We have to allow it to happen....

Life gives us many moments when we are called to grow beyond ourselves. Benedict knew this well. And he knew the importance of the resulting growth. Sister Joan recognize these as those moments when...

 we are incapable of assessing our own limits, our real talents, our true strength.

It is in these moments that we are called to stretch beyond our limits and to turn the clay into breathless beauty, but first, of course we have to allow it to happen

Happy Birthday Sr. Joan

This weekend, April 25-26, is Sr. Joan Chittister's 90th birthday. In what follows, Judith Valente revisits and celebrates the life of this most beloved Prophet of our age—Sister Joan Chittister.

Every age has its prophets. They are the ones who impart a wisdom that speaks not only to the current age but addresses the ages. One of the truly prophetic voices of our time is Benedictine Sister and prolific author Joan Chittister. Sister Joan, who turns 90 this weekend, probably has done more than any other spirituality writer of our time to help those of us in living the frenetic, secular world become what I call “everyday contemplatives.”

Her life and contributions deserve not only our gratitude, but our celebration.

Many of us found our way to Benedictine spirituality through her more than 25 books on “The Rule of St. Benedict.” In them, she plumbs the timeless wisdom of a text written some 1,600 years ago for people living in monasteries, yet whose words continue to guide those of us in every age seeking to live the Benedictine values of listening, community-building, hospitality, humility, simplicity, service, prayer and praise in daily life.

If you have been fortunate enough to meet Sister Joan in person, it was likely an unforgettable experience. I cherish each of the times I was able to be in her company.

The first time I saw her I actually knew little about her. I went as a reporter for PBS-TV to cover a conference organized by the peace organization Pax Christi USA. She was the keynote speaker. I don’t remember exactly what she talked about, but I never forgot her presence or the powerful way in which she spoke, which caused the audience to jump up when she finished in a sustained standing ovation.

The next encounter was through her books, “The Rule of St. Benedict: Insight for the Ages” and “Wisdom Distilled from the Daily” when I was first discovering Benedictine contemplative spirituality. Afterward, I had the good fortune to be seated next to her at a dinner given by a TV program I worked for in Chicago.

At the time, I was in the midst of writing a memoir that became “Atchison Blue: Search for Silence, a Spiritual Home and a Living Faith” about my extended stays at Mount St. Scholastica Monastery in Atchison Kansas.

That evening, Sister Joan gave me some of the best advice I’ve received as an author. She told me to take myself out of my usual surroundings and go somewhere we I could focus only on the book. I just wish I had been smart enough to take her advice more often!

I subsequently spent several days with her at her monastery, Mount St. Benedict in Erie, PA, for a profile I reported for PBS-TV. She was less interested in talking about herself than taking me to see the many ministries her monastic community was sponsoring in Erie, including a children’s art center, a soup kitchen, and a community garden.

She was proud of the fact that the building that once housed the girls’ academy her sisters had to close had been converted into a center for helping newcomers and immigrants to Erie.

“Our purpose is to present the most humane, spiritual, moral, communal model of life for a world in chaos around us — to be an island of care and cohesion,” she told me during our interview.

Even as she entered her senior years, she kept up a grueling schedule. It included writing regular columns for National Catholic Reporter, authoring an average of a book a year, and leading groups on pilgrimage.

I met up with her again in Rome at the World Congress of Benedictine Oblates (oblates are lay associates of monasteries) where she gave a keynote address. Slowing was not a word in her vocabulary.

One of her books is about aging, interestingly enough titled, “The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully.” In it she writes: “It is important that age be no impediment to the magnet of life in us. But life is not about breathing only. Life is about becoming more than we are, about being all that we can be. Whatever we are doing, however old we are.”

She confessed that she was perhaps too young to be writing such a book, as she began working on it when she was “only seventy.” She reserved the right to amend it in the future. One can hope.

“Age comes only to the truly blessed,” she writes in “The Gift of Years.” We have been blessed to have this marvelous woman with us for 90 years. May she bless us for years to come. May she continue to have “the gift of years.”

Judith Valente

Into the presence of God

Like many of us, I find Sister Joan's observations on the Rule inspired. She finds life in the Rule—rules for living, offering such clarity of thought—ideas that simply elude me. Today's writings, April 25, offer many beautiful illustrations.

