Saint Benedict-Subiaco and Birthdays

Praise You Father
Bless You Jesus
Holy Spirit-Thank you for being here
Being here---------------Now !



Dear Friends July 11, 2007

Today is the feast of St. Benedict: He was born at Norcia in Umbria, about 480. He studied in Rome and then turned his back on the world and lived in solitude in Subiaco. Disciples came to him and he went to Monte Cassino, where he founded a monastery. He wrote his Rule which established the spirituality and way of life of monastic communities ever since. He died in 547.

I feel quite a connection to St. Benedict and his Rule for a couple of reasons; one being the struggle between the active and contemplative life , which is finding its balance, here, in my life in Uganda. The other is my years of friendship with the priests and brothers of Subiaco Monastery in Arkansas.
Many of you know that I have been involved in retreats for people with HIV-AIDS for 15 years, all held at Subiaco, Arkansas. Thanks to Trudy James (RAIN = Regional AIDS Interfaith Network)) who first invited me to “Heartsong # 8”. I was on the team as a nurse, costume director, liturgical dance instructor and whatever, until my last retreat when I had the privilege of being the Coordinator of the “Heartsong-Positive Spirit” Reunion.

God our Father,
you made Saint Benedict an outstanding guide
to teach men how to live in your service.
Grant that by preferring your love to everything else,
we may walk in the way of your commandments
.
.. Besides the lifelong friends I made, the extraordinary experiences I enjoyed, the deep mourning at the loss of so many wonderful young people in the prime of their life, I also met Abbot Jerome, Fr.Aaron, Brother Mel, Brother James and many other religious at Subiaco, who I now am honored to call friends in Christ. They helped teach me about the balance between a contemplative life of meditation and prayer and an active life in the midst of the suffering and celebration in the lives of those infected and affected with HIV-AIDS. I honor them today on the feast of their Founder, Saint Benedict and I honor my new friend, Sr. Benedict, here at St. Francis in Mutolere, Uganda. I woke early this morning to attend Mass (I am just not a morning person) and to gift Sr. Benedict with a single yellow rose bud for her feast day.
.
Today is also a special day of celebrating the birth of my good friend Joan Dickerson
(Now we are the same age for another 10 months-HA) and my very young friend, two year old Olivia, the daughter of my supervisor Sr. Justine. I am going to have a small dinner-birthday celebration for Olivia tonight and the balloons and other goodies Mary Johns recently sent, arrived at a perfect time.
I so wish I had photos with me of Subiaco but they all were taken before I knew the joys of storing photos in my computer, so I will include a photo of Carolyn W, Dana S. and myself performing a spontaneous favorite liturgical dance “Praise You Father” at my going away party at Cynthia K. This movement in prayer has been performed by countless retreatents over 25 Heartsong and Positive Spirit Retreats.

Last year on this day I was on a personal retreat at Good Shepard Retreat House in South Africa, concluding three months volunteering at Sparrows AIDS Orphanage. I knew, at the time, that those three months were only a precursor to three years as a missionary somewhere in Africa, but I did not know it would be Uganda. How grateful I am to be here in this beautiful country, with people who don’t just believe in God, but live lives of” knowing” that God in their everyday existence.
Marie