PRAYER, AGAIN
How often do we turn to prayer? When we are in crisis, or in any kind of need? Or are we able to bring our deepest fears, hopes, hurts, and dreams to God? Do we even believe it’s OK to do this?
Author Archives: Sister Elizabeth
Winter 2022
PRAYING
Perhaps most of us learned as children to pray by way of the Our Father or Hail Mary or the Rosary, or the Divine Mercy chaplet. We were taught that this was how to pray. Perhaps we never were taught, never learned, anything beyond that—yet now that is not enough.
Fall 2022
Forgetfulness seems to be a regular part of my life these days. I’ve simply forgotten that deeper, more important reality in the midst of the daily work and responsibilities. Mindfulness, or remembering, is a major understanding in the Benedictine tradition, and in early Christianity, as well as in Buddhism and other religions.
Summer 2022
BEING LOST
“I just feel so lost. I thought this was the right place for me, but it clearly is not. I don’t know what to do.” The spiritual journey is a path that leads us by unfamiliar and at times fearful ways. It’s a journey that we can’t control, and we don’t always know what the future holds or where the path is taking us.
Winter 2021
GENTLENESS
It is beyond evident that this long lingering pandemic has us all stressed in many ways. We react in different ways: irritability, withdrawal, escapism etc. I suggest there is still another way: the way of gentleness.
Fall 2021
SPEAKING
Recently I have become more and more aware of how unaware I am of how I speak, my tone of voice, my facial expressions, sometimes even my choice of words. It is a great gift to become aware in this way, though a humbling gift. I am realizing how much my tone of voice has contributed to interpersonal disruptions, difficulties, and resentments.
Summer 2021
RELAXING
When we think about trying to follow the Gospel directives, or in old-fashioned terms, the practice of virtue, we normally associate this with a lot of effort. Suppose that what is needed is not more will power, or muscle power, or major inner strategies? Suppose we might need to relax. Relax?
Spring 2022
The past few months have been a time of challenges for us at the Hermitage, as well as challenges for our country and for the world at large. Challenges are everywhere. How do we respond? Or do we perhaps just react?
Spring 2021
WATCHING
One of my favorite times is very early morning, shortly after I awake, when I sit in my ‘cell’ (monastic term for my room) and watch the clouds go by. My moods and emotions may not only reflect the weather outside, they are in fact the face of the weather inside.
Winter 2020
FEAR AND FATIGUE
What a time we have all been having! What a challenging, difficult, demanding year! As if the pandemic were not enough, we’ve suffered through some of the worst fires in history in the West, and pummeling, unremitting hurricanes in the South and East. With all of this fatigue, and all of these fears, we may fall prey to a deep sense of helplessness.
