Interesting Article (May the Angels Lead Father Theodore into Paradise)

From: www.courier-journal.com

Posted on April 29, 2009

The Rev. Theodore Heck, believed to be the world’s oldest Benedictine monk, died at age 108 today at St. Meinrad Archabbey in Southern Indiana.

Heck, who died a month before what would have been his 80th anniversary in the priesthood, was a former professor and rector at St. Meinrad’s college and seminary. The monastery said he was the oldest monk in the monastic orders following the tradition of St. Benedict.

In a monastery interview posted on YouTube, Heck said in 2006 he still enjoyed the monks five-times-a-day gatherings for prayer.

“As long as I can hear and I can pray, I’m glad to be with them,” he said.

“Everybody needs a family life of some kind,” he added. “Here we are kind of a spiritual family of young men and older men living together in harmony.”

A native of Chariton, Iowa, Heck was born on Jan. 16, 1901 and was later raised in Missouri and Indiana.

Photo Courtesy St. Meinrad Archabbey

He enrolled in the high school seminary at St. Meinrad in 1918, professed his vows as a monk in 1923, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1929.

He earned a doctorate in education at Catholic University of America and taught for more than 50 years at both the high school and graduate seminaries at St. Meinrad. As rector, he oversaw the accreditation of St. Meinrad’s undergraduate and graduate programs.

The high school and college programs have since closed, but the graduate School of Theology continues to operate.

At age 70, a time when most people have wrapped up their careers, he began a 17-year term as pastor of St. John Chrysostom Parish in New Boston, Ind.

The funeral will be Saturday.

Benedictine monks make vows committing themselves to lives of prayer, obedience, celibacy and stability, or staying rooted in their community.

Homilies from the Cloister

For more great homilies like these see our "Daily Homily Link" above

"Hear now, while I declare what he has done for me."


Psalm 66 addresses both "all you who fear God" and "you peoples." Everyone who can hear is an audience for those who pray this Psalm. We who pray Psalm 66 in spirit and in truth want to declare what God has done for us. When we appeal to him in words, even while we are making intercessions, praise is on the tip of our tongues. We bless the LORD who refused not our prayer nor his kindness. The joy of salvation is contagious, and like King David, Saint Philip cannot hold back. The Spirit moves the Deacon Philip where he wills and the good news reaches all the towns until he reached Caesarea. Jerusalem rejects the early church and the hungry world embraces the followers of Jesus, the bread of life. Jesus, too, proclaims to the crowd that whoever believes in him has eternal life. Everyone who has been taught by God comes to Jesus and is nourished by the bread of life. Everyone comes-even Ethiopians, eunuchs, and the people of Azotus.

Saint Philip is obedient to an angel of the Lord, to the Spirit of God, and to the request of a stranger. The stranger seems to be a Jewish convert, an Ethiopian eunuch, who wants to understand the meaning of one of the Suffering Servant Songs in the prophecy of Isaiah. With this passage as an opening, Philip enters into the stranger's heart and proclaims the good news of the cross and resurrection of the Faithful Suffering Servant, Jesus the Christ. His interpretation, evangelization, and catechesis is so powerful that the eunuch pointed to some water along the side of the road and asked, "what is to keep me from being baptized?" Both continue down the Way, in Christ, the eunuch goes back to Ethiopia, to declare God's great kindness, and Saint Philip continues to invite all the earth to cry out with joy. The revelation through the Law and the Prophets enables us to see the fulfillment of God's design. The Word of God reveals a universal hunger and thirst and the Word Made Flesh satisfies completely all those who come to him-the bread of life.

