May 31, 2012, was the solemn profession day for two Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of St. Walburga. St. Benedict says in his rule, “Let him who is to be received make in the oratory, in the presence of all, a promise of stability, conversion of manners and obedience before God and his saints. This petition is to be written in his own hand.” The two sisters, Sr. Lioba and Sr. Maria-Gertrude, followed their spiritual father, Saint Benedict, by doing just that.
Mother had an interesting insight into what it means for a Bride of Christ to die to self. She said, “You have embraced the very heart of what John the Baptist has said, ‘He must increase, I must decrease.’ If a nun’s deaths do not make her more alive to God, she is still living in the Old Testament, she will not be very good news to the world; but you are good news to the world. You have embraced the Paschal Mystery.”
The Abbey is the newest IRL Affiliate Community. Located in the Archdiocese of Denver, they were founded in 1935 from the Abbey of St. Erentrud in Austria. In addition to participation in the daily Eucharist, spiritual reading and liturgical prayer, they also run a gift shop and retreat house.
I think this is the abbey where Sister Genevieve Glen is a member. She has written the texts of many hymns found in the publication, ‘Magnificat’. I met her in 2002, at a ‘Gloria Congress’ which ‘Magnificat’ put on in NYC.
I remember especially the words to a hymn she wrote in memory of all those who died on 9/11 (the Congress was held just days before the first anniversary). The tune was to the famous ‘Navy Hymn’ (‘Eternal Father, Strong To Save’). I complimented Sister Genevieve on her work (as well as her wearing the full Benedictine habit and veil!).
And her response was, ‘It [the 9/11 hymn] took a lot of prayer, and a lot of tears’.
Isn’t Sister Genevieve the same one who shows up at the entrances, clothings, and professions at Mother Angelica’s Monastery of Our Lady of the Angels in Alabama? I often wonder when there will be a monastic Chapter to elect Mother’s successor as Abbess….
I hope and pray that the Abbey of St. Walburga is not in the path of the fire that’s going on right now in Colorado. That part of the country surely needs rain-much more than here in the Northeast!
I’ll have to look for her name in my Magnificat!