1 Minute Monk, so listen carefully

Do you have a minute? Do you know how to live rightly? Do you want to know how to live as God wants us to live? Do you have a monk to help you with finding your way through
Thumbnail image for 1 Minute Monk.jpglife? I do. There’s a monk who will help you in your search for God: One Minute Monk.

 

The search for meaning and substance in one’s life is perennial. Seeking God, quaerere Deum, is the first mark of the Rule of Saint Benedict: does the person truly seek God? Hence you might say that a basic impulse for those wanting to be monks and nuns, or as oblates and average people, is the desire of God. Pope Benedict spoke of the life of the monks and nuns in a speech he gave at the Collège des Bernardins: Meeting with representatives from the world of culture, 12 September 2008:

 

Amid the confusion of the times, in which nothing seemed permanent, they wanted to do the essential – to make an effort to find what was perennially valid and lasting, life itself. They were searching for God. They wanted to go from the inessential to the essential, to the only truly important and reliable thing there is. It is sometimes said that they were “eschatologically” oriented. But this is not to be understood in a temporal sense, as if they were looking ahead to the end of the world or to their own death, but in an existential sense: they were seeking the definitive behind the provisional. Quaerere Deum: because they were Christians, this was not an expedition into a trackless wilderness, a search leading them into total darkness. God himself had provided signposts, indeed he had marked out a path which was theirs to find and to follow. This path was his word, which had been disclosed to men in the books of the sacred Scriptures. Thus, by inner necessity, the search for God demands a culture of the word or – as [Benedictine Father] Jean Leclercq put it: eschatology and grammar are intimately connected with one another in Western monasticism (cf. The Love of Learning and the Desire for God). The longing for God, the desire for God, includes the love of learning, love of the word, exploration of all its dimensions. Because in the biblical word God comes towards us and we towards him, we must learn to penetrate the secret of language, to understand it in its construction and in the manner of its expression. Thus it is through the search for God that the secular sciences take on their importance, sciences which show us the path towards language. Because the search for God required the culture of the word, it was appropriate that the monastery should have a library, pointing out pathways to the word. It was also appropriate to have a school, in which these pathways could be opened up. Benedict calls the monastery a dominici servitii schola. The monastery serves eruditio, the formation and education of man – a formation whose ultimate aim is that man should learn how to serve God. But it also includes the formation of reason – education – through which man learns to perceive, in the midst of words, the Word itself.

 

Abbot Placid is hosting One Minute Monk as a way to help us seek God and to live rightly. Abbot Placid is the religious superior of the monks at Belmont Abbey and Chancellor of Belmont Abbey College is presenting concrete ways for us to seek God by using technology to make the Rule of Saint Benedict accessible. He’s showing us the “signposts” for the path to God and for good living that Pope Benedict says God has already given to us. The Rule of Saint Benedict is timeless because its proposal corresponds to desires of our heart and One Minute Monk will help you understand these desires.

 

To order a copy of the Rule of Saint Benedict visit this link.

 

In the Catholic press

Benedict speaks to Abbots and Abbesses


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Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI

to the Participants

In the International Benedictine Abbots’ Conference

Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo
Saturday, 20 September 2008

Dear Father Abbots,
Dear Sister Abbesses,

I receive you with great joy on the occasion of the International Congress for which all the Abbots of your Confederation and the Superiors of independent Priories meet in Rome every four years to reflect on and discuss ways to embody the Benedictine charism in the present social and cultural context and respond to its ever new challenges to Gospel witness. I first greet the Abbot Primate, Dom Notker Wolf and thank him for what he has said on behalf of all. I likewise greet the group of Abbesses who have come representing the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum, as well as the Orthodox Representatives.

In a secularized world and an epoch marked by a disturbing culture of emptiness and meaninglessness, you are called to proclaim the primacy of God without compromise and to advance proposals for possible new forms of evangelization. The commitment to personal and communitarian sanctification that you pursue and the liturgical prayer that you encourage equip you for a particularly effective witness. In your monasteries, you are the first to renew and to deepen daily the encounter with the Person of Christ, whom you always have with you as guest, companion and friend. For this reason your convents are places where in our time too men and women hasten to seek God and learn to recognize the signs of Christ’s presence, charity and mercy. With humble trust, you never tire of sharing with those who turn to your spiritual care the riches of the Gospel message, which are summed up in the proclamation of the love of the merciful Father who is ready to embrace every person in Christ. Thus you will continue to make your precious contribution to the vitality and sanctification of the People of God, in accordance with the special charism of Benedict of Norcia.

