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Welcome to Good Samaritan Education's podcast, Communio Calling.
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My name's Gabrielle Sinclair, and I'll be your host.
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Today's conversation is the beginning of a four-year journey towards the Benedictine Jubilee of 2029.
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Our guest today is the Australian Benedictine Union's nominated promoter for the Jubilee, Kim Harris.
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Kim Harris is a Benedictine sister who grew up in Sydney.
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She joined the Benedictines in 1975.
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She went on to study theology in Melbourne with a lifelong fascination of the history of women in monastic life.
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Since 2002, she's lived in the Benedictine Monastery of the Transfiguration in Tanby, near Yapoon in Central Australia.
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She's the author of Prayers You Can and for over 10 years has been writing Casting the Net, a weekly reflection for school newsletters, both through the Catholic Education Office of Rockhampton.
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So let me introduce you if you're not already acquainted with Kim Harris as we talk through all things Jubilee.
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Kim, it is lovely to have you here in our wonderful community of Caminio Calling.
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And I'm pleased to be here.
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Well, we always love telling stories, and that's how we usually start because we're very much grounded in story and honouring the fabric of our connection and who we are, our incarnational reality and the expression of our diversity.
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So story is a great place to start.
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So I wonder if you wouldn't mind sharing us a bit about your own story, the influences and family growing up, and perhaps where you first encountered Benedictine life and you know the journey from there.
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Okay.
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Well, I am a Sydney girl, and as somebody said once, once you're a Sydney person, you're always a Sydney person.
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Doesn't matter where you live.
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But I honestly can say I couldn't live back in Sydney now.
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I grew up in a large Catholic family.
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I was born in 1955, so you've got the idea pre-Vatican II church, moving into Vatican II.
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I can vaguely remember the Latin, but English has been my language within the church.
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I grew up in a large family and both my parents were small business people.
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And when I was four, my mother started a nursing home, an aged care facility.
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That doesn't sound like a small business.
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Oh, it grew.
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When she first started, she started with a very small one of 15 beds, and then she moved into another one.
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Then when I was about eight or nine, the relative of the Benedictine nuns at Pennant Hills, who had no extended family here in Australia, needed to go into care.
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And it turns out the woman did not want to go into a nursing home run by nuns.
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She had her own little history.
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So the nuns at Pennant Hills went through the telephone book and were going down the names and they came across Cabrini.
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And they thought, well, that must be Catholic in some way.
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So that's how I first encountered them, that they didn't go out, you know, they were in closed order, but they did go out for this woman.
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They would come in to visit her at the nursing home.
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And that's when I got to know the community.
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And for our listeners, the community at Pennant Hills, most people would know them now as the Jamboreo nuns.
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So they at that time were at Pennant Hills.
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Yes.
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That's right.
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So one of the things that happened when I was growing up is sometimes Mum would have people in the nursing home who were going to death but were not at peace with it.
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Yeah.
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She would ring up the nuns and ask them to pray.
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And invariably the people would come to some sort of peaceful resolution before they died.
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And that had a great impact on me.
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When I was about eight or nine, I actually said I was going to become a Benedictine.
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And, you know, the pious things that often Catholic girls said.
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And I kept it up for a few years.
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And I used to write to the nuns and I told them that and went on.
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And then when I was about 13 or 14, that all fell away.
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Then after school, I went to university and studied aquaculture.
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And I might start by saying I was literally carried into school, kicking and screaming at the age of five.
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And my attitude to school did not change in the next 13 years.
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I loathed school, but I loved university.
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It was like the sunrise in the sky.
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Yeah, it's different ways of learning.
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People just fit in in different ways.
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Yeah.
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Exactly.
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But I did not have deep peace of heart.
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I had something niggling me at the bottom.
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And somehow or other, God sort of pushed me hard and said, basically go and try the Benedictines or join the Benedictines.
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Well, I couldn't have been more surprised, and nobody else could have been.
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So at the end of second year, I deferred for the next year.
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I had every intention of staying six months in the monastery and then I would leave.
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I did not go and do an aspiracy.
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I did not know what I was letting myself in for.
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When I did, it was, to say it mildly, a profound shock.
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I came from a very wild family, and this was polar opposite.
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I found it difficult for many years, but I had peace of heart.
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And that's the only reason why I didn't leave.
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So that stuck me there.
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And it took a number of years to come to the realization that this life is actually the best one for me.
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It's got this good mixture of prayer, of solitude, of being with other people.
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There's scope to do intellectual work, which I enjoy.
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There's scope to do artistic work.
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So it had all of these mixtures.
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So I found the life for me to be very holistic.
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I am a high introvert.
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So the amount of time by myself, the choir, suits me down to the T.
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So that's how I ended up in the monastery and how I stayed.
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Now I was at Pennant Hills for about eight years, and our community helped with a group of religious women in Melbourne.
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And I went down to Melbourne and was in a much smaller community.
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I honestly, when I joined Pennant Hills, I expected to stay in that monastery for the rest of my life, living the same type of life.
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Well, God's had other ideas.
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So I went to Melbourne and it was a much smaller community.
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And I say I think I grew up there in the smaller community.
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How many were in the community at Pennant Hills when you joined?
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When I joined, there were 42.
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Yeah, right.
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Wow.
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So down in Melbourne, we were smaller, we ended up with just being two.
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And then since then, I've actually moved up when the community in Queensland had a bit of illness and shaky and came up here.
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And again, I'm just in a community of two.
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But one of the nuns that I live with up here said, even though the external of the life has changed, she said, and I say, we joined for a life of prayer, and that's what we've got.
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So that's my part of my personal journey.
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Yeah, thank you.
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Now going back to your wild family, it's always lovely to hear where do you fit into your family?
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Where do you rank in the in the number?
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I'm the second eldest and the eldest girl.
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Aha, wonderful.
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Yeah.
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It's always lovely to hear how position sometimes really it's a factor in how you navigate life, I think.
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It absolutely is.
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My mother had a lot of illness on and off when we were growing up.
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And my father was a mushroom farmer and he was an excellent father.
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You know, like I have friends say, Oh, I never saw dad do anything around the house.
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And I'm thinking, what was wrong with them?
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Because my father did.
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But my father worked very hard and he expected a meal on the table when he got home.
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So I learned to cook very early and I learned to be quite capable.
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So if I have a fault in that area, I've got to learn to not step in and say, Yes, I'll do it.
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I've got to step back and say, leave it for somebody else.
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Yeah, I think elder children in families probably all have that aspect of them.
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They're just ready to fix what needs fixing and do what needs doing.
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Yeah.
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Thank you for sharing your journey.
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And it's lovely to hear how story paves the way and our own stories give us the platform for whatever comes next.
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Let's talk Jubilee.
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I notice you've got the question here is how did I get this role?
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To use the saying, I didn't move fast enough.
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You didn't step back fast enough.
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Exactly.
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I was over at the Benedictine Union meeting in Unausea and Sister Catherine, you know, the leader of the Good Sam's was there.
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And the issue of the Jubilee came up and they said, Well, we need a promoter.
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Well, I'm living up in central Queensland, happily out of the loop.
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Lovely fulfilling life here.
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Thank you very much.
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And Catherine said, I think, Kim, would you like to do it?
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And I remember sitting there thinking, I have no reason to give to not do it.
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Other than it would be that I didn't want to have to do the work.
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And I didn't have a clue what it would entail.
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Well, and I guess that's still evolving, really, isn't it?
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Look, it's wonderful how it is evolving.
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So it was one of these things.
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I said yes, I came home, I had a lot on my plate, so I let it sit in the background.
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So one of the things I found in my life is that God will often show me the direction in something very small.
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It'll be like sitting there and thinking, it's okay.
