Abbey News
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Bless Us, O Lord. . .
On a beautiful pre-autumnal Thursday we celebrated our annual day of prayer for the fruits of the earth. It is a day in which we petition God to bless and increase the produce of our fields and the work of our hands in the bakery.
The office of Vespers is prayed in procession through the still warm bakery and along the ripening fields with ample blessings of holy water. The Mass for Productive Land follows.
. . .And Bless Our Deceased Brethren
Realizing that, as it is expressed in the 2nd Book of Maccabees 12:45 . . .a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins, we held our annual memorial for the deceased of the Genesee yesterday. The Office and Mass were for our deceased brethren. A rather moving moment for those of who knew them was the reading out of the twenty-six names of those buried in our cemetery, along with those buried in Brazil, Frs. Jerome & Stephen and Bros. Cyprian & Barnabas. It is certainly no small grace belonging to a fervent community that regularly prays for it's dead.
At our weekly chapter meeting this morning we took a trip down memory lane as we shared among ourselves reminisces, anecdotes, foibles, etc. of our brothers who have gone on ahead of us and, it is to be hoped, are helping prepare a place for us. You'll find the list of those buried in our cemetery on our Deceased page.
Coming and Going
Wednesday our Br. Paul took a break from his many duties to attend the third conference on St. Augustine held at Villanova University, Villanova, PA. As indicated on their web site: The Augustinian Institute sponsors an international conference on St. Augustine
and his thought under the title Reconsiderations. The first was held in 2003 and
the second in 2006. On both occasions leading scholars from around the world
were invited to Villanova and their papers were published in the Journal of
Augustinian Studies. Further details can be had at their site Reconsiderations. He is due back home today just brimming over with the thought of St. Augustine.
Friday saw the return of Fr. Gerard from giving a week's retreat (16 conferences and 9 homilies!) to the Cistercian Nuns at the Valley of Our Lady in Wisconsin. If you'd like to listen to some angelic Gregorian chant visit their YouTube Life of Cistercian Nuns.
Finally, today Fr. John drives down to our brothers at Holy Cross monastery in Virginia to join the other Trappist superiors along the east coast for their east coast sub-regional meeting. He is due to return Monday the 28th.
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