Communities of New Skete

Welcome to the web site of the Communities of New Skete! To learn
more about the Nuns, Monks, and Companions, click the appropriate title above the icon
of the respective community.

New Skete is committed to improving our access to our friends through digital communications. So, in 2008 we hope to have a new website available that will provide greater integration of our three communities. So, we are pleased to make our new weblog (also know as a blog) available. We will be using our weblog to post our latest news and events. Please let us know what you think of our new weblog through our contact form.

(For those of you who are familiar with RSS you can now add our RSS feed to your aggregator.)

See the 'About Us' page (located in the drop-down menu under 'Nuns') for
ongoing news and happenings at New Skete.

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Birthday of the Mother of God Is 8:16-18, Heb 3:1-6, Lk 11:27-32

Hear and obey, believe and forgive

In the gospel this morning Jesus rejected the idea that Mary was most blessed because she bore Christ. He said Blessed rather are those who hear God’s word—Jesus—and obey. It seems to me it could substitute believing rather than obey as what good does it do to hear if one does not believe and therefore act on it. Whatever the acting on it takes, which is what Mary did as God's word invollves a whole mind set change. Mary’s blessedness stems from her hearing God’s word and saying yes. We celebrate her birthday because in hearing God’s word she believed it. We celebrate her birthday because of her faithfulness throughout her long life.

Faith is a state of being that permeates every action. Faith does not mean certainty but the decision to keep one’s eyes open. Faith is like energy, a constant, always there, but surging and ebbing, sometimes strongly evident and at other times barely discernible.

We generally think that what we believe is what we think. It is a mind thing and nothing to do with one’s heart. The Greek root of the word Belief is to give one’s heart to. If we know what we give our heart to we’ll know what we believe. In a book about faith written by Kathleen Norris she tells of how surprised she was when visiting a monastery the monks were so unconcerned about all her many doubts and intellectual frustrations regarding Christianity. For these monks doubt was merely the seed of faith, a sign that faith is alive and ready to grow. Her desire to worship indicated a strong faith which would eventually end up in things falling into place for her.

The church has often used Mary as an ideal of passive, submissive femininity. Others claim her as a model of strength. I like to think of Mary as a biblical interpreter, one who heard and believed what God told her, and who pondered God’s promise in her heart,

even when it pierced her heart like a sword. This kind of faith sustains our own Christian discipleship. Mary’s life is a powerful example of what it can mean to be God’s chosen.

The epistle speaks of Jesus being faithful to God and faithful over God’s household. That household is the church, or the followers of Christ. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ –a true believer?

For the last few years there have been troubles in our orthodox church which have seemingly come to a climax or semi-climax in the last few days. Can we compare these troubles to the sword that pierced Mary’s heart? I am reminded again of some thoughts of Kathleen Norris about people who think of themselves as “good people” in contrast to those who are “bad people”. Is it not our responsibility when we read or hear of accounts of crimes to not regard my “good” self as completely separate from the “bad” people depicted in the story but to search my own heart for a connection? Can I try to understand how it is these people have done what they have done? Not to excuse them, but to draw them closer in order to pray for them and also to pray over what it means to be linked with them in a common humanity.

If we see that God is at the center of forgiveness, then it becomes clearer why our Lord is so insistent that being forgiven is inseparable from forgiving. We cannot let the truth of God’s being penetrate our own sin, so that we may be forgiven, if at the same time we are trying to exclude our forgiving others. As we walk with God can we see sin from the vantage point of the Cross? On the Cross, Christ identified himself with every victim of every sin. Being united with Christ, we are also united with the victims of sin, (what a mystery,) even our own. From this vantage point we can begin to learn how to recognize the intense horror of sin, while at the same time viewing others with compassion and a sense of belonging. From this we learn to rejoice in the whole of God’s work of forgiveness. The essential joy of forgiveness will be the same, whether it is I who am forgiven or someone else—even if it was I that was sinned against.

At times, it seems impossible to forgive. I may want to, but find it beyond my power to do so. The support of others in Christ, forgiving for me, may well be the means by which I too eventually can learn to forgive.

While celebrating our Mother Mary’s birth let us ask her help in learning how not to condone bad behavior by allowing it to continue if it is in our power to prevent it but to learn how also to forgive others as we would wish to be forgiven.

Christ is in our midst!

Photographs of Sr. Katrina's wake:
http://picasaweb.google.com/samsonw2000/SrKatrinaWake

Photographs of Sr. Katrina's funeral:
http://picasaweb.google.com/samsonw2000/SrKatrinaFuneral

Here are the previously sent links to the video clips from the same:

Video clips of Sr. Katrina's wake:
http://tinyurl.com/6blczz

Video clips of Sr. Katrina's funeral:
http://tinyurl.com/6dnpa9

Memory Eternal!

