បបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបប� បបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបបប.
My dream was that someday there would rise from this marker upon these grounds fine buildings like the great Benedictine abbeys built of the stone from this land.
And within these walls higher education would flourish.
And we would have a chapel for the beautiful ceremonies of the liturgy and the divine office of God.
She was our mother, this mother scholastic accursed.
She was ambitious for every one of us.
But she had her way.
I tell you, she had her way.
In 1892, there were only 28 sisters who had come from St.
Benedict's in St.
Joseph, Minnesota to Munger Terrace where the community first originated in the Duluth territory.
With Mother Scholastica, they began their work right in the center of Duluth or the old city.
And it wasn't until later that Bishop McGalrick and Mother Scholastica selected the present site as the place for the mother house.
It was right on the rim of the city, what was called the Daisy Farm.
Acres and acres of wild daisies grew here.
Before the turn of the century, the sisters used to have picnics on these grounds.
Mother Scholastica's dream was that our community would build here.
She saw it all happen before her death in 1911.
We have much to do.
What we will do will take courage.
Praise God in the highest that we are capable of doing.
May we help the sick and the poor, those who falter, and those who wish to know as we do the beauty and the mystery of this world.
My dear sisters, use the precious time given you.
It is selfishness that causes all troubles, with little exception, in the world and in the convent.
May we in our lives be filled with the spirit of sacrifice.
Pox, Phobiscu.
I remember Mother Scholastica saying before she died, No sisters, don't be crying at my funeral.
Sing your hallelujahs as you have never sung before.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
I remember the day I was born.
The Hollywood nun is usually candy -coated.
We call her the marmaladed sister.
She is either too sweet or too stern.
I wonder if anyone has portrayed us as we really are.
Now, if I was to take your picture, you'd be just what you are.
Here in the convent, I am myself a photographer.
You really have no idea what it takes to get some of these snow and ice seams.
I am a very simple, honest, sort of unsophisticated person.
I must take things as I find them.
If it takes me five hours to wait for the light, then I will wait for the light.
If I have to go back the next day, I will go back the next day and the next day.
But it must belong to its setting.
Every part of it must be right to its setting.
The New York Times When I think about it, I'd say there's great joy in our life.
We share so many things.
We share hardships, laughs, and sorrows, and friendships.
We have common goals reached in many divergent ways.
Some of us work in hospitals, some are teachers, some of us sing for a living, some of us paint for a living.
We don't agree on everything, of course, except perhaps our final goal.
And I think that's reached through great joy.
Five groups of architects that were involved in the building wanted to leave some type of a group tribute to the city of Duluth.
And so they asked me if I would design some decoration.
So we decided to work in granite, which is an indigenous material.
What I did was to make a small -scale model in clay.
And I carved 20 separate blocks, a free -form shape, each one abstracting a water, rock, or tree form.
These were indigenous products in our part of the country, also simple enough and strong enough to work into the simplicity of the building itself.
The particular phase of cancer research that we're interested in involves immunity.
We feel that immune mechanisms are important in cancer.
It's going to be vital to try to build up a patient's defense mechanisms against his own cancer.
We've been interested in finding out detailed metabolic reactions that occur during the cell when it goes from the absolutely normal state to the pre -bioplastic, up until the fully malignant state.
We are interested in studying the cause of cancer by the study of intracellular metabolic changes.
I felt that this was, without doubt for me, the area in which I could serve man best and the area in which I felt that I could attain my complete fulfillment and happiness by serving God.
A few weeks ago I was going to Minneapolis.
I no sooner got seated on the bus than a middle -aged man came and sat beside me.
He began to talk quite freely.
He asked about our work and he made the comment, I can appreciate what you're trying to do for the sick, what you're trying to do for those who are not educated, but I sure don't appreciate your social life.
So I asked him, do you think that I have a life of restraint? Do you think that this is a choice that I've made that was wrong? He said, well, I suppose for you it's okay, but I can't see how you can't go out once in a while, live it upright, but I suppose for you, you're happy.
We are so much in contact with a larger world than the institution to which we belong or of which we are a part, so that we can step outside and look at ourselves in a way that we weren't able to do before.
This kind of sophistication, I think, makes for greater freedom.
We are in a transition period and what has been more or less stabilized, these absolutes that were mentioned earlier, through hundreds of years, are not just going to give overnight, but I think we're beginning to see these structures less as ends and more as means, and this is going to take time, but at least I think there's a little more reason for optimism, perhaps.
If in our institutions and in our church we do not find a tension existing between the ideas and the ideals we have and the reality which we are trying to meet and to serve, that there will be a deadening of our institutions, and I think that as long as we see the poles going in both directions, we are in a healthy state of tension.
The term religious life is hard to understand at times.
I mean, it seems so abstract.
Everyone is called to holiness and lead a really good life, and married people and single people as well as us.
Religious life, maybe community life, would be a better term, I think, because you are living a life in common with other people, with other women.
Everyone should live a religious life in the sense that everyone should be striving to better themselves.
People think that you're so out of it when you do enter.
They just think that you're living such an uncommon life and what happened to her and everything.
Didn't she have any days with Samara? Did you know what she was missing? Or they say, you know, if she would have tried just a little bit harder, she could have gotten married.
