Br. Gabriel makes Pittsburgh News!!!

Carnegie native monk is 'regular' guy with lofty goals

By Becky Shetler

TRIBUNE-REVIEW NEWS SERVICE

Thursday, August 28, 2008

He might not have realized it at the time, but the seeds of Carnegie native Andrew Kurzawski's vocation were planted in him more than a decade ago.


"I was so fortunate when I was growing up at SS. Simon and Jude. It was the largest Catholic school in the diocese," Kurzawski said. "There were young, vibrant priests, and they played sports with us. They were guys you could relate to. I didn't see them as just priests."

"They were regular men living an exemplary life, guys trying to do the will of God in their lives. They chose to follow Christ as priests."

With nearly 175 monks in the community, St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe is Kurzawski's home now.

Known by the religious name Brother Gabriel Myriam, Kurzawski joined St. Vincent -- the first Benedictine monastery in North America -- 13 months ago.

Kurzawski professed his first vows during vespers for the feast of St. Benedict on July 10. The ceremony marked his first year in monastic life.

During the past year, Kurzawski studied the rule of St. Benedict, learned to pray and sing the psalms and studied church and St. Vincent history.

In July, he plans to renew his vows, and then after three to five years, he will take his final vows. He is studying to be ordained to the priesthood.

"Overall, I'm extremely happy," Kurzawski said. "I haven't found this type of joy in anything else I've done."

He explains that God calls people in different ways.

"It's important to see if you are called to be a married man or woman or a brother sister or deacon," Kurzawski says.


"God calls Catholic visionaries to all different vocations. As Catholics, we need to support and nurture young people, whether they are a brother, sister or friend. Help with their calling -- whether it is to be a priest or to get married -- it's important that we do that."

While at Carlynton, Kurzawski was the captain of the basketball team and he originally thought his future would be on the basketball court.

"When I was done with high school, my main focal point was that I wanted to play college basketball and teach high school," he said.

Upon graduating in 2003, he thought long and hard about his options. 

The Rev. John Dinello, a Catholic priest at Immaculate Conception-St. Joseph in Bloomfield, is Kurzawski's godfather, and his influence made him see those called to religious life as regular people with an exemplary calling.

(Father John Dinello, Br. Gabriel Myriam, OSB, Fr. James Dowds, C.Ss.R, and Seminarian David Verghese of the Archdiocese of Washington, all friends and mentors for Br. Gabriel)

He also credits his vocation to the Rev. Carmen D'Amico, pastor of St. Benedict the Moor in the Hill District.


"I thought about the priesthood, and I thought about family. My parents probably dreamed of grandchildren. It took a while to grow on them," he said.

"They really respect (my choice), and they are extremely proud of me. They see that I'd be helping people. It's very rewarding."

Pope Lauds Benedictines for Helping World Find God

Urges Them to Found More Monasteries

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 22, 2008 (Zenit.org).- In an age marked by worry and absurdity, the Benedictines can teach people how to recognize the God whom they seek, says Benedict XVI.


The Pope thus encouraged the monks and nuns to found new monasteries, also outside of Europe, when he spoke with them Saturday at Castel Gandolfo.


"In many parts of the world, especially in Asia and Africa, there is a great need of vital spaces to encounter the Lord," the Holy Father explained to the abbots and abbesses. "Hence, do not fail to meet with an open heart the hopes of all those, including those outside of Europe, who express a true desire for your presence and apostolate."





The witness of the Benedictine vocation is particularly important, added the Pontiff, "in a de-sacralized world and an age marked by the worrying culture of the void and the absurd."


"This is the reason why your monasteries are places where men and women, also in our age, run to seek God and to learn to recognize the signs of the presence of Christ, of his charity and of his mercy," he said.


The Pope appealed to Benedictines to "allow themselves to be led by the profound desire to serve all men with charity, without distinctions of race or religion," and to found new monasteries "there, where Providence calls you to establish them."


Moreover, the Holy Father also called their attention to the evangelizing, formative and cultural work that the Benedictines can carry out in Europe, "especially in favor of the new generations."


