Starr County Benedictines

Our Desires
Our Vision
Who we are
Benedictine Living Experience
Sisters
Oblates
Friends and Benefactors

“Prefer nothing whatever to Christ,” is a very core message of St. Benedict. We center our life on Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the oldest image of Jesus in Christianity. The image reminds us that He is always with us in the valleys of darkness, on the mountains of glory or in the ordinariness of daily life.

Modeling our life on our relationship with the Good Shepherd calls us to be always guided by the Church through our Holy Father and the rich teachings throughout the centuries. We are to have expectant faith as the Holy Spirit leads us into the unknown future together.

As a monastery we pray that we may be an instrument of God’s shepherding through our life of prayer and work. We know that loneliness and isolation from God and others are major problems in many peoples’ lives. Our life together is meant to be a partial remedy for this challenge, a witness of a faith community. The name, Jesus, as Good Shepherd, is therefore the name we have chosen.

Consider making this journey with us living out our Baptismal call to be holy through the monastic way of life living harmoniously as sisters in Christ Jesus, with our Blessed Mother as our model of womanhood and motherhood.

Our Vision

Invite women with a religious vocation to live harmoniously as members in our community and to grow in holiness together
Work and pray for the transformation of the “culture of death” into a civilization of love through pro-life and other outreach activities
Practice the Benedictine tradition of desire for God, love of learning and holy reading (lectio divina)
Be a center of prayer, healing, learning and community for all of God’s people, especially being mindful of those whose lives are broken, seemingly hopeless and empty
Share our life with lay people through the Benedictine Oblate way of life
Welcome all people of the area to encounter Jesus at our Fountain of Life Adoration Chapel
Evangelize through our own Catholic radio station
Care for our land as good stewards
Plant roots by the expansion of our monastery through the building of a guest residence and hermitages.

As a Benedictine community, we seek to follow the Lord in the particular charism of the Benedictine religious order. We strive and pray that our life together will become an echo of the Benedictine motto, "ora et labora," or pray and work. Our monastery is the centerpoint for community life, and other pursuits, such as offering retreats and working in the pro-life apostolate. See "Our Mission."

Here are various ways that each of us live out our Benedictine calling.

Single women are invited to join the Sisters in their life and work. Read more.

Sister Nancy

Our community of Sisters considers accepting into our common life women who may have a divine calling to religious life. This is a process of friendship, prayer, and discernment. It is good to seek the advice of a spiritual director. When you make contact with our community, you begin a friendship that will help you discern whether you are called to our life together.

Incorporation into our community of Sisters involves the traditional process used in religious orders of postulancy, novitiate, temporary profession of at least three years, and finally permanent profession.

If you feel called to religious life as a Benedictine Sister, Email Sr. Nancy.

Benedictine Oblates are lay persons who wish to incorporate Benedictine values in their own lives. They share in the graces God generously gives to our order. We initiated the formation of oblates in 1997 and to date have been blessed with more than 60 lay associates of our monastery. One of the values that they aspire to is the deepening of their prayer life through meditation on the Word of God with the desire to live it fully and faithfully.

A recent activity among the oblates has been studying and reflecting on the words of our late great Pope John Paul II in the Gospel of Life where he exhorts us to transform our culture into a “civilization of love.” His words have resonated deep in our hearts and this has brought about a great desire to impact our society with Gospel values concerning the sanctity of human life, from natural conception to natural death.

Oblates also keep in touch with our community in Starr County, working and praying with us. They have helped construct our adoration chapel and monastic residence, as well as become involved in our pro-life apostolate, for example.

Becoming an oblate involves a year of formation where candidates study and reflect on the Rule of St. Benedict. Candidates are gradually incorporated into the community and then make a final oblation during the annual oblate retreat. Oblate formation can be done in either Spanish or English.

We welcome friendship and depend on the help of others. If you would like to donate to our work, please get in touch with us by clicking Contact Us.