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Welcome to the Benedictine Cyber Toolbox
A Newsletter for Benedictine Living Today

 

November-December, 2012

 

In This Issue
An Upcoming Program
Welcome!
An Advent Choral Interlude
Jane's Article - Weaving
A Tool for Weaving Christ into My Life
A Musical Interlude
The Rule According to Randy
The Book Corner
Rejoice!
Upcoming Programs
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            Greetings!   

 

Welcome to the
Benedictine Cyber Toolbox!

 

 

Thank you for joining the quest for learning about and practicing the wisdom found in the Rule of St. Benedict.

  

Flowing out of my article for this issue is the theme of weaving which appears again in the tool and in the book that I'm recommending this month. Randy my cat is offering some Benedictine suggestions to help those who are dealing with a loss or who know folks who are during this holiday season.  I've also included some beautiful musical interludes in this issue.

 

As we move through this beautiful season of Advent let us all continue to commit our lives to Christ and to prefer him over all (RB 72.11).

 

Be sure to visit my website at www.stbenedictstoolbox.org.

 

Enjoy the newsletter and God bless you!

 

 

 

                                                                     Jane

 

An Advent Choral Interlude
 

One of my treasured images for Christ is "the Morning Star," the blessed Christ Star that rises in our hearts. "There shall a star from Jacob come forth" by Felix Mendelssohn is a stunning rendering of this theme.  To listen to this beautiful interlude, click here.

 

Morning Star  Nov-Dec 12

 

http://chongsoonkim.blogspot.com/2012/09/morning-star.html

Nov-Dec 2012  
 
    Featured Article
 
    WEAVING

"Your way of acting should be different from the worlds' way,

The love of Christ must come before all else."
                                                             RB 4.20-21sospects, and why? Know what is important to the

 

Advent may be my favorite liturgical season.  As the days become shorter and darker, the desire to be embraced by stillness grows deeper - to fix a warm cup of tea, to become lost in a book that draws me closer to the heart of Christ, to ponder the words of prophets or the journey of Mary or, especially, to just be still.  Truth is, reality is usually a different picture...

 

                        Hurry, hurry, on the run.

                        Rushing, shopping, never done.

                        Meetings, work, the job to do,

                        Pick up an extra shift or two.

 

                        Get out the recipes, plan what to make,

                        More shopping to do before I can bake!

                        More gifts to look for, will I ever be done?

                        More parties to go to, my life's on the run.

 

                        That carol I'm hearing going round in my head,

                        Do I really mean it, is that what I've said?

                        "Come into my heart, Lord Jesus," the words are my own.

                        But how can Christ come?  I'm never at home.

 

                                                            From "Hurry, Hurry" by Mary McCall Kulberg

 

 

Entering the season of Advent we become acutely aware of our busy lives as even more things to do are piled upon an already busy schedule-baking cookies for friends or teachers, buying gifts not only for loved ones but for people we do not know, attending school holiday concerts, decorating the house, visiting friends and families, cooking meals and cleaning house.   Do you sometimes feel that you have lost control of your life?  Are you rarely "at home?" 

 

Author Phyllis Tickle once observed that modernity has desanctified our external life, causing us to separate our experiences into categories and to "speak of our spiritual life as if it were different from our work life or our domestic life."[1]  The result is that we view some activities as spiritual, like church, reading the Bible or prayer, and view the rest as secular.  What you and I need to do always, but especially in busy times, is to be intentional about bringing all parts of our life together into one sanctified whole so that we can embrace the reality that all of life is infused with God's presence and peace.  Benedict would ask us to act differently from the usual world's way-to put the love of Christ first in how we approach everything (RB 4.20-21) and to "prefer nothing whatever to Christ."  (RB 72.11) 

 

And so, might I suggest that we become weavers?  Don't panic.  No need to run out and buy loom and yarn, although there must be much that is satisfying and peace-bringing about working at a loom and seeing something beautiful emerge.   What I'm suggesting is that we find a way to weave all parts of our life together into a sacred whole. 