Jesus quotes the prophets who declare that God shall teach them all. All who listen to the Father and learn from him come to Jesus and believe in him. This universal outreach points out the difference between the ministry of Moses and Jesus. Moses is God's Friend, and yet the Lord God places him in a crevice and covers his face so he does not gaze upon the Lord, lest he die. Moses is close to God, but he never sees the Father. Jesus is the one who is from God and has seen the Father. The manna in the desert fed the people Moses led, but they died. The bread that is Jesus comes down from heaven, for a man to eat and never die. The Word Became Flesh and dwelt among us to give over his flesh and die so that we might live now in the joy of salvation and forever in the kingdom of his glory. Such is his promise to us and to all who have heard the Father and learned from him. The question remains in John's gospel how is Jesus to give over his flesh for the life of the world? Jesus, the bread of life begins to respond. He will give his flesh, this revelation points to both the altar of the cross and the table of the Passover Feast. Jesus' self-gift so transforms us that we can not hold back; indeed our joy is contagious, and we cry out, blessed be God who refused me not my prayer or his kindness! Such joy attracted people to Saint Philip and it will attract people to us so that we can give our testimony about the reason we have to be hopeful. We have seen the Face of God in Jesus and have died to ourselves so that we can live forever. It is this faith that ignites a life of charity, and it gives us hope to live from day to day.

More about our Br. Elijah Joseph, OSB

Double click on the video to go to our youtube page in order to watch this clip in HD.  This clip comes from our award winning DVD ("I Only Show you the Cross") which you can have a copy of  (FREE) by contacting the vocation office.

"Jock Monks "

 

  

Br. Maximilian, OSB giving encouragement to  with our college football team

 

Monks at St. Vincent have a long history of being involved in athletics (especially with the teams here at our college.)  Since our earliest days, monks have served as coaches, chaplains, mentors, and sometimes even players on our various sports teams.

 

Br. Gabriel Myriam, OSB watching and cheering on our Bearcat basketball team

 

The monks taking in a game

 

  

"Br. Max" is seen above ministering to both the men and women Bearcat basketball teams.

Today the tradition of monks being involved in athletics continues in order that we may evangelize, promote good sportsmanship, and teach our students leadership skills rooted in the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

 "Br. Max" praying for an injury free and Christ centered game
 

This past year, our wonderful campus minister Father Vincent Zidek, OSB and our beloved Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB created a new campus ministry position (a full-time athletic chaplain) and they appointed our Br. Maximilian Maxwell, OSB to the position.  "Br. Max" as the student’s affectionately call him has excelled in the position and has opened our student’s hearts and minds to new ways of following Jesus by allowing them to use their love and talents of athletics to affectively minister to God's people.  Many of our student athletes have taken "Br. Max" up on his invitations to pray with the monks, to work at homeless shelters, and soup kitchens and to assist in the various campus ministry programs.  It is safe to say that both students and monks have been touched in a powerful way by the work of the Holy Spirit in regards to our campus ministry program and its athletic chaplaincy program.

The monks playing a little volleyball

I will close this post on a less serious note.   With all this talk of sports I must point out that many of the monks of St. Vincent enjoy following our local sports teams - the Pirates, Penguins, and especially the Pittsburgh Steelers who train at St. Vincent during the summer. “Br. Max” is, as you would expect (being the fact that he is the athletic department chaplain) is also an avid sports fan.  The problem is that he is a Philadelphia sports fan and a HUGE Flyers hockey fan (Note: Br. Maximilian is a native of the city of "Brotherly Love").  This past Friday he decided to show his team spirit by wearing his Philly Flyers jersey over his habit which prompted our college students to have some good-spirited fun with him as they rooted on their beloved Pittsburgh Penguins.  Today, some of our great St. Vincent employees (when hearing I was doing an article on Br. Max and the athletic chaplaincy program) asked me to post a survey to vote for what look you like better on Br. Maximilian ("Br. Max the Flyer" or "Br. Max the Penguin").  You can vote on the side bar for the remainder of the playoff series.  

 

"Br. Max the Penguin fan"

 

 "Br. Max the Flyer fan"

 Our Lady of Victory…pray for us!!!

Queen of Peace Parish

This article was sent to me by the parishioners of Queen of Peace Parish in Patton, PA. 

URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE

Click here for a link

Wimmer Obituary

I found this great piece of St. Vincent History on the Catholic Answers website, of course we have the original here at the Abbey but it is great to see others sharing the life and mission of our founder Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, OSB:

Archabbot, b. at Thalmassing, Bavaria, January 14, 1809; d. at St. Vincent Archabbey, Beatty, Pennsylvania, Dec. 8, 1887

Wimmer, BONIFACE, archabbot, b. at Thalmassing, Bavaria, January 14, 1809; d. at St. Vincent Archabbey, Beatty, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1887. He made his Classical studies at Ratisbon and entered the University of Munich, to study law. When some scholarship fell vacant in the Gregorianum he took the competitive examination with a view to studying for the priesthood, and, having won a scholarship, he finished his theological course there and was ordained on August 1, 1831. After serving one year as curate at Altotting, a well-known place of pilgrimage, he entered the Abbey of Metten, where Benedictine life had just been restored through royal favor, and made his solemn vows on December 27, 1833. For several years he lived the common life of obedience, and during that time he became interested in the matter of foreign missions. Reading much about the neglected condition of the German immigrants in North America he finally made plans and took steps to transplant Benedictine activity into the United States. Several young men offered themselves to him as candidates; in a characteristic letter he explained to them the difficulties and the sacrifices incidental to the undertaking and asked them to withdraw their application unless they were willing to carry with him the cross of absolute self-sacrifice and to make the will and the glory of God their sole motive in the undertaking.

With five students and fifteen brother candidates Boniface Wimmer arrived in New York (September 16, 1846), where several well-meaning priests did their best to persuade him to abandon his plans, but their prophecies of certain failure did not discourage him. He went to the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and accepted some land which Father H. Lemke, for years associated with the Rev. Prince Gallitzin, had offered him. Conditions here in Carrolltown, proving unfavorable for the undertaking, he moved to a place forty miles east of Pittsburgh and accepted from Bishop O'Connor the location where St. Vincent Archabbey, College, and Seminary stand today. Under innumerable difficulties the new foundation slowly grew and prospered. The Louis mission society and several friends and benefactors helped the cause with pecuniary means. The school and the seminary were visibly blessed in their efforts, and the monastic community did much good by looking after the religious interests of the scattered settlers, and organizing them into parishes. Calls for German-speaking priests came from all sides and many bishops offered to the growing Benedictine community German parishes for which they could not provide suitable priests of their own. In 1855 Father Wimmer became the first abbot of the monastery.

Although he was always willing to help any religious cause to the extent of his means, Father Wimmer repeatedly, in his correspondence with applicants for admission into the order, emphasized the point that the primary object of Benedictine life is not any particular external activity, but the perfect Christian life according to the Rule of Saint Benedict. Often generous to a fault, he never counted the cost where good was to be done, but held fast to this supreme Benedictine law. All his undertakings prospered; he often accepted work that nobody else would undertake because it seemed hopeless, and at the same time, having so spent his available men and means, he turned over the most promising and honorable work to others. At his death five abbeys had grown out of his work and others were in course of formation. Hundreds of priests had been already educated in the schools which he founded, and many a good cause had received a mighty impulse through the Benedictine life which he had spent himself to establish in America.
 

WALTER STEHLE

Radio Monk

Click here to listen to an achieved mp3 of Father Boniface Hicks, OSB on "The Inner Life"

 

Father Boniface working with the poor in Calcutta, India with the Missionaries of Charity.

Monks on the Radio

Our Father Boniface Hicks, OSB will appear on "The Inner Life" Catholic radio program on Wednesday, April 15, 2009.  Click here for more information.  The theme of the show will be Evangelization.  

Holy Saturday

ROME, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Even the hardest of hearts are moved to pity upon witnessing Christ's suffering during his passion and death, as it reveals the fullness of God's love for mankind, says Benedict XVI.