For Sister Katrina a labyrinth was a symbol of how she viewed her journey towards God. A labyrinth is an intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one's way; As she told us when she was questioned about why she wanted to join the nuns, many times on a journey a road can be taken that is not the one to reach the goal –the quest of the journey, the end of the maze. You just back track and keep going. Keep going and do not give up. Trust that God is leading you and don’t give up just because you have taken a wrong turn.

Sr. Katrina worried about a great many things. She was concerned at times about why she was drawn to New Skete. Would she be the last nun and be wheeling the rest of us around in wheelchairs. That worry isn’t going to happen! She used to muse over what could be done to bring others to our doorsteps. An ah hah moment came one day in answer to her puzzlement as to why she had been led here- God was leading her to a safe place to be cared for. She had achieved a state of great happiness and peace so became even more puzzled as to why she had to leave this life so quickly. She felt she had so much more now to offer to others.

In this morning’s Epistle James indicated the early prophets were blessed because they showed great endurance. Sister Katrina’s patient endurance has been a great inspiration to all of us. Perhaps this is a greater good than anything she would have done had she not been afflicted with this illness. We so often do not know the effect our response to life has on others. It, nevertheless, is puzzling why some of us are called to pass away quickly or early and some of us very late in life. Still, what can we learn from how Sister Katrina lived and died?

We are here in this life to echo the life of Christ, to grow in wisdom, to reach out to the wounded of the world, to have compassion on the weak and suffering, to make our hearts known to our friends, to take up our crosses, to forgive others and be forgiven, to find our own mountain places for prayer, to have the courage to seek the truth. This litany could go on but these facets of Christ are alive for us today because we glimpsed them in the struggling life and love of Sister Katrina. Struggling because like all of us, she was imperfect; yet a struggling love because she learned from God to let go of herself and to live for others. Her strength was gained by remembering Christ’s own words in Gethsemane -to let this cup pass from him if possible but not his own will but God’s be done. It is only in Jesus Christ that the glory and goodness of God fully shone in a human face but, as Brother Marc pointed out on the feast of the Transfiguration, there is a mirror of God’s love in the goodness of every human being,. There is another revelation of God, even though in us it is incomplete or flawed.

Last night we told our stories or ideas of Katrina-it is a way to console each other and acknowledge the loss of someone we love. While we are gathered here in sadness, that sadness is filled with a deep serenity and great gratitude for her life. She entered enthusiastically into our monastic way of life, choosing to be with the community at prayer and at play in all our joys and sorrows. She embraced the goal of life which is to arrive at that singleness of outlook that permits the experience of God. She was intent to keep meeting Christ in all the changing circumstances of her life.

In helping Sr. Katrina with some of the stacks in her room before she got too weak to do so, we came across some papers she had on how to deal with cancers of all kinds, both curable and incurable. These words reflect her approach quite well.

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Reflection of a Monk See the light Aug. 10th Mal2:5-7, 3:20-24; Acts 13:25-41; Mk 9:2-13

Many of you may have heard the expression: Film noir. Now I’m not much of a film person but that expression always brings to mind the image of a detective film, often shot in black and white with most of the scenes dark and foggy. The action takes place in the shadows with shafts of light cutting through the darkness. When the hero is finally at the point of questioning the prime suspect it usually happens in a dark and dingy room with a flood light shooting straight into the suspect’s eyes as he is being interrogated. The detective hammers away with questions and the suspect finally breaks. This is the moment when the person finally sees the light and owns the truth. “Throwing light on the subject” and “seeing the light” are familiar phrases in our language and light is a common image in scripture. We also speak of being “enlightened” when we learn something new, especially when it comes to us as a truth we had not previously understood. In the New Testament the Feast of Transfiguration is a prime example of where seeing the light and encountering the truth about Jesus Christ come together.

The apostles Peter, James and John are witnesses to the Transfiguration of Christ, but do they really “see the light,” that is, do they understand the truth that is being revealed to them? Scripture tells us that the apostles are not able to fully understand who Jesus Christ is until after his death and resurrection. Then as they review their lived experiences with Jesus they begin to understand. So, too, we may have to live with the effect of the light for a while before we see the truth.

The event that we know as the Transfiguration of Christ happened at a particular point in time, but the meaning and the impact of that transfiguration touches each of us at different times, just as it took time for the apostles to absorb its meaning. Even though Peter, James and John were eyewitnesses to the event, they did not “get it” until later. But something was going on inside them from that moment on. And this is one of the miracles of the transfiguration. Externals may be unchanged even as interior change begins to ferment.