"Dedicate yourselves to young people with renewed apostolic ardor, as they are the future of the Church and of humanity," he encouraged. "To build a 'new' Europe, it is necessary to begin with the new generations, offering them the possibility to profoundly approach the spiritual riches of the liturgy, of meditation and of lectio divina."

Vocational crisis

The Holy Father also had words of encouragement especially for Benedictine abbesses, whose communities are suffering at present from a lack of vocations.


Benedict XVI asked them "not to be discouraged" and especially to avoid "the weakening of their spiritual devotion to the Lord and to their own vocation and mission."


"By persevering faithfully in it, you confess, instead, with great effectiveness in face of the world, your own firm trust in the Lord of history, in whose hands are the times and destinies of persons, institutions, peoples; to him we entrust all that touches upon the historical fulfillment of his gifts," he continued.


Finally, the Pontiff praised traditional Benedictine hospitality, through which one can transmit many spiritual goods to those who go to monasteries.


"This is a peculiar vocation of yours, a fully spiritual, human and cultural experience," he affirmed, which allows you "to offer the men and women of our time the possibility of reflecting more profoundly on the meaning of existence in the infinite horizon of Christian hope."

Daily Devotion

Memorial of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, priest

For more Daily Homilies from St. Vincent Archabbey, Click here

Prv 21:1-6,10-13; Ps 119:1,27,30,34,35,44; Lk 8:19-21

"Keep it with all my heart."

With today's psalm we pray for the LORD to be our guide in the way of his commands. We pray for his guidance because without it our hearts will never learn his wisdom. Until we keep the Law of the LORD with all our hearts we are bound to go astray. In the wisdom of the Rule of Saint Benedict we read that one should never long to be called holy till in fact he is holy. Indeed, being blessed is about being blameless. Until we walk in the law of the LORD we never know what it means to be blessed. We long for a more profound understanding of the way of God's precepts; this is only possible if we meditate upon his wondrous deeds. As the longer version of the First Commandment makes clear, the reason we worship and love God alone and avoid idols is because the LORD has brought us out of Egypt, that land of captivity. Our loyalty to the LORD is dependant upon his favor and kindness to us while we were yet in slavery, captive to sin, concupiscence, and vice. Indeed, the way of truth is the way of God's ordinances. The LORD never commands us to do anything that is not faithful to who we are and to whom we belong. "You are mine!" The LORD cries through the prophet, and this revelation is our deepest joy. The discernment of the LORD is necessary to observe God's Law and to keep it with a whole heart. Anything less than a whole heart is not worthy of our own dignity, much less of the Lord's dignity. Indeed, the longer we are lead in the path of the LORD's commands the greater delight is found in the hearts of all who obey. Such faithful love grows in the context of keeping his law continually, forever and ever. Proverbs meditates on the human heart and it its flexibility in the hands of the LORD. The family of the Lord Jesus is those who hear the word of God and act upon it. Membership in this family demands seeking true wisdom and to living a life of constancy.

What a complement to the king! If the reference is to King David, it is not quite accurate. Perhaps, Proverbs is speaking of an ideal king. Indeed, this description is about the best king possible. If the king's heart is like a stream in the hand of the LORD, the nation has nothing to fear. However, few of the kings of Israel and Judah have lived in such openness to the will of God. Indeed, the Lord alone proves hearts, and it is best for the king and for all his people that both have a healthy self-doubt. Without some outside guidance about what is right and just, we will not be able to offer a sacrifice that pleases the LORD. We are all too hasty in our discernment; we need greater diligence and a more complete analysis for our decisions and dilemmas. Deliberate deception is deadly when it comes to fulfilling expectations in politics or in business. Without pity our hearts become solid darkness; we are slaves of every evil desire. Only humble men learn from mistakes and successes do not blind the hearts of the lowly. Only the just can evaluate the seeming success of the wicked and see it for what it is, injustice and oppression. If we want to be heard in our time of need, we will not close our hearts to the cries of the needy. Wisdom is attentive to life, and those who grow in wisdom are truly alive. Without wisdom there is no life.

