Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

 From: www.saintvincentarchabbey.org

"The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them."

Our celebration of Saints Peter and Paul reveals both weakness and strength. Saint Peter is delivered from prison. Saint Paul is rescued from the lion's mouth. These Apostles of the Lord Jesus model for us a life that is poor in the eyes of the world yet powerful to the eyes of faith. These men of faith suffered the cost of discipleship and enjoyed the bounty of those who fear the Lord. If we fear the Lord, His angel encamps around us and we are delivered daily from the burdens of carrying the cross. Notice we are not delivered daily from carrying the cross, but we are delivered from the burdens of carrying the crosss. Every day we taste and see that the Lord is good and we are blessed because we take refuge in Him.

When King Herod took delight in the approval of his persecution of the members of the Church, he continued to wreak havoc and killed Saint James and arrested Saint Peter. Herod's delight was short lived. He could not keep Saint Peter in chains. Delivery from prison meant another opportunity for this Apostle to preach Christ, the Son of the Living God. Eventually his witness won for Saint Peter the reward of crucifixion upon an inverted cross to give all the glory to the Crucified and Risen Christ. The angel who encamped around Saint Peter did not prevent his self-sacrifice; rather he gave him the strength to share in the full outpouring of the Lord Jesus. Saint Paul also shared in this strength. He too was delivered from stoning and calamities. Yet, these miracles of rescue did not eliminate the ultimate self-gift of Saint Paul. He, too, shared in the total sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and was poured out in martyrdom by the sword. Both Apostles were delivered from persecution and death, yet the Lord delighted to receive each one as a living sacrifice of praise offered upon the altar of the cross. We, too, share in this mystery. The angel of the Lord encamps around us, and this angel provides both deliverance from danger and the strength we need to deliver ourselves over to the cross. Ultimately, we cannot avoid the cost of discipleship. Eventually, we must embrace the mystery of the cross. Finally, we give ourselves over to the full implications of baptism.

The power of the keys given to Saint Peter, after his profession of faith, is a power uniquely given to him and shared with all those who follow him in that office of loving service. The keys and the power to loose and bind are given to Saint Peter so that all of us can be admitted into the Kingdom of heaven. This apostolic authority provides all who follow Christ with the assurance of faith. We readily embrace this gift of Christ to his church, and we believe in the church even as we believe within the church. Our faith makes us one with Saint Peter and Saint Paul and with all who follow Christ, the Son of the Living God. Indeed we share in the same victory of faith, and we look to the Lord, and we are radiant with joy. This solemnity summons all who fear the Lord to take up the cross. Finally, it is the cross of Christ that is the key of power. Only through the cross do we gain access into the Kingdom of justice and peace. Only through the cost of discipleship do we bear authentic witness to the plan of God to gather all the nations into the Kingdom of Heaven. Only through laying down our lives in loving service do we have the power to loose and bind. Only this power will unlock the mystery of a burden that is easy and light. Suffering and death, through Him with Him and in Him, become more than a burden; they become the key that opens the gates of heaven.

1st Vespers at Famous Benedictine Monastery (St. Paul's Outside the Walls)

Friend and Graduate of St. Vincent Seminary to be ordained priest

 

Bishop David Zubik will ordain three men to the priesthood at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 26, at St. Paul Cathedral. The future priests are Deacons Robert Fleckenstein and Thomas Gillespie, both of Incarnation of the Lord Parish on Pittsburgh’s North Side, and Deacon Brian Noel, whose home parish is St. Paul Cathedral.

 

The ordination Mass will be cablecast live on the Christian Associates channel in the city of Pittsburgh.

 

Deacon Fleckenstein is the son of Wayne and Mary Kathryn Fleckenstein. He has one sister, Julie.

 

He attended St. Angela Merici School in White Oak, McKeesport Central Catholic, St. Joseph Regional School in Port Vue and Serra Catholic High School in McKeesport. Deacon Fleckenstein earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 2000.

 

Past employment has included work as assistant manager at Spencer Gifts, youth minister at St. Columbkille Parish in Imperial and St. Joseph Parish in O’Hara Township, and most recently as liturgy coordinator at Incarnation of the Lord.