 

To weave, a loom is set up with scores of threads or yarn that run lengthwise front to back from where the weaver sits.  These threads are called the "warp."  The weaver wraps a small device called a "shuttle" with more thread or yarn that is called the "weft," an Old English word meaning "that which is woven."  The shuttle is then tossed back and forth amongst the warp threads.  The weaver works foot pedals that raise the warp threads in various configurations resulting in the pattern on the woven cloth.  So cool!

 

Here's my idea.  You and I sit at the loom of our life.  Each warp thread is a facet of our life, an activity, a role, a responsibility, a task, a community that we are a part of.  There are many colors and textures, some bright and shining, some dark and dull.  As we look intently at the warp, the combination may be beautiful.  Yet the threads serve no greater purpose than just existing by themselves.  There are spaces between each thread so that nothing can be held or supported.  The threads of the warp are isolated and weak.  This is what the Noc-Dec 2012 many facets of our lives can seem like at times-separate and stressful occurrences serving no purpose except to be dealt with and finished.  Like the warp on a loom, they need to be joined together into a holy unity.  And so we use the shuttle to weave the woof yarn into the warp.  What is the shuttle?  Christ is our shuttle!  The yarn of who he is will join the warp of our lives into a solid and glorious unity; a unity that is strong, purposeful and purpose-filled.  Jesus tells us how to work the foot pedals, so that his presence can create special patterns of infinite beauty, unique for each one of us.  As we toss the shuttle of Christ back and forth through the threads of the loom, with him we weave together the myriad piece parts of each year, each day, each hour, each minute.  The warp of life begins to make sense as we see everything as it is joined together by Christ. 

 

All you and I need to do is pick up that shuttle. 

 

We can do this by recognizing that Christ is present in all of life.  Benedict tells us that the Divine Presence is everywhere (RB 19.1)  Shopping?  Christ is there.  Decorating the house?  He is there too.  Filling the house with Christmas carols?  He is definitely present.  As we do our work we can envision the shuttle of Christ making sense of it all, bringing all into a unity, making all holy and blessed.  We can also pause even briefly throughout the day to envision the loom and Christ who brings all together.  We can be at home with him and let him help us see everything we do as infused with his life-giving and creative spirit.

 

Have a blessed Advent!

 

Jane



[1]  Alive Now, Nov/Dec, 1997, p.23.  Alive Now is a wonderful resource for story, poem and spiritual inspiration published by The Upper Room.  Please check it out!   

 
© December 2012 The Rev. Dr. Jane A. Tomaine
 

The photos in my article are from The Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners Guild.  The guild has been in existence since 1948 and is a not-for-profit corporation that promotes the teaching of weaving, spinning and other related crafts in both their historic, contemporary and technical context to interested community members of all ages. 

 

 

A Tool for Weaving Christ into My Life

 

Purpose of the Tool: To  let Christ help you create a life tapestry of beauty and strength

Nov-Dec 2012   

Background on the Tool:  You sit at a loom where the multi-colored threads of all the parts of your life stretch out in front of you.  With Christ as your Shuttle, he will join these threads together into a unified whole.  He is the weft thread, interwoven into who you are and all you do. 

 

The Tool:  Envision your day and all in it as threads - some colorful, some perhaps dark, some even with tiny gold threads woven in with the cotton or wool.  Pick up Christ the Shuttle and let him cover your thread with his and draw it into the whole.  See the pattern emerge and the fabric grow and strengthen.  At the beginning of the day you could even envision all you know you will do that day as threads and even include a few "undesignated" threads.  Ask Christ to be the Shuttle that will weave his grace into your day.

 

Weave my life together, O Christ;

Weave the weft of your grace

     into my day.

 

Weave my life into yours, Dear One,

    to be with you, to live for you.

 

I release the threads of my life to you
so we are...
together

a tapestry of
    beauty and strength.

            

© December 2012 The Rev. Dr. Jane A. Tomaine


An Advent Musical Interlude
Nov-Dec 2012

 

Click on the name link below to hear one of the truly glorious Advent anthems - 

 

     "E'en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come" by Paul Manz.

 

 

 

  

"Annunciation - Detail" by Ruth Councell.  

After you've listened to the Manz,please visit Ruth's website to see more of her wonderful work. 

