ABBEY NEWS
November 1, 2015
LET US ALL REJOICE IN THE LORD
AS WE CELEBRATE THE FEAST DAY OF ALL THE SAINTS. . .
From the Entrance Song
to Today’s Mass
. . .and tomorrow, November 2nd, we join the Church in commemorating all the faithful departed who haven’t quite ‘made it home’ yet. Our celebration will include the blessing of the graves of our deceased brethren as part of our mid-day office of Sext. Then on Wednesday it will be our hermit day for the month of November.
Speaking of All Saints day alerts us to the fact that Thanksgiving Day can’t be far behind. Only 25 days. Advance notice that our community Mass on Thanksgiving will be at 9:30 AM.
Late Friday evening our Fr. Jerome returned from participating in the annual conference of the Resource Center for Religious Institutes held in Orlando, Florida. Some 500 hundred religious and experts in various fields of interest met to discuss many of the complex issues facing religious communities in our country today.
Visit To Our Daughter House
Last week our Prior, Fr. Isaac, returned from a 15 day visit to our daughter house, Novo Mundo in Brazil, where he gave the community conferences in monastic formation. Being something of a photo buff he put together an interesting slide presentation which he showed to the community last Sunday which was of special interest to those of us who have also gone to Novo Mundo over the years. The following are a few select photos to share with you. NOTE: Click photos for an enlarged view.
Recently I traveled to our daughter-house, Novo Mundo, in Brazil, to give a two week seminar on the Apology of St. Bernard. I found them to be a very fine, youthful, disciplined community and we had many good conversations.
Originally founded in 1977, Novo Mundo makes its living primarily by farming. They also operate a guesthouse and a bakery that produces, honey, cakes, and cookies.
Highlights of the trip included a day-trip by train through the Brazilian countryside with Padre Bernardo (abbot) and a visit to a newly constructed monastery of Trappistine sisters (Boa Vista), where I spoke on Sermons 1 and 18 of Bernard’s commentary On the Song of Songs. The buildings and church were superb and the community a delight to be with.
On my last night the Novo Mundo community held a celebration that included some traditional folk music.
I was grateful for the chance to spend some time with one of Genesee’s “daughters.”
Fr. Isaac Slater, OCSO
Lectio Notebook
We read in the Book of Psalms “Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor follows in the way of sinners” (Ps 1:1). Life has been called a ‘way’ because everything that has been created is on the way to its end.
When people are on a sea voyage, they can sleep while they are being transported without any effort of their own to their port of call. The ship brings them closer to their goal without their even knowing it.
So we can be transported nearer to the end of our life without our noticing it, as time flows by unceasingly. Time passes while you are asleep. While you are awake time passes although you may not notice. All of us have a race to run towards our appointed end. So we are all ‘on the way’.
Basil the Great
Commentary on Psalm 1