Category Archives: Kownacki

REFLECTION: I believe…

Posted on April 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki, osbby Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB
Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace

The renewal of baptismal promises is a high point at the Easter liturgies we just celebrated. “Do you believe in…” the celebrant asks over and over and the congregation responds, “I do” to the tenets of the faith.

Well, the church creed is one thing, but how about a personal creed. What do I believe, really? To find out I wrote the words “I believe” ten times on a sheet of paper and finished the sentence. Here’s what I came up with:

I believe that God is love and the measure of my belief is how kind I am to others.
I believe spending time with children is a good spiritual practice
I believe that writing –alone or with others—is my path to wholeness
I believe with Dostoyevsky that “beauty will save the world” and try to add a purple splash here a poem there
I believe that good friends and laughter are life’s greatest gifts
I believe in greeting the sun with, “This is the day our God has made, let us rejoice and be glad.”
I believe in nonviolence and speaking truth to power–out loud.
I believe in surrounding myself with art on the walls and inspiring words on the shelves
I believe what’s best for my soul is solitude and New Year’s Eve in Times Square
I believe in spiritual teachers and find the most enlightened eat at our soup kitchen…

To read the rest of Sr. Mary Lou’s blog post, click here.

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Posted in Ambassadors of Peace, Bread for the Journey, Kownacki, Reflection, Sharing Wisdom, Teach Peace, Teacher of Peace, Women Religious

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INTERVIEW: Sr. Anne McCarthy, former PCUSA National Coordinator, on St. Brigid of Kildare

Posted on March 1, 2013 | Comments Off

Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki, osbby Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB
Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace

Sister Anne McCarthy, a member of the leadership council for Monasteries of the Heart, recently visited Ireland where she made a pilgrimage to the site of her mentor, Saint Brigid of Kildare. I interviewed Anne when she returned because this is a saint for all members of Monasteries of the Heart.

Who is Brigid of Kildare?

kbbrixBrigid of Kildare, was a monastic founder, abbess, and church leader known for her great mercy and care for the poor. She was the daughter of a powerful chieftain and a Christian slave woman around 450 in Ireland at a time when Christianity was slowing taking root in the Celtic culture and religion. The lore, hagiography, rituals and traditions of St. Brigid of Kildare are impossible to separate from her namesake, the Celtic goddess, Brigid. Both are identified with the coming of Spring, with sacred wells and with fire. Both are celebrated on Feb. 1st.

Brigid founded a monastery for women and for men that became the thriving monastic city of Kildare (Cill Dara, the church of the oak, named by Brigid after a tree, not a man as was the norm.) Her monastery was an important center of hospitality, culture, education and worship in Ireland and beyond until the suppression of abbeys in the 16th Century. In the early 1800s, the then Bishop of Kildare restored the ancient Order of Brigid, which now carries Brigid’s charism around the world.…

To read the rest of this interview, click here.

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Posted in Bread for the Journey, Interview, Kownacki, Reflection, Teach Peace, Teacher of Peace, Women Religious

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REFLECTION: Love is patient

Posted on February 5, 2013 | Comments Off

Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki, osbby Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB
Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace

The Rule of Benedict invites extra reading during Lent and it is the custom in our community for the prioress to give each sister a special book to read during that period. As members of Monasteries of the Heart, we are suggesting God Speaks in Many Tongues: Meditate with Joan Chittister on 40 Sacred Texts for your Lenten reading. As you know we are offering the book in print and online (along with 8 videos by Joan), as well as an open discussion on the website.

I like the simplicity and creativity of this book. Each day in Lent there is a short text from a major religious tradition and then a meditation by Joan. She explains in her introduction:

“As I read each sacred text, I chose one phrase or a few lines that revealed a new understanding or raised a new question about God in my life. I recorded my reflection on each text and I invite you to do the same. In using this book together may we listen to another way of praise, hear the message of God in another voice, and discover the sacred in all things. May this little book be an adventure in finding new ways to see God and new ways to God.”…

To read the rest of Sr. Mary Lou’s blog post, click here.

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Posted in Bread for the Journey, Kownacki, Reflection, Scripture, Teach Peace, Teacher of Peace, Women Religious

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REFLECTION: A favorite Scripture – Matthew 25

Posted on January 29, 2013 | Comments Off

Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki, osbby Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB
Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace

Every week I post a story for the “Give Me a Word” section of the MOH website. Last week, Story 58, was one by Abba Poemen in which he noted that, given enough time, soft water can wear away hard stone. In the same way, he concluded, constant exposure to God’s tender word can soften our hard heart.

The discussion question asked readers: Is there was a particular scripture quote or story that, over time, changed your heart?

I thought about that story and question a lot. Was there a Scripture that changed my heart? Then I remembered Matthew 25—the story of the Last Judgment, the Scripture I chose as a young adult to build my life around.…

To read the rest of Sr. Mary Lou’s blog, click here.

