Benedictine nuns: Prayer just a click away
Published: November 28, 2005
The power of prayer reaches world-wide, and sometimes the answer to that prayer is only a click away.
With more than 1,000 contacts in their address book, Benedictine nuns in Clyde, Missouri tackle the tough questions one at a time. [The Wisdom of the Benedictine Elders : Thirty of America’s Oldest Monks and Nuns Share Their Lives’ Greatest Lessons]
A click of the mouse transports Sister Dawn Annette Mills into a world of prayer.
“From England, India, the Phillipeans, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Canada…the list goes on,” Sister Dawn says.
Cyberspace allows prayer requests to flood into the hands of the Benedictine nuns in Clyde, Missouri.
“I can`t answer the prayer, but I can certainly answer the email and promise to take their requests to the Lord,” Sister Dawn says.
But sometimes that task proves difficult.
“What do you say to a mother who has a very sick child?”
For guidance to grant solace to those in need, Sister Dawn calls on a higher power.
“The issues are so big that I have to take them to prayer first. I have to badger divine providence, I have to get God in a corner and say see! Fix it!”
Sister Dawn answers more than 500 emails invidually every month. She says developing relationships with those she prays for is most rewarding.
“I like to have some follow up…did you get the job? How did the interview go? What did the doctor say about the tests?”
Email is just the 21st century version of what the Benedictines have been doing all along.
“Our congregation for well over 100 years has been communicating, corresponding on a world-wide level, but the internet makes it possible to do so instantly,” Sister Dawn says.
This world-wide connection sometimes downloads surprises, like Sister Dawn`s link in Australia who answered a request for a little piece of the land down under.
“I said I have to try Vegamite on toast, so she sent me the Vegamite, so that if I don`t travel, I at least have that experience,” Sister Dawn says. [St. Benedict’s Toolbox: The Nuts And Bolts Of Everyday Benedictine Living]
The correspondence department still handles about 300 snail mail letters every month. But since going live on the internet, prayer requests now come in foreign languages.
“We have sisters who speak spanish who will help me translate, sisters who read french, sisters who speak German,” Sister Dawn says.
That list goes on, but when the sisters are stumped they turn to the internet for translation.
“I may not get all the nuanaces, but son, pray , job–I get that–God knows the details.”
If you have a prayer that needs special attention, go to the sisters` website at www.benedictinesisters.org, then click on “prayer request.”
The Benedictines spend five hours per day in prayer.
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