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And then it opens up.
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But I don't jump in, I sit back and I wait till it bubbles along and bubbles along and bubbles.
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And I keep having phone calls from Jules saying, How are things going?
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And going, hi, how are things going?
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Hi.
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Well, let's tell our audience a bit of background.
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So the Jubilee will be in 2029.
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And it's a jubilee for the Benedictine world.
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We're marking the year 529.
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Benedict founding the Abbey at Monte Cassino, where tradition says he completed the writing of his rule.
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So in 2029, with a theme of places of hope since 529, we will celebrate 1,500 years of Benedictine life.
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And you've been given this role to help promote it in Australia.
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We revere St.
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Benedict and his teaching, and rightly so.
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But what we have actually had is 1,500 years of communities in very different situations, wildly different situations, having this faithfulness to the rule of St.
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Benedict.
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And that's what I feel that this Jubilee is not so much a celebration of Benedict as a celebration of the faithfulness of the communities.
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So if you look at something like Australia, which we wouldn't think, oh well, we're at the other end of the world, you know, we wouldn't have a lot going on here.
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We have the Good Samaritan sisters with their active lifestyle.
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We have the Cistercian monks, the Benedictine monks in two different places, the nuns of Jambaroo, the Sisters in Tyburn, and even a very small Anglican community, even smaller than ours.
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So even in this country, we have diverse lifestyles, but when we come together, we know we have the same heart.
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I see this period of time as one of yes, we're looking at how St.
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Benedict lived, but we're also looking at how our communities live.
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And under those themes that they have there, we can actually look at what is happening in our own communities, that faithfulness over the years, faithfulness over 1500 years, and faithfulness for whatever years our own communities have been going.
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Yes.
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It's a really a celebration of Benedictine life in all its forms.
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And I think, you know, sometimes when people look up Benedictine life, they kind of see this very particular model, but not understand the difference and the scope and places that have had Benedictine life and the rule this having this flexible nature that it can be lived out in so many different ways and in so many different places across the world.
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Exactly.
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In this parish here, they opened up a new Catholic primary school.
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For the name, the bishop left it to the parish to decide.
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And the parishioners wanted to call it St.
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Benedict's because they were so impressed with the way the nuns had lived.
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Well, the woman who was becoming APRE, when she first heard that, rolled her eyes and thought, oh my God, another school named after a dead Catholic male saint.
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But she took it on, and they have actually shaped a whole philosophy of how their school operates.
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She has this program of the gifts and St.
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Benedict, which they do every year.
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It's sort of part of their RE, but it is soaked right down into the way the children live.
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So they don't have school rules, they have the gifts of St.
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Benedict.
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And if someone isn't doing what they should do, kids will say to another, oh, that's not living community.
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That's not living peace.
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So this rule has actually translated into being a fundamental spirituality of a primary school up in central Queensland.
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I'm sure Benedict never expected that.
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No, I don't think Benedict would expect it half the conversations that go on based around the seed that he planted many, many years ago now.
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So the invitation of this, do you believe, really, is then to continue these conversations to share and to find out all of the different ways that it is flourishing across the world and celebrate.
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And I think it's an opportunity to reconnect as well.
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Yes.
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And the different communities around Australia are starting now to think, okay, well, how can we do this?
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So over in Eunocia, they have a very gifted musician there, and she's got a wonderful, ambitious musical program over the theme.
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She's even planned it out through the four years building up to that.
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Jambaru Abbey has picked up the ball and they're going to have their Advent retreat day under the theme of Awaken, and they're doing candles for that.
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I'm sure you have got some programs started for the school programs.
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So gradually people are sort of looking at it and thinking, oh yeah, we can do this.
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They can build it into the life of their community as it is.
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Well, and I think that's the call.
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So the official journey towards Jubilee was launched on the anniversary of Benedict's death in March earlier in the year, then mapped out the themes across four years, starting with this year in preparation for the Jubilee, in that sequence of themes that follows the life of Benedict as well.
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So this year being awaken and focusing on the birth story, I guess, and Norture being the theme.
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I know one of the ideas of the whole journey towards Jubilee is not necessarily creating new things, but how to embed the themes in the things that we're already doing.
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How do we connect with those themes and journey together, but not necessarily having to do a lot of extra work, as it were, but just embedding them into the things that are already happening?
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Yes.
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Awaken to what we're already doing.
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Indeed.
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So this theme, awaken, with Nortia as the birthplace of Benedict and Scholastica is the focus.
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What comes to you when you think about this theme?
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How are the communities starting to awaken to this journey?
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It's funny you say that because I have been to Nortia.
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It's a wonderful place.
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If I said to people, are you going to Italy?
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There's two places I would say to them to go to, to go to Orvieto and to go to Nortia.
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And the principal from St.
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Benedict's here went to Norcha and she was just blown away.
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It is amazing.
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When I go to a place, one of the things I like to do is to get up very early in the morning and wander around the city to see how a place wakes up.
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Well, when I was at Norcher, I did that.
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I took a number of photos of the sunrise coming over the mountains.
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And I've actually had that as my screen photo for probably the last eight or nine months.
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And I'm looking at it and thinking, that's what this is about.
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Have you been to Norcia?
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I have.
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I in fact was there earlier this year.
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Yeah, it's a wonderful place.
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The last fully walled city in Italy, and it's at the bottom of a valley.
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Even though it's got the hills rising around it, there's a certain flatness about it.
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And I won't say calm because it experiences earthquakes.
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Yes.
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Well, that is where Benedict grew up.
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What I found particularly moving is actually about three or four kilometers out of town.
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Next to the cemetery is this falling down church.
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Out the back in the sacristy area, Sister Aquinata Brockman, who's a brilliant scholar in St.
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Benedict, pointed to some bricks that were there and said, They're 5th, 6th century.
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This is in the tradition, the house where St.
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Scholastica started.
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Now, at that time, there weren't big women's monasteries or groups of women.
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Women started basically house communities.
00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:23.519
So my theory, and a few other people have it, is that she was the first one to take up this monastic life.
00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:30.320
She lived out of town, close enough for any needs to be supplied, but separate from the rest of the community.
00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:33.039
Her life planted a seed in Benedict.
00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:36.879
He must at times have been wondered, what is my sister up to?
00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:42.080
So I like to think that partially her life started the awakening for him.
00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:56.879
My understanding of that site is that it was originally like the family summer house that, yes, as you say, that Scholastica kind of withdrew to at some point, and we don't know any detail, but certainly tradition says that that's where she stayed.
00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:58.960
And that is not an uncommon thing.
00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:00.320
You have that with the sister of St.
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:01.600
Basil, Macrina.
00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:05.200
They just take up residence in part of the family estate.
00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:22.720
Well, I highly recommend reading Carmel Hose's book on Scholastica to investigate that further because it very much has that McCreena is very much at the background of her story in the research that Carmel has done to flesh out what might have been her journey towards when she ends up at Monte Casino as well.
00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:24.799
And the influence of Benedict.
00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:32.160
So at the moment, I think Benedict and Cyn Australia are starting to awaken to actually what could this Jubilee bring us?
00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.839
I can hear little different things coming up, like the school at St.
00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:39.680
Benedict's is deciding to take on those themes for their Gifts of St.
00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:42.000
Benedict's program in term two next year.
00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.920
You've got New Norsea doing what they're doing, Jambaroo doing what they're doing.
00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:50.640
I'll be interested to see what you actually do with your network of people.
00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:53.200
So that's where we're started at the moment.
00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:57.039
I mean, this conversation is kind of, I guess, the start of what we're doing.
00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:05.200
And I'm hoping that over these four themes, at the very least, we'll explore one theme a year on Communio Calling during our podcast and see where it takes us.
00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:14.720
One of the things is really awareness raising at the moment to start that to awaken to you know the potential and to start the conversation to be part of this global conversation.
00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:22.880
The family is already there and we're just starting up a different conversation, a way to reconnect and refocus what people are doing in their individual places.
00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:23.839
Yes.
00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:28.160
Now, you've already started having conversations with different communities.
00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:30.319
How would people become more aware of?
00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:32.000
How do they join the conversation?
00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:40.799
What I'm hoping to do at the moment is to write an article for the good oil on the Jubilee and where we hope to be going with it over the next few years.
00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:47.839
And at the end of that, I will be asking anyone who's interested in finding out what's going to keep on going over the years.
00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.279
And I hope to write a newsletter and send it, email it out.
00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:55.680
I'm going to invite people to send me their email so they could go on the list.
00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:00.720
I'm looking at something that might go out once a month or every two months, and that will inform them.
00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:02.079
This event is on.
00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:03.200
This is coming up.
00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:07.680
So, for example, and I don't know if they still do it, but they were doing it every year.
00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:15.279
Is New Norcia used to have a pilgrimage, the Salvado pilgrimage, where it went from Perth and they walked out to New Norcia.
00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:24.960
Now, one of the themes that's very strong in the Jubilee is the theme of pilgrimage, and they're recommending to people that they do pilgrimages to the monasteries.
00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:29.039
They even have a pilgrimage book that you can get, and the monasteries are all up there.
00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:37.599
Now, in Europe, the notion of pilgrimage is very strong, and people are used to doing it, and there is a culture that supports it.
00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:38.000
Yes.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:41.440
New Norcia have had that pilgrimage going for years.
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:49.680
So what I would hope to do in the newsletter is to inform people this is when the pilgrimage is on and this is what you need to do to enroll for it.
00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:55.920
I'm hoping other communities amongst us might take up some sort of pilgrimage experience.
00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:06.000
Internally, we have our own Sydney pilgrimage, which we're just about to rebrand next year, recalling it Courageous Beginnings, which traces the beginnings of the sisters story in here in Sydney.
00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:11.039
And it's our hope to create more of those in Brisbane and in Melbourne over time.
00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:14.240
So this might be the energy really that can bring through.
00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:22.480
But I mean, maybe at different times there'll be some of the monasteries in Australia that will at least host an open day so that people can pilgrimage to it or something like that.
00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:23.119
Yes.
00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:25.200
Another idea to add to the list.
00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:26.880
Yes, indeed.
00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:27.599
Yeah.
00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:37.119
I mean, the other thing I found when I was looking up the pilgrimage is that I actually saw that there's a Camino San Benedetto, a Camino for St.
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:38.799
Benedict in Italy.
00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:43.599
Now I know of Camino in Spain is very busy.
00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:49.279
Last thing I read said, you know, the Koreans and the Chinese have now taken up going in groups of 40.
00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:52.480
And it's becoming a bit of a nightmare with the number of people.
00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.160
And I thought the Camino St.
00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:57.599
Benedetto looks very attractive to me.
00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:02.880
And I would actually hope that somehow or other an Australian group could go and do it.
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.599
Oh well, we can plant the seed and let's see what happens.
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:17.039
See what happens, but to see what would be going on in Rome for either for oblake groups or other things under the Jubilee and have that come as the culmination.
00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:17.759
Yes.
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:23.279
So I know that in Rome at San Anselmo, they are planning particular events for different groups.
00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:40.960
One that I'm focused on for our community is that they will be having a youth congress in 2029 so that they'll hold it outside of Rome itself in a large location that can hopefully cater for over 200 young people and make a pilgrimage in one of those days to Monte Casino.
00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:42.799
So I know those plans are in place.
00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:50.960
I know there's different things for different parts of the Benedictine community that are being looked at, but that's the one I have more information on at this stage.
00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:54.799
Yeah, so that's sort of like one of the hopes that I've got there.
00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:59.759
The other thing that I didn't know about, but somebody told me recently it's a Jubilee.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.359
Of polling next year.
00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:10.079
The person who did this is actually that there's a group of historians in the Sydney area wanting to do a book in honor of Paulding for that particular jubilee.
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:12.720
That would be an interesting theme to run.
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.960
The spirituality of polling, what did he give to our Benedictine communities?
00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:21.200
Because the community at Champeroo they were originally brought to Australia by Paulding.
00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:26.160
Well, the whole Australian church is really founded on Benedictine values.
00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:30.960
The first two archbishops were Benedicted, and there was lots of them there for a period of time.
00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:34.319
They were the cradle that began Catholic life in Australia.
00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:34.880
Exactly.
00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:42.960
And so it would be an opportunity at some stage to perhaps look back and say, okay, this is the beginning of where our Benedictine community began in Australia.
00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:50.240
We've got to look at what it did for the wider church, but particularly what were the gifts that were given to the Good Samaritans, what were the gifts that were given to Jambaroo?
00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:53.279
And that's sort of part of that listening to our past.
00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:58.880
And then perhaps in that thing, reflecting on how we've integrated it now in the present.
00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.440
Yes, as we say, listening.
00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:07.200
So next year the theme will be listen and focusing in terms of the life of Benedict while he's in Rome.
00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:10.559
So that whole, you know, listening to what's being asked of Benedict.
00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:14.559
And then the following year in 2028 will be grow.
00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:18.640
And the focus then in terms of the story of Benedict is Subiaco.
00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.240
So what's the growth living in community and the school of the Lord's service?
00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:24.559
So all of these kind of things are bubbling away.
00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:35.519
Then the final one is flourishing at Monte Cassino, is the theme where we'll center the celebration and we'll hear about stories as they come together as places of hope for over 1500 years.
00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:40.240
I particularly like the way that they've done this build-up over Benedict's life.
00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:50.880
Their first year honors that childhood background, having that father who was the municipal leader, so somebody who kept order in the town.
00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:56.079
Then his experience of going to Rome, which was not positive, it was very negative.
00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:02.400
When you go to Rome, you can actually go to the place where he boarded, you know, and they say, well, this is his cell.
00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:05.519
If you look at it, it's tiny, it's cramped.
00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:13.680
And, you know, he did not like the noise, he did not like the city, he did not like the appalling behavior of his fellow students.
00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:18.240
And then, as what youth does, they react and go to the opposite extreme.
00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:26.319
And so then you have this thing of going to Subiyako, and it's as you would have known, there is something about sitting in the cave where Benedict lived.
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:35.279
I have met diverse people who've been to that cave, and you really can still have the experience of what it was like when Benedict was there.
00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:41.599
Even though there's two monasteries and a town, where he was is still got that wildness.
00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.680
But I've met a number of people who've been there and they thought the same thing.
00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:48.640
I thought, what was he thinking?
00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:52.640
Our students finishing school about 16, 17 years ago.
00:24:52.880 --> 00:25:00.319
He was that age when he was making this massive decision to leave everything behind and you know, completely different direction to his family.
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:08.720
The interesting thing is like he goes up and he is this hermit, and he's obviously an extreme hermit at the end of his life when he's writing the rule.
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.519
He's not encouraging people to become hermits.
00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:16.079
He's saying, Oh no, hermits not something ambiguous at the beginning of your life.
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:18.400
That's something that you do when you're wise.
00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:25.920
To me, he had that time in his life, but he also looked back on it and said, nah, that's not the way I would recommend it to other people.
00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:26.240
Yeah.
00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:28.319
In other words, he learnt from what he did.
00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:31.680
And then when God sent the other people along, he accepted them.
00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:34.799
He was ready to embrace what God actually wanted for him.
00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:41.440
Yeah, and I think that time away that we all need at different times in our lives to process what is actually God calling to me.
00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:46.000
And God called him in the form of different people saying, actually, we'd like you to come into community.
00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:47.839
And that happens in our lives as well.
00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:53.200
And then when you actually get to Monte Casino, Monte Casino, it's a very high hill.
00:25:53.359 --> 00:26:07.279
The monastery's at the top of the hill, and then there's these plains all around it, and the main road from Rome down to the south goes alongside it, and you think he's in touch with society, but he's also to the side of it.
00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:19.039
So he's got that balance there where he's ready, he and his monks to offer their stuff to society, but at the same time, they've got their own distance, they've got their own quiet and their own peace.
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:29.200
I'm really pleased with the way they've actually planned these years, following through the life of Benedict himself, because you can see there wasn't one thing that happened in his life.
00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:30.720
There are a lot of different things.
00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:32.880
Just as the same it is for us.
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:33.920
Of course.
00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:38.799
It's wonderful that it gives us opportunity to reflect on the different phases of our lives too.
00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:40.720
Sometimes we need the cave.
00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:41.359
Yes.
00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:43.920
Sometimes we need to be on top of the mountain.
00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:49.680
And sometimes we're in the rough and tumble of the city, and the people around us are not very nice.
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:53.359
Even those situations can guide our heart.
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:59.279
The situations that least seem like they will be of use to us in life can actually help us find direction.
00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:04.720
And we might not know it for some time afterwards that that's what was happening within us and around us.
00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:05.119
Yeah.
00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:07.039
I have the number of nieces and nephews.
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:09.200
They're trying to work out what they want to do with their life.
00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:12.720
And I seldom to start by working out what you don't want to do.
00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:14.720
So they'll be there and they'll say, I don't know what to do.
00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:16.480
And I say, Well, do you want to become a doctor?
00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:16.960
No.
00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.680
Well, okay, we can cross that one off the list.
00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:21.359
Do you want to work with people?
00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:22.799
Oh, maybe.
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:27.920
So this is what Benedict went up to Rome and thought, no, I don't want this.
00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:28.880
Not for him.
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:30.240
Yeah, not for me.
00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:30.799
Yeah.
00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:34.799
And I guess that's what often vocational advice is, is give it a try.
00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:36.319
You'll know whether it's yes or no.
00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:38.640
Unless you try, you won't know too.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:44.400
Years ago, before I actually joined the monastery, I went to see an elderly priest who was a family friend for a long time.
00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:49.359
And when I said him I was going to be going to join the Benedictins, I thought he'd get all excited, etc.
00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:50.640
And he didn't.
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:52.319
He was quite prosaic.
00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:54.400
He said, That's nice, lovey.
00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:56.079
But promise me one thing.
00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.279
If you are unhappy, have the courage to get out.
00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:03.519
I've seen too many women make a misery of their life because they lack the courage.
00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:10.640
And you know, no matter what's happened in my life, and there's been good and there's been bad and there's been negative or whatever.
00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:14.079
The thing I keep coming back to is to say, Am I happy?
00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:16.480
And I've had to say, okay, this is it.
00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:17.359
I am happy.
00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:19.599
So I stay with what the situation is.
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:21.519
I have been happy in the life.
00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:27.119
And I think that is actually a very good idea on which people to discern.
00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:28.640
Are we happy?
00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:31.039
God's not wanting us to be unhappy.
00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:33.119
Yes, there will be suffering.
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.279
Yes, there will be difficulties.
00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:42.720
Yes, there will be challenges, but there's this peaceful happiness that needs to be at the base there.
00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:48.079
And maybe sometimes it only comes from knowing, look, I'm in the right time and the right place.
00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:55.200
And this might be a very difficult situation, but I will find my peace and happiness in knowing that I am meant to be here.
00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:57.680
That to me is a thing on discernment.
00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:03.440
It's not how much money am I going to make, how much fun is it going to be, but will it make me happy?
00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:04.079
Yeah.
00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:09.039
It's almost that question that we need to ask ourselves often is how is my heart doing?
00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:12.480
How are we resting in whatever we are?
00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.400
Like, is it a place of agitation?
00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:15.920
Is it a place of peace?
00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:19.279
Or is it a place that needs to be something else?
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:23.680
And that courage to answer what the heart's calling on you to do.
00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:24.799
Not an easy thing.
00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:26.160
It definitely takes courage.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:28.720
Yes, it's very much courage.
00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:33.440
We have had a rambling but wonderful conversation all over the place.
00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:35.119
Well, I knew it would ramble.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:36.559
I knew it would.
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:43.359
I think it's a great start for the conversation for other people to take up the conversation now about the Jubilee in their own places.
00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:51.039
So we've made a start for them and they can now start discerning about what it looks like for them in their places and how do they connect.
00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:58.240
So the other way they can connect to the international journey is through the website jubilee.osb.org.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:02.240
So they can sign up for newsletters and resources that can come from the generalit.
00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:05.359
We'll have the more local version of it too.
00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:06.880
So stay tuned.
00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:10.319
Well, it has been delightful talking to you, Kim.
00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:16.480
Thank you so much for sharing this journey and holding it all together for us, being the connection point for us out here in Australia.
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:17.920
Thanks a lot.
00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:30.640
So as you can hear, we are at the beginning of a journey full of many possibilities.
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:43.839
This year, as we awaken to those possibilities, it's a delight to think about our own origin stories, not just that of Benedict and Scholastica in Norcha, but our own first encounters with Benedictan life and spirituality.
00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:46.480
Norcha is such a special place.
00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:53.599
This year our Benedictine pilgrimage returned there to visit the rebuilt church over the birthplace of Benedict and Scholastica.
00:30:53.759 --> 00:31:00.559
All of our pilgrims will recall that special time we spent in the crypt among the original ruins of the home.
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:10.319
So as you continue through your day, I invite you to awaken to the call to this journey of Jubilee to celebrate all of the gifts of Benedictine life.
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:17.759
So today and always, may the table of hospitality be wide that we may continue to go and do likewise.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.919
Welcome to Good Samaritan Education's podcast, Communio Calling.
00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:07.120
My name's Gabrielle Sinclair, and I'll be your host.
00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:18.719
Today's conversation is the beginning of a four-year journey towards the Benedictine Jubilee of 2029.
00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:25.760
Our guest today is the Australian Benedictine Union's nominated promoter for the Jubilee, Kim Harris.
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.519
Kim Harris is a Benedictine sister who grew up in Sydney.
00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:32.719
She joined the Benedictines in 1975.
00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:38.880
She went on to study theology in Melbourne with a lifelong fascination of the history of women in monastic life.
00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:45.840
Since 2002, she's lived in the Benedictine Monastery of the Transfiguration in Tanby, near Yapoon in Central Australia.
00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:57.039
She's the author of Prayers You Can and for over 10 years has been writing Casting the Net, a weekly reflection for school newsletters, both through the Catholic Education Office of Rockhampton.
00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:03.359
So let me introduce you if you're not already acquainted with Kim Harris as we talk through all things Jubilee.
00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:16.000
Kim, it is lovely to have you here in our wonderful community of Caminio Calling.
00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:17.680
And I'm pleased to be here.
00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:29.519
Well, we always love telling stories, and that's how we usually start because we're very much grounded in story and honouring the fabric of our connection and who we are, our incarnational reality and the expression of our diversity.
00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:31.680
So story is a great place to start.
00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:43.519
So I wonder if you wouldn't mind sharing us a bit about your own story, the influences and family growing up, and perhaps where you first encountered Benedictine life and you know the journey from there.
00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:44.159
Okay.
00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:51.280
Well, I am a Sydney girl, and as somebody said once, once you're a Sydney person, you're always a Sydney person.
00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:52.480
Doesn't matter where you live.
00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.280
But I honestly can say I couldn't live back in Sydney now.
00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:58.159
I grew up in a large Catholic family.
00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:04.799
I was born in 1955, so you've got the idea pre-Vatican II church, moving into Vatican II.
00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:10.560
I can vaguely remember the Latin, but English has been my language within the church.
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:15.120
I grew up in a large family and both my parents were small business people.
00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:20.560
And when I was four, my mother started a nursing home, an aged care facility.
00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:22.879
That doesn't sound like a small business.
00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:24.719
Oh, it grew.
00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:30.400
When she first started, she started with a very small one of 15 beds, and then she moved into another one.
00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:42.000
Then when I was about eight or nine, the relative of the Benedictine nuns at Pennant Hills, who had no extended family here in Australia, needed to go into care.
00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:48.240
And it turns out the woman did not want to go into a nursing home run by nuns.
00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:49.759
She had her own little history.
00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:56.719
So the nuns at Pennant Hills went through the telephone book and were going down the names and they came across Cabrini.
00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:59.919
And they thought, well, that must be Catholic in some way.
00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:07.599
So that's how I first encountered them, that they didn't go out, you know, they were in closed order, but they did go out for this woman.
00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:10.560
They would come in to visit her at the nursing home.
00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:13.199
And that's when I got to know the community.
00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:18.560
And for our listeners, the community at Pennant Hills, most people would know them now as the Jamboreo nuns.
00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:20.639
So they at that time were at Pennant Hills.
00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:20.879
Yes.
00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:21.680
That's right.
00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:29.759
So one of the things that happened when I was growing up is sometimes Mum would have people in the nursing home who were going to death but were not at peace with it.
00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:30.240
Yeah.
00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:32.560
She would ring up the nuns and ask them to pray.
00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:38.240
And invariably the people would come to some sort of peaceful resolution before they died.
00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:40.319
And that had a great impact on me.
00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:44.719
When I was about eight or nine, I actually said I was going to become a Benedictine.
00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:48.000
And, you know, the pious things that often Catholic girls said.
00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:49.680
And I kept it up for a few years.
00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:53.199
And I used to write to the nuns and I told them that and went on.
00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:56.800
And then when I was about 13 or 14, that all fell away.
00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:00.879
Then after school, I went to university and studied aquaculture.
00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:08.560
And I might start by saying I was literally carried into school, kicking and screaming at the age of five.
00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:12.800
And my attitude to school did not change in the next 13 years.
00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:16.240
I loathed school, but I loved university.
00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:18.720
It was like the sunrise in the sky.
00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:20.959
Yeah, it's different ways of learning.
00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:22.800
People just fit in in different ways.
00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:23.199
Yeah.
00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:24.160
Exactly.
00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:27.120
But I did not have deep peace of heart.
00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:30.079
I had something niggling me at the bottom.
00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:37.120
And somehow or other, God sort of pushed me hard and said, basically go and try the Benedictines or join the Benedictines.
00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:40.319
Well, I couldn't have been more surprised, and nobody else could have been.
00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:44.480
So at the end of second year, I deferred for the next year.
00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:49.600
I had every intention of staying six months in the monastery and then I would leave.
00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:52.000
I did not go and do an aspiracy.
00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:54.560
I did not know what I was letting myself in for.
00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:58.800
When I did, it was, to say it mildly, a profound shock.
00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:03.600
I came from a very wild family, and this was polar opposite.
00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:07.519
I found it difficult for many years, but I had peace of heart.
00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:10.000
And that's the only reason why I didn't leave.
00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:11.199
So that stuck me there.
00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:16.399
And it took a number of years to come to the realization that this life is actually the best one for me.
00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:22.399
It's got this good mixture of prayer, of solitude, of being with other people.
00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:25.920
There's scope to do intellectual work, which I enjoy.
00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:27.839
There's scope to do artistic work.
00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:29.759
So it had all of these mixtures.
00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:33.839
So I found the life for me to be very holistic.
00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:35.600
I am a high introvert.
00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:40.399
So the amount of time by myself, the choir, suits me down to the T.
00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:44.879
So that's how I ended up in the monastery and how I stayed.
00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:52.079
Now I was at Pennant Hills for about eight years, and our community helped with a group of religious women in Melbourne.
00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:55.680
And I went down to Melbourne and was in a much smaller community.
00:05:55.839 --> 00:06:03.199
I honestly, when I joined Pennant Hills, I expected to stay in that monastery for the rest of my life, living the same type of life.
00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:05.439
Well, God's had other ideas.
00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:08.720
So I went to Melbourne and it was a much smaller community.
00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:12.160
And I say I think I grew up there in the smaller community.
00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.680
How many were in the community at Pennant Hills when you joined?
00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:17.519
When I joined, there were 42.
00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:18.240
Yeah, right.
00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:18.639
Wow.
00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:23.360
So down in Melbourne, we were smaller, we ended up with just being two.
00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:31.040
And then since then, I've actually moved up when the community in Queensland had a bit of illness and shaky and came up here.
00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:33.439
And again, I'm just in a community of two.
00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:43.920
But one of the nuns that I live with up here said, even though the external of the life has changed, she said, and I say, we joined for a life of prayer, and that's what we've got.
00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:47.360
So that's my part of my personal journey.
00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:48.639
Yeah, thank you.
00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:53.199
Now going back to your wild family, it's always lovely to hear where do you fit into your family?
00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:54.959
Where do you rank in the in the number?
00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:57.519
I'm the second eldest and the eldest girl.
00:06:57.759 --> 00:06:59.040
Aha, wonderful.
00:06:59.199 --> 00:06:59.439
Yeah.
00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:05.360
It's always lovely to hear how position sometimes really it's a factor in how you navigate life, I think.
00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.600
It absolutely is.
00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:11.519
My mother had a lot of illness on and off when we were growing up.
00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:17.519
And my father was a mushroom farmer and he was an excellent father.
00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:21.360
You know, like I have friends say, Oh, I never saw dad do anything around the house.
00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:23.600
And I'm thinking, what was wrong with them?
00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:24.959
Because my father did.
00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:29.920
But my father worked very hard and he expected a meal on the table when he got home.
00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.920
So I learned to cook very early and I learned to be quite capable.
00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:40.480
So if I have a fault in that area, I've got to learn to not step in and say, Yes, I'll do it.
00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:44.319
I've got to step back and say, leave it for somebody else.
00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:49.600
Yeah, I think elder children in families probably all have that aspect of them.
00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.959
They're just ready to fix what needs fixing and do what needs doing.
00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:53.600
Yeah.
00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:55.680
Thank you for sharing your journey.
00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:02.560
And it's lovely to hear how story paves the way and our own stories give us the platform for whatever comes next.
00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:04.240
Let's talk Jubilee.
00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:07.759
I notice you've got the question here is how did I get this role?
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.800
To use the saying, I didn't move fast enough.
00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:13.439
You didn't step back fast enough.
00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:14.879
Exactly.
00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:21.279
I was over at the Benedictine Union meeting in Unausea and Sister Catherine, you know, the leader of the Good Sam's was there.
00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:24.879
And the issue of the Jubilee came up and they said, Well, we need a promoter.
00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:28.560
Well, I'm living up in central Queensland, happily out of the loop.
00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:30.399
Lovely fulfilling life here.
00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:31.360
Thank you very much.
00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.360
And Catherine said, I think, Kim, would you like to do it?
00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:41.840
And I remember sitting there thinking, I have no reason to give to not do it.
00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:44.879
Other than it would be that I didn't want to have to do the work.
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.120
And I didn't have a clue what it would entail.
00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:50.000
Well, and I guess that's still evolving, really, isn't it?
00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:52.480
Look, it's wonderful how it is evolving.