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Posted in Bread for the Journey, Kownacki, Reflection, Scripture, Teach Peace, Teacher of Peace, Women Religious

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REFLECTION: A better place

Posted on January 8, 2013 | Comments Off

Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki, osbby Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB
Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, but a beautiful response to the Newtown, tragedy that I read about has me rethinking the idea. It was reported that in Altoona, PA a woman returned to her car after holiday shopping and found a Christmas card under her windshield. When she opened it, she found $10 and this message: “How do you fight evil in the world? You fight it with good. This act of kindness is in memory of a child who lost his or her life yesterday. Make the world a better place. Do good and Merry Christmas.”

Then I read about Ann Curry’s idea that we do 26 acts of kindness in memory of the 26 killed in Newtown.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/18/15999109-if-you-do-good-youll…

And this reminded me that all MOH members and communities—as part of their membership commitment–are invited to adopt a good work. (See Good Works page.) Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Monasteries of the Heart made a New Year’s commitment to do random acts of goodness throughout the year in memory of the Newtown, CT. children. It doesn’t have to be a monetary act—a note to someone, a prayer, a gift of your time are three of endless possibilities. This is a “good work” accessible to all that can have quite a ripple effect, especially if you leave a note telling the recipient why you are doing it. Somehow that simple act honors the Newtown innocents in a meaningful way…

To read the rest of Sr. Mary Lou’s blog, click here.

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Posted in Bread for the Journey, Kownacki, Reflection, Teacher of Peace, Women Religious

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ADVENT 2012: Reflection for Second Sunday of Advent, Dec. 9

Posted on December 8, 2012 | Comments Off

By Mary Lou Kownacki, osb

Baruch 5:1-9 | Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 | Luke 3:1-6

Every story has a hero. The Christmas story is no different. This Sunday, we meet the first hero of the season. His name is John.

What makes a person a hero?

I remember two of mine. The Catholic high school I attended in the 50′s had a yearly retreat. In my sophomore year I was disrupting a period of silence and was told either to “go to the library and get a book to read or go to the office for detention.”

I opted for the library and grabbed a book titled Tumbleweed from the table filled with retreat materials. In those pages I met Catherine de Hueck Doherty, the Baroness. Almost forty years later I remember how my heart burned within me as I read the story of her life, how this woman who was born to privilege in Russia lost everything during the revolution and came to understand that being a Christian meant serving the poorest of the poor. It gave me a whole new vision of what it took to be a follower of Jesus. It greatly influenced my life and was probably the best retreat I ever made.

Another time, I was traveling by Greyhound and to pass the time I read a book containing the essential writings of Mahatma Gandhi. This was my first introduction to Gandhi and to nonviolence. I remember wanting to run down the aisle of the bus, telling everyone about this beautiful soul and how listening to him could change the world. His words set me on fire and I wanted to spread the flame. Meeting Gandhi propelled me into the peace movement.

Heroes change lives. Both of my heroes were vital people who energized. Both of these people called out the best in me. Both of them lived for something greater than themselves. Both of them held fast to a dream despite ridicule, rejection, suffering and, in Gandhi’s case, threats of assassination.

John is this kind of hero. In today’s gospel he brings new spirit into the wasteland. His words will touch the core of many hearts. Peoples’ lives will change because of his message. He will paint a dream of valleys overflowing with justice, of mountains leveled by love. He will be killed for his dream.

Like all genuine heroes, he invites us to take his message and carry it to greater heights.

This reflection is from Awaiting Christmas: Beauty Ancient, Ever New – Advent Reflections 1997. Mary Lou Kownacki, osb is a Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace.

For more Advent resources, click here.

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Posted in Advent 2012, Bread for the Journey, Kownacki, Reflection, Scripture, Teach Peace

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REFLECTION: Courage to speak

Posted on October 30, 2012 | Comments Off

Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki, osbby Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB
Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace

“Don’t be afraid to speak,” writes Joan Chittister. “Be afraid of what will happen to the whole truth if you don’t.” Fourteen year-old Malala Yousufzai certainly lives those words. As I write this she is in a hospital in Great Britain “resting comfortably, but not out of the woods yet,” the victim of a murder attempt by the Taliban for her outspoken advocacy for girls’ education. Despite warnings, this fearless Pakistani teenager spoke her truth over and over again. And she spoke it in a climate of terror, in a region of Pakistan under the control of the dreaded Taliban who grabbed her when she left school and shot her. I can’t get her out of my mind. I am in awe of this raw courage, this purity of heart that sees a wrong and names it—out loud. Where did her courage come from, the courage to speak your truth even if it means taking a bullet to the head?

Certainly she puts me to shame. When I think of how careful I am about speaking out about the church’s treatment of women and about its stance on homosexuality, it’s hard to sleep at night. And I’m not facing death…just censure. And I’m a monastic, my reason to be is to speak truth to the institutional church.

This young Pakistani woman has hooked my conscience. She keeps asking, “Why are you afraid to speak your truth?” I have no good answer. How about you?

To read Sr. Mary Lou’s blog, click here.

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