Sr. Mary Luke Jones, OSB

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    Most of us remember the time when a 50-year worker received a gold watch from the company.  And we remember when almost every couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.  And maybe we remember living in the same town and the same neighborhood and the same house where we were born.

    I don’t have to tell you, for the most part, those days are gone!  Over the years, people have gotten much more mobile, more interested in the greener grass, more willing to transfer to a new location because of a job opportunity, a relationship or simply because travel has gotten much easier and affordable.

    The concept of stability, so emphasized in St. Benedict’s Rule, is lost to the wanderlust we now see so evident.  Travel and relocation are not bad as long as one is not running away from something.  Monastics today talk about “staying at the table.”  By that, we simply mean that once I have committed myself to this life, with these people, in this place, I honor that commitment by giving myself 100% to it.   

    Benedict condemns those who move in, cause trouble and move out.  That is not the Benedictine way.  Living in community means that my sisters are primary.  Their wellbeing is my concern.  Their troubles are mine.  Their joys, the same.  When tensions arise, we talk and discern and pray for each other rather than flee.  We do not take the easy way out by taking off.  We stay at it until it is resolved in a collaborative and peace filled manner. 

        After all, if we do this right, we have nowhere else to go.