Welcome, Postulant Rachel!

On Sunday, August 19, Rachel Geracitano was officially accepted by the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, Indiana, into her postulancy, the first stage of incorporation into the religious community.

A 22-year-old native of Louisville, Kentucky, Postulant Rachel is a recent graduate of Bellarmine University with a major in theology and a minor in psychology. Her parents are Karen Hobbs and Mickey Geracitano, and she has one older sister.

Postulant Rachel says: “I was born and raised Catholic. I went to Catholic grade school and was very active in my parish. Through my recent years of theological study at Bellarmine University as well as actively participating in Bellarmine’s Campus Ministry, I have grown deeper in my faith and want to continue to search and explore God’s will for me. The past two years especially I have increasingly been attracted to religious life. I have had the opportunity to work with Sister Michelle Sinkhorn not only in my discernment process, but also with retreats and service trips. She, along with the entire community of sisters, has been incredibly welcoming to all my visits and questions about their life. I feel drawn to the Benedictine community in Ferdinand and am excited to learn and experience religious life with them.”

Founded in 1867, the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand currently number 160 and serve in the areas of education, parish work, health care, retreat and spirituality work, social services, counseling, and mission work in Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Italy, and Peru.

Founders Day!

On August 20, 1867, four sisters arrived to teach the German settlers of Ferdinand, Indiana. Today we celebrate 145 years of prayer and ministry. Happy Founders Day, everyone!

 

Learn more about our history on our web site: http://www.thedome.org/about/history/

Sisters and people learn from each other in Peru

Sure, the lifestyle is a little different in Peru than in the United States.

Cold showers are common in many areas. Sometimes the water doesn’t work at all. Some villages are unreachable by car, or even by bicycle, so you walk. Living room furniture might be a lawn chair or two. Some entire families use just one bed.

But for the Sisters of St. Benedict who are serving the local people, much of their ministry is the same as in the U.S. They help the poor and needy as best they can. Or work patiently with school children struggling to understand math. Or help the journey of those of strong faith, or those of lesser faith looking for more.

Sister Kathy Cash, a teacher at Trinity High School in Louisville, completely loved her recent stay there.

Sister Kathy admits she has “never been totally comfortable with living completely in a United States frame of mind.”

Even as a child, she yearned to have the chance to live and work outside the friendly and familiar confines of the U.S. So she jumped at the chance recently to spend nearly five weeks living and working at the monastery operated in Peru by nine Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand.

(Read more on our web site.)

Beautiful!

What a beautiful site at the monastery this morning!

Reflection - Nativity of St. John the Baptist

I've been meaning to publish this for over a week.  This is the reflection I gave at the monastery for the Feast of St. John the Baptist.  I hope you enjoy. 

Nativity of St. John the Baptist

            I remember when I first started playing the organ.  It was a dream come true.  When the time finally came that I was able to play for prayer and Mass, I was extremely . . . . scared.  I was  so scared, I was shaking in my organ shoes.  I wasn’t even skilled enough to play the pedals, but I still put on the organ shoes.  When I first started playing, Sr. Theresita was right by my side, and we all know that she has great musical ability.  I was praying at that time that she also had great scooting ability.  In other words, if I panicked in the middle of a song or a mode, I would simply scoot off the bench and she would scoot on in a flawless manner so that no beat was missed.  Fortunately, by the grace of God, despite the shaking hands and feet, I survived those early beginnings.  After playing one day, Sr. Helen told me I had done a good job.  Then she suggested I play louder.  My response was, “But people will hear me.” 

            You can see how scared I was.  Fear has a way of getting a hold of us and not letting go.  It alters what we think, how we act, and how much we trust in God.  We forget to let God be in control and work through us.   

            Fear is what got Zechariah in the predicament we hear in Luke’s Gospel.  If we look back at Luke, chapter 1, verse 6, both Elizabeth and Zechariah “were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.”  Despite this, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, he was “troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him” (Luke 1:12).  He then went on to doubt and question the word of God spoken through the angel, and as a result, became mute. 

            I’d hate to think that every time I doubted the word of God, I would become mute, but it certainly would be an eye opening and humbling experience.  How often do we question our own abilities or life experiences, forgetting that it is God who works through us?  It is God who leads and transforms us.  How often do we truly let God’s will be done?  I usually want to hurry things up, control situations to fit my schedule and change people to fit my comfort level. 

            Fear is a common reaction to the unknown or the unusual.  Zechariah was righteous and holy before God, but he still feared and doubted.  The apostles weren’t much better.  Jesus was constantly greeting them with “Be not afraid” or “Fear not.” 