It takes wisdom to belong to the family of the Lord Jesus. It takes wisdom and not blood. The natural relatives of the Lord Jesus are mentioned very seldom in the gospels, perhaps because they too had to believe in him in order to belong to his family. Saint Luke presents these relatives in the most positive light. Unlike the other synoptic authors, Saint Luke does not have the Lord Jesus ask the painful question "Who are my mother and my brothers?" within their hearing. Also, they are not pursuing the Lord because they are afraid that he has lost his mind. They were simply unable to join him because of the crowd. In this account, Saint Luke contrasts the crowd with the family. His family is made up of those who hear the word of God and act on it. The crowd is composed of people who are seeking. They may or may not hear his teaching as the word of God, and they may or may not act upon what they hear. It takes wisdom to hear in the teaching of Jesus the word of God that will reorder all human relationships. In this Eucharist we taste and see the goodness of the LORD, and this relationship of intimacy with Christ Jesus makes every other relationship new. Now, we see everything in the Light of His Truth. Now, we order all our activity in the Light of His Love.

The Catholic Vote

St. Vincent Archabbey gearing up for Franciscan University

(Br. Mark, O.S.B. entertains discerning students and fellow religious at Franciscan University last year.)

STEUBENVILLE, OH (SEPTEMBER 12, 2008) – More than 100 religious communities and dioceses from across the United States and abroad will send vocations directors to participate in Franciscan University of Steubenville’s annual Vocations Awareness Day, which is one of the largest vocation fair in the nation.

The event, sponsored by the Pre-Theologate Program and Chapel Ministries, will be held on Friday, October 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Finnegan Fieldhouse. It is free and open to the public. Afterward, a 4:45 p.m. Mass in Christ the King Chapel will be celebrated for those discerning religious life or the priesthood.

Last year’s Vocations Awareness Day attracted about 800 attendees. University and high school students, home school families, and local individuals took advantage of the opportunity to meet with vocations directors, ask questions, and learn about their unique missions and charisms.

Some of this year’s orders include: Franciscan Friars of Renewal, Dominican Order of Preachers, Carmelite friars and nuns from California, Washington, and Oklahoma, the Benedictine monks of St. Vincent Archabbey, Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, School Sisters of St. Francis, and sisters from Madrid, who are especially seeking Franciscan University education or Spanish majors to teach in Spain. Religious directors from many dioceses across the U.S. will also be present.

Father Ken Cienik, SA, director of the Pre-Theologate Program, encourages the public to attend. He says this is a great opportunity to encounter “a wide variety of religious orders and dioceses at one time and to discern if one might be right for you.”

For more information, call 740-283-6495 or e-mail vocationday@franciscan.edu.

 
Contact: Franiscan University of Steubenville http://www.franciscan.edu OH, 43952 US Tom Sofio - Assistant Manager, 740-284-5893

(Also, feel free to contact us at the St. Vincent Archabbey Vocation Office and let us know if we will see you there: 724-532-6655, vocations@stvincent.edu)

Holy Father speaks of Monasticism

St. Vincent Goods

Recently, we have been getting a lot of inquiries from you guys about purchasing products that the monks of St. Vincent have worked on to help in your faith journey, particularly the DVD's of our own Fr. Jacques Daley, OSB that have appeared on EWTN. Without a doubt, these DVD's are a great tool in discernment so I have posted a few links to Father's DVD's on the side panels. Just click on the photos. (The link will take you to the St. Vincent store which has other religious books, videos, etc. for you to take advantage of.)

St. Maria Faustina's spiritual director to be beatified!!!

From Vatican.va

Michał Sopoćko was born on November 1, 1888 in Nowosady (Juszewszczyzna), then under Imperial Russia. The Czarist authority persecuted the Catholic Church as well as both the Polish and Lithuanian people within in its territories. In the Sopoćko family, of noble lineage, the Polish and Catholic traditions were conserved and developed. The young Michael matured in this religious and patriotic atmosphere. Motivated by a desire for unconditional service to God, the Church and humanity, he entered the Major Seminary in Vilnius. On June 15, 1914, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Franciszek Karewicz.

For four years (1914-1918) he worked as a parochial vicar in Taboryszki, where he opened two mission churches at Miedniki and at Onżadòw, as well as various schools.

