4 St. Vincent Monks Installed Lectors!!!

Taking part in the installation to ministry of reader, held March 16 at Saint Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, were, from left, Rev. David Brzoska, Seminary Vice Rector; Nathanael Polinski, O.S.B., and Gabriel Myriam Kurzawski, O.S.B., Saint Vincent Archabbey, who were installed; Most Rev. Joseph V. Adamec, Bishop of Altoona-Johnstown, installing prelate; Francis Ehnat, O.S.B., and Elijah Cirigliano, O.S.B., Saint Vincent Archabbey, who were installed; and Very Rev. Justin Matro, O.S.B., Seminary Rector.

 

The Bishop processing into the Basilica (Fr. Brian Boosel, OSB - in surplice and stole serves as Master of Ceremonies)

 

Bishop Adamec delivers the homily

Stations of the Cross

Click here for a link to St. Alphonsus Liguori's Stations of the Cross (beautiful words to reflect upon as we enter Holy Week)

British Museum uncovers relics of St Benedict

By Anna Arco and Olivia Sayer

From: The Catholic Herald

An altar containing the relics of nearly 40 saints was opened for the first time in years before going on display in a new medieval gallery in the British Museum this week.

Opened for the first time in the Eighties for scientific study, the 12th-century altar contained 39 relics, carefully folded into a piece of linen. Each individual relic is wrapped in fabric and bears a 13th-century vellum label with the respective saint's name on it. Among the saints represented by relics are St John, St James and St Mary Magdalene, but the treasure of the collection is what is believed to be a relic of St Benedict of Nursia. The presence of the relics was not made public until this week.

The news was met with excitement. Mgr Keith Barltrop, who has been organising the visit of St Thérèse of Lisieux's relics to Britain this year, said: "I think it's rather exciting. Relics are as relevant today as they always have been. They serve as a reminder of our incarnational faith, that it inhabits the physical world, that there are bodies. I think that the bodies of holy people help us draw closer to God and the communion of saints."

Mgr Barltrop said: "What is exciting is that the relic they seem most definite about is that of St Benedict. I think that it is important to venerate St Benedict, who after all is a saint for Europe. Even if Europe has forgotten its Christian roots, it was the monasteries that helped rebuild Europe. St Benedict played a pivotal role in this with his monastic rule."

St Benedict is one of the patron saints of Europe. The sixth-century saint was the founder of western monasticism, which helped spread Christianity and stabilise Europe.

Dom Antony Sutch, the former headmaster of Downside, a school run by Benedictines, said: "I think there's no doubt in the fact that having a relic contributes a great deal. It has real devotional value. To know that somebody really existed, to come into contact with that, makes that person more real and the example they set more tangible."

James Robinson , the curator of the British Museum's new medieval gallery, said they had opened the portable altar from Hildesheim in Germany while they were conserving the piece to display it in the gallery which opened to the public on Wednesday.

Mr Robinson said: "It's difficult to say for certain whether these are the relics of the actual saints. All we could really ascertain was the age of the textiles, which could themselves be relics." The fabric encasing the relic of St Benedict is ninth to 10th-century Byzantine silk, and Mr Robinson said it would have been highly prized by a high-placed ecclesiastic.

A dedicatory inscription to Abbot Theoderic III on the back of the portable altar dates it to somewhere between 1180 and 1200. The altar has a wooden core, with a central cavity for the relics covered by a Purbeck stone slab. from Dorset. The front is typical of the area of modern day Saxony, with gilt and copper panels showing the evangelists and saints, as well as two crafted from walrus ivory and two manuscript illuminations.

He said: "The altar would have been used to celebrate Mass in a space that had not been consecrated yet. I believe it was the Council of Nicea which pronounced on the criteria for celebrating Mass.

A relic of a saint needed to be in the altar and the stone itself is the right size for the footprint of a chalice." Hildesheim is still an active place of pilgrimage dedicated to St Gotthard, who is featured with three other bishop-saints including St Bernard on the altar.

The British Museum acquired the altar in 1902 and will keep it on display in Bloomsbury. There are other relics on display in the new gallery.

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

"To do your will, O my God, is my delight."