 

In fall 2004, Deacon Fleckenstein was accepted into the priestly formation program and began studies at St. Paul Seminary and Duquesne University. He completed the pre-theology program and graduated with a master’s in philosophy in May 2006. He entered St. Vincent Seminary in fall 2006 and has completed his fourth year of theological studies.

 

Deacon Fleckenstein was involved in a summer pastoral experience at St. Joseph in O’Hara Township during his time at St. Paul Seminary. In summer 2007, he was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood, and he returned there for summer 2008.

 

On June 13, 2009, he was ordained a deacon at St. Paul Cathedral by Bishop Zubik. Deacon Fleckenstein was assigned for a pastoral experience at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Glenshaw for summer 2009.

 

Deacon Fleckenstein plans to celebrate his first Mass of Thanksgiving at Incarnation of the Lord Parish at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 27. Father Thomas Sparacino, pastor of St. Richard Parish in Richland Township, will deliver the homily.

Happy Birthday St. John

From: saintvincentarchabbey.org

"Truly you have formed my inmost being!”
"

Our psalm today is a prayerful connection for each of us to the birth we celebrate in this solemnity of the nativity of Saint John the Baptist. Throughout the whole world, those born from above in water and the Holy Spirit, gather to rejoice in the birth of the greatest prophet born of a woman. With the words of the responsorial psalm we, too, rejoice that the Father has formed us in the depths of the earth. Our jubilation at the birth of Saint John the Baptist echoes the joy of Psalm 139. We praise the LORD who has wonderfully made us, each one unique and blessed even before we knew it. We continue to be probed, searched, and known when sitting or standing. The LORD knows and understands our thoughts from afar. Whether we walk or lie down, the LORD scrutinizes us, with all our ways he is familiar. This kind of intimacy the LORD has sought with us from the very beginning, while he was still forming us in our mother’s womb. For this kind of attention, long before we could consciously respond, we rejoice. Indeed, our Father loves us and wants to fill us with every good gift more than he wants to use us. Until we are saturated with his blessing, we can't even begin to serve him faithfully. In awe and wonder we delight in the LORD of heaven and earth taking notice of us and caring for us. He cannot love us more, and he will not love us less. He loves us without hesitation and without regret. He loves us like he loved Saint John the Baptist, while we were being made in secret and fashioned by him in the depths of the earth. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us to high for us to reach. We praise the LORD for we are wonderfully made and even more wonderfully remade in the Holy Spirit, by the grace of baptism. Indeed, we share within us the very divine life and we participate in the very life of the Eternal Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Through our baptism we also share in the person and mission of the Lord Jesus, who is priest, prophet and king. We reflect upon this participation in the prophetic identity of Christ through the words of the prophet Isaiah. In this text with which Saint John was familiar and which the Lord Jesus prayed in his human formation, we come to know something of he mystery of our own prophetic ministry. Indeed, from the womb and even before in the eternal mind of the Father, we have been called and created as a sharp-edged sword and concealed in the shadow of his mighty arm. The LORD has made us a polished arrow and hid us in his quiver. We are his servants through whom he reveals his glory. Like Israel of old, we the New Israel in Christ are his glorious heritage; we are his beloved inheritance. Can there be a more glorious self-awareness? Yet, the military imagery reminds us that we have been so formed and shaped to fight in the conflict between darkness and light, goodness and evil, sin and sanctity. With the sword of God's Word we slay the lies of the evil one. With the arrow of his love we pierce the hatred of our world. Such a powerful witness will draw Jacob back to the LORD. Only such a testimony to the LORD will attract our brothers and sisters to the splendor of his truth and the beauty of his face. Indeed by the grace of Christ, we will gather the LORD's chosen ones into his family; we will restore the survivors of Israel. Those who are weak and weary from the exile will gather inspiration and strength from our glorious witness and faithful ministry. In these words of Isaiah we delight in the LORD's universal salvific will; we rejoice to participate in his desire to save all nations even to the ends of the earth. Such is the wonder of our being made new and holy in the true and faithful priest, king and prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light of the nations and the glory of his people Israel.

