18 years

Eighteen years ago I began this blog in response to a difficult time for our community website. It just wasn't able to keep up with postings that showed the everyday news from the community. So I tried to share it, always saying to myself, "If a visitor was here this week, what would they see/experience?"

It wasn't too long, about 3 years, that the website got on its feet, but I continued to share through the blog, more my own meandering through the life rather than the community's as a whole. 

The name came from our gorgeous chapel stained-glass windows, which is the background of everything we see whenever we're in the chapel. 

I think that an 18-year run is pretty good for something that I thought would be temporary. And I think it served its purpose back in 2007. Hopefully since then I've been able to share some of our life with you--both in front of and behind the scenes! So today's post ends Light Through Stained Glass Windows with the sharing of my favorite--what else--stained glass window photos here at Mount St. Benedict Monastery.

Great thanks to all the readers, especially if there are any who have been around for all those years. A special shout out to some of my first cousins who have been so faithful in following "their cousin the nun" and who have, probably more than they realize, a pretty good daily knowledge of the life. 

So, I'll just be seeing you in person now, not in the digital world! Thanks for coming by and I hope you enjoyed all the posts, I certainly enjoyed sharing them with you. 

Click to enlarge.

Weekend wonders

Throughout the weekend I caught the Weather Channel a number of times and watched a mid-March storm come across the US, including the Midwest and Southeast...and then up the East Coast. For the most part when a storm comes up the East Coast, it doesn't reach us, at least directly. Maybe it's the Appalachian Mountains, I'm not sure. We get the ones coming down from Canada and/or across the Great Lakes.

Anyway, we just got a bit of rain and some winds that weren't really the destructive kind. In between those blips of storms our 50-60 degree temps officially brought early spring to our gardens. Here is the first patch of crocuses. Along with the 5-6" green stems of upcoming daffodils and the little groups of tulip leaves, we were so buoyed up by all of it that we walked through the inner courtyard from the front foyer to the dining room 100 times!

Terribly jealous of those of you who are 3-4 weeks ahead of us already!

PS.  This is one of those rare March weeks where we celebrate Sts. Patrick, Benedict and Joseph all between Monday and Friday. Lots of special songs, prayers and desserts!

NCAA fun

We had a great time this weekend watching some of the women's basketball conference championships. The top ten teams in the country were almost all in their conference finals and most of the number one seeded teams were upset in the finals--by one of the other top ten teams that are in the same conference. Great fun! 

For all of you who were "athletes" as young girls, then more commonly called "tomboys,"  I wish we had been born in these times and had all the opportunities that these gals have. I guess we just have to live vicariously through these true "athletes"!

The NCAA basketball tournament will be starting early next week, both men and women, and we're sure to see many of the same match ups when the top teams meet in the Elite Eight, Final Four or Finals! Enjoy.

Speaking of enjoying, I thought you might enjoy this old picture of a "tomboy" and one of her successful basketball teams. Oh my!

Three Days in June

 

Our little-town library is terrific! And, as proof of it, I was able to get onto the reserve list and then get the thing I reserved, within 2 weeks. So, I was able to read Anne Tyler's new book, Three Days in June, over the weekend. 

I love this writer. She is so good at her craft, so funny, so on target, so wise, so able to write down the ideas and experiences of life in a simple yet deeply moving way.

Here we find Gail, a Baltimore resident (Tyler's favorite venue), the central character of the three-day story, presented in three chapters: the day before the wedding, the day of the wedding of her daughter, and the day after. Pretty ordinary isn't it? Then why does Tyler make it so magical, within the everydayness of her stories?

So, if you're a Tyler fan, enjoy her latest, and if you are not, I just don't know what to say, except that she's terrific and if you want to start with her Breathing Lessons, you'll be reading a Pulitzer Prize winner!

March Art Show

 

This coming weekend, March 1-2, is the opening of our annual Women's History Month Art Show. If you're within visiting distance do stop by during March and probably into April, and see a wide variety of art works and craft works from our sisters, oblates and artsy-friends!

Here is the photo of the sunrise that I caught right outside my window one morning last November. It is now framed and will be in the show this year.

Coincidentally, this morning the same sight appeared, right at 7:00 am when we were leaving Morning Prayer. It wasn't quite as deep red as this one, but more of a very pretty dark pink. Lovely in its own way!

A good old-fashioned winter

That's the phrase our Sunday celebrant last week used at the beginning of his homily, "I for one have to say, it's really great to have a good old-fashioned winter"! The assembly howled as we all knew that we had just had 2" overnight and I knew that that had put our snow season over 80". 

