These days, my morning begins with coffee and a book when it’s quiet on East 22nd Street and at Mary the Apostle Catholic Worker where I live with six others including a young couple with two children, and a friend with developmental disabilities. Later, I join three other Benedictines on the block for morning prayer. Breakfast is with five-year-old Brigid while Lisa watches for the Lift pickup for work and John, a toddler, re-discovers the kitchen cabinets. My ministry is with Benetvision and Monasteries of the Heart, stretching the boundaries of Benedictine life to new forms for the future. Later there might be neighborhood gardening, or meetings at the Mount or a peace demonstration. At the end of the day, Jess and Matthew, the parents, and I gather briefly for night prayer.

When I made monastic profession, I did not envision the form of life I now live in this my jubilee year. The only sure bet about the next 25 years is there will be more new forms. But the essentials will hopefully remain: a rhythm of prayer, community, ministry, nonviolent witness, celebrations, and leisure. My hope is that monastic life—life structured for growth in gospel love and freedom—will still be forming me.

I have a favorite quote of Dorothy Day, well known Catholic social reformer, that supports my hope: “We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever widening circle will reach around the world. We can give away an onion. We repeat, there is nothing that we can do but love, and, dear God, please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as well as our friend.” It is clear that significant and effective actions are built on love. This is a beautiful model and a great hope.