My Retreat — 2017

The week of July 9 looked like a good one to go on retreat at the monastery. July 11 is St. Benedict's Day, and it's good to be able to celebrate it in a Benedictine house. The week would be six months since Ryan became a postulant and three years since Brother Ignatius took temporary vows, so it was likely that Ryan would become a novice and Ignatius would make his permanent vows. In my first post about my February visit, I mistakenly said that Ryan was a recent college graduate. Actually, he was a senior at the time: he graduated in May this year.

Ryan did indeed become a novice. In previous years, the ceremony was held in the Abbey Church, which meant it would be public. The abbot has decided that it should take place in the monastery's chapter room, which makes it private. Only the monks and guests in the monastery were present.

Chapter room set up for reception of novice. Abbot's chair is at right, novice's in center, monks' around three sides. A couple of the chairs for guests are visible behind the monks' chairs to the left.

When I got to the monastery on Sunday, two of Ryan's classmates were also present as guests, but one had to leave early Monday morning to start his new job. One more classmate arrived during the morning, so the guests were the two classmates and me, and possibly one other man, maybe a professor. The ceremony was at noon. Ryan was given the name Aloysius. It took no more than fifteen minutes altogether, and then we went to the cloister yard for lunch and photos.

 Novice, Brother Aloysius, with Abbot Mark.

 Bro. Aloysius, Abbot Mark, & Novice Master, Fr. Peter.

 

Bro. Aloysius with three abbots: l.-r. Abbot Matthew (1986-2012), Bishop Joseph (Abbot 1972-1986, Bishop of Portland, ME, 1989-2004), Abbot Mark (2012-present).

 Monastic community (missing: three who are at dependent priory in CA, and two who are ill). (Brother Ignatius, who made temporary vows in 2014, is standing sixth from left with window frame around his head.) At left in regular clothes is the classmate who had been there overnight, and at right you can see a bit of the shirt and pants of the classmate who arrived that morning.

I first met Brother Ignatius the evening I arrived for my retreat in June of 2014. He was a novice at the time, and the Abbot called me over to meet him. I've felt a sense of connection with him ever since. He and another novice, Brother Paul, were to take temporary vows on July 11, and I returned for that event, giving each of them an icon of the saint whose name they had received. As I reported, I was very pleased to get a thank you note from him when I came there the following year. Since then, Brother Paul left, but Ignatius has stayed, and I was looking forward to seeing him take final vows during my stay. But when I asked about it on Tuesday evening he said, "Possibly next year." That was  a disappointment. Since final vows usually come three years after temporary vows, the delay indicates that either he or the community or both aren't sure that he should take those permanent vows. On the other hand, at least nobody has yet decided he should leave the monastery. I like him, and the monastery needs monks, so I hope the ultimate decision will be that he stay. But if it's not really the right place for him, then it's best for him not to stay.

This year for my retreat I brought a book titled A Retreat with Therese of Lisieux: Loving Our Way into Holiness, by Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, O.D.C. (The letters indicate that she is a member of the same order of nuns as Therese was: the Discalced Carmelites.) Therese was born in Normandy, in northern France in 1873, joined the Carmelites in 1888, and died in 1897. After her death, autobiographical material she had written was published, and her "little way" of holiness became famous.

The book has seven chapters,  containing things she wrote as well as explanations and reflections by the author. I took two chapters each day Monday through Wednesday, and the final one on Thursday. Some of the points I took from it include the following.

• Holiness isn't achieved by performing religious practices like extra fasting and penances, but by accepting God's love for us.
• The conviction that we are loved frees us from being motivated to follow rules out of fear. Only the knowledge of being loved enables people to respond freely from the heart.
• We need to have confidence in the love that comes from God.
• We have to battle selfishness in order to be free to love Jesus and others.
• We need to be with Jesus in his sufferings.
• Love calls for everything, not just a little bit more.
• Jesus praised Mary for hearing the word of God and keeping it. Most of her life was very ordinary.
• "Let God give and take what he chooses."
• Believe that you are loved absolutely and unconditionally.
• Accept everything as coming from God and thank God for it.
• Overcome obsessions, compulsions, and lack of freedom to do what is good.
• Living in love means giving without measure, banishing all fear, and possessing a great treasure in an earthen vessel.
• Holiness includes a willingness to suffer a great deal.

Apart from that, I had brought some books to read between times of prayer and retreat. Two that I spent several hours on were A Song for Nagasaki about a Japanese doctor who became a Catholic and was in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb exploded and devoted himself to caring for the victims of radiation, and The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise, which debunks the common idea that medieval Spain under Muslim rule was a place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together in one happy community where arts and science flourished— there was slavery, segregation (including self-segregation), and restrictions on women comparable to those in places like Saudi Arabia and Taliban Afghanistan.

It was an enjoyable visit and a worthwhile retreat.

Here are a few more pics, including my room and some campus scenes.

 Section of choir. I usually was near the pillar at the left.

 Statue of St. Anselm in front of Alumni Hall.

 Part of cloister yard.

 Sunrise, seen from the porch of Alumni Hall.

 Blessed Sacrament chapel off nave of church, seen from choir area.

Flowers in cloister yard.

Clicking on pictures enlarges them. I recommend it for clearer view.

Theology of the Body — 2011/09/08

"Paul refers to sexual sins as 'sin against the body.' By dishonoring the body, these sins violate the dignity of the person. … 'All other sins a man commits are outside of his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.' (1 Cor. 6:18).

"But Paul goes further. 'Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?' (1 Cor. 6:19). The body is honorable not only because of the human person's dignity. It is also the temple of the Holy Spirit.

"Paul concludes, saying, 'You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body' (1 Cor. 6"19-20).

"How does the body become God's temple? Through the reality of Christ's redemptive work. … When the Word became flesh, the human body was brought into the life of the Trinity. Christ imprinted a new dignity on the body of every man and woman.

"With new dignity comes a new obligation. … The Spirit is a sanctifying gift of God. And by accepting the Spirit, the Christian receives himself again as a gift. He becomes what he was meant to be.

" The Spirit binds us to God. Paul exhorts us to be aware of the gift and its obligations. 'The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body' (1 Cor. 6:13). … By assuming a human body, God gave every human body supernatural importance. This entails a new measure of holiness for the body. In and through Christ, every Christian must control his body in holiness and honor.

"Every Saint has a past, Every Sinner has a future"

I found a laminated card with those lines in the back of a church in Monaghan Town, Co. Monaghan, Ireland, when I was there in September. It goes on to say,
"My past life I leave to Your Mercy, O God.
My present life I give to Your Love.
My future life I place in Your Providence."