Threshold - Winter 2005

From Sister Anne Shepard,
Prioress of Mount St. Scholastica

Dear Friends,

All of you can identify with a theme of journey. A common experience of travel is a vacation, a relaxed kind of journey; one wherein we “vacate” our work worries. Many of you have a regular, annual routine. Others are spontaneous and arrange plans as the time nears. Some like to have every detail mapped out before they begin. Still others “go with the flow.”

Spiritual journeys are also both spontaneous and planned. Catholic Christians have completed the season of Advent and we find ourselves currently in Christmastide. In our monastic prayer, we gather deliberately multiple times during the day as we leave work for a while and head to chapel. We find ourselves chanting scriptural words of hope and patience, of awakening to the Spirit of Christ that is within us at baptism. The words of prophets serve as a compass to help us find our way back to the true mission of people of faith: to unite in community, to share our resources with those who have less than we do, to confront injustices and to work for peace. We join Christians globally as we welcome the Prince of Peace, the “wonder counselor,” the person of Jesus. Mary and Joseph, his parents, had one rugged journey prior to the birth of this great prophet. The best of planning on their part resulted in rejection and door slamming. The birth place became a reminder of how greatness can emerge from simple, difficult beginnings.

Seven sisters came to Atchison in 1863. Little did they know that 142 years later, the number would rise to 739, the total of both living and deceased members of Mount St. Scholastica. These numbers do not reflect those who are members of our daughter houses in Mexico, California and Colorado.

Asked to come to teach the daughters of German immigrants, our foremothers had to learn the native language and convey practical and academic knowledge with few material resources. Their brave trip resulted in an enormous influence on women and men not just in Atchison, but all over the world.

That one trip served as the beginning of courageous initiatives that are still a part of the fabric of who we are as Atchison Benedictine sisters. Their faith lives prompted us to strengthen our passion for prayer and attendance at the liturgy of the hours. We have, in our history, journal entries wherein the sisters gently confronted unjust practices within the house and with local civic and church leaders. We have stories of extreme sacrifices that were made to see to it that others were cared for, a clear backdrop to our motivation of how to use our resources today.

We settled in Atchison and, now in this technological age, we journey not only into other countries, but into the universe. We do not go alone. You are here with us. You have walked with us, been taught by us, been raised with us in our homes, worshiped with us and in many cases kept vigil with us at the bedside of the dying. Throughout this journey, as Benedictine sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, we promise fidelity to the monastic way of life. I welcome you to this edition of Threshold where you will read that we promise to develop our directional statements so as to continue our exciting and purposeful journey. We are grateful for your ongoing support and we invite you to continue as partners in our travels.

God’s special blessings to each of you in 2006, wherever the year takes you.

Peace
Sister Anne Shepard
Prioress

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