10 February 2022
Memorial of Scholastica, Virgin
If you have every met someone who has a twin sibling, you usually know the one with whom you are talking was the twin who was born first: because the person will tell you so! St. Gregory the Great tells us about a little rivalry between two twins who were saints and founders of important religious communities of monks and nuns respectively: St. Benedict and St. Scholastica.
They both wanted to live the monastic life well. Benedict sought this by a disciplined and balanced schedule of daily prayer and manual labor, and sticking to his monastery. On special occasions, however, he would go visit his sister in her monastery across the way. During one visit, as the day was ending, St. Benedict wanted to get back to his monastery, but St. Scholastica wanted to keep talking. He got up to leave, and she began to pray. Suddenly a huge storm broke outside the monastery, and Benedict couldn’t get home. He said, “Sister, what have you done?” Her reply? “I asked you to stay, but you said ‘no’. So I asked God instead.” St. Benedict by his life certainly gave an important example of the holiness of balance and consistency. Gregory highlights in this story of St. Scholastica, the importance of love for our life at home and in religious communities. “She was able to do more, because she loved more.” Through the intercession of St. Scholastica, let us ask for the grace to have true charity be the goal of all the ordering and organizing of our lives.