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Monday Mewsings
From Brother Ricky, OSB-F
Novice Instruction from the Feline
Benedictine Cloister
No. 22 - June/July, 2024
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Icon of Saint Benedict written by
Sister Mary Charles McGough, OSB
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Br, Ricky, OSB-F
Novice Master
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Hello, Novice and Jane. Welcome to this Monday Mewsing.
Happy St. Benedict Feast Day!
July 11 is the day we give special thanks to the abbot that has brought us all together. I encourage you to take a few minutes to reflect on the gifts Benedict and his Holy Rule has brought to your life. Grace immeasurable!
In this issue we again focus on...
Hospitality
This is one for the four areas identified by Worldwide Novices where your humans could use a bit of help.
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Our topic in this issue is kindness. Kindness is a gift of hospitality we can offer to guests and to those whom we know.
Being kind fits every situation.
Let’s begin.
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Our Monday Mewsing Prayer | |
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Please join your paws together as we pray.
Almighty and everlasting God,
your precepts are the wisdom
of a loving Father:
Give us grace, following the teaching and example of your servant Benedict,
to walk with loving and willing hearts in the school of the Lord’s service;
let your ears be open to our prayers;
and prosper with your blessing
the work of our hands;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
From Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints, Church Publishing, Inc. 2010
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Statue of St. Benedict at Pecos Benedictine Monastery in Pecos, NM
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Amma surfed the web and found a hymn dedicated to Saint Benedict. It is written by Benildus M. Maramba, OSB.
Manuel Maramba was a Filipino Benedictine monk and priest. He died on July 13, 2020 at 84 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was a prolific composer who leaves behind a large body of sacred music that includes the Mass, symphonic works, operas, zarzuelas, songs and chants.
To listen to his hymn to St. Benedict, tap here.
P.S. Amma believes that Benildus Maramba and Manuel Maramba are the same person. If anyone discovers otherwise, please let Amma know.
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Novice Instruction
Bandage a Wound With Kindness
An Instruction by Br. Ricky, OSB-F
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Greetings, Novice . Welcome to Hospitality - Part 3. I'm glad you're purring to learn even more about Benedictine hospitality. Here's what we've explored in our last two issues.
April - Sr. Nikki, our Cloister Porter, helped us learn how to be a porter of our heart.
May - Novice Clarissa Ann shared her thoughts on how to create a welcoming space for others.
In this Novice Instruction I mew about kindness, an important attribute of hospitality.
Kindness is a beautiful gift that we can offer to others. Kindness touches the soul of another feline or person in a way that is healing.
I invite you to enter into the gift of kindness.
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Worldwide Novice Angelo of Castelmola,Sicily, strives to practice hospitality in his community of gatti randagi (stray cats).
Angelo is a model of kindness to the felines around him.
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Worldwide Novice Diamond of Memphis, TN,shares his kindness practice.
"My sister Black Pearl and I live with a very kind human. Because of her example I try to be kind to Pearl even when she bullies me. Benedict says in Chapter 4, Do not repay one bad turn with another"
(1 Thess 5:15; 1 Pet 3:9). RB 4.29
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A Novice Activity
Bandage a Wound with Kindness
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We can read in the Rule about the many ways to practice kindness. That is very important.
Yet what is really important is that we actually do acts of kindness.
In the Novice Activity Br. Ricky asks you to reflect on your kindness skills. He then shows ways to actually do kindness.
Novices, we encourage you to ask your human to do this activity with you.
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Worldwide Novice Georgette of Wynot, Nebraska is a very affectionate feline. She takes joy in being kind to others. She is especially kind to her human by being a cuddly presence. | |
Want to Explore More Novice Resources? | |
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Quote of the Mewsing
To Love Kindness
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“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before
God on high?
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but
to do justice,
to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:6,8
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Icon of the Prophet Micah | |
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A Word About the Book of Micah
In seven short chapters the Prophet Micah presents God as the Almighty Lord who hates sin and loves the sinner. The sins of Judah would lead to punishment. In the midst of the predictions of destruction upon Israel and Judah, Micah gives hope and consolation through the assurances of God's love.
Benedict's Use of the Prophets in the Rule
Benedict does not draw from Micah in the Rule. Quotations or echoes of thought appear from Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel (per Timothy Fry in his commentary on the Rule.) However, Benedict's use of Ezekiel 33:11 expresses the same confidence in the love of God as found in Micah.
As the apostle says: Do you not know that the patience of God is leading you to repent? (Rom 2:4). And indeed God assures us in love: I do not wish the death of sinners, but that they turn back to me and live” (Ezek 33:11) Prologue 37, 38
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A Moving Story of Feline Kindness | |
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A friend of Amma's sent her a link about kindness shown by a very special feline.
To read this story, tap your paw here.
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Sending You Forth to Be a Blessing | | |
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Amma and I decided to make this issue of Monday Mewsings a June-July issue. We will do or best to issue an August Monday Mewsing.
So good to be with you once again. Novices, please do your very best to show kindness to others.
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See you next month!
Your friend and Novice Master,
Br. Ricky, OSB-F
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Kindness creates community
"They should each try to be the first to show respect to the other (Rom 12:10). supporting with the greatest patience one another's weaknesses of body or behavior, and earnestly competing in obedience to one another"
RB 72.4-6
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A Prayer of Saint Benedict | |
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“We pray, Lord,
that everything we do
may be prompted by your inspiration,
so that every prayer and work of ours
may begin from you
and be brought to completion
by you.”
Amen.
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Br. Augustine Fur, OSB-F, received inspiration to clean around the litter pans. Like many jobs we all do, he doesn't relish the experience. Yet he knows that he can be present to God while he works, and that makes all the difference. |
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Do you know a feline or a human who would benefit by
reading this Monday Mewsing?
Amma and Br. Ricky invite you to forward this email to them.
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Interested in becoming a Worldwide Novice?
To reach the application form, tap your paw here.
To learn about Worldwide Novices, jump here.
NOTE: If you do not have a feline, consider signing up the feline of a family member or friend. Novice Instruction in the Worldwide Novice Corner is great for humans, too!
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