Community connections
The brothers and sisters of Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery welcome you to our community connections page. Here you will find our community blog, where once a month, a member of our community reflects on the question of what it means for them to live their Benedictine call in the world. You will also find links to the webpages, blogs, and ministries of many of our members. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into our community.
About the Author:
A native Texan, Bev Selby is a retired church organist and piano teacher. She and her husband have four children, 10 grandchildren, and (so far) 3 great grandchildren. Bev enjoys family gatherings, crocheting, road trips, and watching the birds who visit her backyard in the Dallas area.
November 2023 Community Blog
As I live out my monastic vows in dispersion for 51 weeks out of the year, several of my local friends ask questions about our St. Brigid of Kildare Monastery commitment, our Benedictine vows, and would there perhaps be a conflict of “interest” between those vows and my other (family) commitments. My personal answer to that is something along the lines of – my marriage vows don’t conflict with my baptismal vows or the vows of membership I make to join a church or my monastic vows. Instead of being in dissonance, they are all in harmony with one another in God’s greater call on my life.
Folks have also been curious about what my monastic vows are. So I let them know about our vows and some Benedictine principles/values, along with how we live them out in a family and in dispersed community. They to begin to see that this monasticism is not so far-fetched (even for a Protestant!) And, they seem surprised when I share that we pray together as a community 4 times each day.
The three-fold promise we make as professed members is:
Stability –In the monastery, the traditional way to live this out is to simply (but not always easy) stay put, body and spirit, at the cloister. To us in St. Brigid of Kildare, stability means we stay with our sisters and brothers in our community by connecting regularly in prayer, formation, and at our annual retreat. In our families, we stay faithful to one another even if we move. In a church, we stay and support one another, even if the music or the pastor is not our favorite. But the overarching belief is that God calls us, just as God has called people through the centuries, to live in communities together and care for one another through the joys and difficulties of life, and that we are faithful and present for one another.
Fidelity to the monastic way of life – Our Benedictine spirituality stresses hospitality, humility, simplicity, daily manual labor, restraint of speech, and, of course, prayer times spaced throughout our day. Through God’s grace, we persist along this path of continual conversion toward transformation.
Obedience – To a monastic obedience means, in part, that to make decisions, we don’t rely only on our own desires, but seek wisdom from others, discern with the guidance of the superior, and turn to prayer to help us. We are inclined to say, “Yes” when the superior asks or gives us an assignment, and to carry out our work joyfully. In my family, all my decisions are not completely my own, either, as many things we do directly impact those with whom we live. And, a crying baby, or a sick spouse direct my energies, temporarily setting aside my own wishes. God may call us to work in our churches, and we align our priorities to answer that call. There are also various volunteer causes in our communities where we might serve God. We can answer, “Yes,” to God and follow Christ in so many ways.
My monastic life doesn’t call me away from contemporary life, but instead serves as a supporting trellis to live mindfully in my various roles and engage intentionally with Christ at the center of all I do.
As I live out my monastic vows in dispersion for 51 weeks out of the year, several of my local friends ask questions about our St. Brigid of Kildare Monastery commitment, our Benedictine vows, and would there perhaps be a conflict of “interest” between those vows and my other (family) commitments. My personal answer to that is something along the lines of – my marriage vows don’t conflict with my baptismal vows or the vows of membership I make to join a church or my monastic vows. Instead of being in dissonance, they are all in harmony with one another in God’s greater call on my life.
Folks have also been curious about what my monastic vows are. So I let them know about our vows and some Benedictine principles/values, along with how we live them out in a family and in dispersed community. They to begin to see that this monasticism is not so far-fetched (even for a Protestant!) And, they seem surprised when I share that we pray together as a community 4 times each day.
The three-fold promise we make as professed members is:
Stability –In the monastery, the traditional way to live this out is to simply (but not always easy) stay put, body and spirit, at the cloister. To us in St. Brigid of Kildare, stability means we stay with our sisters and brothers in our community by connecting regularly in prayer, formation, and at our annual retreat. In our families, we stay faithful to one another even if we move. In a church, we stay and support one another, even if the music or the pastor is not our favorite. But the overarching belief is that God calls us, just as God has called people through the centuries, to live in communities together and care for one another through the joys and difficulties of life, and that we are faithful and present for one another.
Fidelity to the monastic way of life – Our Benedictine spirituality stresses hospitality, humility, simplicity, daily manual labor, restraint of speech, and, of course, prayer times spaced throughout our day. Through God’s grace, we persist along this path of continual conversion toward transformation.
Obedience – To a monastic obedience means, in part, that to make decisions, we don’t rely only on our own desires, but seek wisdom from others, discern with the guidance of the superior, and turn to prayer to help us. We are inclined to say, “Yes” when the superior asks or gives us an assignment, and to carry out our work joyfully. In my family, all my decisions are not completely my own, either, as many things we do directly impact those with whom we live. And, a crying baby, or a sick spouse direct my energies, temporarily setting aside my own wishes. God may call us to work in our churches, and we align our priorities to answer that call. There are also various volunteer causes in our communities where we might serve God. We can answer, “Yes,” to God and follow Christ in so many ways.
My monastic life doesn’t call me away from contemporary life, but instead serves as a supporting trellis to live mindfully in my various roles and engage intentionally with Christ at the center of all I do.
A Few of Our Community Members' Websites and Ministries