The Mother of God, Mary most holy, prayed with the words of Psalm 40, and her prayer was authentic. From the moment of her conception in the womb of Saint Anne, she was obedient. There was no sacrifice, oblation, holocaust, or sin-offering that the LORD asked of her. She wanted to give herself and nothing less. The Blessed Virgin Mary responded from the depths of her heart, "Behold I come." It was here delight to do the will of God, and his law was in her heart. She never failed to announce his justice in the vast assembly, nor did she restrain her lips, as well the LORD knows. She kept not his justice bottled up inside, hidden and safe. The Blessed Mother spoke freely of her LORD; she proclaimed his kindness and truth in the vast assembly. Psalm 40 proclaims the real joy of human life is to give yourself over to the LORD and his glory. As Mary, the Theotokos, gave herself over to the will of God, so too, our only delight is to surrender to his word and his will.

The so-called king, Ahaz hesitated to bother the LORD. He was feigning humility when he responded to the Prophet Isaiah, "I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!" Isaiah pushed him a little bit further; rhetorically speaking, he spoke of how the King wearies the people and now he is wearing the LORD. Do you really want to do this? Do you want to weary the LORD God Almighty? The Prophet Isaiah appeals to his identity as the corporate personality, the house of David. He has responsibility to make a choice for the nation. Will he choose God or will he choose some false god? Such verbal pressure only makes the heart of the king even more resistant. He refuses to seek the LORD. He tries to straddle the fence. It doesn't work. The LORD speaks without hesitation and with great clarity, "the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us!" This promise echoes through history and brings gladness to every heart that seeks the face of the LORD. Even the heart of the unfaithful king is touched by the good news of Emmanuel. He is touched with fear and not with gladness. The powerful in every age would prefer a distant and uninvolved God.

Some scholars suggest that King Ahaz was coming back from the place where desperate families sacrificed their children. Perhaps that's why he was so startled and tongue tied to meet the Prophet. Perhaps his conscience was beginning to work, and he discovered that it is impossible for the blood of any bull, goat, or even a son to take away sins. Only the Blood of the Lamb can cleanse and purify the human soul so capable of such horror. The Letter to the Hebrews takes this text from Psalm 40 and uses it to unfold the drama of the incarnation. It is the self-sacrificing love of the Son of God that far outweighs the sacrifices, offerings, holocausts and sin offerings of the temple priesthood. This Great High Priest is delighted to do the will of his Father. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is offered once and for all upon the altar of the cross, and that offering is made present in the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharist. Indeed, in his free-will offering we are consecrated by sharing in the consecrated Bread and Wine. Like Christ and his mother, Mary, we find our greatest delight in doing the will of the Father.

Every time an angel of the LORD appears it seems that he has to say, "Do not be afraid." The sight of the LORD's Messenger is overwhelming and terrifying. This one, the Archangel Gabriel, comes with a message to match his frightful appearance. He announces to the Virgin Mary, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." To be filled with the self-gift of God is to be full of grace; indeed, such a one is filled with the LORD. This is repetition for the sake of clarity. For any faith-filled Jewish girl this is not possible. How can I be full of grace? How is it that the Lord is with me? Such a powerful union is so rare and so impossible. How can the Lord whom the heavens and earth cannot contain fill me? This kind of theological language is so foreign, what could it mean? As the Angel continued the very thing Mary feared the most was announced. Indeed, she is invited to become a mother. Her womb is about to be filled with the very Son of the Most High. When the Virgin questioned the Angel about her not having any relations with a man, he responded that the Holy Spirit would come, the power of the Most High would overshadow, and nothing is impossible for God. More powerful words were never spoken. In these angelic words the Blessed Virgin put complete trust and she responded, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." This response was inspired by the same Spirit who inspired the Son to become one with us. It is the same Spirit who hovered over the Word throughout eternity and now hovers of the Lord Jesus for all of time. This Spirit inspires us to cry out "Abba, Father" and we are enabled to cry out, "Jesus is Lord". Such is the voice of the Lord upon our lips when we pray with Psalm 40, "It is my delight to do your will."

Few pics from around the Abbey