In the testimony of Saint Luke we hear the preaching of the Apostle Paul. As he was teaching his own people about the Lord Jesus and the salvation that he came to announce, we hear more about the identity and mission of Saint John the Baptist. His whole purpose was to herald the coming of the savior by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. Saint John the Baptist was faithful to his name. His baptism of great crowds in the River Jordan summoned all to repent and make way for the true and faithful Son of David, the man after God's own heart ready to carry out the LORD every wish. Many powerless and weary people came to hear this message of the LORD's herald. They came with expectant faith and urgent longing to encounter the Promised Messiah, the Son of David who would reign as king of kings. Saint John was careful to explain that he was not the one for whom they longed. Indeed, the Messiah was coming after him and he was not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet. This humility of the Prophet John cannot be trivialized or ignored without endangering our own prophetic identity. We to are unworthy servants of the LORD who must decrease so that he might increase. The great affirmation of our true dignity in Christ cannot be permission to wallow and waste away in self-importance. Indeed, our only true dignity is found in our willingness to diminish so that Christ might increase. We cannot claim or expect any more significance than that of Saint John the Baptist. Indeed, such a humble self-awareness is our only true delight and lasting significance. With all the sons of the family of Abraham and all the others who are God-fearing, we have received the message of Saint John the Baptist and the preaching of the Apostle Paul. We have heard the word of salvation and found our true meaning and ministry among all those to whom we have been sent. Such is the purpose and delight of this solemnity of the nativity of Saint John the Baptist.

Long before this day great and wondrous things had happened to Zechariah and Elizabeth. These parents of Saint John the Baptist were prepared for his birth by the vision Zechariah had while serving in the Temple liturgy and by the visitation of the Virgin Mary whose very greeting caused the child within her womb to leap for joy. Such signs and wonders are now brought into the public forum as they name the child. His mother's assertion was unexpected and startling, "No. He will be called John." His father's response in writing confirmed her decision, "John is his name." Those who gathered were amazed and filled with awe and wonder at the decision of the parents to name their son, John. It was out of the ordinary; it was not the custom of the day. They resisted Elizabeth by pointing out, "There is no one among your relatives who has this name." Just like Zechariah resisted the Angelic Messenger so the people resisted Elizabeth's announcement. This kind of public resistance is a foreshadowing of the hostility that Saint John would receive during his preaching. We, too, resist the hand of the LORD and the strength of the Baptist. We, too, are startled by and unfamiliar with the ways of the LORD. Once we no longer resist and respond with awe and wonder, after we have a conversion of heart, then those around us will resist us. Saint John the Baptist lived in solitude and prayer in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel. Perhaps, this is a hint for those who share in the prophetic identity. Perhaps, we must hide in the wilderness of prayer and solitude until the LORD calls us forth to witness. For the LORD alone knows us and probes us, the LORD alone searches and tries us in the depths of our being. He, alone, knows when best to have us witness by word and deed his new and awesome ways among the sons of Abraham and all who fear God. Until then, we need to savor his word and rest in his love so that we might be ready and willing to fulfill the desire of his own heart.

Monks and the Radio

A new Catholic radio station in the Diocese of Greensburg—while not affiliated with Saint Vincent Archabbey—has given several monks the opportunity to become involved with its broadcasts of events that occur on campus.
 

Programming consists of teaching and prayer, including Mass, liturgy of the hours, Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet broadcast daily on all three stations. WPGR will also broadcast teachings based on Church doctrine.
 

Father Boniface Hicks, O.S.B., and Brother Pio Adamonis, O.S.B., are among the monks who have become involved in assisting the station. Father Boniface currently serves as programming manager, while Brother Pio works to ensure the audio for events broadcast from Saint Vincent is suitable.
 

While Father Boniface was studying for his doctorate and working in campus ministry at Penn State, a group in State College became involved in a new, non-commercial educational station, and helping provide Catholic radio content for it. So when the Pittsburgh area radio station, previously known as WAMO, was purchased by Saint Joseph Missions of Latrobe, Father Boniface was called to assist by the station’s new owners, with whom he was acquainted. The new call letters, WAOB, represent the longer name “We Are One Body” radio, and broadcasts are aired on 106.7 FM, and 860 and 1510 AM.
 

The radio network serves western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and the West Virginia panhandle, and parts or all of seven dioceses: Greensburg, Pittsburgh, Altoona-Johnstown and Erie in its home state; Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia and 

Steubenville and Youngstown in Ohio.
 

