ST.

SCHOLASTICA
BENEDICTINE LAY COMMUNITY
NEWSLETTER

Volume 1, Issue 1 March 2010

NEW BEGINNINGS HOUSE OF PRAYER
P.O. BOX 854 / 1806 11TH STREET, GALENA PARK, TX 77547 / 713.927.7534
WWW.NEWBEGINNINGSPRAYER.ORG

Who We Are
We are a community of women in learning yet narrow in living.
and men who have chosen to live We are taught many things from
and order our lives by the teach- our Desert Mothers and Fathers,
ings of St. Benedict of Nursia and from teachers like Thomas Mer-
a Benedictine spirituality. We are ton, Francis and Clare of Assisi,
a contemplative community of Teresa of Jesus, John of the
people with an apostolic calling. Cross, Therese of Liseux, St.
We maintain families and profes- Augustine, Ignatius of Loyola,
sional lives. We choose to live Henri Nouwen, John Main, and
the life of prayer and work. We Thomas Keating. These are just
practice our lives of prayer to- to name a few of the teachers
gether yet apart, knowing each who daily guide us in the way we are there for one another and
one has chosen to live their lives we feel God has chosen us to for a world that is in need of our
in this manner. We come together live our lives. prayers, healing, support and ser-
regularly as a community to re- We are a community vice. We reach out to everyone
treat, listen, pray, learn, share a that supports New Beginnings from the homeless to the rich,
meal, work, and fellowship with House of Prayer with our time, realizing there is a poverty in us
one another. talents and treasures. We feel all.
as though we live together even Who are we? We are family!
Our teachings are broad
though we live apart. We know

The Benedictine Way NEXT BENEDICTINE MEETING—MARCH 27, 9:30 A.M.

“The love of Christ must come THE “CELL”

before all else.” At New Begin- Stability means to stay in one place A monk’s room is called a cell. The
nings we believe that God is call- within our own hearts, not to run word “cell” is not to imply a prison
ing us to be shaped by the Rule of when things get tough, but to com- cell; the monk may enter and exit the
St. Benedict, which is grounded in mit to the long haul and trust in cell at will. Rather, the monk’s cell is
scripture and centered on Christ. God’s ability to do His work in and a place of refuge.
through us. -A Journey into Lay Monasticism
“Am I daily becoming a more
loving person?” Benedict bor- Obedience comes from the root “Just as fish die if they stay too long
rowed freely from earlier monastic word “to hear” and means to listen out of the water, so the monks, who
writers, but it was his emphasis on with an open heart to God speak- loiter outside their cell or pass their
how his monks treated one another ing, wherever and through whom- time with men of the world lose the
that made his rule unique. Bene- ever that might be. Obedience, intensity of inner peace. So like a fish
dictine spirituality, grounded in Thomas Merton said, results in going towards the sea, we must hurry
the here and now of our daily “the freedom to be able to do in the to reach our cell, for fear that if we
lives, helps us to see every human depths of your heart what you delay outside, we will lose our inte-
face as an icon of Christ and every really want to do”. rior watchfulness.” -St. Anthony
task as holy if offered to God. St.
Conversion of life involves, as
Benedict said that the monk with
Joan Chittister describes it, “A brother came to Scetis to visit
his pots and pans in the kitchen is
“commitment to your own adult- Abba Moses and asked for a word.
doing as holy a work as the monk
hood”, taking responsibility for The old man said to him, “Go sit in
in the choir.
your own choices and growth. your cell, and your cell will teach
you everything.”
 Page 2 ST. SCHOLASTICA

St. Benedict and Lectio Divina (Sacred Reading)

The ninth step of humility versation. He does not keep What word or phrase
is that we control our silent because he dislikes struck you?
tongues and remain silent, other humans, but because __________________
not speaking unless asked small talk is small. Chit-chat
a question, for Scripture is to the life of prayer what Listen to what it is
warns, “In a flood of words static is to radio reception. saying to you.
you will not avoid sinning., The spiritual person’s in-
(Proverbs 10:19), and “ A stinctive withdrawal alien- What is your response,
talkative person goes about ates him from the main- your prayer?
aimlessly on earth” stream and pushes him into
Rest in that word or
(Ps. 140:12) a monastic isolation.
phrase.
~Rule of St. Benedict. As we grow in silence, we
The spiritual per- grow in love! What action or act of
son is silent because at heart service is being asked
he wants to spend time with As you listen to the writings
from the Rule of St. Bene- of you?
God, and to do that he must
withdraw from human con- dict, listen with your heart to
God’s leading:

Lenten Journey with Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton after re- remedy. It is the Devil I meditate on Psalm 6 to
When God tells flecting on Psalm 120 who tells us that we are ill see the green grass and
discovered how very and taunts us for it, re- pools of water after the
you of a sickness, much he needed the minds us of our helpless- storm. Although I am ru-
Penitential Psalms. He ness by making us even ined, I am far better off
it is because He
wrote: “You do not know more helpless. In the than I have ever been in
means, at the your need until you ex- Penitential Psalms Christ my life. My ruin is my for-
perience it. You do not recognizes my poverty in tune.”
same time, to
experience your poverty His poverty. Merely to see ____________________
provide a remedy. when you tell yourself myself in the psalm is a Reflect:
about it but when God beginning of being
-Thomas Merton
tells you that you are healed. O the need of that At what time in your life
poor. When God tells you healing! I walk from re- could you, too, have
of a sickness, it is be- gion to region of my soul, said with Merton that
cause He means, at the and I discover that I am a “my ruin is my fortune”?
same time, to provide a bombed city.

Who Is Welcomed In This Community?

Who is welcomed? You plative and monastic, way each other and desire
are if you feel called to a of life. God’s best for each other.
deeper way of life, of We are present also to a
love, of being. If you de- We promise to support world that needs us to be
sire to join a community New Beginnings House of the hands, feet, mouth and
that is serious about their Prayer with our time, tal- heart of Christ.
life with God and one ents, and treasures, to be
Alone in solitary as present to one another If this is something you feel
another, who has chosen
places, as we apart as we are when God is calling you to,
a Benedictine lifestyle.
deepen our life with together. We don't live please contact us. After all:
God... as we prepare
Our teachers are many together, but we pray
ourselves for daily for one another, Our house is your house!
the needs of and have lived out or con-
tinue to live this contem- seeking God’s will for God bless you.
the world.
each ones life. We love