A lot of well-meaning but unknowing people feel sorry for a woman when she enters religious life. They think that since a Sister will not have a “family of her own” that no one will remember her once she is gone.
Nothing could be further from the truth! Each year on November 2nd (the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed) we at St. Scholastica Monastery hold a special prayer service to honor and remember those Sisters who have died in the past year. It is a beautiful and solemn tribute to lives lived. We pay homage to the fact that these beautiful women, our Sisters, are no longer with us, and we rejoice to believe that they are now at peace in the glory of God’s Kingdom.
I find it a beautiful thing to trek up the hill and visit Gethsemane Cemetery. To walk among the headstones of our dear Sisters is to truly walk on holy ground, for the Sisters buried there, those recently and those of years long past, are the strong, courageous, gifted, and faith-filled women who built this Benedictine Community.
The Sisters who are remembered in prayer each and every day nursed the sick, educated thousands, aided the poor, and much, much more. They prayed and worked every day to bring the light of the Gospel to the world in which they lived.
And now, I pray, that they are enjoying the rewards due faithful servants. It is a privilege to honor and remember them. I am humbled to be a part of the Benedictine family and the tradition here at St. Scholastica. Each day I strive to follow in the footsteps of the champions of the faith who have gone before me….as I remember.
Sister Lisa Maurer
Sister Lisa Maurer was born and raised in Sleep Eye, Minnesota. Before entering the Monastery in 2007, she taught and coached in Catholic Schools within the New Ulm Diocese. Sister Lisa Made her Perpetual Monastic Profession in July ll, 2012. Her first ministry as a Benedictine Sister was working at the parishes of St. Lawrence and St. Joseph in Duluth. Currently she is Director of Mission Integration for the Benedictine Health System.