Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin

Today's Mass Readings

Sister and Brother

The Benedictine Monks of Conception Abbey have the tradition of visiting the nearby Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration on this day, the Feast of St. Scholastica. Our monasteries are just a couple of miles apart, and both our motherhouses are in Switzerland.

We join them for Vespers (Evening Prayer) and a festive supper, like St. Benedict and St. Scholastica would do once a year as described by St. Gregory the Great. During this gathering, each of the superiors share a few words of praise and gratitude for the good relationship the two communities have had over the years—now more than 150 years!

Personally, I look forward to the evening because it’s one of the rare times I get to see and pray in their beautiful chapel and visit with some of the sisters. I have gotten to know some of them, and there is something special about visiting these religious sisters.

It must be the love they show to us and to each other. Indeed, it was St. Scholastica’s love for her brother, St. Benedict, that kept him and his fellow monks there that night they last saw each other. She bowed her head in prayer, and a heavy rainstorm suddenly came. “Deep waters cannot quench love, nor floods sweep it away” (Song of Songs 8:7a).

For the Journey:

Do you have a sister or a brother? Or someone who is like a sister or a brother to you? How could you be a sister or a brother to your sibling, to a friend, or to someone who needs your love?

Reflection by Br. Luke Kral, OSB