The Pope said this tonight at the end of the Way of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum. Speaking from atop the Palatine hill, he reflected on the words of the centurion whom St. Mark quotes at the end of his Passion narrative: "The centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, and said: ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’"



"We cannot fail to be surprised by the profession of faith of this Roman soldier, who had been present throughout the various phases of the Crucifixion," Benedict XVI explained. "When the darkness of night was falling on that Friday so unlike any other in history, when the sacrifice of the Cross was already consummated and the bystanders were making haste to celebrate the Jewish Passover in the usual way, these few words, wrung from the lips of a nameless commander in the Roman army, resounded through the silence that surrounded that most singular death.



"This Roman army officer, having witnessed the execution of one of countless condemned prisoners, was able to recognize in this crucified man the Son of God, who had perished in the most humiliating abandonment."



Christ's "shameful end ought to have marked the definitive triumph of hatred and death over love and life," said the Pope. "But it was not so! Hanging from the Cross on Golgotha was a man who was already dead, but that man was acknowledged to be the 'Son of God' by the centurion."



The Holy Father noted that, "like the centurion, we pause to gaze on the lifeless face of the Crucified One at the conclusion of this traditional Via Crucis."



God's love



"The anguish of the Passion of the Lord Jesus cannot fail to move to pity even the most hardened hearts," he said, "as it constitutes the climax of the revelation of God’s love for each of us."



"Throughout the course of the millennia, a great multitude of men and women have been drawn deeply into this mystery and they have followed him, making in their turn, like him and with his help, a gift to others of their own lives," Benedict XVI continued. "They are the saints and the martyrs, many of whom remain unknown to us.



"Even in our own time, how many people, in the silence of their daily lives, unite their sufferings with those of the Crucified One and become apostles of a true spiritual and social renewal!"



"Let us pause this evening to contemplate his disfigured face," he urged. "It is the face of the Man of sorrows, who took upon himself the burden of all our mortal anguish. His face is reflected in that of every person who is humiliated and offended, sick and suffering, alone, abandoned and despised.



"Pouring out his blood, he has rescued us from the slavery of death, he has broken the solitude of our tears, he has entered into our every grief and our every anxiety."

Good Friday

"My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants (would) be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." John 18:36

Schedule for Holy Week 2009!!!

The following is the St. Vincent Archabbey Holy Week Schedule:

Mass of the Lord’s Supper 
Holy Thursday - April 9, 2009
7:30 PM: Archabbey Basilica 
Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

Liturgical Services

Good Friday - April 10, 2009 
1:30 PM - Archabbey Basilica

Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

Tenebrae Service 

Good Friday - April 10, 2009

8:00 PM - Archabbey Basilica

Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

The Easter Vigil 

April 11, 2009
8:30 PM - Archabbey Basilica
Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

Easter Sunday Morning

April 12, 2009
7:30 AM - Archabbey Basilica
Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

"As Holy Week rapidly approaches, we remember and recall why this week is called "holy". This is the week we celebrate God’s immense love for us and our ultimate redemption from sin and death. Like our Jewish sisters and brothers, who at Passover, yearly remember their freedom from slavery in Egypt, we Christians celebrate our freedom from the worst kind of bondage, the bondage of sin and death. This week affords us the opportunity to really look at what the Father did for us through the suffering and death and resurrection of His Son. If we believe this with our hearts and minds, our only response can be immense gratitude. If we believe and are grateful, we willingly and joyfully celebrate with the Church the events of our redemption. Please make Holy Week meaningful to you. Set aside the time, especially on the days of the Sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) to walk and pray with the Lord through His passion, death, and resurrection." 

(Father Donald Breier)

  

Father Breier is rector of St. Paul Cathedral in the diocese of Pittsburgh.  I think his words of wisdom are important to keep in mind for all Catholics especially for those discerning a vocation to the consecrated way of life.

Palm Sunday 2009

 

Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest. (Matthew 21:9)

4th Anniversary of JPII's death

O Blessed Trinity
We thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him. Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you. Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints.
Amen

 

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI marked the fourth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II with a memorial Mass on Thursday and new prayers for the Polish pontiff's beatification.

Benedict presided over an evening Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in which he recalled how beloved John Paul was, particularly among young Catholics.

