Silence and song: Benedictine prayers

Saint. Benedict   (Public Domain)

Networking is all the rage in today’s workaday world.  This usually consists of written and/or verbal communication.  

Outside of the entertainment industry, coworkers rarely burst forth with song.  Nevertheless, singing is a preferred means of communication among the Benedictine nuns of Gower, Missouri.

These cloistered sisters spend their days in “prayer, work and song.”  Work consists of milking cows, gathering eggs, making dairy products, and crafting church vestments.  Prayer occurs “at scheduled times and spontaneously during the work day.”

And songs?  Gregorian chants lend the power of music to prayer.  Within the deep silence of the nuns’ lifestyle comes the Lord’s voice “in whispers.”  The sisters feel that God is using them “as his instruments.”

When silence and song come together in this fashion, good things happen.  Four of the nun’s albums “have topped the charts,” thus providing funds for their “centers and living quarters.”  They have even earned enough “to build a place of quiet and solitude for priests to retreat so they can rest and renew.”      

Resources

http://wwrn.org/articles/45623/?place=united-states 

Copyright May 2, 2016 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved