2025 Vocations Awareness Supplement
Want to bring hope to the world, your life? Follow this Benedictine path
Benedictine Sisters Anne Louise Frederick, left, Carol Falkner and Heather Jean Foltz pose in Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove. In their years of life as members of the monastic community there, they have experienced how the Benedictine vocation is a source of hope for themselves, their fellow sisters and the broader community. (Submitted photo)
By John Shaughnessy
Benedictine Sister Anne Louise Frederick will never forget the time when she helped celebrate the birthday of Benedictine Sister Betty Jean Coveney.
On such a special day when a person usually receives presents, Sister Betty shared a gift from her heart with someone else.
“This spirit of celebration led both of us to a desire to take time to visit one of our sisters who was in a rehab facility a little distance from our monastery,” recalls Sister Anne Louise, formation director of Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove.
“The time visiting with this sister was so beautiful as we laughed, prayed and sang. And I felt so grateful to share community with a sister who felt joy in taking this time on her birthday to visit another sister in need. It always stands out to me as a grace-filled experience.”
That story captures one of the six main ways—care for the sick and elderly—that the sisters show how Benedictine life is a sign of hope in the world today.
“Hope is a virtue that flows from God’s grace. It is not dependent on life’s circumstances,” Sister Anne Louise says. “The greatness of our hope shines forth in adverse situations where our faith in God’s goodness and God’s faithfulness gives us strength to endure. We minister hope when we recognize the dignity of each human being and trust that God can transform any suffering and use it for his purposes. Love will have the final word.”
Here are the five other ways that the Benedictine sisters strive to use their gifts to bless others and draw closer to God. They encourage people to reap the joys and benefits that come from embracing these goals in daily life, believing they can help bring hope to a divided world.
Seek the common good
“Benedict instructs in his Rule that we should seek not first our own good, but the good of the other. That is quite countercultural,” Sister Anne Louise says. “It involves sacrifice and an awareness to see beyond our needs and desires to the needs of others.
“Love is truly desiring the good of the other. Benedict trusts that in seeking the common good, we will find meaning in life and find the deep peace that comes from abiding in God.”
Sister Anne Louise has witnessed countless times how that approach and that belief have touched and transformed the sisters who live in community at
Our Lady of Grace Monastery.
“There are so many ways to live this out in community. We give input to decisions that impact all, and support decisions that are made by leadership on behalf of all. Community life lived well is such a powerful witness to our world of the richness that is ours—if we strive for the communion we were created for.
“We offer hope as we live out our faith in a God who is for us, always desiring what is best for us.”
Make prayer an emphasis
Benedictine Sister Carol Falkner describes prayer as “the bedrock for the Benedictine vocation.” Individually and communally, the sisters make prayer for others and the world their focus.
“We celebrate our communal prayer three times each day,” says Sister Carol, subprioress (second in leadership) of the monastery. “Benedict refers to our daily prayer as the work of God. It strengthens us as a community. At these times, we ask God to sanctify our work, to bring peace to our world and to grant us the grace to share in spreading God’s word through our words and actions.
“I believe this constancy in prayer brings hope to a world in grave need of healing. People appreciate being remembered in prayer. And anyone is welcome to join us for our communal prayer.”
That emphasis on prayer brings the sisters to a deeper connection with God.
“As a monastic, I promise to be faithful to prayer,” Sister Carol says. “In turn, I experience God’s faithfulness to me. As I stay open to God’s grace, I find myself with the desire to serve my sisters, guests and those who turn to us so they and their loved ones might also be held in prayer.”
The focus on prayer also helps her draw closer to the people she guides as a spiritual director.
“Prayer enables me to be attentive to the other person, to listen to that person, as Benedict says, with ‘the ear of my heart,’ ” Sister Carol says. “When I prayerfully tend to the other person, she or he is able to discern God’s will and act on it. One is filled with hope when one is assured of God’s love and care.”
Offer hospitality
Sister Carol says that she and her fellow sisters strive to embrace St. Benedict’s guidance “to treat each guest as Christ” and to care for the things we use “as vessels of the altar.”
“I find many opportunities to extend hospitality to those who visit our monastery,” Sister Carol says. “So many people in our world need a listening ear and someone to tend to them. Our guests are invited to pray with us, to join us for meals and to find periods of peace and quiet.
“Finding a place of welcome brings hope to a person and reminds that person of his or her importance. Experiencing this love enables a person to go out and extend love to others. As this love ripples out, hope is restored.”
That care for others involves another important approach—caring for the Earth.
“We care for others in caring for the Earth,” Sister Carol notes. “When we abuse the Earth, we bring darkness and hopelessness. When we consciously care for the Earth, we bring light and spread hope that the Earth will continue to sustain us.”
Seek peace
As Benedictine Sister Heather Jean Foltz searched for a sense of peace in her life, she found it in the Benedictine monastery.
“Peace is more than an environment or a feeling,” says Sister Heather, the vocations director for Our Lady of Grace Monastery. “The pursuit of peace in the Benedictine tradition goes beyond simply avoiding conflict. It involves actively working toward a just and harmonious world, both within oneself and in one’s relationships with others.”
The path to peace isn’t easy, she says. Instead, it requires effort, diligence and commitment.
“There is a healthy tension between pursuing a way of life that one believes will lead us to God, and our own responsibility for doing the work that brings about peace,” Sister Heather says. “The peace we seek is not something that comes from outside us. It starts within us.”
And when conflicts arise, the Rule of Benedict advises making peace “before the sun goes down.”
“My daily actions help to establish peace,” Sister Heather stresses. “It requires me to refrain from gossip, angry words, holding grudges, trying to control things that are outside of my control, letting others work on themselves without my help or input, and doing the work within me that drives me to act in ways that do not lay a foundation for peace.
“I can’t do any of these actions alone. The grace to live in peace comes from God. It is when I open myself up to do the things God is asking of me that I experience true peace. When God’s will and my will act together, I experience peace, even if the situation is difficult or challenging. This aspect of our Benedictine charism is a hope we share with a world that is so divided.”
Move from ‘I’ to ‘we’
In her 15 years of living at Our Lady of Grace Monastery, Sister Heather has come to embrace two essential aspects of community life—stability of place and stability of heart.
“Stability of place is our physical presence to our community and to the greater Beech Grove community,” she says. “Stability of heart is about our love for our communities’ traditions, norms and to the individuals that God has called to this place.
“Through our vow of stability, our community calls me to surrender my own will and do what together we discern is best. Life moves from ‘I’ to ‘we.’ ”
In embracing that move, the roots of community grow stronger, leading toward a deeper relationship with God, too.
“On the good days and the hard days, we are called to stay at table with one another,” Sister Heather says. “We journey with others throughout the joys and the struggles of life. We celebrate new memberships, jubilees and professions that add joy to our life. Living inter-generationally together, we also witness the final surrender of each sister as they are called home to God.
“We remain on this journey together in all things. This draws each of us closer to God.”
(To learn more about Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, visit www.benedictine.com.) †
