Page 2 - Summer Solemnities - Visions

Sometimes it takes only a FEW WORDS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE COMPLETELY. Meet John, Mary Esther, and Clarey—and read about the words that changed the course of their lives
John Sweeney was going through a dark time when a friend told him something he never forgot: “Sorrow and pain allow us to see places in our hearts that joy and happiness don’t even know exist.
The friend was Sister Kristen Malloy, a Benedictine nun. She described the human heart as a place filled with beautiful caves and caverns.
“Those are places you can
find with the map you get from sorrow and heartbreak,” John says. “Kristen explained to me that if we want to be whole and understand ourselves and find happiness, our horrible days have value.”
At the time, John was feeling guilty about letting God down because of certain choices he’d made. “To have Sister Kristen tell me that my horrible choices would someday be beneficial for me...well, half of me wanted to strangle her, but another side of me saw a reason to keep going.”
John noticed that Kristen
and the other sisters he met at the Abbey of Saint Benedict in
St. Joseph, Minnesota radiated happiness and peace. He calls it a “special sauce.”
The “special sauce” comes from the Rule of Benedict. This is the
2 • Visions The Most Holy Trinity
way of
living that all members of the Benedictine order follow. It includes welcoming others, being compassionate, and seeing the face of Christ in everyone.
“They’ve got this program that says, ‘Hey laypeople, you can take these guiding principles and apply them to how you work or drive or counsel a friend,” John explains. “Why wouldn’t I take a shot at that?”
John became a Benedictine oblate. Oblates are laypeople who seek to deepen their relationship with God and others through Benedictine spirituality. Oblates can be married or single. They can have careers and children. John is married and
the father of two teenagers. He is a public speaker and the owner of the Brave New Workshop, a comedy theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“What drew me to the Oblates was the practicality. It was a place where I could find spirituality and faith in a practical way,” he says. “It’s not an additional thing I do on Sundays or when I have time. It’s a lifelong journey and it’s how I do everything.”
People kept telling Mary Esther Stewart that she should become a Franciscan. Her response was always the same: “Nope. Not gonna do that.”
One day she listened as a Franciscan friar described the three branches of his order, which was founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. The friar discussed Franciscan sisters
and friars like himself. Then he described another branch known as secular Franciscans. They are laypeople, he said, whose job is “to be the Gospel in the world.”
“His words hit me right in the face,” Mary Esther said. “I went to the friar and said I’m done fighting. I will be a secular Franciscan. If my job is to be the Gospel in the world, I’ll do it.”
Mary Esther is a retired teacher and grandmother who
Bayard supports Pope Francis’s call to care for our common home. Please share your copy of VISIONS with a friend or recycle it properly. Thank you.
Words that
Change Lives
John Sweeney is a motivational speaker. He and his wife Jenni own the Brave New Workshop Comedy Theater in Minneapolis, MN. He is also a Benedictine oblate.
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