Tag: Benedictine

Does What I Believe In Affect My Life?

Ultimate questions are critical for all persons. And so much for Christians because of the Incarnation of God in human history. What does it mean to believe? What can science teach us? Is using technology a helpful tool in knowing our Christian self? In a Year of Faith presentation on April 20, the topic at hand was “Does What I Believe In Affect My Life?”

Mother Mary Elizabeth Kloss is one of 10 children of a farming family, a Benedictine nun, an artist, and now the Mother Prioress (the elected major religious superior) of the Benedictine nuns of Saint Scholastica Priory (Petersham, MA). Her sister, Sister Mary Angela is a member of the community. The Priory is a member of the Subiaco Congregation of monks and nuns, an international group of men and women, monks and nuns, seeking the face of God through the lens of sixth century rule of life compiled by Saint Benedict.

Mother Mary Elizabeth’s talk can be heard here.

Kevin Seasoltz, OSB, RIP

Kevin Seasoltz.jpeg

Father Kevin Seasoltz OSB died early today, 27 April 2013, at Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN.

Father Kevin was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 29 December 1930. He became a priest of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, 3 June 1956. In 1958, he earned a license in canon law from the Lateran University with a concentration in liturgical law. After earning a degree in canon law, again with an emphasis on liturgical law, from The Catholic University of America, in 1962,  he taught in the Religious Studies department until 1987. He professed vows as a monk of Saint Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, DC, 13 November 1960. He later transferred his monastic vow of stability to the Saint John’s Benedictine abbey after spending time on a working sabbatical. In 2009, the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions honored Dom Kevin with the Frederick R. McManus Award.

Father Kevin was a professor of theology and a very well published author. For many years Dom Kevin served as editor of the revered Worship magazine, a quarterly of opinion. 

In the last months he’s been living with cancer; he received the sacraments of the Church on Friday. May Father Kevin rest in peace.

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Praying for the abbot in the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass?

abbots.jpg

Frequently do I go to places where certain liturgical practices catch my attention because of the novelty of what is said and heard. We always need a deeper understanding, a profound appreciation for the prayer of the Church as expressed in the sacred Liturgy. Some will say that canon law, particularly liturgical law, is the bad side of the Good News. As Catholics we are part of a Church; as Catholics we are not independent of sacred Scripture, sacred Tradition and the sacred Magisterium; as Catholics we follow a guided companionship on a journey to a deeper communio with the Triune God. We are not Marlboro people; we are, in fact, sheep in flock called to the Holy Synaxis, to the holy in-gathering of a people in Christ, or simply, Church. We have a good shepherd in Jesus and in His successors, that is, the bishops, and we follow the teaching authority of the Christ and His vicars.

This is a long introduction to a question as whether or not priests of monastic communities ought to name the abbot in the Eucharistic Prayer. There seems to be some confusion over this seemingly small, trite matter. It is not small, and it is not trite. We have an ecclesiology, and we have a liturgical practice that ought to be followed because we live our Catholic lives in communion with others. Abbots are minor prelates; they exercise their pastoral authority and power in their monastic community and not in a diocese, and by extension to the dependent priories. An abbot ought not employ the attitude of having a mitre and a crosier so that  you can do whatever you’d like, whenever you’d like, etc.


Can a priest commemorate Abbot X (or even the abbess if in the context of a woman’s monastery) along with the pope and the bishop in the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass?

 

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal gives four titles that may be named in the Eucharistic Prayer: “The Diocesan Bishop, or one who is equivalent to the Diocesan Bishop in law, must be mentioned  by means of this formula: together with your servant N., our Pope, and N., our Bishop (or Vicar, Prelate, Prefect, Abbot)” (no. 149). Each of these offices are  “equivalent to the Diocesan Bishop in law” by virtue of their appointment to act on behalf of the Supreme Pontiff within a particular area.

Continue reading Praying for the abbot in the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass?

Francis outside the Walls: called to proclaim, witness, worship God

Apse mosaic of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outs...

At the Mass offered by Pope Francis at the Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls today reminded us that “we must obey God”!  Francis asked, do we know how to speak of Christ today? 

Faith is born from listening and strengthened by proclamation.

