Brothers and Sisters

When I entered the monastery eight years ago, I looked forward to gaining a bunch of new sisters. Little did I realize that I also would be gaining a whole set of new brothers, too! Our monastery is about five miles from St. Meinrad Archabbey and School of Theology, and the lives of our sisters are intertwined with the lives of the monks there. Not only are the monks our chaplains, but as new sisters, we take formation classes at the school alongside the monks and seminarians. We often collaborate in parish and retreat work, and occasionally work together on musical endeavors.

This past week, we jointly hosted the Monastic Worship Forum, a conference for Benedictine men and women across the U.S. involved in liturgy and music. While attending some of the talks at the archabbey, I had a chance to catch up with some monks with whom I've worked and studied. A few of our sisters joined some monks in recording some new chants to be used when the new translation of the Roman Missal goes into effect. A monk friend and I put in some practice time on some music for violin and cello. Yesterday several of us joined them in singing a special song at mass as they celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Einsiedeln, St. Meinrad's patroness.

From the beginning of the order, St. Benedict and his sister St. Scholastica both shared in the work of helping people seek God in the everyday stuff of life. How blessed we are to share in Benedictine life as sisters and brothers today!