Dear Abbots and Abbesses, you are custodians of the patrimony of a spirituality anchored radically to the Gospel, “per ducatum evangelii pergamus itinera eius”, as St Benedict says in the Prologue to the Rule. It is precisely this that engages you to communicate and give to others the fruits of your inner experience. I know and deeply appreciate the generous and competent cultural and formative work carried out by so many of your monasteries, especially for the young generations, creating an atmosphere of brotherly acceptance that favours a unique experience of Church. In fact, it is of primary importance to prepare young people to face their future and measure up to the many demands of society, having as a constant reference the Gospel message, which is ever timely, inexhaustible and life-giving. Devote yourselves, therefore, with fresh apostolic zeal to youth who are the future of the Church and of humanity. Indeed to build a “new” Europe it is necessary to start with the new generations, offering them the possibility of coming into close contact with the spiritual treasure of the liturgy, of meditation and of lectio divina.

This pastoral and formative action is in fact more necessary than ever for the whole human family. In many parts of the world, especially Asia and Africa, there is a pressing need for vibrant places of encounter with the Lord, in which, through prayer and contemplation, the individual may recover peace with himself and peace with others. Therefore, do not fail to meet with an open heart the expectations of all those, outside of Europe too, who express a keen desire for your presence and your apostolate in order to draw from the riches of Benedictine spirituality. Let yourselves be guided by the deep desire to serve every person charitably, irrespective of their race or religion. With prophetic freedom and wise discernment, may your presence be meaningful wherever Providence calls you to settle, always distinguishing yourselves for the harmonious balance of prayer and work that is a feature of your way of life.

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And what should be said of the famous Benedictine hospitality? It is a special vocation of yours, an experience that is fully spiritual, human and cultural. May balance exist here too: may the heart of the community be wide open but in proportion to the times and forms of hospitality. You will thus give the men and women of our day a possibility of deepening the meaning of life within the infinite horizon of Christian hope, cultivating inner silence in communion with the Word of salvation. A community capable of authentic fraternal life, fervent in liturgical prayer, in study, in work, in cordial availability to your neighbour who is thirsting for God, is the best impetus for inspiring in hearts, especially those of young men, the vocation to monastic life and in general a fruitful journey of faith.

I would like to address a special word to the representatives of the Benedictine nuns and sisters. Dear sisters, like other religious families you too are suffering from the lack of new religious vocations. Do not let yourselves be disheartened but face these painful situations of crisis calmly, aware that it is not so much success that is asked of each one as faithful commitment.

What should be absolutely avoided is a weakening of spiritual attachment to the Lord and to one’s vocation and mission. On the contrary, by persevering in it faithfully we profess most effectively, also to the world, our firm trust in the Lord of history, in whose hands are all the times and destinies of individuals, institutions and peoples; and let us also entrust ourselves to him with regard to the actuation in history of his gifts. Make your own the spiritual attitude of the Virgin Mary, happy to be the “ancilla Domini“, totally available to do the will of the heavenly Father.

Dear monks, nuns and sisters, thank you for this pleasant visit! I accompany you with my prayers so that at your meetings during these days of your Congress you may discern the most appropriate ways to witness visibly and clearly in your life-style, work and prayer, to your commitment to a radical imitation of the Lord. May Mary Most Holy sustain your every project of good, help you above all to keep God before your eyes and accompany you maternally on your journey. As I invoke an abundance of heavenly gifts to support all of your generous resolutions, I warmly impart a special Apostolic Blessing to you and to the entire Benedictine Family.

© Copyright 2008 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana

 

 

Notker Wolf, Benedictine Abbot Primate re-elected

 

Thumbnail image for Notker Wolf arms.jpgOn Thursday afternoon, 25 September 2008, the assembled delegates of the Congress of Abbots re-elected the Most Rev. Dr. Notker Wolf, OSB, to a term of four years as the ninth Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation.

 

Abbot Notker was born 21 June 1940 and professed first vows on 17 September 1962 as a monk of the St. Ottilien Congregation. He was ordained a priest, 1 September 1968, and elected Archabbot of St. Ottilien, 1 October 1977.

 

The Benedictine Congress of Abbots elected him Abbot Primate and Abbot of Sant’Anselmo, 7 September 2000, for a term of eight years. His first official act after his re-election today was to re-appoint all officials both at Sant’Anselmo and elsewhere. 