 

Randy 
The Rule According to Randy

 

Mewsings

 

 

 

Hi there!  Hope you're having a good day.

 

I know that Jane's focusing on weaving in this issue, but, honestly, I don't get this idea of weaving a tapestry.  We felines would rather unweave a tapestry!

 

I have some sad news to report.  We lost one of our faithful in the cloister of eight.  Marcy.  She had cancer and got really thin and weak.  Jane and John did all they could to help her, the vet did too, but when she left the house we knew we wouldn't see her again.  It's so hard losing a friend or someone you

Nov-Dec 2012
Marcy  1999-2012

love, isn't it?  It's especially hard when the holidays come around.  So I thought I'd see what's in the Rule to help those of us who feel bad because we've lost someone or to guide us in being helpful to others who have.  Here's what I found.

 

Helping others is part of the promise of obedience.  Benedict says that when the voice of authority calls, it's really Christ calling us, so we're to drop what we're doing, even a nap, and follow his voice. (RB 5.7)  He instructs us to aid someone in distress and to support one another.  Encouraging compassion and presence, in Chapter 4 - The Tools for Good Works he asks us to "console the grieving." (RB 4.19)  To me this means that I can be proactive and search for ways to lift another's sadness even just a little.  Marcy's sister Smokey is still in the cloister so here's is my opportunity to put the Rule into practice.  I'm going to paw a quick note to Abbess Jane suggesting that she give Smokey extra food for strength and extra pets and brushes for comfort.  Is there someone near you like Smokey you could console as Benedict asks us to do? 

 

The Rule points my paw towards compassion in so many places.  In Chapter 34 - Distribution According to Need, Benedict says that consideration and extra kindness are to be given to those who are not strong. (RB 34.2)   He devotes a whole chapter on the need for compassion and consideration for the elderly and children because of their lack of strength and a chapter on caring for sick - Chapter 36 - where we read that the sick are to be served as Christ himself and out of honor for God.  We are to bear the sick patiently and not to neglect them.  All these instructions surely must apply to the sad or grieving, too, for both of these sure make you feel weak and sick!   When I'm sad I need to remember to have consideration for myself, too - perhaps an extra nap or cuddling up with chubby Charlotte or giving myself a break not to do anything...I'm pretty good at that last thing.

 

There have been quite a few feline forbearers in this cloister, cats whose deeds and stories have been passed down through the years by mew of mouth.  Charlotte told me that the night Penny died, the beloved cat Sam lay down on the rug beside her to be with her and to be a comforting presence.  It's not easy for us to be with anyone who is sad or dying, animal or human.  Most of us here in the cloister tend to ignore such things, wrongfully, of course.  But Sam took to heart the promise of obedience and Benedict's direction to "never turn away from someone who needs your love." (RB 4.26)  He met Penny where she was and helped companion her to animal heaven. 

 

Let's promise to be present and observant like Sam and like the superior of the monastery, so that we can to adjust what we do to all the differences in animals and humans (RB 2.32).  Then we can figure out if we are to mew (trans. "speak"), snuggle (trans. provide comfort), just listen or even share a fun cat toy (trans. help someone "change the channel" from the sadness).

 

Bottom line, wise Sr. Scholastic Muffin, O.S.B.F. (Order of St. Benedict - Feline) says that the antidote to sadness is a wide or expanded heart.[i]  With that in mind, and heart, when sadness creeps in I'm going to imagine my little heart growing bigger and bigger and give myself as a gift to someone this holiday season - a listening ear and a soft, understanding mew of comfort.  Hope you will, too!

 

 

Yours in the season of Advent,

 

Randy's Signature  

     

Sam
                            
Nov-Dec 2012
Penny warming up

[i]  In her book Why the Rule of St. Benedict is Not Just For Humans, Sr. Scholastica here quotes Mark Scott's book At Home With St. Benedict, p. 163, which Jane reviewed earlier this year.

© December, 2012 Randy the Cat

 

The Book Corner 
A Recommended Read
 
Weaving a Life of Prayer
A 30-Day Journey
by Marsha Crockett

 

 

This I first read this book a number of years ago and thought of it again upon finishing my article for this newsletter entitled "Weaving."  The book is an engaging and thoughtful account of the author's journey towards wholeness.