The comments I think so many of us got when we entered were, we never expected you to enter or something like that, because maybe we were more outgoing than a lot of our friends.
They just didn't expect that we'd want to enter the comments.
Of course my father was there.
This was a really big day for him.
He took all kinds of pictures of us.
I remember just before the ceremony, my mother said to me, this is your decision now.
I think that's probably the very first time she ever said a thing like that to me.
But she said, you've made this choice and I know you're happy here, and so you just live that life with all your heart and soul the very best you can.
My brother, he was there that day too.
He was so happy to be with the family.
And I think he was real proud of me too because of the choice I made.
The next day, the wedding was over.
I was so happy to see my brother again.
I was so happy to see my brother again.
I was so happy to see my brother again.
I was so happy to see my brother again.
I was so happy to see my brother again.
I was so happy to see my brother again.
I was so happy to see my brother again.
During the year, all of the other postulants and I have really looked forward to this day.
We've talked about it and we've planned about it.
The day of our reception, when our families would come, and we would all receive the Benedictine habit and our new name.
We will start with that original our foundation.
Sister Amata died about 40 years ago.
But while she lived, the most remarkable things happened.
She hadn't had much schooling, so she wasn't bothered by signs that said, She hadn't had much schooling, so she wasn't bothered by signs that said, No trespassing.
Don't enter here.
Stop.
She just barged on ahead.
Well, Sister Amata was, we think, among the very first to get out and bring aid to the lumberjacks and help the poor.
Incidentally, she even sold medical insurance.
She went out to the lumber camps and told the men they could buy dollar certificates.
That would entitle them to medical care in our hospitals.
She even shared the lumberjacks' diet, conducted their funerals.
The lumberjacks loved her.
Sister Amata died 40 years ago.
Sister Amata, our lumberjack nun.
There is much need for service in the world.
What we're seeing right now is a movement of the nun into the world of service outside the environment of the convent and the convent schools.
The nun is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
She is a woman.
We've always served in the hospitals.
There was a time when practically every little hospital in the northern Minnesota wilderness towns was staffed by Benedictine nurses.
I suppose you could say we moved into the world a long time ago.
Let us stand with our voices.
We're on a victory! We're on a victory! We're on a victory! We're on a victory! We're on a victory! We're on a victory! We're on a victory! We're on a victory! Well, I've had Benedictine nuns all the way up to into high school now since kindergarten up to my senior year.
If I have a nun teaching me and I've had her long enough, she just does something that makes me say, well, I can discuss something with her, I can say it openly, and I'm not afraid to, because she's just right in there along with you.
She's not just there to teach you, she's there to be with you and help you.
After the semester break, I happened to meet one nun, and it seemed like I had only known her maybe one week, and I was actually discussing things with her that at times I can't even feel free to discuss with my parents.
She really needed a sense of security and knowledge, and she gave you some self -respect when you talked to her.
Every teacher I've had at the cathedral seems to point out the fact that the purpose of the sisterhood is a commitment to her fellow man.
They show love by making me seem worth loving, and they make me see that I have the potential for loving others.
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.
And our hope is to get out of the womb.
We bless you, we bless you, we worship you, we adore you.
We give you rest for your recovery, Lord God have the key.
Father of our King, Lord Jesus Christ, You'll be brought inside, Lord God have the strength of fire.
You take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
You take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.
You sit at the window of the mercy of God, with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God, the Father of men.
I was out at our old people's home.
Well frankly, I was right down flat on the grass, shooting a little thing that I had found.
And several women went by and actually what I expected them to say was, now isn't that some position for a sister, you know.
But instead they stopped and they said, don't make any noise, sisters pray.
I can't take people out with me when I'm photographing because I can't have their interpretation of things intruding upon mine.
I think you have to remember that each person has their own concept of how they want to do something.
But each person must say what he wants to say in his own way.
Maybe it won't be nearly as good as the way somebody else would say it, but it's true to that person.
Say now I find a little flower or a piece of rope or a piece of grass, it doesn't matter, I'll take anything.
I just can't have people intruding upon it or I'm going to lose my way.
Love and fortitude, it takes both of these qualities to teach the little ones in our care, for they have energy running out of their ears.
They're open, honest, straightforward, good, bad and sometimes even indifferent and tired.
And we love them.
Heart, in, off, all together.
Look at the book now.
Look at the second one.
You have how many dots and all.
We love them, we love them.
They're beginners who teach us the meaning of beginning.
Love is like a ring, a ring that has no ending.
Love is like a ring, a ring that has no ending.
There are some who think that the Benedictine way of life calls merely for teaching and the domestic work, for hospital work, our traditional work.
However, St.
Benedict was a man of his time.
He would be in the vanguard today.
And I know that we're perfectly safe in interpreting his holy rule to mean that we should do all kinds of work which Vatican II calls for, which means we serve the people of God in any capacity in which we are needed with love.
The land to me is, well, it's God.
It is part of his great creation.
I say that I enter the woods maybe with a spirit of great reverence.
I, sometimes when I'm down on my knees working on some little tiny weed or flower, I see that I cannot create what I photograph.
I can only select one little thing and do the very best I can to present it to the world as something God has made.
