Category Archives: Benedictine Spirituality

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The Porter: At the Threshold of Hospitality

The Porter: At the Threshold of Hospitality In the Rule, St. Benedict commends the role of the porter, the person stationed at the front door and responsible for greeting visitors to the Monastery. Whenever a visitor showed up, the porter was supposed to shout, “Thanks be to God!” or “Your blessing please!” (RB 66). The…

The Awakening: What Is the Gift of Shadow? (Part 3 of 3)

This reflection continues a three-part exploration of the unknown in our inner worlds, sometimes called the shadow. Part 1 took up the question “What Is Shadow?” and parts 2 unpacked the question “What Do We Do with Shadow?.” Third and finally, “What Is the Gift of Shadow?” The Awakening What Is the Gift of Shadow? (Part…

The Summons: What Do We Do With Shadow? (Part 2 of 3)

This reflection continues an exploration of the unknown in our inner worlds, sometimes called the shadow. Part 1 took up the question “What Is Shadow?” while parts 2 and 3 follow the questions “What Do We Do with Shadow?” and “What Is the Gift of Shadow?” The Summons What Do We Do With Shadow? (Part 2…

The Unknown: What Is Shadow? (Part 1 of 3)

This reflection kicks off a three-part exploration of the unknown in our inner worlds, sometimes called the shadow. Part 1 takes up the question “What Is Shadow?” while parts 2 and 3 follow the questions “What Do We Do with Shadow?” and “What Is the Gift of Shadow?”

Lectio Divina: A Word for Me

Lectio Divina: A Word for Me Once upon a time there were two sisters, Mary and Martha, who had Jesus as a dinner guest. Martha, a first century ancestor of Martha Stewart, created an impeccable meal. Mary created—well, Mary was a first century ancestor of couch potatoes and just sat at Jesus’ feet. Isn’t that how the story…

Lectio of Surprises

Lectio of Surprises I’ve been practicing sustained lectio divina for a long time. Over the course of praying with many texts, I’m continually surprised by God. Last spring, I finished a long lectio with the Gospel of Luke that took me two-and-half years. It worked out that I read chapter 22 and 23 during Lent…

Lectio Divina Transformation

Lectio Divina Transformation “CONSIDER THE RAVENS; THEY DO NOT SOW OR REAP, YET YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER FEEDS THEM.” What was on my mind at that time was scarcity. Fear. Economic insecurity. In 2017, I lost my 27-year job as an office manager for an engineering consulting business when my former employer suddenly died. I was…

Conversatio: Living Conversion through Hospitality

S. Kathleen Atkinson OSB is the founder of Ministry on the Margins and keynote presenter for the Benedictine Center's 2020 Radical Hospitality Series (Feb. 27 - Mar. 1). Conversatio Living Conversion through Hospitality After returning from four months in Guatemala, I knew I couldn’t go back to ministry as it had been. I needed to…

Everyday Prophets

Everyday Prophets When we think ‘prophetic’ we need not always think grandly about public tasks. . . It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination. ― Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination When I hear the word prophet, I often imagine a bearded man shouting out the Truth with a…

Darkness as Essential to Transformation

Darkness as Essential to Transformation I have often described myself as a transformation junky. The resurrection narrative has always been my deep draw to the Christian faith. I believe in Martin Luther King’s view, that “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice,” and I have worked for that justice…

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