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!

SVA and Rome

http://www.stbenedictfoundation.org/

One of the great apostolates that a number of our monks are involved with is the Benedictine School in Rome, Sant' Anselmo (Our Fr. Edward Mazich, O.S.B. is the President of the St. Benedict Education Fund which helps Benedictines from around the world study at Sant' Anselmo and our Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, O.S.B. sits on the board of incorporators and the board of directors) (here is a little more about the school from their website):

Founded in 1887 by Pope Leo XIII, students including Benedictine men and women come from all corners of the world to study at Sant' Anselmo, receiving degrees at both the baccalaureate level and the graduate level. As an educational center, Rome houses many of the pontifical schools and faculties of the church, and opportunities for students to learn in a setting at the heart of the Catholic Church. Sant' Anselmo, while an ocean away from the United States, has had a major impact on the Catholic Church, educating cardinals, archbishops and bishops, from Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer to Archbishop Wilton Gregory to Bishop J. Peter Sartain, recently appointed as the new shepherd of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois by Pope Benedict XVI.

The Saint Benedict Education Foundation, Inc., was formed in the United States to provide support to one of the best-kept secrets in Rome, our international Benedictine University. Sant' Anselmo continues, as it has for many years, to educate both lay and religious students ministering throughout the world in Christ's name.