            Fear keeps us from trying new things, sharing ideas, or expressing feelings.  We could let fear run our lives or we can be like a feather on the breath of God and trust in God’s plan for us, no matter how outrageous or impossible those plans may seem to us.  There is, after all, nothing of which to be afraid.  We are constantly reassured through scripture that our God is with us.  We have no reason to fear or be troubled if we place everything in God’s hands – our needs, lives, concerns, and futures. 

            Letting go of fear and trusting fully in God will certainly lead us to places we never expected, stretch us further than we ever thought possible, and ultimately make us happier than we ever imagined. 

            I never in a million years would have ever thought I’d be a music teacher.  I never thought I’d be playing the organ loud enough for people to hear me.  And if I gave in to fear, I, like maybe some of you, would not even be here at this monastery.

            In today’s Gospel, God took what seemed impossible by human standards and expectations and made it possible.  St. Benedict tells us in the prologue, “Do not be daunted by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation.  It is bound to be narrow at the outset.  But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love” (verses 48-49).    When we let go of fear and trust fully in God’s word, what inexpressible delights of love are waiting for us? 

Training for the Camino

For the past year I have been working with St. John's University Campus Ministry in Collegeville, MN, while pursuing a master's degree. This summer I am delighted to help lead a college group while fulfilling a dream I've held for at least twelve years: to walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the Way of Saint James in Spain! Many roads converge as pilgrims walk their way across France and Spain to get to the sight of Santiago de Compostela, and some pilgrims spend months walking hundreds of miles from their homes to Santiago and all the way back again. We have three weeks and will be walking about 300 miles of the pilgrimage, starting in Roncesvalles. At that pace, we'll be covering between 10 and 20 miles a day.

Many people have pitched in to make my going possible, and I am carrying their prayer requests with me as I train in the evenings, carrying my big old pack across the hills of southern Indiana. Moving at a walking pace gives one some time to reflect on life and where God is in everything. I pray for those who are hurting, for those who are lonely, for those who have been friends to me, for those who struggle with faith. Sometimes I'm just quiet and listen for God.

The journey metaphor for the spiritual life is ancient and rich: we constantly are in a process of changing and becoming, "moving" toward something else, even as we commit to people and places and careers. Particularly for Benedictines, who profess stability, "journeying" comes out in our other vow of conversatio, which we translate as "fidelity to the monastic way of life." It's about continuing to choose God as the goal, continuing to give our lives to this way, even as we are tempted to ditch what may look like a rough deal sometimes. If we remain faithful, spiritually we will grow, we will "journey" deeper into the spiritual life, into the heart of God.

Time Flies . . . All the Time

Today was our last day of school.  As one 4th grader said, "We started school yesterday and ended today."  It does feel that way.  Maybe the weather and the mixed up seasons have affected our concept of time. 

I've never really had good concept of time.  I remember one day growing up, my mom was gathering all our school supplies.  When I asked my brother why she was doing this, he said, "School starts tomorrow."  Maybe as a kid I was able to live more freely in the present moment and left the worries about tomorrow up to other people.

A child's concept of time and age is interesting.  One of the kindergartners once asked me, "A long time ago, did you teach my mom that song because she knows it."  Considering I'm probably around her mom's age, I wouldn't have been able to teach her that song "a long time ago."

A few years ago, one of 2nd graders told his sister that I was retiring.  When I asked him why he told her this, he said, "That's what I thought you said."  I clarified that I probably said I was tired, not that I was retiring.  (I'm always surprised at the things the kids tell me I said.  It's usually news to me.)

I had a group of students the other day who had difficulty getting quiet.  I told them we were going to take one minute of silence.  After 60 seconds, some of them just about exploded.  A minute seemed like an eternity.  Keeping quiet for that long was a lot of work for some.  I wonder what they'd think about being at the monastery where our moments of silence last longer than a minute.  Of course when I tried Centering Prayer before I entered the monastery, I just about went crazy and almost exploded also.  Silence is something you have to learn.  There's not much room for it in our busy world.  You really have to make the room and grow into it.

Not having a good concept of time isn't just something kids have.  My mom is the worst.  She used to mention something and say, "Wasn't that just last year?"  She was in disbelief when I'd tell her, "Mom, that was 10 years ago." 

Time really does fly.  It's hard to believe that this is the last day of school.  I'm not going to argue though.  Soon it'll be time to start up again, and we'll all say, "Didn't we just get out yesterday?"

Happy Memorial Day

Many blessings to everyone as we celebrate Memorial Day.  Our thoughts are with our active military, our veterans, and all who have died. 

I've been having my music classes sing patriotic songs this week.  Today the 2nd graders sang their hearts out on The Star Spangled Banner.  They even added a triumphant "Play ball!" at the end.  It's interesting that every class clapped after they sang the song.  That's what we're used to doing at sporting events.

As many of us take the day off on Monday, let us truly pray in a special way for all who have served or are serving our country in the military.