Our winter, God's spring

Fountain statue outside
the Swiss Abbey of Einsiedeln,
built over the site of a spring
which provided St. Meinrad
the hermit with drinking water.
Our Lady of the Immaculate
Conception is the patroness
of the Swiss-American
Congregation to which belongs
Saint Meinrad Archabbey.

From a sermon by Ronald Knox
(1888-1957, English priest, theologian, and author):

The feast of our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, which we celebrate today, is the promise and the earnest of Christmas; our salvation is already in the bud. As the first green shoot heralds the approach of spring, in a world that is frost-bound and seems dead, so in a world of great sinfulness and of utter despair, that spotless conception heralds the restoration of man’s innocence.

As the shoot gives unfailing promise of the flower which is to spring from it, this conception gives unfailing promise of the virgin birth. Life had come into the world again—supernatural life, not of man’s choosing or of man’s fashioning.

And it grew there unmarked by human eyes; no angels sang over the hills to celebrate it, no shepherds left their flocks to come and see; no wise men were beckoned by the stars to witness that prodigy.

And yet the first Advent had begun.

Our Lady, you see, is the consummation of the Old Testament; with her, the cycle of history begins anew. When God created the first Adam, he made his preparations beforehand; he fashioned a paradise ready for him to dwell in. And when he restored our nature in the second Adam, once more there was a preparation to be made beforehand. He fashioned a paradise for the second Adam to dwell in, and that paradise was the body and soul of our blessed Lady, immune from the taint of sin, Adam’s curse.

It was winter still in the world; but in the quiet home where Saint Anne gave birth to her daughter, spring had begun.

Man’s winter, God’s spring—the living branch growing from the dead root.

For that, year by year, we Christians give thanks to God when Advent comes round. It is something that has happened once for all; we look for no further redemption, no fresh revelation, however many centuries are to roll over this earth before the skies crack above us and our Lord comes in judgment.

Yet there are times in history when the same mood comes upon us, even upon us Christians—the same mood of despair in which the world was sunk at the time when Jesus Christ was born. There are times when the old landmarks seem obliterated, and the old certainties by which we live have deserted us. The world seems to have exhausted itself, and has no vigor left to face its future; the only forces that seem to possess any energy are those that make for disruption and decay.

The world’s winter, and it is always followed by God’s spring. Behold, I make all things new, said our Lord to St. John.

Let us rejoice, on this feast of the Immaculate Conception, in the proof and pledge he has given us of that inexhaustible fecundity which belongs only to his grace. And let us ask our blessed Lady to win for us, in our own lives, that continual renewal of strength and holiness that befits our supernatural destiny.

Fresh graces, not soiled by the memory of past failure; fresh enterprise, to meet the conditions of a changing world; fresh hope, to carry our burdens beyond the shifting scene of this present world into the changeless repose of eternity.

-- A Word in Season: Monastic Lectionary for the Divine Office,

IV, Sanctoral, Augustinian Press, 1991, p.241-243. 

All shall be her children

On the holy mountain is his city
cherished by the Lord.
The Lord prefers the gates of Zion
to all Jacob's dwellings.
Of you are told glorious things,
O city of God!

'Babylon and Egypt I will count
among those who know me;
Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia,
these will be her children
and Zion shall be called "Mother"
for all shall be her children.'

It is he, the Lord Most High,
who gives each his place.
In his register of peoples he writes:
'These are her children'
and while they dance they will sing:
'In you all find their home.'
                             
                          -- PSALM 87

Bad jokes, fresh hope

A snippet from community life in the monastery today on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

As I mentioned last week, one of the monks here, Fr. Benedict, had to have his left leg amputated due to a chronic medical condition. Fr. Benedict, 83, has been recuperating from the surgery in the monastery infirmary the last several days, but is now starting to get out and about a little on his motorized scooter. A quiet man, almost always seen with a rosary in his hand and ready with a "God bless you," he also is a quick-draw when it comes to puns and bad jokes.

