"Why have I chosen to give my life to the Benedictine tradition, a Christ-centered life marked by seeking God through prayer and community? And why do I believe it has something to contribute to creating a more just society?" are the questions Erie Benedictine Sister Valerie Luckey posed in her opening statement as a panelist for "Religion and Social Justice: A Conversation with Erie Leaders" at Mercyhurst University on February 7. She answered her query in terms of the two primary ministries of a Benedictine: prayer and community.
"We don’t know much about Saint Benedict," she went on to say. "But one of the better-known stories comes at the end of his life when Benedict has a vision of the whole world in 'a single ray of light.' And if you reflect on it, you see how seeking God becomes a single-toned rhythm where all the pieces Benedict lays out—the work and the prayer, the solitude and the community, the silence and the dialogue—become unified, guiding you toward a single purpose: growing in love.
"Which means that perhaps the monastery walls are not physical at all, and the true monastery you’ve committed yourself to is the world. And now you might see where we’re headed, and there’s really no going back: we cannot find a rhythm of life, we cannot seek God, we cannot grow in love if we do not seek justice."
Sister Val, Ministry Assistant at Emmaus Ministries, was joined on the panel by the Very Reverend Melinda Hall, Dean of the Cathedral of St. Paul, and Sheikh Mazin Alsahlani, Al-Makarim Islamic Foundation. Each spoke out of their own faith tradition and their personal and ministerial work for social justice.
The panelists took questions from the audience that allowed them to expand on their opening comments. While speaking from different religious traditions, the common thread was belief in a God whose spirit pervades all things and who calls us to care for one another in ways that invite us to wholeness as individuals and as communities. "How do I live into the wholeness of God's love right now--not just for me but for the sake of the world?" asked Reverend Hall. She noted that it is working on our interior life that will change how we see the world, and added that it is "grace that holds us" as we respond to God's invitation to grow into wholeness.
The panel was co-hosted by the Evelyn Lincoln Institute for Ethics and Society (ELIES) and the William C. Sennet Institute for Mercy and Catholic Studies.