"How many priestly vocations ... are linked to the testimony and preaching of my venerated predecessor!" Benedict said in urging young people to continue joining the priesthood and religious life.

Later, Benedict descended to the grottos underneath St. Peter's and knelt for a few minutes of silent prayer before his predecessor's simple, marble tomb, decorated with a red rose. The pope sprinkled holy water in blessing before returning to the basilica upstairs and greeting some of the pilgrims.

The pope told Polish pilgrims on Wednesday he was praying for John Paul's beatification, the first step to possible sainthood.

Only a month after John Paul's death in 2005, Benedict put him on the fast track for sainthood by waiving the usual five years before a person's life and works can be examined. Vatican officials say the process is taking its course, and the required miracle has been identified for examination.

The possible miracle involves the curing of a French nun with Parkinson's disease.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the personal secretary of the late pope, said "there is always hope" that John Paul II will be announced a saint before the fifth anniversary of his death. But in an interview with Polish TVN24 television, he said the process must go though all necessary stages "so there can be no doubt."

Dziwisz — who now heads John Paul's old diocese of Krakow, Poland — indicated there was no shortage of potential cases of possible miracles to investigate.

After praying at John Paul's tomb, Dziwisz told journalists that a few days ago, a 9-year-old Polish boy who was left unable to walk because of a kidney tumor suddenly started walking after being brought to the burial place by his parents.

"He was brought in a wheelchair because he wasn't able to walk," the cardinal said. As soon as the boy emerged from the basilica, he told his parents: "`I want to walk.' He got up and started walking, healthy," the prelate said.

He said the boy is from Gdansk, the Polish seaport known as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which helped bring down decades of Communist rule in John Paul's homeland in the late 1980s.

The head of the Vatican's saint-making office, Archbishop Angelo Amato, said the process already got a boost when Benedict waived the five-year waiting period. In an interview with Vatican Radio, he said the process must actually be more rigorous and thorough for a pope like John Paul since he was so well-known.

"Promptness doesn't mean speed or superficiality; on the contrary this requires care and professionalism," Amato said.

The parliament in Poland, the pope's homeland, observed a minute of silence Thursday to mark the anniversary. Masses and prayers were also being held across Poland.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

Palm Sunday 2009

Here is a cool little guide on how to make Palm Crosses from www.fisheaters.com.  I would encourage all our readers to truly enter into the Holy Week by reflecting on the Gospel readings for Palm Sunday and to take a palm branch as a reminder of our Lord's victory over the world (Psalm 91:13).

How to make palm Crosses to tuck behind picture frames and hang on your wall

	Take a palm that is about 2 feet long and 1/2" wide (if it tapers at the top, this is good!). Hold the palm upright, so the tapered end points toward the ceiling.
	Then bend the top end down and toward you so that the bend is about 5 or 6 inches from the bottom of the palm.
	About a third of the way from the bend you just made, twist the section you've pulled down to the right, forming a right angle.
	About an inch and a half away from the "stem" of the cross, bend this arm of the palm back behind the palm so that it is now facing to your left. Make the bend at a good length to form the right arm of the Cross.
	Folding that same section at a point that equals the length on the right side, bend it on the left side and bring the end forward over what is now the front of the cross.
	From the very center of the Cross, fold that arm up and to the upper right (in a "northeast" direction) so that it can wrap around where the upright post of the Cross and the right arm intersect.
	Fold this down and to the left behind the Cross...
	...and then fold it toward the right so that it is parallel and under the transverse arms of the Cross.
	Bring it up behind the Cross again, this time folding it up toward the "northwest" direction.
	Tuck the tapered end into the transverse section you made in step 7...
	...and pull through.
	Turn the Cross over; this side will be the front. Trim the tapered end if necessary, remembering that the palm is a sacramental and any part you trim away should be kept and respected as a sacramental! Use that piece for burning during storms.

The Saint Vincent Shield

From: http://www.bonifacewimmer.org/

Here is an informative video concerning the St. Vincent Archabbey shield.