Transfiguration Monastery · Benedictine Sisters Serving with a Glad Heart

As Benedictine Women rooted in Gospel Living, our ministries enable us to share Benedictine Spirituality, Benedictine Hospitality, and our unique giftedness. Sr. Martina serving as a Eucharistic Minister

Offering their gifts to others, Sisters Germaine and Josepha are members of the Saint Ann School Faculty in Emmaus, and Sister Martina is a Pastoral Associate at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Combining Benedictine Spirituality and Hospitality at the Monastery, our doors are open to members of our Retreat Group, Benedictine Study Group and Benedictine Associates. We share the Benedictine Charism with these women and men by prayer, faith sharing and study of Benedictine topics.

The Retreat Group meets on the second Thursday monthly from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM. Evening Prayer, dinner, quiet time and a spiritual program on various topics is offered.

We viewed and discussed: "Spiritual Disciplines" by Sister Susan Muto; The Faithful Revolution on Vatican II. We have used the book, "Gathered in the Word" for group Lectio Divina. We shared prayer on various liturgical themes and presently, we are discussing women of the Old Testament.

Transfiguration Monastery Study Group The Benedictine Study Group meets on the third Thursday monthly beginning at 7:30 PM. We have discussed: "Seeking God" by Esther De Waal, "The Cloister Walk" by Kathleen Norris and "The Life of Hildegard of Bingen." Our next discussion selection is Esther De Waal's "Living with Contradiction: Reflections on the Rule of Saint Benedict." We conclude our evening with Compline, the official night prayer of the Church, the last hour of the day in the Liturgy of the Hours.

We Gather Together - Reflections on Retreat Evening

On the second Thursday of each month we are welcomed into the home of the Sisters of Transfiguration Monastery. The Benedictine Sisters, Martina, Josepha and Germaine greet us with open arms into their community.

Transfiguration Monastery Retreat Group A short time is spent in the living room greeting each other and then reviewing the schedule for the evening, as we look forward with great anticipation to prayer and meditation in their small, but wonderfully inviting chapel. Following Evening Prayer, we have the opportunity for silent prayer. A joy-filled evening meal follows. A spiritual program is presented and we conclude the evening with group Lectio.

My life has changed since my warm welcome into the home of the Sisters. Not only do they share this warmth, but they instilled in me the need to give this to other people. This loving and sharing process is indeed what Jesus asks us to do for each other and ourselves.

The Sisters have devoted their lives to God, whereas I have devoted myself to my husband and children. I have tried by my continued love, faith and by the grace of God to create an example of what I have learned from the Sisters.

I leave the Monastery after a retreat evening more spiritually fulfilled and the need to give this feeling to all of the people I am in touch with during my active, faithbuilding life.

I feel safe and secure. I believe that I have reached another step in my life. A step that takes me closer to God and his heavenly kingdom.
Ethel Duracinsky

Our Benedictine Associates meet on the fourth Thursday monthly at 7:30 PM. The Associates are our spiritual arm reaching out into all areas of life seeking to share with others what they themselves receive from their sharing based on Saint Benedict's idea of service to God and all those with whom life is shared. Commitments to the Associate Program are made for one year and renewed annually. We have reflected on "Spirituality for Everyday Living: An Adaptation of the Rule of Saint Benedict." Presently we are praying and discussing "A Retreat with Benedict and Bernard." We close our evening together with the recitation of Compline.

Thoughts from a Benedictine Associate

It was an April evening in 1999. I was sitting in the living room of Transfiguration Monastery beginning to get acquainted with the Sisters. As Sister Martina and I chatted about my interest in Benedictinism, Sister Josepha busily pulled books off their library shelves offering to loan them to me, a complete stranger. It was my first real experience of Benedictine hospitality. I was truly welcomed "as Christ."

Father Mark Gruber, OSB and David I had done some reading about the Benedictine Way - including Kathleen Norris' account of her journey to becoming an Oblate - and I wanted to know more. So, in true end-of-the-millenium fashion, I surfed the Web. On the www.osb.org directory of monasteries, I discovered that there was a monastery in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. So on the last Sunday of the Epiphany - which, on the calendar followed by my denomination, is Transfiguration Sunday - I wrote a letter asking for more information. Sister Martina wrote back inviting me to telephone, I did so, she invited me for a visit, and there I was, a Pastor in the United Church of Christ, getting to know the Sisters of Transfiguration Monastery.

Since that time, I have come to know Sisters Martina, Josepha and Germaine as delightful, hospitable and faithful embodiments of the Rule of Saint Benedict. I became an Associate in November of 1999, and enjoy meeting with the other Associates and reflecting together on the Rule and its meaning in our lives. My affiliation with Transfiguration Monastery has been a major factor in increasing the influence of the Benedictine way on my personal life and my work as a Pastor. I still hope the Monastery will come to have the resources to develop an Oblate program one of these days.

It may seem odd that a United Church of Christ Pastor would have such an interest in the Rule and the monastic movement over which it exerts such a profound influence. But I have come to believe that our hyperindividualistic, money and possession driven, consumerist society is in desperate need of an alternative vision. And the Rule of Saint Benedict, with its emphases on community, hospitality, simplicity, and faithful obedience to the will of God offers such a vision. Being an Associate of Transfiguration Monastery is of central importance in my effort to make that vision a reality in my own life and the life of the Church I serve.
David A. Lawton

Members of our Groups are invited to participate in an Advent and Lenten Retreat Sunday and a yearly weekend retreat during the Summer.

Persons who seek a deeper experience with God, a desire to embrace Benedictine Spirituality in their way of life are invited to contact Sister Martina Revak for further information.

Benedictine Sisters
Transfiguration Monastery
526 Fairview Street
Emmaus, Pennsylvania 18049-3837
(610) 965 · 6818

sisters@emmausosb.org