 

Author Marsha Crockett invites us to travel with her on a 30-Day journey as she shares the story of working through deeply buried anger from a painful time in her life and moves towards a life of unceasing prayer and praise.  Most of us have buried piles of unresolved pain that rear up and block our freedom.  That is why I find this book so helpful.  It encourages us to turn to God, work with and through the pain and anger and into a life of fuller praise.

 

Using tapestry as a metaphor, she speaks of "loose threads," "hanging by a thread" and how God is the weaver of the tapestry of our lives.  I appreciate the way she ties her story to Scripture.  In each of the ten chapters we meet a biblical woman and then read three reflections on how her story can shed light on our own lives.  Each chapter includes a Scripture quote for reflection, a related non-biblical quote and questions for us to ponder as we journey with her.

 

While this book is not Benedictine by name it is Benedictine in spirit.  For example, Crockett encourages us to pour out our self-sufficiency (obedience), to cease our grumbling, to be passionate about our relationship with Christ ("Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ."  RB 72.11), and to companion with others in the journey (RB 1).   I'm going to read this book again as my Advent/Christmas spiritual practice.  Won't you join me?

 

Details on the Book:

Weaving a Life of Prayer - A 30-Day Journey by Marsha Crockett. InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, IL, 1998.  ISBN: 978-0-8146-344-8.

 

This book is out of print but is available through a number of sources listed below.

 

amazon.com        abebooks.com      alibris.com      barnesandnoble.com

 

 

Nov-Dec 2012
Marsha Crockett

 

"Marsha Crockett is an award-winning author who writes and speaks with a heart touched by God. Her mission in life is to unveil God's presence in the ordinary corners of life. She has authored five books including the most recent from NavPress, Break Through: Unearthing God's Image to Find the Real You. Additionally, she has contributed to 6 others, including the Couple's Devotional Bible, and has written dozens of magazine articles.  She speaks to women's groups, in churches, at writer's conferences and retreat settings. She also leads workshops in the business world on stress reduction, career building, and defining success."  (taken from Marsha's website.)

 

Please visit Marsha Crockett's website.  And for a listing of her books, click here.

 

 

Nov-Dec 2012
Rejoicing: A young immigrant mother and her daughter   Ellis Island - early 1900's.  

 

 

Rejoice always,

pray without ceasing, 

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God in 

Christ Jesus for you.

 

1 Thes 5:16-18

 

"

 

 


Upcoming Programs

                                                   AdelynroodPrg           


Lenten Phone-In Program

 

I would like to once again open an opportunity for learning and sharing during the 2013 Lenten season and wanted to let you know to see if you might be interested in joining the circle.

 

Following programs of the last three years, we would gather by phone from 7:30 - 9:00 EST on Tuesday evenings during Lent.  

 

To the phone contact this year I am adding a screen sharing ability so that you can see what I project onto my computer screen.  There would be a modest participant fee for these six weeks, TBD.

 

I'm pondering topics and wanted to find out who would be interested in joining this circle of learning and sharing.

 

If you are interested, think you might be or would like more information as it becomes available, please click here to let me know.

 

  

 

      Bring Jane to Your Church, Monastery or Organization!
                      

 

Sep-Oct 2012
Oblates at St. Benedict's in St. Joseph, Minnesota pondering ways to declutter
Plan a Retreat or Program
  

  

Jane is available to do retreats and programs in the Benedictine Tradition and Spirituality.  Content is personalized.  Programs will bring the ideas to life in a practical and down-to-earth way. 

 

Retreats are modeled by Benedictine balance-time alone and time together, and time for rest, study  and prayer.  

 

 

sep-Oct 2012
Getting unfrazzled with Benedict in Atlanta

Contact Jane at 908-233-0134,

cell-908-463-3252

or via email at

     janetomaine@stbenedictstoolbox.org 

 

For ideas and possibilities you may wish to view a list of retreat programs and participating groups  on the web site by clicking here.

 

 Jane's Scheduled Retreats and Programs are    frequently updated and  published here.


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Jane Tomaine

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