 

Wolf is a musician who performs traditional Benedictine chant and Christian rock.  He
Notker Wolf.jpgplays an electric guitar for Christian rock group Feedback.

 

The Primate is an author in his spare time. In 2008, Wolf published Out of the Blue (Munich: Rowohlt) and Rules for Life: The Ten Commandments – provocation and guidance for today (Freiburg: Herder). In 2009 his book, God bless you! New ideas for living here (Munich: Rowohlt) will be released.

 

May God grant him many blessings!

 

Partners in Prayer and Work

Benedictine monks and sisters count on Knights of Columbus as collaborators

in building the kingdom of God

 

By Molly Mulqueen

 

At Benedictine monasteries throughout the United States, Knights of Columbus are
KofC.jpgworking side by side with monks and sisters to build the kingdom of God. The ardent friendship between today’s Knights and Benedictines parallels medieval times. Then, royal patrons such as kings, queens and knights welcomed the followers of St. Benedict as they established abbeys and other monastic centers throughout Europe.

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The Benedictines are guided by St. Benedict’s motto, “ora et labora” (Latin for “pray and work”), just as the Knights are guided by theirs, “In service to One. In service to all.” Their similar charisms have allowed for fruitful collaborations on many landscapes: the deserts of Arizona, the banks of the Missouri River in Kansas, the Arkansas River valley, and sunny central Florida.

Helping with Harvest

 

In Tucson, Ariz., the friendship between Knights and the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration began almost by accident. A little over a year ago, some observant Knights noticed one of the sisters struggling with a lawn mower.

            “So may times we would see Sister Sophia out cutting the grass, and it didn’t seem right,” said Grand Knight Donatus Kelch of Regina Cleri Council 5133.

            Now Kelch meets with the sisters every month to prioritize their maintenance needs. The 26 councils in the Tucson area have adopted the Benedictine monastery as a joint project. Many of the councils also sponsor an annual fundraiser to benefit the sisters.

            “[The Knights] have repaired and painted the hand railings to the stairs and ramps leading up to the entrance of the chapel,” said John Garcia, public relations director for the Arizona State Council and a member of Sts. Simon and Jude Cathedral Council 12708 in Phoenix. “They have repainted rooms within the facility, replaced furniture, and have done air-conditioner repairs, plumbing repairs and other maintenance projects.”

            But helping to harvest the sisters’ orange crop is perhaps the most enjoyable project for many of the Knights. Last January, more than 20 Knights and their wives — known as the “Orange Crew” — picked and washed hundreds of oranges. They then fed the oranges through juicers, producing nearly 100 gallons of juice to freeze for the sisters’ use throughout the year.

            The sisters have shown their gratitude by inviting the Knights to a Mass of appreciation. According to District Deputy Douglas Cameron, “If you spend even ten minutes with them, you go away a better person. The prayers they offer for us more than thank us.”

 

Fifty Years of Support

 

This fall, St. Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, Kan., will celebrate 50 years of support from the Knights at Benedictine College. Members of St. Benedict College Council 4708 have heartily embraced the “ora et labora” principle of Benedictine spirituality. This past year, the Knights split wood and shoveled snow at the abbey, and helped with vocations retreats and weekly holy hours.

            “As time has gone on, we have fewer monks to carry on the Catholic mission of the college. The Knights of Columbus on campus have cooperated wonderfully with the monks to help promote Catholic identity,” said Benedictine Father Meinrad Miller,
meinrad.jpgsubprior of St. Benedict’s Abbey, the college chaplain and an active Knight.

            Father Miller often recognizes alumni at neighboring parishes and at the annual Knights of Columbus state convention. “I am always impressed with the high level of participation of graduates from our college” he said.

            “When I was in school [at Benedictine College], we were the top college council in the nation three of the four years I was here,” said Benedictine College President Stephen D. Minnis, a member of Council 4708. “One of the things I am very proud of is that we have several Fourth Degree Knights who participate in special Masses. They led the procession when I was inaugurated as the president of my alma mater, and I’ll never forget how proud I was of our Knights on that day.”

            The friendship between the Knights and the monks at St. Benedict’s Abbey is mutual. “I really think that the monks have had a great influence on the Knights here to become holier men,” said Dan Misener of Council 4708. “They have taught many of us the power and importance of prayer…and how to be true Catholic men in the society that we live in today.”

