Glenna Smith, OSB

Sister Glenna Smith entered the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia in 1977 and has served her community and their ministries for 40+ years as teacher, prefect, camp director, counselor, principal and administrator, school psychologist, member of various boards, formation director, monastery coordinator, and subprioress. She was privileged to serve the Federation of Saint Scholastica as president from 2010-2014.

Sister Glenna's reflections will begin June 7 and continue through August 2020.

Week of August 30

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 30
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Mt 16:21-27
What a difference between last Sunday’s Gospel reading and this one. Peter seemed to understand last week, but he completely missed the boat in this Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus praised Peter last week, gave him the keys of the Kingdom, and told him what he bound would stay bound. This week Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Such is the human condition, I suppose. One day we may begin to “get it,” the mystery that is God, and the next we are way off the mark. The truth may be too much for us to bear, and we cry out, “God forbid, Lord!”
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Week of August 23

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 23
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Mt 16:13-20
Who do we say Jesus is? Even two thousand years later, do we say that Jesus is the Christ, our Messiah? What does it mean to have the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven or to bind or loose something on earth that will remain bound or loosed in heaven?

Having the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven has traditionally been understood to Catholics as authority for the Church on earth given to Peter by Jesus. The power of binding or loosing, a power that had been claimed by the Pharisees, was perceived as power given by Jesus to Peter and the disciples.
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Week of August 16

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 16
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Mt 15:21-28
The story of this Sunday is one of the many that gives me a glimpse of the faith I desire, a faith in an undeserved, unexpected love beyond explanation or reason that compels action borne of love. A Canaanite woman approaches Jesus to ask him to help her daughter. She, a Canaanite, could have been dismissed outright and would have been by custom and by Jesus’ disciples. Presumably, the love for her daughter and her faith in Jesus were strong enough for her to risk ridicule and rejection.
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Week of August 9

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 9
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Mt 14:22-33
Jesus appears to us in unseen and unexpected ways and places.

Are we ready to perceive Jesus presence?

Are we able to perceive?

If we do perceive it, what if the demands of Love require something we do not want to give or be?

Do we see God there?

Rationalization can be persuasive.

Do we see God there?

Fear can certainly obscure that or how or when Love is needed.

Can we see God then?
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Week of August 2

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 2
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Matthew 14:13-21
Jesus didn’t have even a moment to grieve the loss of his cousin; however:

This Gospel always puts me in mind of a scripture class I had during my days of formation. It provided me time to open my eyes and see a bit differently. I had only ever thought of the mystery of the loaves and the fishes as another example of God’s intervening at Jesus’ request, creating more loaves and fish, to show the power and relationship of Jesus and God, the Creator. >>>Read the full post

Week of July 26

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 26
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Matthew 13:44-52 OR 13:44-46
The first thing that comes to my mind after reading the readings for July 26 are the lyrics of Seek Ye First:

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
And [this] righteousness
And all these things shall be added unto you
Allelu Alleluia
Ask and it shall be given unto you
Seek and ye shall find
Knock and it shall be opened unto you
Allelu Alleluia>>>Read the full post

Week of July 19

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 19
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Matthew 13:24-43 OR 13:24-30
Again, Jesus says, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” This, once again, suggests that we need to be open and receptive to the Word. There are some ordinary, simple things outlined in today’s Gospel: the farmer is to sow good seed, the leavening power of yeast mixed with flour, the mustard seed. These metaphors may help us to begin to perceive Jesus’ meanings.

Some of Mother Teresa’s words ring in my ears and heart: 

  • Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
  • Peace begins with a smile.
  • Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
  • If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

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Week of July 12

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 12
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Matthew 13:1-23 OR 13:1-9
In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus say, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” He also says, “…many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. Saint Benedict begins his Rule with the word “listen,” not just “listen” but “Listen…with the ear of your heart.” Is there any other way to hearken to the Word except with the ear of our hearts? Otherwise, can we grasp anything of Jesus’ message?

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Week of July 5

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 5
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Matthew 11:25-30
Do you really know Jesus? Has Jesus revealed God to you? Do you know about the promises of Christ? There are gifts, amazing, extravagant, joyful, glorious, salvific, and enduring, gifts beyond anything we can ask or imagine – and they come to the demands of Love.

I had a friend, now with God, who was a devout Southern Baptist, and she asked me as we sat in a restaurant one day in the very early 1980’s, near the Orlando International Airport, if I was saved. I replied that I was saved, and she said, “How do you know?” My response was quick and certain: I knew I was saved because I believed in the promises of Christ. That response was a true statement. I am coming to see, however, that the promises of Christ carry with them implications about which I knew very little forty years ago – and don’t really comprehend all these years later.

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Week of June 28

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 28
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Matthew 10:37-42
Today’s Gospel passage sheds some light on last Sunday’s command to “fear not” and to proclaim the message of Jesus in the light and from the rooftops. Among other things, this Sunday’s Gospel says, “…whoever does not take up [their] cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Only the One who was conceived, born, lived, suffered, was murdered, and rose for humanity really knows what is required to be worthy. This call and commitment we have taken up to be Christian is nothing to take lightly. Did we mean it when we renewed our Baptismal promises at Easter?

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Week of June 21

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 21
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

Matthew 10:26-33
The demands of love can be daunting, even frightening, “What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.” Jesus’ commands and promises can strengthen us in the midst of our fear; regardless, proclaiming Jesus’ message certainly requires faith, hope, love, and committed, grace-given courage, particularly in the face of fear. “Love one another” sounds well and good, but “love one another as I have loved you,” can have crucifixion overtones – albeit, on the way to resurrection, for sure.

I must admit, the way of the cross scares me. It always has. I am drawn to the glorious, joyful, mysterious, resurrected, love present in Christ, but the suffering, cruel, mysterious, crucifixion realities are frightening. Is it grace and faith that allows us, keeps us to the path to resurrection? Is it human fear and doubt that has the capacity to keep us fixated on the suffering and death of Jesus’ crucifixion? For us Christians, there is only one way. Jesus is our way.

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Week of June 14

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
June 14
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virgina, Bristow, VA

This Feast of Corpus Christi, of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, can take us to the heart of God’s gift to us and to our part in the Incarnation. Yes, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our life in Christ. Yes, the Blessed Sacrament is the real presence of Jesus. Yes, we who believe and who eat and drink of his flesh will live forever. Yes, we do believe.

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Week of June 7

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
June 7
Glenna Smith, OSB, Benedictine Sisters of Virginia

John 3:16-18
While all of the Gospel is “Good News,” the tradition and readings of Sunday, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, are particularly “Good News” for us. The love of God, the way God’s love could be generated and shared within, between, and among the three persons of the Trinity may help teach us crucial aspects about God’s love, about God’s extravagant, eternal, dynamic and relational love. It is dynamic and relational amongst the three-persons of the Trinity, which is self-perpetuating and eternal, and it is dynamic and relational in its movement to, through, and for humanity and all creation.

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