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)