Our pilgrimage theme: Healing : New Life in Christ, connects directly to Transfiguration. One might say healing, like the Transfiguration experience, is about interior change and not necessarily about physical change. Jesus went up the mountain with Peter, James and John and he was transfigured before their eyes. They were literally bowled over. But after the cloud lifted and Moses and Elijah vanished, what remained was what had been there from the beginning: Peter, James and John on the mountain with Jesus. Their physical reality had not changed. Their interior reality, however, had begun to be transformed and would continue to grow and mature. Similarly with healing, the healing comes through an interior realization of how to live in God’s presence with whatever brokenness we bear and know that God is with us in this and that it will be ok. Our journey is not interrupted rather it is transformed (transfigured) in ways that bring us nearer to our destination even though the evolution of our physical reality will be what it must be.

Over these last months we in this community have lived with the process of our Sister Katrina dying. One might ask how can we experience healing even as we witness or experience dying? Sr. Katrina has shown us how by the way she has approached her own struggle with pancreatic cancer. Through prayer and personal meditation as well as in consultation with a spiritual director, confiding in her monastic sisters and brothers and communicating with family and friends, she has come to a place of peace with this stage of her journey. Her faith strengthened as she put her life and destiny fully in God’s hands. As her own capacity diminished she has accepted gracefully the help that her Sisters, caregivers, family and friends extended to her. And by doing so, she has given to all of us the gift of her own healing. Christ said, “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you” (Jn 14:27) and Sr. Katrina has done the same. Likewise, on the mountain, it was Christ who was Transfigured, the three apostles were only witnesses and yet they were touched and transformed by that experience and ultimately grew into a greater and greater awareness of who Christ was and how he was infusing their lives with a holiness that they had never experienced before. Their experience can also be ours. We may not immediately see the light and yet we can always strive, as has Sr. Katrina, to be open to God’s healing presence in our lives.

Today you will hear several presentations that will shed more light on our Christian understanding of healing. We will also enter into the healing presence of Christ during our Healing Service. We hope this day will illuminate the reality of healing and will help us recognize and appreciate the experience of healing – not only in ourselves but in and through others.

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Reflection of a NUN

There are a lot of questions in this morning’s readings. I certainly have many more. How do we compare a human life with that of an animal, a sheep for instance? It was obvious to Christ that a human was of more importance than a sheep. And therefore, it followed that it was only right to heal a person’s hand –to do good—on the Sabbath.

Based on Jewish custom and interpretations of the law established by the Pharisees, there were 39 general categories of actions forbidden on the Sabbath. By picking wheat and rubbing it in their hands the disciples were technically harvesting though only to remedy their hunger, not to sell it for profit. They were not working on the Sabbath.

Jesus did not condone disobedience to God’s laws. Instead he emphasized discernment and compassion regarding enforcement of the laws. This ‘Discernment’ enables a person to look at not the letter of the law but the purpose of any of the laws. That explained why He healed the man with the deformed hand. The purpose of the Sabbath law not to work was to enable God’s people to rest and to be able to worship God. In Jesus’ time the worship of God did frequently involve burnt offerings. Even though back when the Book of Hosea was compiled God had already indicated love / mercy was preferable to burnt offering. Jesus repeated to the Pharisees words the Jewish people had heard time and again throughout their history. That was; Our heart attitude towards God comes first. Only then can we properly obey and observe religious regulations and rituals.

In a class on the Hebrew scriptures many years ago it was pointed out that very often something was said, then again repeated using other words. I desire (mercy)steadfast love not sacrifice, knowledge of God rather than burnt offering. If this sentence is an example of the repetition and I think it is, steadfast love and knowledge of God is the same thing. Sacrifice and burnt offering is the same thing. Why would knowledge of God and mercy/steadfast love be the same thing? How could knowledge of God and mercy/steadfast love be the same thing? How is our heart attitude towards God affected by our knowledge of God, by our mercy /steadfast love?

If we are assured of God’s love for us, if we act out of God’s love within us then all the tribulations that might assail us, all the problems that come along can be faced. Whether these problems are being maligned in the work place or misunderstood in our own homes or families, or whether it is sickness in any of its forms or even the death of those we love. Any area of life that is out of order can be reconciled through Jesus’ life and death on the cross.

If we are going to be successful in the task that life sets before us, we have to learn the secret of drawing on God’s strength. Our strength can run out but God’s never does. Everything we need is found in Christ. Our wisdom, strength, peace and hope are in Jesus.

When we face puzzling situations, let us say, “Lord this does not make sense to me right now but I trust You”. I know you love me and will give me the strength I need.

Scroll to bottom of the page to see the archives of some of our previous Reflections.

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