Be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead. Philippians 2:2-4 Terce modern version
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Today is the Feast Day of St. Scholastica. I am reminded that she called down the storm to keep her brother at her monastery so she could talk with him of God. God answered her prayer because she loved. Her trust in God seemed to have superseded that of her famous brother, St. Benedict who later saw her soul like a dove going up to heaven, a sign of her passing.
That siblings are both great saints in the Church is not unusual, especially among nuns and monks. St, Etheldreda, the patron of this blog, had a huge extended and immediate family of saints. One may ask why we have not seen this is modern times? Could it be that families are not taught mutual love and respect in our sad age of individualism? Susie has a television and computer in her room and Buddy has the same in his room. They both have cell phones, the Internet and subscriptions to Netflix. They do not need to talk to each other as Benedict and Scholastica did quite well. The art of conversation, either on secular or religious subjects is a lost art. My best friends and I can discuss for hours Scripture, the history of the Church, Church music, architecture, the Latin Mass, feasts days, movable feasts, saints, and the spiritual journey, We can discuss prayer, prayer intentions, the Indwelling of the Trinity, religious freedom of conscience and vestments, all things I have discussed with various friends in the past week or ten days.
So, why is spiritual conversation a lost art? Priorities. Just as Scholastica had to call on God to send a storm to keep her brother with her so she could talk with him before dying, so people choose what is important in their lives. Television or talking, computer or conversation, eating again or engaging, sports or spirituality, gaming or Godliness? Scholastica's prayer was answered because God rewarded her choice of priorities. Spiritual conversations are gifts from God.