As informed by someone that the German authorities who checks that zone may arrest him,he left the parish and went to Warsaw. There he became a military chaplain for the Polish army. While dedicated to his ministry as chaplain, he enrolled as a student in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Warsaw and from which he obtained a doctoral degree. At the same time, he graduated from the National Pedagogical Institute. In 1924, he became a coordinator of the regional military chaplaincies, based in Vilnius.

In 1927, Archbishop Romuald Jalbrzykowski entrusted to him the responsibility of being Spiritual Director for the Major Seminary. During this same period he taught for the faculty of Theology at Stefan Batory University, also in Vilnius. He eventually requested the Archbishop to release him from both the military pastoral care and from the seminary duties. His desire was to dedicate himself entirely to theological pursuits. In 1934, he received the title of ‘docent’ in pastoral theology. While teaching, he never forgot the importance of pastoral service. He was rector of St. Michael Church and also served as confessor for Religious Sisters.

One of the most significant events of Fr. Sopoćko’s life occurred in 1933, when he became the Spiritual Director of Sr. (now Saint) Faustina Kowalska of the Congregation of Sisters of Mary Mother of Mercy. He continued to assist the Saint after his transfer to Łagiewniki, and where she died on October 5, 1938. As her confessor, he undertook a thorough evaluation of Sr. Faustina’s mystical experiences concerning devotion to the Divine Mercy. Following his advice, she wrote of these in her "Diary.” To this day this remains a spiritual classic.

The Divine Mercy devotion became a life-giving inspiration for Fr. Sopoćko. Due to his assistance, and under the direction of Sister Faustina, the artist Eugeniusz Kazimirowski painted the first portrait of Jesus as the Divine Mercy. Fr. Sopoćko wrote extensively on the subject of the Divine Mercy, and, in 1938, he established a committee charged with building the Divine Mercy Church in Vilnius. However, this attempt had to be halted due to the onset of World War II. But despite the war and German occupation, Fr. Sopoćko persisted in his efforts to promote the devotion to the Divine Mercy. Filled with zeal, he constantly helped those who were oppressed and threatened with extermination, for example, numerous Jewish people. Fortunately, he managed to avoid arrest and imprisonment. In 1942, along with his fellow seminary professors and students, he was forced to go into hiding near Vilnius. He remained concealed for two years. Yet it was during that very time when Fr. Sopoćko played a major role in establishing a new Religious Congregation. According to the revelations of Sr. Faustina, this Congregation was to promote love for the Divine Mercy. After the War, he wrote the Congregation’s constitution. And he became actively engaged in the growth and development of what we know as the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Mercy.

In 1947, Archbishop Jałbrzykowski, since two years at Białystok with his diocesan Curia, sought that Fr. Sopoćko come to the same city. He therefore accepted a position as professor in the Archdiocesan Major Seminary. There he taught pedagogy, catechetics, homiletics, pastoral theology, and spirituality. Additionally, he continued to further the apostolate of the Divine Mercy. He also made serious efforts to obtain official approval for the Divine Mercy devotion from the Church authorities. Fr. Sopoćko worked tirelessly on the biblical, theological, and pastoral bases by which to explain the doctrinal truth concerning the Divine Mercy devotion. His publications were translated into numerous languages including: Latin, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese.

Fr. Michal Sopoćko died on February 15, 1975, in his apartment on Poleska Street. He was popularly acclaimed for his sanctity. He was buried in the parish cemetery in Białystok. Following the inauguration of the process for his Beatification, his body was moved to the Church of the Divine Mercy (November 30, 1988).

For more on Father Sopoćko, Divine Mercy, and St. Faustina, check out this great DVD series by our own Fr. Jaques Daley, OSB which was done for EWTN. Click here for more info.

Homilies from the Monastery

For more daily Homilies click here

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

1Cor 4:1-5;
Ps37:3-6,27-28,39-40;
Lk5:33-39



"He will grant you your heart's requests."