The teaching gained from today’s papal homily as the Pope took possession of the this basilica that is close the Petrine ministry, he gave yet another way of looking at being in relationship with the Lord Jesus in concrete ways. He was not abstract, he did give us a direction. In typical Benedictine terms, that God be glorified in all things (the Jesuits say, adapting the phrase just quoted: “to the greater glory of God). We need to be carried by God’s will under all circumstances, even if it costs our lives. Every detail matters in speaking of the grace given by God. We all, no matter to rank, experience, education, socio-economic class, are in relationship with Jesus Christ. The tangible witness of our lives is crucial. Inconsistencies by pastors and ministers betray Christ and undermine the Good News. We need to be close the Lord as the 12 were, as the 72 were, as those who heard and saw Him as described in the Acts of the Apostles. 

Do we worship the Lord? Do only turn the Lord ask of Him things, or do we turn to Him to worship Him?
Worshiping God means learning to be with Him, stop dialogue, but sensing his presence is the most true and most important of all. It means striping ourselves of our idols (e.g., money, power, and fame) and placing God in the center of our lives. Does God have the first place in our lives, that we are convinced that God is the God of our lives and our history? 
The Pope’s three key ideas spoken: proclamation, witness, worship.
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Benedictines and Jesuits converge

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Last Sunday, Pope Francis, as the bishop of Rome, took possession of his cathedral church, Saint John Lateran. This coming Sunday, 14 April, Pope Francis will take possession of the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul’s outside the Walls in Rome.

A concelebrated Mass will be offered by the Pope, the archpriest, James Cardinal Harvey and the Benedictine monks to whom the pastoral care of the Basilica and the adjoining Monastery are entrusted. The monks are led by Abbot Edmund Power, OSB. He gives an interview to Vatican Radio (be aware, some of the abbot’s facts are wrong).

There is a historical connection between the Benedictines and the Jesuits. True the Benedictines about 1000 years old than the Jesuits but the historical part goes a bit deeper. The Pilgrim, as he was known, went to the Benedictine abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat in Spain, to make a general confession, keep an all-night in vigil before Our Lady’s altar, and to observe the rites of chivalry in preparation for his new life of being a converted sinner. There Ignatius left his sword and knife at the altar of the Black Madonna, he disposed of his fine clothes to a poor man, and adopted rough clothes with sandals and a staff of a pilgrim.

Continue reading Benedictines and Jesuits converge

Popes who belonged to religious orders

Pope Gregory XVI made gambling on papal electi...

Pope Gregory XVI, a Benedictine monk, made gambling on papal elections punishable by excommunication.

When Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected the 266th Roman Pontiff he was listed among a rather small and elite group of men who had their intellectual and spiritual formation in religious life. Bergoglio is a member of the Society of Jesus. But who are the others?

The Benedictine monks have 17
Gregory I, Boniface IV, Adeodatus II, Leo IV, John IX, Leo VII, Stephen IX, Gregory VII, Victor, III, Urban II, Paschal II, Gelasius, II, Celestine V, Clement VI, Urban V, Pius VII, Gregory XVI
The Augustine canons and friars have 6
Honorius II, Innocent II, Lucius II, Adrian IV, Gregory VIII, Eugene IV
The Franciscans friars have 4
Nicholas IV, Sixtus IV, Sixtus V, Clement XIV
Secular Franciscans have 2
Pius IX, Leo XIII
The Dominicans friars have 4
Innocent V, Benedict XI, Pius V, Benedict XIII
The Cistercian monks have 2
Eugene III, Benedict XII
The Theatine clerks regular have 
 
Paul IV
 
The Jesuit clerks regular have 1
Francis
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Novena of Prayer to Saint Benedict, Day 1

St Benedict detail.jpgToday begins nine days of prayer to Saint Benedict, ending at First Vespers of Saint Benedict’s Transitus (March 20). On March 21, many Benedictine monasteries around the world will observe the death of Benedict (+547) with solemnity, if you follow another liturgical calendar other than the Roman one, while other monasteries will celebrate July 11 as a feast, the translation of Benedict’s bones.

The order of prayer

There was a man of venerable Life, Benedict, blessed by God both in grace and in name. (antiphon)
Pray Psalm 1
The prayer of petition to Saint Benedict may be found here, and then pray the following prayer.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, may the example of blessed Benedict urge us to strive for holiness of life and, by celebrating his memory, may we be inspired to follow him in the spirit of his Rule. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.