This afternoon he was tooling through the monastery calefactory, so I said hello and asked him how he was doing. Without missing a beat, he pulled up the blanket on his lap, pointed to where his left leg used to be, smiled, and said, "I'm a leg up on the resurrection!"

God bless him.

Dashing through the snow

In the final analysis, it probably won't amount to much, but we are receiving our first noticeable snowfall here this morning at Saint Meinrad Archabbey. It began coming down as we were celebrating Mass. The photo is taken from the hillside just outside my cell window where there is a large mass of holly trees.

As I approached them, I rediscovered that walking down a steep hill lightly covered with snow while wearing slippers is not such a good idea. No more broken toes or anything, though. ... So, let it snow ... (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

Fresh and green are the pastures ...

Jesus had compassion for them,
because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a sheperd.

Matthew 9:36

The Lord will be gracious to you when you cry out,
as soon as he hears he will answer you.

A voice shall sound in your ears:
"This is the way; walk in it,"

when you would turn to the right or to the left.

Isaiah 30:19,21

Turn, turn, turn

Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010
Second Sunday of Advent—A

Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 15:4-9
Matthew 3:1-12

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” declares John the Baptist in today’s Gospel. He then goes on to say, “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.”

This is really the heart of God’s everlasting message to us: Turn to the Word made flesh, the person of Jesus Christ. Too often, it seems, we limit Christianity by associating it too closely with our own social and political agendas. It becomes what we do rather than who we are.

First, though, we are called to repent—or turn—to the “kingdom of heaven” (the term used by the ancient Israelites to avoid mentioning the unutterable name of God). This means committing oneself to conversion of heart. Then, the Baptist says, we must produce good fruit as outward evidence of our inward turning or conversion. This is discipleship, and it renders us capable of genuinely welcoming one another as Christ welcomes each one of us. As St. Cyprian has written, “The kingdom of God means Christ himself.”

This Advent, let us turn to Christ, the Word made flesh who dwells among us so that His bud may blossom within us, producing fruit that fills the earth with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea.

Then justice and peace shall flower for ever.

Swiss-American

  

Br. Mauritius earlier this fall with Fr. Bonaventure


SPECIAL FEATURE: A guest post from our resident Swiss monk at Saint Meinrad -- Br. Mauritius from the Abbey of Einsiedeln:

Br. Francis asked me if I would write some words about my stay at Saint Meinrad for his blog. It is a pleasure for me to do so.

It has been almost four months since Br. Francis and I took the airplane from Zurich, Switzerland to the U.S. The time has passed quickly; the first semester is almost over. I have been attending very interesting classes. My main focus is on pastoral theology, and I have learned a lot in the subjects of “Sacrament of Reconciliation,” “Catechetical Ministry,” and “Adolescent Spirituality.”

I have gained many new insights, especially from “Ministry to Families,” in which I learned to look at a person not only as an isolated individual but more as a member of a larger interacting family system. I recorded two simulated counselling sessions on videotape in which I acted as a priest counselling a couple or a family in trouble. Later, I analyzed and discussed the tapes together with the teacher.

In the same way, I recorded two simulated confessions. I was the confessor and Br. Francis was one of my penitents. Of course, because of the seal of the confessional, I cannot reveal what he confessed. (I never expected that he would steal money from his boss! : )

In addition to classes, each seminarian is assigned to a place of ministry at a nearby parish, school, or hospital to gain practical experience. I have been assigned to Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Haubstadt, Indiana, about an hour west of St. Meinrad. On Wednesday evenings I go there to teach religious education to a high school freshman class, which I enjoy very much.

As you can see, the formation here at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology is very practical. It is good preparation for the various situations a priest is likely to face in his ministry.

In the past few weeks I have been able to take two very nice trips. I visited two daughter houses of Saint Meinrad (grand-daughter houses of Einsiedeln). First, I drove eight hours north to Aurora, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, where I stayed for three nights at Marmion Abbey. The monks there were very welcoming and friendly. I attended classes at the Military Academy run by the abbey and experienced the Homecoming festivities taking place that particular weekend.