00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:53.840
So it was one of these things.
00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:58.159
I said yes, I came home, I had a lot on my plate, so I let it sit in the background.
00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:04.320
So one of the things I found in my life is that God will often show me the direction in something very small.
00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:07.519
It'll be like sitting there and thinking, it's okay.
00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:09.360
And then it opens up.
00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:16.080
But I don't jump in, I sit back and I wait till it bubbles along and bubbles along and bubbles.
00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.120
And I keep having phone calls from Jules saying, How are things going?
00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:21.600
And going, hi, how are things going?
00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:22.080
Hi.
00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:25.679
Well, let's tell our audience a bit of background.
00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.799
So the Jubilee will be in 2029.
00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:31.039
And it's a jubilee for the Benedictine world.
00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:33.440
We're marking the year 529.
00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:39.200
Benedict founding the Abbey at Monte Cassino, where tradition says he completed the writing of his rule.
00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:48.879
So in 2029, with a theme of places of hope since 529, we will celebrate 1,500 years of Benedictine life.
00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:52.000
And you've been given this role to help promote it in Australia.
00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:53.120
We revere St.
00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:55.600
Benedict and his teaching, and rightly so.
00:09:55.840 --> 00:10:06.240
But what we have actually had is 1,500 years of communities in very different situations, wildly different situations, having this faithfulness to the rule of St.
00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:06.879
Benedict.
00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:15.840
And that's what I feel that this Jubilee is not so much a celebration of Benedict as a celebration of the faithfulness of the communities.
00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:24.000
So if you look at something like Australia, which we wouldn't think, oh well, we're at the other end of the world, you know, we wouldn't have a lot going on here.
00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:28.240
We have the Good Samaritan sisters with their active lifestyle.
00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:40.000
We have the Cistercian monks, the Benedictine monks in two different places, the nuns of Jambaroo, the Sisters in Tyburn, and even a very small Anglican community, even smaller than ours.
00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:48.080
So even in this country, we have diverse lifestyles, but when we come together, we know we have the same heart.
00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:52.960
I see this period of time as one of yes, we're looking at how St.
00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:56.799
Benedict lived, but we're also looking at how our communities live.
00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:10.320
And under those themes that they have there, we can actually look at what is happening in our own communities, that faithfulness over the years, faithfulness over 1500 years, and faithfulness for whatever years our own communities have been going.
00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:10.960
Yes.
00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:14.399
It's a really a celebration of Benedictine life in all its forms.
00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:33.279
And I think, you know, sometimes when people look up Benedictine life, they kind of see this very particular model, but not understand the difference and the scope and places that have had Benedictine life and the rule this having this flexible nature that it can be lived out in so many different ways and in so many different places across the world.
00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:34.320
Exactly.
00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:38.639
In this parish here, they opened up a new Catholic primary school.
00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:41.840
For the name, the bishop left it to the parish to decide.
00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:43.759
And the parishioners wanted to call it St.
00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:47.519
Benedict's because they were so impressed with the way the nuns had lived.
00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:57.600
Well, the woman who was becoming APRE, when she first heard that, rolled her eyes and thought, oh my God, another school named after a dead Catholic male saint.
00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:04.480
But she took it on, and they have actually shaped a whole philosophy of how their school operates.
00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:06.799
She has this program of the gifts and St.
00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:08.480
Benedict, which they do every year.
00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:13.759
It's sort of part of their RE, but it is soaked right down into the way the children live.
00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.639
So they don't have school rules, they have the gifts of St.
00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:17.200
Benedict.
00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:22.720
And if someone isn't doing what they should do, kids will say to another, oh, that's not living community.
00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:24.480
That's not living peace.
00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:33.279
So this rule has actually translated into being a fundamental spirituality of a primary school up in central Queensland.
00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:35.840
I'm sure Benedict never expected that.
00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:43.279
No, I don't think Benedict would expect it half the conversations that go on based around the seed that he planted many, many years ago now.
00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:54.639
So the invitation of this, do you believe, really, is then to continue these conversations to share and to find out all of the different ways that it is flourishing across the world and celebrate.
00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.159
And I think it's an opportunity to reconnect as well.
00:12:58.480 --> 00:12:58.720
Yes.
00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:04.559
And the different communities around Australia are starting now to think, okay, well, how can we do this?
00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:13.679
So over in Eunocia, they have a very gifted musician there, and she's got a wonderful, ambitious musical program over the theme.
00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.960
She's even planned it out through the four years building up to that.
00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:26.960
Jambaru Abbey has picked up the ball and they're going to have their Advent retreat day under the theme of Awaken, and they're doing candles for that.
00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:31.919
I'm sure you have got some programs started for the school programs.
00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:36.879
So gradually people are sort of looking at it and thinking, oh yeah, we can do this.
00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:40.639
They can build it into the life of their community as it is.
00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:42.879
Well, and I think that's the call.
00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:57.519
So the official journey towards Jubilee was launched on the anniversary of Benedict's death in March earlier in the year, then mapped out the themes across four years, starting with this year in preparation for the Jubilee, in that sequence of themes that follows the life of Benedict as well.
00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:03.360
So this year being awaken and focusing on the birth story, I guess, and Norture being the theme.
00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:12.240
I know one of the ideas of the whole journey towards Jubilee is not necessarily creating new things, but how to embed the themes in the things that we're already doing.
00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:22.399
How do we connect with those themes and journey together, but not necessarily having to do a lot of extra work, as it were, but just embedding them into the things that are already happening?
00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:23.039
Yes.
00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:25.360
Awaken to what we're already doing.
00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:26.240
Indeed.
00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:31.759
So this theme, awaken, with Nortia as the birthplace of Benedict and Scholastica is the focus.
00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.000
What comes to you when you think about this theme?
00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:36.639
How are the communities starting to awaken to this journey?
00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.919
It's funny you say that because I have been to Nortia.
00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:41.360
It's a wonderful place.
00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:43.519
If I said to people, are you going to Italy?
00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:48.399
There's two places I would say to them to go to, to go to Orvieto and to go to Nortia.
00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:50.080
And the principal from St.
00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:53.519
Benedict's here went to Norcha and she was just blown away.
00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:54.559
It is amazing.
00:14:54.720 --> 00:15:03.279
When I go to a place, one of the things I like to do is to get up very early in the morning and wander around the city to see how a place wakes up.
00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:06.879
Well, when I was at Norcher, I did that.
00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:11.440
I took a number of photos of the sunrise coming over the mountains.
00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:17.519
And I've actually had that as my screen photo for probably the last eight or nine months.
00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:21.360
And I'm looking at it and thinking, that's what this is about.
00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:22.879
Have you been to Norcia?
00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:23.600
I have.
00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:25.440
I in fact was there earlier this year.
00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:27.039
Yeah, it's a wonderful place.
00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:31.600
The last fully walled city in Italy, and it's at the bottom of a valley.
00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:35.919
Even though it's got the hills rising around it, there's a certain flatness about it.
00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.919
And I won't say calm because it experiences earthquakes.
00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:40.399
Yes.
00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:43.279
Well, that is where Benedict grew up.
00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:49.440
What I found particularly moving is actually about three or four kilometers out of town.
00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:54.159
Next to the cemetery is this falling down church.
00:15:54.399 --> 00:16:00.000
Out the back in the sacristy area, Sister Aquinata Brockman, who's a brilliant scholar in St.
00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:04.480
Benedict, pointed to some bricks that were there and said, They're 5th, 6th century.
00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:06.960
This is in the tradition, the house where St.
00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:08.720
Scholastica started.
00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:13.200
Now, at that time, there weren't big women's monasteries or groups of women.
00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.080
Women started basically house communities.