 

Abbey ‘Work Weeks’

 

The monks at Subiaco Abbey and Academy in Arkansas count on the Knights to help maintain their working farm and a boys’ boarding and day prep school that serves about 175 students. Benedictine Brother Ephrem O’Bryan, public information coordinator for Subiaco Abbey and Academy, keeps a running list of the ways the Knights have helped.

            “The Paris Knights [Logan County Council 3787] provide scholarships for the sons of Knights, contribute funds for the monks’ education, help fund other scholarships for day students, help run a Squires circle [St. Benedict Circle 5073], contribute to the Abbey Health Center and prepare the noon meal for the annual 5th Grade Vocation Day,” recalled Brother Ephrem.

            Clarksville Council 5725 has likewise provided funds for the academy’s scholarship program, as well as for the renovation of abbey living quarters, for health center equipment and for the Abbey Guest House.

            Additionally, Arkansas Knights have organized a five-day work week every summer for the last six years. Knights from throughout the state tackle big projects, such as resurfacing tennis courts, building an irrigation system and adding sidewalks with wheelchair access. Work week volunteers are guests of the abbey and join the monks for Mass, meals, vespers and socializing. It has become an event that many Knights look forward to all year.

            “We go up there three months in advance and talk with the abbot and the maintenance people about what needs to be done,” explained A. J. Hambuchen of Father Dellert Council 4143 in Conway. “They never have come up with a project that we have not been able to do.”

            Most of the Knights who attend are retired professionals with contracting experience. Many bring their own materials and tools in an effort to cut costs further.

            “It is wonderful for us to have Subiaco, and we show our appreciation by helping them out,” Hambuchen said. “The monks thank us by praying for us and our families.”

 

Rebuilding a Church

 

On Dec. 1, 2007, when the monks of St. Leo Abbey celebrated the blessing of a new abbot, Father Isaac Comacho, it was fitting that an honor guard of Fourth Degree Knights
4th degree KofC.jpgwas part of the ceremony. Their presence was a testament to the enduring friendship between the Knights and the monks that spans several generations. The Benedictines have been in Saint Leo, Fla., since 1889, and Knights were first established in nearby San Antonio in 1914.

            “We have seen the Knights develop in just about every parish in the area,” said Benedictine Father James Hoge, a former K of C chaplain and faithful friar. “One of their principal works has always been to support and assist our schools. They have also always assisted with the charities in the area.”

            “The Knights in this part of Florida are a real community organization. They raise money to feed the poor and create recreational activities for kids,” said Brother Stephen Freeman. “They have also helped us a great deal by defraying some of the costs of our Benedictine seminarians.”

            In addition, Knights host an annual golf tournament, the proceeds from which go to the restoration of the Church of the Holy Cross. The 60-year-old church is one of three buildings on the abbey campus named to the National Register of Historic Places. It is known for its 86-foot tower, Lombardic-Romanesque design and the crucifix that hangs above the altar, which was meticulously modeled after the figure of Christ on the Shroud of Turin.

            “Twice a year, we invite [the Knights] to come for Mass and we have a day just for them. It is our way to thank them for being so supportive of the abbey,” Brother Stephen said. It is simply one more part of the history that the Knights and Benedictines share.

 

Molly Mulqueen is a wife, mother and freelance writer for the Catholic press from Houston, Texas.

 

This article was published in Columbia magazine, August 2008. I am grateful to Alton Pelowski, managing editor of Columbia magazine, the monthly periodical of the Knights of Columbus, for allowing this republication.

Pope Benedict meets with Benedictines

On 20 September 2008, Pope Benedict XVI met with the Benedictine abbots and abbesses at Castel
Benedetto.jpgGandolfo, his summer residence.

 

The Pope’s address in Italian is found here while we wait for the English translation. The Zenit summary is here.

The Catholic News Agency makes this report.

Vatican Radio posted this story.

In part the Pope Benedict said: the witness of the Benedictine monks, nuns and sisters is particularly important  “in a de-sacralized world and an age marked by the worrying culture of the void and the absurd. This is the reason why your monasteries are places where men and women, also in our age, run to seek God and to learn to recognize the signs of the presence of Christ, of his charity and of his mercy.”


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The Pope asked the Benedictines to “allow themselves to be led by the profound desire to serve all men with charity, without distinctions of race or religion,” and to found new monasteries “where Providence calls you to establish them.”

