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Being Benedictine

Jodi Blazek Gehr, Oblate of St. Benedict

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October 2017

Spiritual Lessons from The Little Prince

If you haven’t started The Little Prince podcast series with Fr. Mauritius Wilde, you must. The third in the series was just released and it packs a punch.

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If you haven’t read The Little Prince, no worries. It’s helpful, but not at all necessary to benefit from the lessons of the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry classic. You can find the book and chapter summaries HERE.
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The author points to “sicknesses of our times.  Jesus said it was not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick,” Fr. Mauritius points out. We do not always achieve the ideal in our lives, but we take comfort that Jesus still meets us where we are. It is Jesus that went to the margins–to the broken people, the lepers, the Pharisees. It is the Little Prince who invites us in a compassionate way to welcome our “oddness”, to accept that all people have limitations.

We all experience feelings of judgment, shame, fear, and expectations. “Everybody has spots in their life that they are ashamed of.  And that’s okay. This is the place where Jesus goes. He is so merciful, so tender. He never tried to shame people. Never. He knew they were struggling enough already with their shame,” Fr. Mauritius shares.

Fr. Mauritius’ message, through the story of The Little Prince, meets us right where we are with our inadequacies and imperfections, the expectations that we put on ourselves and others, and our heartfelt desire for authenticity.

The Little Prince, the movie, is also worth an evening on the couch with popcorn. More information about the 2015 animated movie HERE.

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© Jodi Blazek Gehr, Being Benedictine Blogger

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Rome: Confessions, Truths and Carpe Diem!

Confession: I feel a little guilty for taking nine days off during the school year.

Truth: But not enough that I wouldn’t seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Rome.

It’s unheard of for a teacher to take off two weeks during the school year. First, we only get eleven days off for sick or vacations days per school year. Second and more importantly, it’s a lot of work to be gone, planning what students will do, securing a trusted substitute teacher to deliver curriculum, and “letting go” of controlling my classroom. (Perhaps this has something to do with being a bit of a perfectionist, control-freak, as I’m learning about Enneagram, Type One.)  Usually, teachers take time off for a wedding or funeral, a child starting college, an important doctor’s appointment, but a two-week long trip? Nope. Continue reading “Rome: Confessions, Truths and Carpe Diem!” →

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Lord, You Know Me: Friendships and Loneliness

A new blog post from Fr. Mauritius Wilde, Prior of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome, that honors both friendship, which God touches, and loneliness, which can only be filled with God. It captures the essence of the book Anam Cara, by John O’Donohue, which I treasure. He writes, “You should never belong to something that is outside yourself…(it is) important to find a balance in your belonging.” Read the rest of Fr. Mauritius’ blog HERE.

He refers to the friendship of God, who is with us from the beginning as our “secret companion”, our truest friend. Christ is our true companion, nearer to us than any other. There is a danger to become too attached to our friendships, but we must not forget the Source of all friendships, our friendship in Christ. It is too easy to forget that God is our great love, our best friend.

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Lord, You Know Me

It is wonderful to have a friend who knows you well, with whom you have walked for many years. With whom you can share everything; who knows your story. With whom a conversation does not start at zero, you can just jump into it. To have a person who understands and who knows you, is a great gift of God.

However, sometimes not even a friend can reach my heart. This is an odd experience. Sometimes we are just left with ourselves, left alone. We cannot find a partner that adequately responds to our feelings, our story, our thoughts, situation or needs. But these moments that can be filled with darkness and sadness can also turn into a very precious experience. The situation breaks us open to realize that our loneliness is not an accident, but the reflection of our deepest call as human beings that goes beyond what another human being can grasp or understand. We realize that our loneliness touches the dimension of God; it is a result of the fact that we are immediate to God. This is the monk’s moment. The term monk stems from the Greek word “monachos” which means “single, solitary”.

Through God’s grace, we are able in these moments of aloneness to talk to Christ or to God and find his ear. And his response is always exactly what we need. We realize: HE understands, HE knows. His presence resonates with everything I utter and express. I feel understood, appreciated, loved. I feel liked by him as by a good friend. But even better, and in a perfect way. Nothing is missing.  Read more at WildeMonk. 

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