00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:23.519
So my theory, and a few other people have it, is that she was the first one to take up this monastic life.
00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:30.320
She lived out of town, close enough for any needs to be supplied, but separate from the rest of the community.
00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:33.039
Her life planted a seed in Benedict.
00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:36.879
He must at times have been wondered, what is my sister up to?
00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:42.080
So I like to think that partially her life started the awakening for him.
00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:56.879
My understanding of that site is that it was originally like the family summer house that, yes, as you say, that Scholastica kind of withdrew to at some point, and we don't know any detail, but certainly tradition says that that's where she stayed.
00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:58.960
And that is not an uncommon thing.
00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:00.320
You have that with the sister of St.
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:01.600
Basil, Macrina.
00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:05.200
They just take up residence in part of the family estate.
00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:22.720
Well, I highly recommend reading Carmel Hose's book on Scholastica to investigate that further because it very much has that McCreena is very much at the background of her story in the research that Carmel has done to flesh out what might have been her journey towards when she ends up at Monte Casino as well.
00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:24.799
And the influence of Benedict.
00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:32.160
So at the moment, I think Benedict and Cyn Australia are starting to awaken to actually what could this Jubilee bring us?
00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.839
I can hear little different things coming up, like the school at St.
00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:39.680
Benedict's is deciding to take on those themes for their Gifts of St.
00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:42.000
Benedict's program in term two next year.
00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.920
You've got New Norsea doing what they're doing, Jambaroo doing what they're doing.
00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:50.640
I'll be interested to see what you actually do with your network of people.
00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:53.200
So that's where we're started at the moment.
00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:57.039
I mean, this conversation is kind of, I guess, the start of what we're doing.
00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:05.200
And I'm hoping that over these four themes, at the very least, we'll explore one theme a year on Communio Calling during our podcast and see where it takes us.
00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:14.720
One of the things is really awareness raising at the moment to start that to awaken to you know the potential and to start the conversation to be part of this global conversation.
00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:22.880
The family is already there and we're just starting up a different conversation, a way to reconnect and refocus what people are doing in their individual places.
00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:23.839
Yes.
00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:28.160
Now, you've already started having conversations with different communities.
00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:30.319
How would people become more aware of?
00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:32.000
How do they join the conversation?
00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:40.799
What I'm hoping to do at the moment is to write an article for the good oil on the Jubilee and where we hope to be going with it over the next few years.
00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:47.839
And at the end of that, I will be asking anyone who's interested in finding out what's going to keep on going over the years.
00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.279
And I hope to write a newsletter and send it, email it out.
00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:55.680
I'm going to invite people to send me their email so they could go on the list.
00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:00.720
I'm looking at something that might go out once a month or every two months, and that will inform them.
00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:02.079
This event is on.
00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:03.200
This is coming up.
00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:07.680
So, for example, and I don't know if they still do it, but they were doing it every year.
00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:15.279
Is New Norcia used to have a pilgrimage, the Salvado pilgrimage, where it went from Perth and they walked out to New Norcia.
00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:24.960
Now, one of the themes that's very strong in the Jubilee is the theme of pilgrimage, and they're recommending to people that they do pilgrimages to the monasteries.
00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:29.039
They even have a pilgrimage book that you can get, and the monasteries are all up there.
00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:37.599
Now, in Europe, the notion of pilgrimage is very strong, and people are used to doing it, and there is a culture that supports it.
00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:38.000
Yes.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:41.440
New Norcia have had that pilgrimage going for years.
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:49.680
So what I would hope to do in the newsletter is to inform people this is when the pilgrimage is on and this is what you need to do to enroll for it.
00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:55.920
I'm hoping other communities amongst us might take up some sort of pilgrimage experience.
00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:06.000
Internally, we have our own Sydney pilgrimage, which we're just about to rebrand next year, recalling it Courageous Beginnings, which traces the beginnings of the sisters story in here in Sydney.
00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:11.039
And it's our hope to create more of those in Brisbane and in Melbourne over time.
00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:14.240
So this might be the energy really that can bring through.
00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:22.480
But I mean, maybe at different times there'll be some of the monasteries in Australia that will at least host an open day so that people can pilgrimage to it or something like that.
00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:23.119
Yes.
00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:25.200
Another idea to add to the list.
00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:26.880
Yes, indeed.
00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:27.599
Yeah.
00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:37.119
I mean, the other thing I found when I was looking up the pilgrimage is that I actually saw that there's a Camino San Benedetto, a Camino for St.
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:38.799
Benedict in Italy.
00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:43.599
Now I know of Camino in Spain is very busy.
00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:49.279
Last thing I read said, you know, the Koreans and the Chinese have now taken up going in groups of 40.
00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:52.480
And it's becoming a bit of a nightmare with the number of people.
00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.160
And I thought the Camino St.
00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:57.599
Benedetto looks very attractive to me.
00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:02.880
And I would actually hope that somehow or other an Australian group could go and do it.
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.599
Oh well, we can plant the seed and let's see what happens.
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:17.039
See what happens, but to see what would be going on in Rome for either for oblake groups or other things under the Jubilee and have that come as the culmination.
00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:17.759
Yes.
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:23.279
So I know that in Rome at San Anselmo, they are planning particular events for different groups.
00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:40.960
One that I'm focused on for our community is that they will be having a youth congress in 2029 so that they'll hold it outside of Rome itself in a large location that can hopefully cater for over 200 young people and make a pilgrimage in one of those days to Monte Casino.
00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:42.799
So I know those plans are in place.
00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:50.960
I know there's different things for different parts of the Benedictine community that are being looked at, but that's the one I have more information on at this stage.
00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:54.799
Yeah, so that's sort of like one of the hopes that I've got there.
00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:59.759
The other thing that I didn't know about, but somebody told me recently it's a Jubilee.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.359
Of polling next year.
00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:10.079
The person who did this is actually that there's a group of historians in the Sydney area wanting to do a book in honor of Paulding for that particular jubilee.
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:12.720
That would be an interesting theme to run.
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.960
The spirituality of polling, what did he give to our Benedictine communities?
00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:21.200
Because the community at Champeroo they were originally brought to Australia by Paulding.
00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:26.160
Well, the whole Australian church is really founded on Benedictine values.
00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:30.960
The first two archbishops were Benedicted, and there was lots of them there for a period of time.
00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:34.319
They were the cradle that began Catholic life in Australia.
00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:34.880
Exactly.
00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:42.960
And so it would be an opportunity at some stage to perhaps look back and say, okay, this is the beginning of where our Benedictine community began in Australia.
00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:50.240
We've got to look at what it did for the wider church, but particularly what were the gifts that were given to the Good Samaritans, what were the gifts that were given to Jambaroo?
00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:53.279
And that's sort of part of that listening to our past.
00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:58.880
And then perhaps in that thing, reflecting on how we've integrated it now in the present.
00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.440
Yes, as we say, listening.
00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:07.200
So next year the theme will be listen and focusing in terms of the life of Benedict while he's in Rome.
00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:10.559
So that whole, you know, listening to what's being asked of Benedict.
00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:14.559
And then the following year in 2028 will be grow.
00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:18.640
And the focus then in terms of the story of Benedict is Subiaco.
00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.240
So what's the growth living in community and the school of the Lord's service?
00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:24.559
So all of these kind of things are bubbling away.
00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:35.519
Then the final one is flourishing at Monte Cassino, is the theme where we'll center the celebration and we'll hear about stories as they come together as places of hope for over 1500 years.
00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:40.240
I particularly like the way that they've done this build-up over Benedict's life.
00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:50.880
Their first year honors that childhood background, having that father who was the municipal leader, so somebody who kept order in the town.
00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:56.079
Then his experience of going to Rome, which was not positive, it was very negative.
