Strength in Community
Today's Lenten reflection from The Rev. Dr. Michael Battle of CREDO:
Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." --John 14:23
A study was done on the convent of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Mankato, Minnesota. For 15 years, elderly Catholic nuns had their genes analyzed and their balance and strength measured. They were tested on how many words they could remember minutes after reading them on flashcards. They were asked how many animals they could name in a minute and whether they could count coins correctly. Early autobiographical essays they wrote when they took their vows were scrutinized, their words analyzed for meaning. And as they died, their brains have been removed and shipped in plastic tubs to a laboratory where they are analyzed and stored in jars.
Before we begin to think this too macabre, the experiment, called the Nun Study, done by David Snowdon in his book called Aging with Grace, is considered by experts on aging to be one of the most innovative efforts to answer questions about who gets Alzheimer's disease and why. In this Nun Study, we can learn why we need a communal reference point to know long life (not just in quantity of life but also in quality). These nuns teach us that those who live in community--live longer and better.
Let us pray,
Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." --John 14:23
A study was done on the convent of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Mankato, Minnesota. For 15 years, elderly Catholic nuns had their genes analyzed and their balance and strength measured. They were tested on how many words they could remember minutes after reading them on flashcards. They were asked how many animals they could name in a minute and whether they could count coins correctly. Early autobiographical essays they wrote when they took their vows were scrutinized, their words analyzed for meaning. And as they died, their brains have been removed and shipped in plastic tubs to a laboratory where they are analyzed and stored in jars.
Before we begin to think this too macabre, the experiment, called the Nun Study, done by David Snowdon in his book called Aging with Grace, is considered by experts on aging to be one of the most innovative efforts to answer questions about who gets Alzheimer's disease and why. In this Nun Study, we can learn why we need a communal reference point to know long life (not just in quantity of life but also in quality). These nuns teach us that those who live in community--live longer and better.
Let us pray,
Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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posted by Don+ @ 5:03 PM
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