We Live, Pray, and Grow Together
We are Simply Benedictine
We Are Hiring! See Available Employment Opportunities
Our Mission
Seeking God in our life together and enlivened by daily prayer, we, the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, Arkansas, respond to the needs of the people of God in a spirit of hospitality, simplicity, and reverence for one another and all creation.

St. Scholastica Prayer Requests
If you have a special intention, please let the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery know by filling out this online prayer request form. Your intention will not be listed online, but will be placed on the monastery prayer board. Each sister checks the bulletin board daily and remembers those prayer requests in her personal prayer time.
Stand by the roads and look, ask for the ancient path, which the way to good. Walk on it and find rest for your soul.
Jeremiah 6:16
Weekly Reflection
Weekly Reflection - January 24, 2023
Winter Love (excerpted)
Sr. Louise Sharum
Winter love has such beauty in the human heart,
the beauty of slow, enduring, waiting growth.
It takes decades of slow inching to make a tree branch
And it takes a lifetime for a human heart to grow treewise.
The untrue branches, those that grew in ways
other than God’s design, those “no” inchings of growth–
passes so swiftly and will never come back as the same.
Why must our hearts ache so and be so torn, so alone?
Life is a pilgrimage.
We are on our way to a home prepared for us that will be forever.
It is crucial that we love the road we travel,
but remain free.
God always calls us onward;
always calls us beyond where we are.
There were hard times during years past
but now it all seems so precious.
Our whole life is like that.
The truth is that it is precious.
To focus on the hard while we are living through it
is natural but limiting.







Gift Shop
Our gift shop offers a wide variety of books, gifts, cards, and inspirational items for every liturgical season. You can also shop online from home day & night!

Bakery
Under construction - come to the Bake Sale at St. Scholastica Monastery
December 10, 2022 8:00 a.m. 4:00 pm.
Hesychia House of Prayer
Hesychia House of Prayer is nestled among the Ozark Mountains in New Blaine, Arkansas. The sisters who staff it live a life of prayer and work and offer hospitality to adults of any faith who are seeking quiet time alone with God.
To reserve a reservation for a hermitage please email us at hesychia@stscho.org or call or text us at (479) 938-7375.
Ways To Help

We at St. Scholastica Monastery are grateful for everything you, as our contributors, do for us. You can contribute to St. Scholastica by prayer, participation, volunteering and donations.

Is This Your Calling?

The Journey
Take the first step. If you are interested in our community, we invite you to contact us.

Stories
Everyone has a story to tell. Listen to the vocation stories of some of our Benedictine Sisters.

Come & See
Ever wonder what monastic life is like? Come and discover the possibility of all that monastic life has to offer!