9-16. The retreat was a silent retreat, and I had a director that I met with every day. She gave me scripture passages that I meditated on each day and then when we met, we talked about them. I also spent a lot of time out in nature drawing. This is a very meaningful way of prayer for me. After retreat, I felt very renewed and refreshed!

I will be starting classes soon here at the monastery. I will be continuing the class on the Rule of St. Benedict/Lectio Divina. I will also take Monastic History and a class on Monastic Profession. It will be fun for me to learn all of this new information. I am looking forward to every minute of it!

It is so hard to believe that come August 23, I will have been here for one year already! Where does time go? The only one who knows the answer to that is God, because it is God's time!