Holy Rule Lecture

Br. Gabriel Myriam Kurzawski, OSB (Assistant Vocation Director at St. Vincent Archabbey) will be giving a lecture on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 9 PM at the St. Vincent Gristmill on the Holy Rule of St. Benedict and how it relates to today's college student. The title of the lecture is "Old School Knowledge for a New... School World - St. Benedict speaks to today's college student." The event is free and open to the entire St. Vincent community. Please get the word out about this event and feel free to invite friends to attend.

Saint Charles Borromeo (Patron of Seminarians)

 

"I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. Would you like me to teach you how to grow from virtue to virtue and how, if you are already recollected at prayer, you can be even more attentive next time, and so give God more pleasing worship? Listen, and I will tell you. If a tiny spark of God's love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter." -  Saint Charles Borromeo

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Please remember all our seminarians here at St. Vincent Seminary and all seminarians throughout the world on this day in which we remember the Great St. Charles Borromeo, patron of seminarians.

All Souls Day

From: www.saintvincentarchabbey.org

Wis 3:1-9; Ps 23:1-6; Rom 6:3-9; Jn 6:37-40

"You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes."

In the sight of our foes the LORD himself sets up a banquet table. Who are these foes, mocked by our feasting? Who are these foes, seeing only our death, affliction, and destruction? Our true foes, life-long foes, are sin and death. These are the foes of the just. The poetry of the psalms personifies our enemies, naming them sin and death. The prose of our reading from the Book of Wisdom reveals that these foes are the foolish. The foolish can see death only as punishment. The LORD says that even if the passing of the just were viewed as a punishment; they are still filled with the hope of immortal life. Though they be chastised a little they are greatly blessed, "because God tried them and found them worthy of Himself." Like raw gold the just are purified in the furnace of God's love. Like incense and the smoke of a burnt offering, the just arise before the throne of the Almighty. This is the confidence that rules the lives of the truly wise. They have no fear of darkness because in love they shine. They have no fear of the oppressors because in justice they rule. Indeed, the LORD is their eternal King. The just trust in the LORD; it is He who scatters sin and death and welcomes grace and mercy to care for his elect. Indeed, the eternal King sets a table in the sight of our foes.

Not only does the LORD set a table before the just, He anoints their heads with oil and fills their cup to overflowing. In order to present ourselves before the LORD at the eternal banquet table, we must walk through the dark valley. Saint Paul reminds us that this faith walk through the dark valley of death starts with baptism. We are baptized in water and the Holy Spirit. In this baptism we are plunged into the mystery of the death of Christ, the precious Son of the Father. Indeed, this is the only way that we can share in his being raised to glory by the Father. We grow in union with Christ though a death like his so that we can be united with him in the resurrection. As a wise person once said, "Those born once, die twice. Those born twice, die but once." We are born and reborn so that we do not die twice. We die to the old self, to the self-centered self, to the rebellious self, and to the sinful self. We die with Christ so that we might also live with him. The life Christ lives is life eternal; death no longer has power over us because it has no power over Christ. From the earliest days of our new life in the Body of Christ, we deal with the mystery of death and life. We are not strangers to these mysteries. We are not afraid of death because we have already died and risen with Christ.

In the responsorial psalm we have sung already five times, "I fear no evil". We are professing in song the truth, the precious truth, of our faith. Death is not the end. Life through him with him and in him is eternal. Death may be a physical evil but it is not an eternal evil. Death may snatch us away from those who love us, but love is "stronger than death, more relentless than the nether world." Indeed, death is not the worst thing that can happen to a human being. Indeed, unrepentant sin is the worst thing that can happen to a human being. We need his love that snatches us from the jaws of death and rescues us from the mud of fear. This is the love that Christ reveals today in the Gospel of Saint John. Out of obedient love he came down from heaven. He came down to seek the beloved bride prepared for him from the people of the covenant, prepared from the very beginning. Just in case there is an residue of fear or temptation to despair, the Lord Jesus makes clear that, "this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day." We, who catch a glimpse of his face in this Eucharist, grow each time more confident that we will see him "whom our hearts seek." We will see him face to face with all the souls who share our longing and are now being purified. We celebrate our union with all who are moving into the heavenly glory, the beatific vision. This teaching of our Church is the fullest expression of the Lord's boundless mercy. Even though at death we may not be completely pure and ready to see the LORD face to face. He does not abandon us to our failure and sin, rather, he offers us continued purification beyond this life. His mercy is not limited to our time and space experience. Indeed, the LORD can arrest time and disregard any distance we may have created by our sin. We share, even now, in this boundless mercy with all who have gone on before us; with them we share the assurance that no one can snatch us out of his hand and that we will one day rise with Christ in the fullness of glory. This glory Christ shares from all eternity with the Father and the Holy Spirit; indeed, this same glory is ours by grace and mercy from our Shepherd.

“Boniface Wimmer: An American Abbot,” a special commemorative exhibition of artifacts owned and used by Saint Vincent founder Boniface Wimmer, will be featured by The Saint Vincent Gallery from Friday, October 30 to Sunday, December 13 in honor of the 200th anniversary of his birth. Admission is free and open to the public.

An opening reception will be held in the Gallery on Thursday, October 29 from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

The exhibit includes Wimmer’s prayer books, pectoral crosses, pontifical rings, crozier, and snuff boxes (including one from Tiffany and Company); his gold pen, various hand-written letters and diaries, and handwritten letters from King Ludwig I of Bavaria will also be included. There will be gifts from King Ludwig on display, as well as gifts given to Saint Vincent over the years by various members of the Royal Wittlesbach of Bavaria and made of fine porcelain from the Schloss Nymphenburg Porcelain Factory. An added feature of the exhibition is a display of photographic portraits of Wimmer and his 10 successor archabbots of Saint Vincent Archabbey, including the current archabbot, the Rt. Rev. Douglas R. Nowicki, O.S.B.

