Sister Lisa Returns from the BSWR

Sister Lisa Maurer attended the Benedictine Spirituality Workshop and Retreat (BSWR) June 21 through July 12 at Sacred Heart Monastery in Cullman, Alabama.

BSWR is an annual three-week experience for Benedictine women in the final year of preparation for making their Perpetual Monastic Profession. The first two weeks were filled with workshops including such topics as humility & silence, fidelity to the monastic way of life, obedience, stability, peace & justice, personal wholeness, and the Benedictine charism.  These days also contained excursions to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, St. Bernard Abbey, Clarkson Covered Bridge, and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. The final week of BSWR was a silent directed retreat, a time of personal prayer, reflection, and discernment.When asked about her experience Sister Lisa said, “I am extremely grateful as BSWR was amazing!  The lectures were motivating and the retreat time was inspiring.  I appreciated being with the other Junior Sisters as well as spending time at a different monastery.  The three weeks I spent in Cullman have profoundly affected my growth as a Benedictine.”