00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:02.400
When you go to Rome, you can actually go to the place where he boarded, you know, and they say, well, this is his cell.
00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:05.519
If you look at it, it's tiny, it's cramped.
00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:13.680
And, you know, he did not like the noise, he did not like the city, he did not like the appalling behavior of his fellow students.
00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:18.240
And then, as what youth does, they react and go to the opposite extreme.
00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:26.319
And so then you have this thing of going to Subiyako, and it's as you would have known, there is something about sitting in the cave where Benedict lived.
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:35.279
I have met diverse people who've been to that cave, and you really can still have the experience of what it was like when Benedict was there.
00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:41.599
Even though there's two monasteries and a town, where he was is still got that wildness.
00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.680
But I've met a number of people who've been there and they thought the same thing.
00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:48.640
I thought, what was he thinking?
00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:52.640
Our students finishing school about 16, 17 years ago.
00:24:52.880 --> 00:25:00.319
He was that age when he was making this massive decision to leave everything behind and you know, completely different direction to his family.
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:08.720
The interesting thing is like he goes up and he is this hermit, and he's obviously an extreme hermit at the end of his life when he's writing the rule.
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.519
He's not encouraging people to become hermits.
00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:16.079
He's saying, Oh no, hermits not something ambiguous at the beginning of your life.
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:18.400
That's something that you do when you're wise.
00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:25.920
To me, he had that time in his life, but he also looked back on it and said, nah, that's not the way I would recommend it to other people.
00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:26.240
Yeah.
00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:28.319
In other words, he learnt from what he did.
00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:31.680
And then when God sent the other people along, he accepted them.
00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:34.799
He was ready to embrace what God actually wanted for him.
00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:41.440
Yeah, and I think that time away that we all need at different times in our lives to process what is actually God calling to me.
00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:46.000
And God called him in the form of different people saying, actually, we'd like you to come into community.
00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:47.839
And that happens in our lives as well.
00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:53.200
And then when you actually get to Monte Casino, Monte Casino, it's a very high hill.
00:25:53.359 --> 00:26:07.279
The monastery's at the top of the hill, and then there's these plains all around it, and the main road from Rome down to the south goes alongside it, and you think he's in touch with society, but he's also to the side of it.
00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:19.039
So he's got that balance there where he's ready, he and his monks to offer their stuff to society, but at the same time, they've got their own distance, they've got their own quiet and their own peace.
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:29.200
I'm really pleased with the way they've actually planned these years, following through the life of Benedict himself, because you can see there wasn't one thing that happened in his life.
00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:30.720
There are a lot of different things.
00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:32.880
Just as the same it is for us.
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:33.920
Of course.
00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:38.799
It's wonderful that it gives us opportunity to reflect on the different phases of our lives too.
00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:40.720
Sometimes we need the cave.
00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:41.359
Yes.
00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:43.920
Sometimes we need to be on top of the mountain.
00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:49.680
And sometimes we're in the rough and tumble of the city, and the people around us are not very nice.
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:53.359
Even those situations can guide our heart.
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:59.279
The situations that least seem like they will be of use to us in life can actually help us find direction.
00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:04.720
And we might not know it for some time afterwards that that's what was happening within us and around us.
00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:05.119
Yeah.
00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:07.039
I have the number of nieces and nephews.
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:09.200
They're trying to work out what they want to do with their life.
00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:12.720
And I seldom to start by working out what you don't want to do.
00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:14.720
So they'll be there and they'll say, I don't know what to do.
00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:16.480
And I say, Well, do you want to become a doctor?
00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:16.960
No.
00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.680
Well, okay, we can cross that one off the list.
00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:21.359
Do you want to work with people?
00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:22.799
Oh, maybe.
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:27.920
So this is what Benedict went up to Rome and thought, no, I don't want this.
00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:28.880
Not for him.
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:30.240
Yeah, not for me.
00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:30.799
Yeah.
00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:34.799
And I guess that's what often vocational advice is, is give it a try.
00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:36.319
You'll know whether it's yes or no.
00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:38.640
Unless you try, you won't know too.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:44.400
Years ago, before I actually joined the monastery, I went to see an elderly priest who was a family friend for a long time.
00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:49.359
And when I said him I was going to be going to join the Benedictins, I thought he'd get all excited, etc.
00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:50.640
And he didn't.
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:52.319
He was quite prosaic.
00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:54.400
He said, That's nice, lovey.
00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:56.079
But promise me one thing.
00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.279
If you are unhappy, have the courage to get out.
00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:03.519
I've seen too many women make a misery of their life because they lack the courage.
00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:10.640
And you know, no matter what's happened in my life, and there's been good and there's been bad and there's been negative or whatever.
00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:14.079
The thing I keep coming back to is to say, Am I happy?
00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:16.480
And I've had to say, okay, this is it.
00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:17.359
I am happy.
00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:19.599
So I stay with what the situation is.
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:21.519
I have been happy in the life.
00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:27.119
And I think that is actually a very good idea on which people to discern.
00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:28.640
Are we happy?
00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:31.039
God's not wanting us to be unhappy.
00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:33.119
Yes, there will be suffering.
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.279
Yes, there will be difficulties.
00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:42.720
Yes, there will be challenges, but there's this peaceful happiness that needs to be at the base there.
00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:48.079
And maybe sometimes it only comes from knowing, look, I'm in the right time and the right place.
00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:55.200
And this might be a very difficult situation, but I will find my peace and happiness in knowing that I am meant to be here.
00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:57.680
That to me is a thing on discernment.
00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:03.440
It's not how much money am I going to make, how much fun is it going to be, but will it make me happy?
00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:04.079
Yeah.
00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:09.039
It's almost that question that we need to ask ourselves often is how is my heart doing?
00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:12.480
How are we resting in whatever we are?
00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.400
Like, is it a place of agitation?
00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:15.920
Is it a place of peace?
00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:19.279
Or is it a place that needs to be something else?
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:23.680
And that courage to answer what the heart's calling on you to do.
00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:24.799
Not an easy thing.
00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:26.160
It definitely takes courage.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:28.720
Yes, it's very much courage.
00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:33.440
We have had a rambling but wonderful conversation all over the place.
00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:35.119
Well, I knew it would ramble.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:36.559
I knew it would.
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:43.359
I think it's a great start for the conversation for other people to take up the conversation now about the Jubilee in their own places.
00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:51.039
So we've made a start for them and they can now start discerning about what it looks like for them in their places and how do they connect.
00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:58.240
So the other way they can connect to the international journey is through the website jubilee.osb.org.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:02.240
So they can sign up for newsletters and resources that can come from the generalit.
00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:05.359
We'll have the more local version of it too.
00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:06.880
So stay tuned.
00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:10.319
Well, it has been delightful talking to you, Kim.
00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:16.480
Thank you so much for sharing this journey and holding it all together for us, being the connection point for us out here in Australia.
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:17.920
Thanks a lot.
00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:30.640
So as you can hear, we are at the beginning of a journey full of many possibilities.
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:43.839
This year, as we awaken to those possibilities, it's a delight to think about our own origin stories, not just that of Benedict and Scholastica in Norcha, but our own first encounters with Benedictan life and spirituality.
00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:46.480
Norcha is such a special place.
00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:53.599
This year our Benedictine pilgrimage returned there to visit the rebuilt church over the birthplace of Benedict and Scholastica.
00:30:53.759 --> 00:31:00.559
All of our pilgrims will recall that special time we spent in the crypt among the original ruins of the home.
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:10.319
So as you continue through your day, I invite you to awaken to the call to this journey of Jubilee to celebrate all of the gifts of Benedictine life.
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:17.759
So today and always, may the table of hospitality be wide that we may continue to go and do likewise.
