Reflection for the Feast of St. Scholastica

February 10, 2021

Sister Nicole Kunze, Prioress

Readings for the Feast:  Songs 8:6-7; Eph 3:15-19; Luke 10:38-42

In today’s Gospel, we have the familiar story of Mary and Martha and their encounter with Jesus.  Jesus’s response to Martha’s request is “There is need of only one thing.”  Is it really that simple?  What is our “one thing”? 

Saint Benedict lays it out for us pretty clearly in Chapter 58 of the Rule.  Benedict states that “The concern must be whether the novice truly seeks God…” (RB 58:7).  In his commentary on this chapter of the Rule, Fr. Terrence Kardong states, “There are, after all, many other reasons for joining a monastic community, all of them bad.  If the primary motivation is not religious, then the whole enterprise is built on sand.”  (p. 469)

Whether we’ve been living this life for 73 years, a year and a half, or some number in between, each of us is seeking God with others through this community.  That solid foundation we have built over time may seem to crumble once in a while, depending on what we are dealing with in our lives at the time.  I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve spent the past 11 months trying to hold that foundation together.  When it feels like it’s crumbling around me, that is when I need to remember it isn’t just up to me to keep it from falling apart.  Each of us plays an important role in supporting one another’s foundation.  We are each seeking God but the love and support of our community members assists us on this journey.  The final encounter between St. Benedict and St. Scholastica points to the need we have for assistance and support as we seek God together. 

In the second reading, Paul prays that the Ephesians may come “to know the love of Christ” (Eph 3:19).  That should be our prayer for one another.  That is our one thing, to seek God and to know the love of Christ.  Everything else we do in this life comes from that.  It is that simple.