Drawing on Benedict's admonitions to those who returned to the monastery after traveling, Sister Joan reminds us that we too need to consciously call ourselves into the presence of God, ever reminding ourselves of the purpose of our lives. The world around us is not an evil place—but our eyes and actions are unconstrained, unless we always act and speak through Him—we must be ever mindful of His presence.

Sister Joanne makes this point in such a human way when she says,

"Life costs.  The values and kitsch and superficiality of it take their toll on all of us. No one walks through life unscathed."  

She invites us to put it all into God's hands. And that whatever happens, we remember to start over and over and over again until someday we control life more than it controls us.

How are we to do this? We are to live in the present—mindful of our behavior—and recognize the consequences of our actions and our wandering minds. How do we do this? Hold that question in your hand until you see that you and He are one.

It is a task of a lifetime....

We are called...

Sister Joan Chittister quotes Dietrich Bonhoffer, who writes "there is a meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler". Sister Joan discusses this aspect of chapter 61 of the rule The Reception of Visiting Monastic.

Benedict realized that visitors are not only welcomed fed and taken care of, but they give each of us the opportunity to learn from the traveler—to learn from their experiences. Joan refers to this as a kind of radical acceptance—wisdom welcomed from any direction.

And so we are call to learn and teach at every moment in our lives-never to close ourselves off in every moment of every day.

Benedictine spirituality never requires perfection. It does, however, demand effort and openness.

Root Mother

I do not see you as much as I feel you– know you, the way I know my bones hold me upright as I walk, or the pressure of bare feet on cool grass. You, Root Mother, draw my eyes downward to the earth, where the heart of life beats, the deep throb beneath all the distractions we call life. Root Mother, yes, that is the best name I can give you, although your true name sounds more like water over stone or the creak of growing corn. Some truths are hidden, tucked away in the holy darkness, far from my dissecting mind, yet I know they are there, safe in your hands. Who says I must understand something fully in order to celebrate it– even to be held by it? You call me back to the center of my own being, a space much lower than any lofty thoughts of my mind, where you wait with divine patience. I will never begin to know the truth of my own body until I rest in the rich darkness of yours, and for this grace I thank you. ~Stuart Higginbotham

Eyes softened...

 Sr. Joan reminds us Benedictine life is rooted in three dimensions: commitment to a community, fidelity to a monastic way of life, and obedience. However, you and I are to pursue Benedictine spirituality, and we are called to continue to carry out our part in the society in which we live while helping mold, polish and temper it to the teachings of Benedictine.

We are called to see the world tempered by the gospel message; we listen for God's voice echoing daily in our thoughts, and in the voice of those around us. Benedictine spirituality is rewriting who we are and how we are respond to the world. 

We trust to the community of Saints and Benedict's teaching for the leadership essential to live in this most challenging world. We remain aware of the daily challenges, but we are equally bound to Benedict's call to live a new life. A new life that begins anew with sunrise...mindful that all we have are gifts from Him.

We are asked...

Benedict and Sr. Joan ask us to re-order our values, our priorities and our lives. As we evolve spiritually, we are invited to examine our deepest self~who we are~what we want~how we live~how we speak.  In time, we will see the world differently. We will respond to the world differently.

We are invited to live every day every moment with purpose and meaning~never living on impulse~responding to hapless circumstances~blown about by the changing winds of our lives. Sister Joan summarizes this well when she points out that life is not easy and life is not to be lived as if it were.

This truly is an important insight for all of us. We must actively seek to develop the rigor it takes to live our lives through the gospel lens. It requires constant fidelity to our purpose~even when we fail.

We are invited....

 --To pay attention to what is important in our lives.--

In Benedict's day, the monastic was provide with everything they needed.  Private ownership was a vice not to be tolerated.  Today, each of us are invited to pay attention to what we really need to live the sacred life to which all of us are called.

Sr. Joan recognizes this by reminding us that when we are smothered by things we become truly blind to those things that are important to us and those whom we love and for whom we are called to care.

Benedictine spirituality seeks to free the body so that the soul can soar.  A gift long lost in a consumer society.

It seems so simple or maybe even silly, but the key for most of us is self-control--and in community--compassion.  Benedictine spirituality is a practice that invites us to live a life where we are not the focus of our lives.  We are here to serve and listen to His word in all we do.