Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night … nor lack of electricity … stays these Benedictines from prayer. 🙂

Earlier this week, huge storms crashed over our heads as we prayed Lauds in the chapel. Great strikes of lightning, deafening booms of thunder and sheets of rain filled the air around us. “The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth.” (Psalm 77)

Our community has been praying these prayers together every morning since 1874 (okay, the Sisters were different … but you get the idea). We weren’t about to stop for some little old storm.

Then: an immense clap of thunder lit up the sky like daylight and, boom! No power. We were in the middle of singing a hymn. The organ whined down to silence … but not us. We kept right on singing, tilting our books toward the window for more light. Sister Charlotte left the organ without missing a beat and took her place at the piano to continue accompanying us.

We lifted our hearts maybe a little higher that morning as we moved together, without a word, to continue God’s work in chapel.

This may sound funny, but I think we all felt particularly blessed by the experience. The sense of unity and purpose was quietly amazing and beautiful.

So the U.S. Postal Service has nothing on us … at least when it comes to prayer!!!