Abbey News

Sunday, January 6, 2008

EPIPHANY - 2008

Up And Down
Beginning before Christmas and continuing with increased frequency until New Years Eve our high speed T1 line feeding the Abbey's Internet and phone system went through quite a period of convulsions. Due to some mysterious adverse (some felt, demonic!) conditions in the transmission lines our connections were unstable going down and remaining down for long periods, not rarely for most of the day. That is one reason why there hasn't been an Abbey News update for awhile. Due to the dedication and diligence of our telephone company's technicians, working Sundays and overtime, things were up and running in good shape at around 6 PM New Years Eve.

Another reason for the delay was the extra amount of work connected with our on-line bread store at this time of year. The amount of orders received exceeded our expectations and, there for awhile, our ability to handle them. At one point we had to hold off taking new orders, much to our chagrin. The on-line bread store venture has proven very successful. Hopefully our experience has taught us how to manage things for the future.

Speaking of bread we received the following message from St. Armands Baking Co., our franchise bakery in Bradenton, Florida:

Happy New Year to everyone at the Abbey. You might be pleased to know that in the January 2, 2008 issue of the St. Petersburg Times Monks' White Bread won first place for the 2007 Taster's Choice Awards. (category: white bread) We beat out Arnolds and Pepperidge Farms brands.

The newspaper article can be found at St. Petersburg Times. Monks' Bread is listed under white bread.

Bethlehem House Happenings
In keeping with our usual practice our guest house, Bethlehem, was closed the week before Christmas to give the staff a needed break and to provide time to do some extra maintenance. But that didn't prevent holding a couple of celebrations there. For one there was a Christmas party for our employees and volunteers hosted by the Bethlehem staff on Sunday, December 30th. Hopefully this marks the beginning of an annual event as a way to show our appreciation to our employees and volunteers for all their help and support.

Then on New Years Day, Solemnity of the Mother of God, our good friend and sister in the Lord, Minh Huynh, made her vows to God as a consecrated virgin for life. The unique ceremony took place in the chapel at Bethlehem which was nearly filled with members of Minh's family, friends and a few members of the monastic community. Abbot John Eudes presided at the ceremony receiving her consecration in the name of the Church.

Here we see Minh during the opening prayers before making her act of consecration.

The solemn consecration of virgins is one of the oldest sacramentals in the Church, we are told. To learn more about this ancient practice, revived since Vatican II, see what is a consecrated virgin? If you are unfamiliar with Minh and her various ministries see her home page at New Helfta.

Going into the house, the Magi saw the child. Outwardly, their journey was now over. But at this point a new journey began for them which changed their whole lives.

The new King, to whom they now paid homage, was quite unlike what they were expecting. In this way they had to learn that God is not as we usually imagine him to be. This was where their inner journey began.

It started at the very moment when they knelt down before this child and recognized him as the promised King. But they still had to assimilate these joyful gestures internally. They had to change their ideas about power, about God and about man, and in so doing, they also had to change themselves.

They had to learn to give themselves - no lesser gift would be sufficient for this King. They had to learn that their lives must be conformed to this divine way of exercising power, to God's own way of being. They must become men of truth, of justice, of goodness, of forgiveness, of mercy.

They will have to ask: How can I serve God's presence in the world? They must learn to lose their life and in this way to find it. Having left Jerusalem behind, they must not deviate from the path marked out by the true King, as they follow Jesus.

Benedictus
Pope Benedict XVI