 

The Pope focused the attention of the Benedictine superiors to the work of evangelization and to formative and cultural work that can be done particularly in Europe, “especially in favor of the new generations. Dedicate yourselves to young people with renewed apostolic ardor, as they are the future of the Church and of humanity. To build a ‘new’ Europe, it is necessary to begin with the new generations, offering them the possibility to profoundly approach the spiritual riches of the liturgy, of meditation and of lectio divina.” [While the pope has Europe on his mind he would also support this building up of Catholic culture in the new world, too.]

 

The abbots are in Rome at an international congress held every 4 years.

Benedictine Abbots to meet in Rome

The 2008 Congress of Abbots also occurs every four years which gathers the nearly 260

St Benedict6.jpgBenedictine abbots from around the world to discuss topics of interest. The Abbot Primate Notker Wolf said the purpose of the Congress  “Promotes the union of the Confederation, by extending its contacts with its many souls.” The meeting will take place at the Abbey of Saint Anselm from the 18th to 27th September.  

 

Among the presenters will be the esteemed Preacher to the Papal Household Father Raniero Cantalmessa, OFM Cap, who will make a presentation entitled, “What the Spirit is Saying to the Churches.” Plus, the recently retired Abbot General of the Trappists, Abbot Bernardo Olivera will deliver a talk called “Experiences as a Monk and as a Monastic Superior.”

Abbot Notker said there will be workshops and committee work on some major subjects, such as the monasteries with diminishing numbers of monks and nuns, ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue, matters pertaining to the African monasteries, the relation between monasticism

Thumbnail image for Notker Wolf2.jpgand the Church, and the relationship between between abbots and priests. The congress will also be attended by the Benedictine sisters and nuns who will be involved in a discussion about the relations between men’s and women’s monasteries. Discussions will also happen on the work and funding of the various institutes and academic departments, including the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, at Sant’Anselmo.

 

Continue reading Benedictine Abbots to meet in Rome

It’s pickin’ time at the abbey

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Monks work. So beware of idle Benedictine monks –or any man who claimes to be monk for that matter –who don’t lift a finger to work around the house to work. Today apples were picked from the abbey orchard. The seniors among us work in the orchard. Abbot Brian, Brother Tarcicius and I spent some time this afternoon picking macintosh apples. Trees some 70 years old continue to bear fruit. Makes you wonder why these old apple trees continue to bear fruit and older institutions like Lehman Brothers collapse; the obvious notwithstanding. The good news is that some apples went to the abbey kitchen and some went to the football team. The apples were beautiful and delicious!

Saint Charles Borromeo, patron of apple orchards: pray for us!

Formation as a Benedictine

Now that I’ve been here for little more than 2 months Father Abbot Giles has drawn together some things to study. Monastic formation is not just for beginners but properly speaking it is a work for a lifetime. A postulant is not a technical member of the community but someone asking the question if it is his vocation to live God’s call in a particular religious community; in this case, is Saint Mary’s Abbey the place to be a monk.

Since in July the Abbot and I have read together the Rule of Saint Benedict now it is time to go deeper. So, we’re going to be reading Benedictine Father Terrence Kardong’s magisterial work on the Holy Rule and some chapters in Benedictine Sister Aquinata Bockman’s study on the Rule.

Also, Father Hiliary, the novice and junior master, is walking me through the house customary. This is an agreed upon set of house customs, that is, “how we do things here.”

Through July and August a small book club was formed to discuss Fr Jeremy Driscoll’s book What Happens at Mass, a wonderful introduction for some and an appropriate reminder for others on the theology of the Mass. It is a thorough exposition on the Church’s theology of the Mass. This work is not as comprehensive as Driscoll’s Theology at the Eucharistic Table, which is aimed at Master’s students and above.

Above all, what sets a monk’s formation apart from others is the daily practice of Lectio Divina. The supreme gift of monasticism to the Church.

New Abbot General of the Trappists

 

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Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, Abbot of Mount Melleray (County Waterford, Ireland) has been canonically and regularly elected as abbot general of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. In 2007, Dom Eamon was re-elected for his 4th 6-year term abbot of his abbey; the new abbot general was born in 1945. Dom Eamon succeeds Dom Bernardo who has served for the last 18 years as abbot general.

According to the statistics of January 1, 2008, there are 2,185 monks and 1,782 nuns, for a total of 3,967 persons living in 47 different countries. In context the Trappists are canonically speaking, a monastic Congregation which at present unites 97 monasteries of monks and 72 of nuns.

May God grant many fruitful years to Abbot Eamon!