I would say that people who live on the southern shores of the Great Lakes, where the Canadian winds come over the waters and the icy dunes for 3-4 months, are pretty resilient, patient people. But by mid-February and certainly into early March, our longing for bluer skies, warmer winds and sunnier days is becoming a reality that cannot be denied. 

Our community is faring pretty well from what I see, but the "Febs" are certainly with us: we have a few colds and miscellaneous respiratory viruses floating around; we have sighs and groans with another round of clearing snow-covered cars every morning,; and don't even get me started on dry air, which means dry skin, dry coughs and cracked fingers! Yikes...it's no time for sissies, I can tell you.

But, as you know from last week's post, the Eagles won the Super Bowl, March madness is just around the college basketball corner, and although we relish liturgical Ordinary Time, our thoughts are beginning to turn to the upcoming Lenten season with its weeks of once-a-year hymns, prayers and readings.

So, we are grateful for it all and hope that the winding down of winter, whatever that look is for you, is coming along, too. 

Amidst all of this, let us all continue to lift up our prayers and our local actions for a country of justice, peace, equality and care for all people who live here and all peoples everywhere who share these dreams with us.

Fly Eagles Fly

In the presence of 7-8 of our sisters who hail from the greater Philadelphia area, which includes parts of New Jersey, Delaware and Eastern PA, we "other Pennsylvanians" went crazy with them at Super Bowl LIX, as the Philadelphia Eagles demolished (football talk) the favored and reigning Super Bowl champs the Kansas City Chiefs.

It was terrific... as in 24-0 at half time and 40-22 at the end!!!

Here are a few sights from our Community gathering:

Cheese football!

Seven-layer salad

Fly Eagles Fly!

Congratulations: Anne, Charlotte, Diane, Elizabeth, 

Jackie, Kath, Stephanie, Valerie

and anyone else who claims allegiance to Philly!

Green and Red

 

Here we are again--ready to celebrate Super Bowl LIX--with the Philadelphia Eagles playing the Kansas City Chiefs. I can name at least 7 of our sisters who grew up in the greater Philadelphia area and, as such, are the recipients of a constant flow of emails from their families and friends at the anticipation of the Super Bowl victory against the nasty, going for a three-peat Chiefs. 

I think there is a bit of a conflict however as the head coach of the Chiefs is a beloved former coach of the Eagles, Andy Reid---generally acknowledged as a mastermind of the game. Add to that another acknowledged Chief's mastermind, this time on defense, Steve Spagnolli and Kansas City is  probably a slight favorite----but, the Eagles are very, very good, too, so I'd say it's a 50-50 game!

P.S.  These days the entire Eagles faithful, and probably non-football fans too, will jump at a moment's notice into their fight song: "Fly Eagles Fly." Listen to it here.

Of course, our major event is the 23nd Annual Lenore Shaw Memorial Super Bowl Pool where sisters strive to be one of the four quarter winners. 

Great memories, Lenore, especially the one about the bowling alley and the ten dollar bill and the roll over in bed and caught between it and the wall---during a community meeting! 

Check or checkmate

Kudos to Bishop Mariann Budde from St. John's Episcopal in Washington, for her courageous remarks at the interfaith prayer service on January 20 attended by Trump and many in his incoming admin. Episcopal bishops throughout the country followed up with letters of their own, supporting Budde's call for mercy on the people most impacted by announced administrative policies, namely towards  immigrants/refugees and LGBTQ people.

The Presiding Bishop of the US, Sean Rowe, also issued a letter on the same topic. We in Erie are understandably proud of him, as he was born in a small town about 70 miles south of Erie and was the Episcopal bishop of Northwestern PA for 17 years before the recent national appt. His letter referenced Christ's exhortation to "welcome the stranger." Rowe also officiated at the funeral for Jimmy Carter.

Long awaited is here

 

In case you didn't already know:

Season Four of "Astrid" is back on PBS Passport.

The Number 1 favorite show of all the many we have watched.

Enjoy!

January-Ordinary time

 

Yesterday the liturgical calendar for most Christian churches brought an end to the season of Christmas, with the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. So, I guess that means it's a return to "normal" or average days or something other than huge celebrations!

This reality of "Ordinary Time" is never really calm, ordinary and Polyanna-like. One thing that's coming up this week is a return to Take Back the Site prayer vigils, as homicides for 2025 have already begun. In 2024 the City of Erie counted 5, though the number is larger if you expand to the boroughs and townships of the County. Now on January 1st we started a new year with one. Very sad reality for us and possibly for where you live, also.

