Abbey News

Sunday, February 14, 2010

End of Retreat
In chapter this morning Sr. Kathy, Abbess of Our Lady of Redwoods monastery in California, brought our weeks retreat to a close. And a good retreat it was fueled by her lively conferences which were rich in the Cistercian spirituality and mysticism of our 12th and 13th century Cistercian Fathers and Mother.

The Mother being Blessed Beatrice of Nazareth a little known Cistercian mystic and writer who wrote the Seven Ways of Holy Love. In one of her conferences Sr. Kathy spoke on three of those seven ways enough to whet the appetite for the other four.

Here we see Sr. Kathy explaining to Br. James and Fr. Marcellus some art work depicting Blessed Beatrice.

With a long trip to the west coast ahead of her Sr. Kathy left shortly after the morning conference but not without giving us a little rundown of community life in her community.

Weather Report
A number of our friends were concerned about how we have been faring during the recent snow blitz battering the east coast. As a matter of fact here in western New York State we have been totally and mercifully spared the storms. It has been seasonably cold all right but there is only a bit over an inch of snow on the ground, just enough to make everything post card beautiful.

Ready Or Not. . .
. . .here comes Lent. Ash Wednesday coming up this week but, as Fr. John reminded us in chapter this morning, not without our traditional Tuesday mardi gras dinner. After that comes the tightening of our belts for six weeks . Since Wednesday is a non-bake day our Ash Wednesday Mass will be at 6:00 AM as usual.

More Retreating
Friday this week Fr. John will be leaving for our Mother house, Gethsemani, to give the brothers their annual retreat. He will return Monday, March 1st and then be off again in a few days for the Regional Meeting of USA superiors being held at Holy Spirit Abbey, Conyers, Georgia.

Only mortal sin is completely opposed to God; this opposition is so great that it separates the soul from God. However, every sin, even venial sin, and every fault and imperfection, is in opposition to God's infinite holiness. Therefore Jesus offers the perfection of his heavenly Father as a norm for our Christian life, and engages us in an intense struggle against sin in order to destroy in us its deepest roots and even its slightest traces.

This is what Jesus teaches in these few short words: deny yourself. We must deny self with all its its imperfect habits and inclinations; and we must do so continually. Such a task is fatiguing and painful, but it is indispensable if we wish to attain sanctity. Jesus says: The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few (Mt. 7:14).

In echo of Jesus, all the masters of the spiritual life insist strongly on detachment and self-renunciation as the indispensable foundation of the spiritual life. St. John of the cross offers a soul who is desirous of attaining union with God the harsh way of the "nothing".

But first and foremost, it is Jesus, the divine Teacher, who has pointed out to us the absolute necessity of passing through this way: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself (Mt. 16:24).

Divine Intimacy
Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD