Why Become an Oblate?
Becoming an Oblate is a wonderful way to get to know the Benedictine Sisters in a more formal setting, learn about Benedictine spirituality and develop a deeper relationship with God and the Sisters through prayer. Saint Benedict’s Monastery is the spiritual home of Oblates where they are welcomed and supported by the Sisters in the Oblate way of life.
Oblate Stories
Our Oblates are a diverse group of men and women from multiple faith traditions. Each has a unique journey to the monastery. Here are a few stories of our Oblates.
Megan Gilles
Megan Gilles is in her late twenties, lives in Willmar, Minn., and is expecting her first child. She received her bachelor’s degree from the College of Saint Benedict (CSB) in liturgical music, and in 2008 completed a master’s degree in Liturgical studies at the Saint John’s University School of Theology. She currently has 18 private piano students. She says the seeds for becoming an Oblate were planted by her Benedictine Friend S. Agatha Zwilling, and by S. Mary Anthony, who told her when she was a student: “you should seriously look at becoming an Oblate.” But she began the journey when she moved to Willmar.
And what she’s found is “it has been very natural. There were many things I believed and that I grew up hearing about but I didn’t know where they came from. My mom [also a grad of CSB and an Oblate] said these things over and over when I was growing up, but I didn’t know where they were from. Reading the Rule I found the most natural guide for my life. It has helped me grow spiritually and fits my life. It’s the best way I’ve found to connect with Scripture.”
“The Sisters have excellent practices that can be brought into people’s faith life. As churches get bigger, people have a hunger to return to their roots. The Rule of Benedict is one of the oldest guides we have and really good instruction.”
Megan and her husband prepare for the Sunday liturgy by doing lectio divina on that day’s Scripture readings. She also says “I try to do daily prayer.” In addition, she attends an Oblate group in Willmar. It’s a small group, and the ages range from Megan in her 20s to two members in their 80s and one in between. She says “we have very different life experiences, but we learn from each other.” They meet every six weeks, where they do lectio divina together, discuss a book about the Rule, and catch up on their faith and life in general. With her work in a parish, it’s difficult to get to Oblate Sundays at the monastery, so the group is important to maintaining her connection.
Jan Fredell
Jan Fredell has been an Oblate for only a few years, but says it is the natural place for her to have arrived at this point on her spiritual journey.
Raised in St. Cloud, Minn., Jan had no real contact with the college or monasteries until the last decade. She saw a flyer advertising a Lenten retreat at the Spirituality Center and signed up. After that she attended a six-week “Evening at the Monastery” series led by S. Hélène Mercier where she was introduced to the practice of lectio divina. She had been reading the Bible regularly for years, and found this practice was particularly helpful. She continues to do lectio as part of her contemplative practice as an Oblate.
Jan’s preparation for becoming an Oblate comes from her life experience. She and her husband John spent many years as medical missionaries in Liberia, working at a Christian hospital in the upper rain forest. “When you live in a place like that, where people are at subsistence level, you learn the difference between necessities and luxuries.” The missionary community “was my first experience with Christian community,” she says. There she was mentored by an older Mennonite woman who began by giving her the Mennonite cookbook, More with Less. Sustainability, simplicity, hospitality and service were values she then found with the Benedictines.
After a busy life in Park Rapids, the Fredells recently moved to Ogama, a town of 150 people on the White Earth Indian Reservation. John is a doctor in the clinic there, and Jan volunteers but keeps things flexible for her primary ministry these days, caring for her mother in St. Cloud and John’s mother north of St. Paul, both of whom are in their 90s. In this way, too, she says her Benedictine commitment is a good fit. “I try to see my profession as my ministry, the way Benedictine work is prayer.”
After many years doing public health and education work in the mission, then serving at a hospice and with her church in Park Rapids, Jan says this is now the time to turn to family. “The Benedictine way of life travels with you and becomes your framework wherever you are in your life,” Jan says. “I ask myself how I can live out these values and what opportunities I have where I live.” She points out that now she has a large garden of rich, black soil, “a gift of this place and time.” After the wilds of the rain forest and the firs and sandy soil of Park Rapids, she’s enjoying growing food and continuing a life focused on simplicity, sustainability, community, work and prayer.