The Flow of God’s Blessings Over 160 Years

Editor’s note: Sister Jennifer Halling gave this reflection at the compline service that followed the lantern procession.

My great-great-grandfather, Lambert Halling, has a unique role in the history of Mount St. Scholastica. He was working as a carpenter for the monks of Saint Benedict’s Abbey when, at around 11 pm on the night of November 11, 1863, he set off with his colleague James Kennedy to meet seven Benedictine sisters at the ferry in Atchison. They escorted the sisters to a newly constructed convent/school at 2nd and Division Streets. Then, because the wharf master had heard of threats to burn down the house if Catholic sisters came, these two men paced the street in front of the building, lanterns in hand, to ward off potential intruders.

It’s likely that the monks dispatched their carpenters to meet and protect the sisters (and to safeguard the building, which had been built at a cost of $4,150, a sum not easily come by in those days).

At any rate, my great-great-grandfather listened to the call to protect this small band of vulnerable women; he happened to be present at a time of need and he responded. In doing so, he became an agent of God’s mercy.

This act of service was among the first of many, many ways that God has used the good will of others to deal mercifully with the sisters of Mount St. Scholastica in its 160-year history.

• That the sisters had a convent to live in was itself a result of the generosity of the people of Atchison, who founded a society of 100 families who contributed 50 cents a month to help pay for the building. Upon learning that the sisters were eating off of wooden crates, one local family donated their own dining room table to the sisters. As the sisters started to teach in mission schools throughout Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Colorado, the townspeople and farmers who had very little themselves ensured that the sisters were fed and kept warm.
• The monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey have always been very kind to the sisters by helping to provide for their physical and spiritual needs. The monks also advocated for the sisters’ rights to self-governance when they sought to form a monastic congregation with other Benedictine women’s communities, which required approval of a constitution by Rome.
• The sisters received good advice and generosity in financial matters along the way; they were extended credit to buy St. Cecilia’s, which became their second convent, and to build their monastery, chapels, and college buildings.
• Throughout its history, the Mount has been blessed through the vocations of women who generously gave their lives and considerable skills to help this monastic community thrive. We are also grateful for the many talented lay employees who have served us over the years.

As the book of Sirach says (50:22-24), we bless the God of all who everywhere does great things, including at the monastery of Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas. Like my great-great-grandfather and so many others, we who are present today when others are in need can join in God’s great flow of mercy. We can stand up for those in our own time who are misunderstood or oppressed. We can provide spiritual and physical sustenance for those who need food and housing and for those who are hungry to know God. And in extending God’s mercy to others, we come to see how God deals mercifully with each of us in our own time of need, our own time of brokenness, our own times when we need rescue. In being agents of God’s mercy by serving others, we learn gratitude and humility. And so may we extend God’s light to others, that God may give us gladness in our hearts and peace in our times.