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Threshold - Fall 2003
From the Editor
About the Cover:
The cover of this issue introduces a new community logo featuring a sketch
of the bell tower of Mount St. Scholastica. The picture on the cover of
this issue is of an icon of Mother Evangelista Kremmeter, first prioress
and one of the seven foundresses of the community. The icon is the work
of Sister Paula Howard, who was commissioned to write it in celebration
of
the 140th
anniversary of the community’s founding, which is this November 11.
The title, Threshold, remains unchanged. The threshold is the place where
the world of the monastery and the rest of the world meet. It is where we
exercise our hospitality, where we invite others to enter in, where we go
forth to serve, where we let others get their first glimpse of who we are
and how we live.
In a recent article in the American Benedictine Review, entitled “Benedictines
in the Third Millennium,” Sister Ruth Fox compared the monastery to
a house and had this to say about thresholds: “As we consider our
house of God, we might first look at our threshold, remembering that ‘Every
exit is also an entrance.’ Who is standing on our threshold, knocking
at the door, stepping into our monasteries? . . . Our plan for updating
the threshold for the house of God for the new millennium should make it
broad enough to welcome the people of the globe.”
Obviously, this publication is only a small step, but it does speak of our
desire to welcome. It is the place where sisters and readers meet and greet
one another. It is meant to show the diversity of our world and the many
places in which our monastery opens upon the wider world of people, things,
and ideas.
About the Issue:
It has been said that humans are the only animals that make art. One can
therefore assume that the making of art happens in the part of this unique
animal that is in the image of God.
It should, however, be more accurately stated that we are the only animals
who consciously make art. I’m not talking here about the kinds of
paintings our dog Amigo made when we’d dip his feet in paint and put
him on a sheet of paper, although the fad of such “pet paintings” enjoyed
some popularity at one time.
Some of the most intricate weavings I’ve seen were hung for display
on garden fences by spiders. I have heard beautiful liturgical music sung
by birds on the sills of the open chapel windows, their warbling amazingly
in tune and time with the chanting choir. There is the unique pleasure of
watching the performance art of a monarch butterfly emerging from its cocoon,
its wings throbbing into graceful fullness.
It is no wonder, then, that Benedict suggests that human artists not be
too full of themselves. St. Benedict’s rule is full of reminders that
God is the source of all good. Nevertheless, humans are in the image of
God, so it would be impossible not to have inherited some capacity for creativity
and beauty.
This issue of Threshold is devoted to the arts and artisans of the monastery.
The Benedictine way does not ask the potential co-creator to check her imagination
or her talents at the door. Rather, her whole being, and especially her
ability to make beauty, are welcomed in the household. Beauty is a way of
praise, and a way of uplifting, and a way of honoring God out of the gifts
God gives.
These monastic artists are people who know that art is gift . . . not the
artists’ gift to the world but God’s gift to the artist. They
speak in these articles of being open to the art that comes to them, of
peering into the divine mysteries through it, of trying to find ways to
say the inexpressible and depict the unseeable.
Recently, we were visited by author Kathleen Norris. In her address at Benedictine
College, she talked about how we must make art out of our daily lives and
experiences. How hard that can be in a world where we don’t even notice
profound beauty. We sit watching the TV while the sun sets outside; we whiz
by the wildflowers at 70 miles per hour.
The artist is the one who has the ability to see beauty and the hunger to
express it. Benedict would say that is the essence of the monastic life
as well. The Benedictine way is to see beauty and create beauty out of all
of life. The care-worn face becomes a story, the bent and halting movement
of the elder a dance. The narrative of an unexpected visitor, when the last
thing I needed was one more interruption, must become a song.
It is no surprise, then, that the beloved line “that in all things
God may be glorified” is found in the chapter on the artisans. Each
of us is artist in our ability to see that God is present in our lives and
makes something beautiful of all that we are and make and experience.
What if we were to think of the world as God’s great art gallery?
God has produced every kind of work in every variety of media: animal, vegetable
and mineral. The walls are literally covered with the works God wants to
display, an eager artist with so much to express. The admission is free;
the gallery is open all hours. All we have to do is walk in, open our eyes
and bring a sense of appreciation.
Judith Sutera, OSB
Threshold Editor |
