ABBEY NEWS
Arrival of Observer
On the evening of Wednesday, August 21st, Kameron Traxler arrived to begin a three month observership. Originally from Rotanda West Florida Kameron was with us this past December for a few days in-house vocational retreat.
Upon further prayer and discernment he decided to apply to Genesee for the observership. Although he is a few years below the minimum entrance age there are indications that he is ready to take the step and he was accepted. Join us in prayer for the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit during this stage of discernment.
Regular Visitation
On Friday our Father Immediate Abbot Elias Dietz of Gethsemani, our mother house, arrived and opened the regular visitation at evening chapter. One of the duties of the father immediate is to make a regular visitation of his daughter houses every two years. The Constitutions of the Order explain that the purpose of the regular visitation is to strengthen and supplement the pastoral action of the local abbot, to correct it where necessary and to motivate the brother to lead the Cistercian life with renewed spiritual fervor.
The process includes interviews with each of the members of the community and the abbot. A full report is drawn up and presented to the community for review and discussion. The final version is sent to the Abbot General. Such a review of life provides the community with an excellent opportunity for renewing and deepening their commitment to our way of life.
Lectio Notebook
Spirituality is not a private matter, and belief, whether by the early disciples or by subsequent disciples, involves a mission, a “going” and a “doing”. If we today claim that we too believe in the risen Lord, then this same risen Lord is telling us, in our own context, to “go” and “tell” and “do”.
The Church is an Easter church; Christian spirituality is likewise an Easter spirituality. To overlook this Easter dimension in the striving for a holy life is to miss the center of the Christian life: God in the sacrament of the risen human Jesus appears to us and sends. The religious experience of the first disciples remains a paradigm for all genuine Christian religious experiences of the Lord.
The Resurrection of Jesus
Kenan B. Osborne, O.
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