Masses are being broadcast from Detroit, Washington D.C., New Jersey and New York City, as well as locally at Saint Emma’s Monastery and Saint Vincent. The Saturday morning mass with the monks and Saturday evening vespers are broadcast at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., respectively. Brother Pio helps capture, monitor, record and do a live mix of the Mass, as well as recording and mixing live events and liturgies, such as the recent ordination Mass of Father Bonaventure Curtis, O.S.B. During the school year broadcasts have also occurred for some Saint Vincent Seminary services.

Father Boniface, in planning what is aired, notes that the station’s educational content involves programming centered on church teaching, taught by bishops. Various priests read Scripture. Programming also includes recitation of the rosary and liturgy of the hours.
 

Brother Pio, who has prior work experience in the audio visual field, noted that the opportunity “has been a blessing. It is important in this day and age to utilize the current technology in order to reach as many people as possible.”

Corpus Christi

Solemn Vespers and Benediction in the Archabbey Basilica at 5 PM this evening. All are welcome to attend.

Requiescat in Pace

Father Conan E. Feigh, O.S.B., a monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey, died Friday, June 4, 2010. He was born June 12, 1930 in Carrolltown, Pennsylvania. He was a son of the late Margaret (Lonergan) Feigh and the late Charles A. Feigh.

Surviving are one brother and two sisters, Thomas Feigh of St. Marys, Cecilia (Feigh) Knapp of Dover, Delaware, and Suzanne (Feigh) Cronan of Carrolltown. He was predeceased by a sister, Marjorie (Feigh) Mikula. Father Conan attended Saint Benedict Parochial School, Carrolltown, and is a 1948 graduate of Saint Vincent Preparatory School. He received a bachelor of arts degree in 1953 from Saint Vincent College and a master of education degree in 1969 from Penn State University. He received a master of divinity degree from Saint Vincent Seminary in 1974.

Father Conan made his simple profession of vows on July 2, 1951, and solemn profession of vows on July 11, 1954, at Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica. He was ordained a priest on May 26, 1957 by the late Bishop Hugh Lamb, D.D., at the Archabbey Basilica.

He served the monastic community in the parish apostolates, at Saint Bruno, South Greensburg (1957-1960); Sacred Heart, St. Marys (1960-1964) and at Sacred Heart, Jeannette (1964-1965). While at St. Marys, he also served on the faculty of Elk County Christian High School. Father Conan worked in Guidance/Placement at Saint Vincent College (1965-1970), was registrar at the college from 1971-1977; and prior and headmaster at Benedictine Priory and School, Savannah, Georgia (1977-1987). He also served on the Archabbey Council of Seniors (1966-1977) and the Board of Directors of Saint Vincent College (1970-1975, 1988-1995, 2000-2010). He was a campus minister at Penn State University, University Park, from 1987 to 2002, when he was named director of the Monastery Infirmary.

Father Conan was a 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, Savannah Council 5588. In 1990 he was awarded the Benedictine Medal of Excellence from Benedictine Military School, Savannah.

The body of Father Conan will be received at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 5, at the Elizabeth J. Roderick Center at Saint Vincent, followed by viewing from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday. The body will be transferred to the Basilica for the vigil service at 7:15 p.m. Sunday. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 2:30 p.m. Monday, June 7, 2010 by Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, O.S.B., in the Archabbey Basilica, followed by interment in the Saint Vincent Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Benedictine Health and Welfare Fund, 300 Fraser Purchase Road, Latrobe, PA 15650.

Father Son Retreat 2010

JULY 30 - AUGUST 1, 2010

 

Come spend a weekend of spiritual training at the Benedictine Abbey that hosts an NFL training camp each summer. Bring your football, training shoes, Bible and Rosary. Expect to start each day early as we join the Benedictine team at morning prayer and Mass. After a hearty meal at our Abbey's training tables, we plan to learn about the Catholic game plan for our life from the Scriptures and the Rule of Saint Benedict. For all fathers and sons who desire time away to grow spiritually and as a family team. The weekend will provide time for retreat conference talks, confession, rosary, personal reflection and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There will also be time for sports activities and hopefully a chance to watch the Steelers during their training camp.

Click here for more information