The Saint Vincent Gallery is located on the third floor of the Robert S. Carey Student Center at Saint Vincent College and is accessible to those with physical challenges.

Gallery hours are noon to 3 p.m. and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and noon to 3 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The Gallery is closed on Mondays.

Further details are available at www.stvincent.edu/gallery or by contacting the Gallery at 724 805-2197.

All Souls (Benedicine Influence)

 

A few pictures from around the Archabbey (a friend of our Br. Maximilian, OSB did a beautiful job in carving the Abbey Seal into a pumpkin).  Also, you can see the beautiful colors in the leaves changing around the Monastery.

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From: http://www.fisheaters.com

31 October and 1 and 2 November are called, colloquially (not officially), "Hallowtide" or the "Days of the Dead" because on these days we pray for or remember those who've left this world.

The days of the dead center around All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows') on November 1, when we celebrate all the Saints in Heaven. On the day after All Hallows', we remember the saved souls who are in Purgatory being cleansed of the temporal effects of their sins before they can enter Heaven. The day that comes before All Hallows', though, is one on which we unofficially remember the damned and the reality of Hell. The schema, then, for the Days of the Dead looks like this:

October 31: Hallowe'en:   

unofficially recalls the souls of the damned. Practices center around the reality of Hell and how to avoid it.

November 1: All Saints':

set aside to officially honor the Church Triumphant. Practices center around recalling our great Saints, including those whose names are unknown to us and, so, are not canonized

November 2: All Souls': 

set aside officially to pray for the Church Suffering (the souls in Purgatory). Practices center around praying for the souls in Purgatory, especially our loved ones

The earliest form of All Saints' (or "All Hallows'") was first celebrated in the 300s, but originally took place on 13 May, as it still does in some Eastern Churches. The Feast first commemorated only the martyrs, but came to include all of the Saints by 741. It was transferred to 1 November in 844 when Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to All Saints (so much for the theory that the day was fixed on 1 November because of a bunch of Irish pagans had harvest festivals at that time).

All Souls' has its origins in A.D. 1048 when the Bishop of Cluny decreed that the Benedictines of Cluny pray for the souls in Purgatory on this day. The practice spread until Pope Sylvester II recommended it for the entire Latin Church.

The Vigil of, or evening before, All Hallows' ("Hallows' Eve," or "Hallowe'en") came, in Irish popular piety, to be a day of remembering the dead who are neither in Purgatory or Heaven, but are damned, and these customs spread to many parts of the world. Thus we have the popular focus of Hallowe'en as the reality of Hell, hence its scary character and focus on evil and how to avoid it, the sad fate of the souls of the damned, etc.

How, or even whether, to celebrate Hallowe'en is a controversial topic in traditional circles. One hears too often that "Hallowe'en is a pagan holiday" -- an impossibility because "Hallowe'en," as said, means "All Hallows' Evening" which is as Catholic a holiday as one can get. Some say that the holiday actually stems from Samhain, a pagan Celtic celebration, or is Satanic, but this isn't true, either, any more than Christmas "stems from" the Druids' Yule, though popular customs that predated the Church may be involved in our celebrations (it is rather amusing that October 31 is also "Reformation Day" in Protestant circles -- the day to recall Luther's having nailed his 95 Theses to Wittenberg's cathedral door -- but Protestants who reject "Hallowe'en" because pagans used to do things on October 31 don't object to commemorating that event on this day).

Some traditional Catholics, objecting to the definite secularization of the holiday and to the myth that the entire thing is "pagan" to begin with, refuse to celebrate it in any way at all, etc. Other traditional Catholics celebrate it without qualm, though keeping it Catholic and staying far away from some of the ugliness that surrounds the day in the secular world. However one decides to spend the day, it is hoped that the facts are kept straight, and that Catholics refrain from judging other Catholics who decide to celebrate differently.

For those who do want to celebrate Hallowe'en, customs of this day are a mixture of Catholic popular devotions, and French, Irish, and English customs all mixed together. From the French we get the custom of dressing up, which originated during the time of the Black Death when artistic renderings of the dead known as the "Danse Macabre," were popular. These "Dances of Death" were also acted out by people who dressed as the dead. Later, these practices were moved to Hallowe'en when the Irish and French began to intermarry in America.

From the Irish come the carved Jack-o-lanterns, which were originally carved turnips. The legend surrounding the Jack-o-Lantern is this:

There once was an old drunken trickster named Jack, a man known so much for his miserly ways that he was known as "Stingy Jack," He loved making mischief on everyone -- even his own family, even the Devil himself! One day, he tricked Satan into climbing up an apple tree -- but then carved Crosses on the trunk so the Devil couldn't get back down. He bargained with the Evil One, saying he would remove the Crosses only if the Devil would promise not to take his soul to Hell; to this, the Devil agreed.

After Jack died, after many years filled with vice, he went up to the Pearly Gates -- but was told by St. Peter that he was too miserable a creature to see the Face of Almighty God. But when he went to the Gates of Hell, he was reminded that he couldn't enter there, either! So, he was doomed to spend his eternity roaming the earth. The only good thing that happened to him was that the Devil threw him an ember from the burning pits to light his way, an ember he carried inside a hollowed-out, carved turnip.