On the way back, I stopped in Terre Haute, Indiana, and went to the cemetery looking for the grave of Father Bede O’Connor, one of the two first monks from Einsiedeln who came to the United States in 1853 to establish Saint Meinrad. Father Bede, originally from England, worked in various parishes and missions in the area and later became vicar general of the Diocese of Vincennes (the diocese in which Saint Meinrad was located at that time). He died in 1875 in Terre Haute and was buried there.

The grave of Father Bede O'Connor in Terre Haute

During the Thanksgiving break I visited New Subiaco Abbey in Arkansas. While planning for the trip, I asked around to see if one of the many seminarians here from the Diocese of Little Rock lives nearby and could take me. I was very happy when seminarian Joseph Chan volunteered to do so. It turned out to be an unforgettable trip. Joseph was very well organized and we had a good time together on the road. He left me at Subiaco, where I spent my first American Thanksgiving.

The monks there were very kind and hospitable and immediately made me feel at home. I attended two classes at their high school. One night the basketball team played a game against another school. Some of the students are from China. I tried to tell them the few Chinese words taught me a couple years ago by Fathers Johannes Dong and Andreas Pan, two Chinese priests who used to live with us in the monastic community at Einsiedeln. I was very surprised that the students understood me, and asked me if I really came from Switzerland!

Father Hugh Assenmacher, who wrote a book about the history of New Subiaco and shared his immense knowledge with me, was willing to show me the location where the old monastery used to be until a fire destroyed it in 1901. The spring where the first monks drank is still visible. Father Wolfgang Schlumpf, the founder, was convinced that the water had healing properties. I tried it, and it had a heavy taste of iron.

This was a special moment for me—to stand at this historic place where several confreres of mine used to live, pray, and work. The monks of New Subiaco consider Einsiedeln to be their motherhouse. Even though it was Martin Marty, the first abbot of Saint Meinrad, who had the initial idea for a new foundation in Arkansas and who sent the three first monks there in 1878, in the following years many monks came directly from Einsiedeln to support the recently begun abbey in Arkansas. So, perhaps one can say New Subiaco Abbey was founded in cooperation between Saint Meinrad and Einsiedeln.

The view of New Subiaco Abbey from the field where the monastery
was first located. A fire destroyed the first building in 1901.

Worthy of special note is Father Gall D’Aujourd’hui, who used to be a teacher at the monastery school in Einsiedeln in the 19th Century. With his missionary enthusiasm he convinced eight of his young students (not yet monks) to join him in an adventurous undertaking. Father Gall and the so-called “Eight Beatitudes” left Einsiedeln in September 1887. All of them persevered, underwent their priestly formation in the new foundation in Arkansas, and became monks there.

There is another Benedictine foundation besides New Subiaco Abbey in Arkansas—Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro, which was established by sisters of Maria Rickenbach in the Swiss canton of Nidwalden. On the journey back to Indiana we stopped there for a short visit.

It was really impressive to see how important a role the Swiss Benedictines played in the building up the Catholic Church in Arkansas in the 19th Century. Today, things have changed. The great periods of missionary work of Swiss Benedictine communities is over. Switzerland itself has become a field of “New Evangelization.” Even though there is no radical anti-Catholic movement anymore as there used to be in the period of the “Kulturkampf,” the Church still faces many challenges. I dare to predict that, in the years to come, the main focus of Einsiedeln’s mission will be the homeland.

Meanwhile, I continue to study eagerly at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology and am looking forward to finishing my first semester Dec.10. -- Br. Mauritius

POSTSCRIPT: Although he is too modest to have mentioned it, Br. Mauritius is also taking Spanish classes, adding that language to his fluency in German, English, French, and Italian. He was also a big hit as the King of Nineveh (complete with crown and beard) in a monastery skit based (loosely) on the story of Jonah and the fish. Over the Christmas break, he has plans to visit some other monasteries in the U.S. Many thanks to Br. Mauritius for sharing this post and his life with us here at Saint Meinrad . — Br. Francis