We are in between lake effect storms (!) and as such we had a larger number of people attending our Sunday service this past weekend. There was a rousing version of "Go Tell It On the Mountain" to end the celebration--helped in no small part by our organist who is now 98% recovery from a broken knee cap a few months ago. Speaking of last year, we have begun celebrating the one-year anniversaries of four sisters who died last January. The concept of dying, passing on to the next life, however you see it, has one very difficult piece for me: we miss them--terrribly. Also the mystery of passing time, be it 1, 5 or 15 years always takes me by surprise, as in "How can it be 10 years?"  

I recently saw that Disney has produced a new version of the Lion King. So here I am humming "The Circle of Life" again. But it really fits, not just in the Disney world.

Snowbound movie watching

 

Over the last two weeks or so I've watched a couple great movies. Here's a quick synopsis as encouragement for you to consider them!

We just finished The Six Triple Eight  which is one of those based-on-a-true-story movies/books that most of us have never heard of. It reminded me of the movie Hidden Figures. Both are about black women who made outstanding, yet little known contributions in their areas. This one is set in the last year of WWII, Hidden Figures  was in the 1960s, I believe. We watched it in two one-hour segments and it worked fine. Truly outstanding---in the story line and in the acting. Be ready to experience another "new" look at American history that somehow doesn't get into the high school classes or maybe even college ones. Shout out to Ken Burns, also.

The second movie was Conclave. This one is very much like The DaVinci Code, historical fiction yet you think......well, maybe...some of it...maybe.  It is about a conclave at the Vatican to elect a new pope. The cinematography alone is worth the whole movie. After we viewed it I goggled how they made it and the answers included using various sites in Rome, but also a Sistine Chapel ceiling that they built themselves! Again, the acting is terrific. 

For at-home viewing, Conclave is on Peacock and Apple TV and Six Triple Eight is on Netflix, and probably other options.  Enjoy!

In celebration

We're living a reality that we knew would come some day, but Christmas Day itself wouldn't have been one of the expected moments: our Sister Placida, 107, oldest sister in our diocese for quite a few years now, and who knows what rank in the worldwide Benedictine world, passed away quietly at the end of the Christmas Day festivities, without fuss or much ado, with great peace and calm.

I found her to be a delightful character, quite a wordsmith, very clever and not at all a predictable "nun."  She entered later (which was unusual at that time) and brought her life before the convent with her, I guess. She didn't land in our scene until she was about 70-75, so we missed her at her peak, though she was a little bit of a character in the years with us, too! We'll miss you, Placida, your clever phraseology, your ever-present pink knit cap and your encouragement and kindness to us all.

You can read her obit and prayer card, if you haven't already, on our website.

We'll be hosting her rituals: Memory Service, Funeral Mass and Burial, this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  

P.S. My favorite memory: When she was 95 the prioress asked her to discontinue driving. At the same time she discovered the wonders of a Kindle, especially emailing photos. Her favorite line became, "I gave up driving, but got a Kindle instead."

Christmas Week-old and new

 

The community room/dining room tree with its new LED lights and 

a long lace-dressed angel for the top--courtesy of Sr. Mary Philip and her crafting skills.

The O Antiphons.

The children's manger scene, in a new woodland setting.

Part of the annual Dickens village.

An attempt to show the lights in the inner courtyard, as seen from the administrative hall 

and the 2nd floor West Wing.

The creche in the display cabinet on first floor.

And a special "new" treat:  Mary Did You Know?

Conclave

 I watched a 2-hr movie online this week, Conclave.  It's fiction of course, kind of like The DaVinci Code,  in the thinking----well, it could be real or semi-real. It's on Peacock (NBC streaming) and very enjoyable, albeit fiction!  Enjoy...

Here's my cardinal friend, now trusting enough to sit right outside my window on the nearest tree, just waiting to come over for some food, while also fending off others!

and counting

 Well, we came out the other end of a recording-setting lake effect storm. Where we live, the northwest corner of Harborcreek Township, about 7 miles from the center of Erie, we received 58" give or take!!

One of the eeriest things about it for me was watching TV programs from around the country where the weather was warm and sunny or at least not snowy. It's really surreal to see the extreme difference when you're sitting in the middle of an extreme weather moment yourself!

Here's another and hopefully final look at some of our recent reality!

Mailboxes that were along the road were almost buried.

Our side signage along Troupe Rd. was gone; just the upper border showed.

Here's the path out the inner courtyard doors where we tried to keep

feeding the birds...mostly sparrows and nuthatches.

Lots of birds came to my window feeder, too, including both male and female cardinals. 

Very pretty in the snow. That tree in the background suffered large broken limbs

from the weight of the snow. Today a mild melting has begun.

