A View from the Towers: For Benedictine sisters, summer vacation never includes time off from prayer

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A View from the Towers: For Benedictine sisters, summer vacation never includes time off from prayer

While students enjoy summer vacation, Benedictine sisters balance study, community and work — remaining rooted in prayer without taking a break. 

By Julie A. Ferraro | FāVS News Writer

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. 

Students in schools across the U.S. — and the world — live for their summer vacation. In some ways, so do the teachers, who may be busier than ever during June, July and August.

Catholic women religious engaged in the ministry of educating children, especially, rarely got much of a “vacation,” even when they weren’t required in the classroom.

In fact, they might find themselves sitting in a classroom themselves during the summer.

And, they certainly never got a vacation from their prayers.

The sisters at the Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery of St. Gertrude could tell many stories about their days as teachers in schools throughout Idaho and elsewhere. No more had the final bell chimed at the end of the spring semester, though, and they were on to different tasks.

Returning ‘home’ to prayer

A continuing tradition is for the entire community — now including oblates, employees and members of the Koinonia of St. Gertrude — to gather at the monastery for community meetings. This offers an opportunity for everyone to catch up on what’s been happening during the past year, to discuss projects and plans, and have a bit of fun.

Along with praying together.

Indeed, the sisters who staffed the classrooms in the schools would start each day leading their students in prayer and, once upon a time, attending Mass together. As requirements changed over the decades, daily Mass for students changed to, perhaps, once each week — in addition to Sundays, of course. But the prayers before the first class in the morning, and at the end of the day, remained.

Once the classrooms had been cleaned after the students commenced their summer vacation, the sisters returned “home” to the monastery, where they hoped their students wouldn’t take a vacation from their prayers. The sisters might be taking summer courses, working toward earning a master’s degree or learning about the latest innovations in teaching styles, but they always found time for prayer.

Prayer seen as dedicated service

That’s because — for Benedictines, in particular — prayer is what binds life together in all its aspects. St. Benedict spent a lot of effort, when he wrote his Rule, detailing how prayers should be recited in the monastery: what Psalms, what hours of the day and so forth. 

In Chapter 20, Benedict writes, “How much more important, then, to lay our petitions before the Lord God of all things with the utmost humility and sincere devotion.” This founder of Western monasticism didn’t see prayer as a matter of personal convenience, but of dedicated service — a way to lift up the world to God, who loves and cares for all of us, and all creation.

While Benedict’s writings on prayer cover 13 chapters of the 73 in his Rule, the spirit of prayer runs through the entire document. “Let us consider, then, how we ought to behave in the presence of God and his angels, and let us stand to sing the Psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony with our voices,” he writes in Chapter 9.

‘No vacation from prayer’

The closest Benedict came to giving his monks a “vacation” actually came in winter, due to the shorter amount of daylight available in an era without electricity. The hours of the Divine Office recited during the day ran closer together — those hours determined by a sundial, most likely, before the age of clocks.

Winter nights being longer, the monks could sleep a bit more. In Chapter 8, Benedict writes, “During the winter season, that is, from the first of November until Easter, it seems reasonable to arise at the eighth hour of the night.” 

Summer, in most monasteries — many of which supported themselves by farming — was an undeniably busy time, and still is today. Prayer remains the focus beyond the labor, though, and balanced with the labor: Ora et Labora (prayer and work).

For Benedictines, there’s no vacation from prayer!

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