By Amy Carr
Benedictine Oblates treasure a commitment to community, even as the form community takes for us varies a great deal, depending on our circumstances. In the past months I’ve become aware of my own vision for an ideal community for theologians. It’s an ideal that will never become a reality, but it settles me out to have recognized what I would like, even if it does not exist. Continue Reading
By Amy Carr
There were two times today when I felt silence appear like a relaxed release of tight muscles, like a garment that fits just right.
The first was during lectio this morning, when I got caught in a pause after a few lines of reading. It was like entering a sabbath rest, slowing down from rushing about so much all week. I thought: I’d like to walk into a classroom with this kind of stillness, even as I’m getting all animated once class begins. Continue Reading
By Amy Carr
Stability of place: this is a Benedictine value that’s always seemed so against the immigrant American sensibility, and a wider North American value of moving for the sake of educational opportunity, greater financial success, urban excitement (or suburban amenities), escape from misfortune, or the desire to see and do more. Continue Reading
By Laura Courter
At the beginning of December, I read the Benedictine Oblate Newsletter from Sister Ruth. I had been wondering how I could focus on serving God wholeheartedly during the Advent season and beyond when I had so many “regular” duties that keep me quite busy? Sister Ruth advised we consider doing four simple things so that “we might light up the way for others, and, in the process be enlightened ourselves.” Continue Reading
By Amy Carr
What images of Epiphany stand out for you this year? Our most common image is of the star in the gospel of Matthew—a star guiding wise men to the infant savior to whom they wanted to pay homage.
Their journey is not a journey into exile, nor is it a journey home from exile. It is more like a pilgrimage to an unknown place in honor of a future promise, rather than a past accomplishment. Continue Reading
By Amy Carr
When praying the psalms, what images are conjured for you by the frequent mention of the Temple at Mt. Zion? I know I’ve written about this before, but as I’ve had this question in the background over the years, sometimes the kaleidoscope shifts into a new pattern of seeing. Continue Reading
By Benedictine Oblate Amy Carr
We associate Advent with the lighting of candles; with prophetic and apocalyptic readings about the past and present and future comings of Christ; with an orientation to the Light who arises in every darkness. But unlike Catholics, in the Lutheran tradition in which I was raised, we ritually remember Jesus’ mother Mary mostly when telling the story of Christmas night itself. Continue Reading
By Amy Carr
Most of us have been to hear live music — of any sort — in which the performers are entering the atmosphere of the music, creating that grounded sense of space and place that is always there between and around us.
Making music reminds us of its presence, helps us re-enter it, re-sync with it. Continue Reading
Make plans to attend this year’s Oblate retreat featuring a presentation by Sister Edith Bogue, OSB, St. Scholastica Monastery, Duluth, Minn. Continue Reading
These unexpectedly cooler July days, here in western Illinois, are reminding me not only of a typical summer day along Lake Superior (with highs in the ‘70’s), but also of a Vacation Bible School I experienced when I was about five, living then in a town (L’Anse, Michigan) alongside Lake Superior. Continue Reading
Benedictine Oblate Musings 