OMG!

Late October 2024: How to be interviewed by CNN, The Washington Post, etc? Be accused of voter fraud by a nationally known conservative blogger.

Late November 2024: How to be on The Weather Channel and have one of their meteorologists in town for the weekend? Live in Erie, PA. amidst 45.2"....so far.

Cars #14-15-16-17-18 disguised as snow lumps.

Looking outside from the chapel foyer.

The back patio furniture; Can you see the railing that surrounds the patio?

The Blessed Mother statue in the inner courtyard-- looking more like a dinosaur!

A woodpecker hanging on my window feeder, which is a little too small for it, 

but these are desperate times!

Grey Wolf

 

We have lots of guests/visitors this month. I don't know if they are here because they want to get in some time before the holidays or the weather can interfere with travel plans or if it's just the time of year when they need some reflection days or, possibly, maybe they just decided to come--and they came.

Whatever, one of the guests is wearing a hair extension on the top of her otherwise grey hair. The extension is grey, too, but its pieces are thicker than hair, more like a decorative mop. It looks nice on her, attractive in a creative, unusual way.  She reminds me of how much I enjoy quirky guests. Probably because most of us aren't. 

I am reading Louise Penney's latest (#19) Detective Armand Gamache mystery, Grey Wolf. In it she returns this story to the island monastery from an earlier book. Everything about this place is unique, including the almost total lack of visitors. The story and Penney's writing talent is terrific, of course. Maybe the visitors' issue in it is what's making me more aware of our own visitors these weeks. Lucky us!

November scenes bring hope

We are talking and reading a lot these days about hope, both personally and nationally. Here are three recent things I saw that help feed my hope.

A sunrise--photo taken right from the little patio 

at the end of our residence wing last weekend.

Along the three-story staircase that I walk every day to our 

offices on the 4th floor, the pre-schooler's art 

of local squirrels and acorns is wonderful.

Why are these hydrangea blooming so beautifully in November, albeit red now

instead of their summer color? Who knows, but we are grateful for their beauty!

Looking back, but not really

At the end of this week we will celebrate Mary Lou Kownacki's new book, Everyday Sacred, Everywhere Beauty, (Orbis) a selection of her best blog posts. Here's an excerpt of one from November 2016. It's eerie how true it rings, eight years later. 

 God is trusting in us

November 9, 2016

When I awake each day I say a short prayer.

This morning I had to force every ounce of integrity to pray it. I am heartsick over last night’s national election, in anguish for what this mean-spirited political view will mean for the poor, for women, for refugees, for the sick, for all the vulnerable. I am frightened of what military force we will unleash around the world without an ounce of concern for the unarmed civilians in its wake. And I am fearful that what we really woke up to this morning is the unraveling of the American dream, a country sharply, irrevocably divided about what the Constitution, freedom of press, the Statue of Liberty, and democracy itself mean.

I am also appalled at the misogyny at the base of this election and angry at my church for its deafening silence over a presidential candidate who is disgusting in his treatment of women. But, then, my church is misogynistic, too, and, yes, disgusting in its treatment of women. 

I am also bewildered by my own lack of perception. Who are these people who voted for Trump? Who are these neighbors, board members, co-workers, people that I celebrate weekly liturgy with at the monastery, that I thought I knew? And even liked and considered friends? How did I not know what they really believed and valued? My relationship with them is forever altered and it breaks my heart.

So, it was in deep agony, almost disbelief, that Old Monk forced herself to pray: This is the day our God has made. Let us be rejoice and be glad.––Psalm 118:24

November 17, 2016
Lots of people commented on the last journal entry. Many of you suggested praying and trusting in God. Prayer––yes, of course. I’ve devoted a lot of years to prayer. And so what? For me, there is only one measure for authentic prayer: am I becoming kinder, more tolerant, more courageous, more god-like? I pray to change myself and you can see that’s taking quite a long time. I do not pray to change other people, life’s circumstances, world events or the future.

As I get older, I have a private measuring stick for my own spiritual integrity—do I speak my truth without fear and act on what I believe? That’s all I pray for these days. Of course, I’d like to do it with all the kindness I can muster, but my bottom line is speaking truth to power. It’s the one irrevocable lesson I’ve learned from getting to know Jesus of Nazareth. 

As for trusting in God, I think it’s the reverse. I believe God is trusting in us. God is trusting that in giving us the gift of life, we will bear good fruit. That we who claim to be on a spiritual path will accept our responsibility to co-create the kind of world that God envisioned. It’s up to us, each one of us, to be faithful to God’s trust and do everything in our power to bring in the day when “justice and mercy embrace.”