A reflection by our Prioress, Sister Maria Josepha, OSB on the 17th anniversary of Mother Maria-Michael’s Abbatial Election
I think the book Strangers to the City by Michael Casey is a great title for her life, because Mother truly is such a stranger to the city. She would rather be here, living the monastic life with us, and especially praising God in the Divine Office, than anywhere in the world. She always admonishes us to “prefer nothing to the love of Christ” (using the words of St. Benedict), and her life is a visible testament to this fidelity to the monastic life, seeking God above all else. If Mother was not in the monastery, I think she may have been a pilot. But the Lord has made her into a different kind of pilot, nonetheless. Just as He made His apostle fishermen into fishers of men, so He has done for Mother Maria-Michael. As her passengers, we know that we are headed for eternal life. The flight may have turbulence, but I do believe that with her as the pilot of our community we will all be brought together into everlasting life.
