One Bread, One Cup internship is a faith-life-changing experience
By Maggie Parsons
I had the privilege of serving as a college intern for six weeks at St. Meinrad Archabbey in St. Meinrad, Ind., for the “One Bread, One Cup” summer conferences, where I grew in community with 20 other college students throughout the summer, growing in human and spiritual formation to be able to pour myself into the lives of those I was surrounded with.
The College Ministerial Internship Program is centered on intentional Christian living through Benedictine spirituality in the prayers and practices of the Catholic Church. The weeks of the internship consisted of daily Mass, praying the Liturgy of the Hours daily, formation classes, and intentional community time.
The purpose of the internship was to form the interns so that we were able to lead the younger participants’ progress through the One Bread, One Cup program.
Each One Bread, One Cup five-day conference is held at the St. Meinrad Archabbey, with three conferences in June and July. High-school participants are led in learning the Word, sacrament, and mission of the Church and how they play vital roles in the foundation of the Church and its liturgies.
One of the main roles I filled throughout the summer was as a leader for the youth participants in my designated groups. I was the intern for the Liturgical Arts formation session, which consisted of me assisting the catechists with leading the youth in learning about the importance of art in the Church and the role art plays.
I painted liturgical candles with the youth that were placed on the altar at the conference’s last Mass. These candles that were hand-painted represented their vital role in the liturgy of the Mass.
I also led a theological-reflection group each night of the conference that was based on the foundations of One Bread, One Cup. These discussions allowed the youth to recognize and reflect on the role they had in the Word, sacrament, and mission of the Church.
One of the greatest joys I experienced as an intern was getting to see the growth of the participants from day one to day five during the conference. At the beginning of the week, they were nervous and hesitant to really dive into the conference and its community. But as the week went on, I witnessed how they truly let the Lord work in their life, opening their hearts to allow Him to be a part of their words and actions.
Since the internship took place at a Benedictine monastery, throughout the summer I entered into different aspects of monastic life. Punctuality is a hallmark of the monastic community. This was implemented during the conference in our scheduled prayers, meals, and sessions. Just as the monks do in their own daily lives, if we were working, we would stop what we were doing to pray together at set times.
The monks at St. Meinrad live by the words Ora et Labora, meaning prayer then work. Prayer always comes first. We live in a world that is constantly chasing after worldly things, so being at a place that focuses on the true goodness of stopping our daily lives to form our relationship with Christ was a true blessing.
There were about three-and-a-half weeks during the summer that the youth were not at the monastery. This was when I and the other interns spent time in formation classes and intentional community time together. This also was when the interns went from strangers to lifelong friends in Christ, whether it was swimming in the pond, playing volleyball with a monk, going on walks around campus in the Indiana humidity, or just ending the day talking together. I never felt like I was stuck on the grounds of the monastery, but rather it quickly became a home, and the interns became my family.
As an intern, learning how to surrender myself to Christ was one of the most fruitful things I was able to cultivate at St. Meinrad. I also learned how the monastic community vows a commitment to stability and how we are each called to vow stability in our own Christian ways of living. I learned that this is where we should rely on the Lord through every experience in our life, in our joy and in our suffering. He calls us to stay grounded in Him throughout it all.
There is something so beautiful in having complete joy in the Lord, where we can authentically be ourselves. He invites us to share that joy with others, as He so intentionally pours His love and mercy into us so that we can pour into others in return. The One Bread, One Cup program, and the internship specifically, were beautiful ways for me to see how a community of faith comes together in the body of Christ, learning how to grow with others, within myself, and most importantly in my relationship with Christ through the foundations of the Church.
At St. Meinrad, I have learned what it means to surrender to God and how to stay grounded in my relationship with Christ. It was a beautiful opportunity to get to know youth from all different walks of faith and see how they are able to grow closer to Christ and surrender their own will toward Him, even when they least expect to. Overall, St. Meinrad is a place where I have continued each summer to meet Christ in the faces I have encountered. Then through that I have been able to grow further into my Christian identity.
When you say you spent a summer at a Benedictine monastery, many people will give you blank stares or just assume that you spent most of your days only praying and staying tucked away from the world. Although throughout the summer I was able to spend a lot of time in prayer, cultivating my relationship with Christ, I also cultivated what the Lord calls each of us to further do in our lives.
But the summer was also more than that.
I learned what it means for me to greet each person I meet as Christ would, and to recognize that the connection I have in the full communion of the Church is a way I have encountered Christ in His people. Falling in love with the Catholic faith while being surrounded by those who share in that same desire to grow in holiness was a blessing and something I will cherish and keep with me to share with others in my own life.
Maggie Parsons is a student at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, where she attends the UT-C Catholic Newman Center. She also is a freelance journalist for The East Tennessee Catholic.