by Rose Wolfgang
Special to The Leaven
ATCHISON — Benedictine College here recently hosted the annual Fellin Lecture, sponsored by the Fellin Endowment Fund and presented by the Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery, Atchison, to support the liberal arts orientation of the college. This year, Benedictine Sister Judith Sutera, author, speaker and a member of the Mount community, offered a presentation on “Benedictines: The World in a Single Ray of Light.”
Attendees were treated to an engaging lecture that focused on trust, perseverance and the progress of the Benedictine order. Sister Judith began with a reflection on the longevity of the Benedictines. For over 1500 years, they have thrived and served the world through the hospitality of their order, she explained. Nor will there ever be a time when the world doesn’t need a steady center for stability and community.
The word of God is everywhere, she said, particularly in liturgical prayer. Just as there is longevity in the Benedictine order, there is longevity in the prayers and psalms of the church. They embody the human condition and are the prayers of Jesus himself.
Likewise, Sister Judith explained, “lectio divina” (or “sacred prayer”) is also a vital part of our religious faith. We do it to be closer to God, as it works itself “forevermore into ourselves.” Although we may feel like there is no time in our busy lives to pray, simply opening up a holy book during our free time is enough to become closer to God.
A hallmark of the Benedictines is their hospitality toward everybody.
“Everybody — really?” asked Sister Judith.
“The question is: ‘What am I listening for?” she said. “Even in the people that are the hardest to love — even in the most difficult people — what might I hear that comes from God?’”
She said in every interaction we face, no matter how small, God is speaking to us.
It is up to us to decide how to respond to him. Benedictines will treat even the hardest interaction as sacred.
The presentation also treated the topic of humility. Sister Judith explained it to be the “center of theology,” telling her audience that to have humility is to experience a reality check.
“I am unique in the process of becoming what God wants me to be,” she said.
It stems from the practice of the Benedictine order — “ora et labora” (or “work and prayer”). This is a saying that provokes the question: “Which is more important?” Sister Judith, however, said there is only one way to read it, and that is that we are doing both, not one at a time.
“What is it that we can preserve and witness to be relevant in the future?” asked Sister Judith finally.
We seem to be on the wrong side of contemporary values, she explained. A nimble community has to be ready to feed whoever is at the door. She said we know who is at the door by listening and discerning whatever the world is calling out to us. This is how the religious community can grow, as change is happening at a greater speed than ever before.
“The most we can do, to be the best Catholics we can be, is to put one foot in front of the other and do the next right thing,” said Sister Judith.