The LORD grants the requests of our hearts when we take delight only in the LORD. The LORD who knows us face to face; He communicates with us heart to heart. The intimacy of relationship between the psalmist and the LORD points beyond itself to the mystery of the incarnation and the mystical marriage of the Divine Bridegroom and the human soul. We, who trust in the LORD and do good, dwell in the land and are fed in security. We, who take delight in the LORD and do his will, dwell in his favor and are cared for in our every need. Indeed, He grants our heart's requests. When we have pure hearts that long to do his will, that want what he wants day in and day out. All we have to do is to commit ourselves to him, trust in him and he will act in us and for us. The LORD makes justice dawn for us like the light; bright as the noonday shall be our vindication. When we turn from evil and do good, then we abide forever in the bosom of the Father. For the LORD our God loves what is right and just; he forsakes not his faithful ones. Criminals are destroyed, and the posterity of the wicked is cut off. In all our distress, we take refuge in the LORD. The LORD helps us and delivers us from the wicked, because we take refuge in him. Saint Paul reminds us that the Lord will come to bring into light what is hidden in darkness and to manifest the motives of our hearts. For this day of the LORD we await with great joy and rejoicing! Now that the bridegroom has been taken away from us we find fast to feel in our flesh the loss of the Beloved who has been snatched from us and nailed upon a cross and is raised up on high in glory. Christ, our Bridegroom, is the one who makes us so new in heart and in fact that we actually begin in this life to taste that the Lord is good.

The one who judges Saint Paul is the same one who judges us. None other than the Lord Jesus is our judge. When he comes in all his glory with all the angels, the Lord Jesus will bring to light what is hidden in darkness, and He will manifest the motives of our hearts. It is our hearts that need to be converted and purified by the fire of the Living Flame of Love. As the Prophet Jeremiah complains, "more torturous than all else is the human heart who can heal it?" Our motives are often mixed, and we are often very self-centered in our motivation. However, those around us cannot enter into our hearts and sort us out. We need the Holy Spirit, who has the fiery love we need to purify us from the core and all throughout our behavior. The Spirit alone has the freedom and the generosity to tackle the torturous hearts of all who seek to be servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Indeed, we have no time to waste on judging one another; the Lord Jesus is our judge. Rather, we need to fast and offer petitions for each other. We all need to be pure of heart; we all need to be healed from our mixed motives and self centered preoccupation. The Lord Jesus can only accomplish such a process of detachment and renewal. When we try to purify our own motivation, we get caught up in the immensity and complexity of our own torturous hearts. Too many just give up, rather than surrender to the tender mercies of the Spirit who has access to our hearts and is not afraid or fooled by our complexity or limitations. Even though we may not be conscious of anything against us, we do not thereby stand acquitted; it is the Lord who judges each of us. Indeed, the Lord alone knows our hearts, and He alone can give us the praise we deserve.

The scribes and Pharisees are presented in today's gospel as the self-serving judges of the disciples of the Lord Jesus. From their so-called objective perspective, they condemn those who follow the Lord Jesus and praise those who follow the Baptist. The disciple of the Lord Jesus do not fast and offer prayers like the disciples of John the Baptist. The Lord Jesus sees through this complaint into the hearts of those who complain. Indeed, he is the only just judge; he sees to the core of these scribes and Pharisees. He knows that their motivation for complaining and judging is mixed. They are not as interested in the sanctification of the Lord's disciples as much as they are interested in discrediting the Lord Jesus who allows them to eat and drink. The Lord Jesus challenges their condemnation and their pettiness with a revelation about the relationship between Christ and his disciples. Indeed, his defense of his disciples is clear in the statement about the presence of the Bridegroom, and even his short parables about the patch and the wineskins help to explain their behavior. Fasting and prayer are not longer offered to hold back the hand of the Almighty or to encourage the LORD to send his messiah. Indeed, the Messiah is here and something so new is happening that the very understanding of fasting and praying has changed. It's a whole new garment. It's a brand new batch of wine. Now we pray for the Father's will to be done, because we know from His Son that it is the best thing that could ever happen, even if it means the cross, and we want to be a part of that coming Kingdom. Now we fast because we want to feel in our flesh the longing of those souls who have not met their Bridegroom, Christ the Lord. Among the disciples these traditions of devotion are strong and continue with a whole new meaning, just like the Passover is now the Supper of the Lamb. Alleluia!