Pictures of the Brothers and Cardinal Arinze!!!

Br. Gabriel Myriam, OSB and Br. Maximilian, OSB receive a special blessing from the Cardinal

St. Vincent College student Ed Moss joined Br. Elijah Cirigliano, OSB, Br. Nathanael Polinski, OSB, Br. Gabriel Myriam Kurzawski, OSB and Br. Maximilian Maxwell, OSB in welcoming Francis Cardinal Arinze to Pittsburgh for the Annual Apostolate for Family Consecration Benefit dinner.

St. Francis of Assisi

Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi, religious

 
For more daily homilies to reflect upon from the monks of St. Vincent Archabbey, Click here

Jb 42:1-3;5-6;12-17; Ps 119:66,71,75,91,125,130; Lk 10:17-24

"giving understanding to the simple"

Only when the LORD lets his face shine upon us do we gain understanding. The LORD loves the simple hearts; his face shines upon those whom he loves. We rely upon the LORD to teach us wisdom, and we grow in knowledge when we trust in his commands. We can even rejoice in our afflictions because we have learned his statutes. Indeed, we know that the ordinances of the LORD are just and in his faithfulness we have been afflicted. In accord with his ordinances we stand firm; we learn how to serve the LORD who made heaven and earth. We are his servants, and he gives us discernment that we may know his decrees and learn how to apply them to our daily struggles. Indeed, the revelation of his Word in Christ sheds light on all the living; it gives understanding to the simple. Being simple is being like the LORD, for the LORD is the simplest of all. He is simply love, and sharing in his divine life makes us truly loving. Like Saint Francis of Assisi, we long to love and serve everyone because the Lord Jesus loved and served everyone, even his betrayer had his feet washed and shared in the morsel of His Body. How could we refuse anyone? The patient and long suffering Job dies old and full of years because he has learned to trust in the LORD who can do all things. When we learn to rejoice that our names are written in heaven, then the Lord Jesus will rejoice in the Holy Spirit. With the most simple Francis of Assisi and the great crowd of witnesses before the Throne of God and of the Lamb; we taste and see that the LORD is good, and we want to share this delight with all who hunger and thirst.

One of the most painful questions that troubled Saint Francis was why did the LORD let him and his simple friars suffer? If they were doing his will joyfully, why did people reject and hate them? These questions are not unlike the very questions that Job addressed to the All Just and All Good God. What Job learned Saint Francis also learned. Toward the end of his ministry Saint Francis was fully embraced by the mystery of suffering. In his own flesh, he bore the wounds of the Crucified One. Saint Francis learned that even in his suffering that he served the Lord of Glory. His face was bright with the joy of being united with the Lord Jesus and sharing in his crucifixion. In his very flesh Saint Francis learned to deal with great things that he did not understand; things too wonderful for him, which he could not know. Saint Francis, like Job, had heard of the Lord Jesus by word of mouth, but in his mystical union with the LORD he saw Christ with his own eyes. After the beauty of the Cross of Christ filled him, Saint Francis repented of ever doubting the Lord and his ways. Thus the Lord Jesus blessed Saint Francis with the abundance of many brothers and sisters who live in the spirit of his simple poverty and his passionate love. Even though Saint Francis did not live a hundred and forty years after his union with the Crucified, he too died old and full of years. He died, and yet his desire to love and serve his Master continues to live and inspire even those among us who are not members of his order.

The Lord Jesus continues to teach his disciples that even the full force of the enemy will not harm them. Indeed, through today's Gospel proclamation we are present to the Lord Jesus. He hears our rejoicing that even the demons are subject to us because of his Holy Name. Yet, he warns us again, "do not rejoice because spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Rejoice, the Lord tells us, but do not be proud of your success. Do not let the evil one tempt you to pride; this would be your downfall. Rejoice, rather, that your name is permanently written in the Book of the Living. Rejoice that your name and your person are secure in the Father's eternal love. This is the only assurance we need to continue praising and serving the Lord of heaven and earth. So, we continue to rejoice with Job and Saint Francis and everyone throughout history who has suffered to give birth to a new creation in the Holy Spirit. It is this simple rejoicing that causes the Lord Jesus to rejoice in the Holy Spirit and praise the Father, the Lord of heaven and earth. Indeed, Our Father has hidden these simple truths from the wise and the learned. Yet, he has revealed them to the childlike, to the simple of heart. Indeed, this is the Father's gracious will! Indeed, his Father has handed over all things to the Lord Jesus. We have come to know the Son because the Father has revealed him to us. This is the blessing for which we have longed all our lives, to see the Father in the face of the Crucified and Risen Christ. Many great and powerful rulers throughout history have longed to see what we see and have not seen it; to hear what we hear and have not heard it. The LORD loves the simple and in them he greatly rejoices.

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.