Abbey News

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Back Home. . .
. . .and glad to be. Fr. John and I returned home from the U.S. Regional Meeting in good time last Wednesday. Ahead of time, as a matter of fact. Much to our surprise the flight home was actually about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

All seventeen OCSO houses of the American Region were represented at the meeting which, among other business of the Order, discussed the important topic of monastic formation in our monasteries. Each house gave a report on it's formation program, both initial formation for newcomers and on-going formation for the professed members and made recommendations for consideration at the next General Chapter of the whole Order which will take place in September of 2011.

In chapter this morning Fr. John and I gave a report to the community of the meeting and the part we played. As nice as it is to visit another community now and again it is always better to get back home where we belong.

The warm southern hospitality of the host community, Holy Spirit Abbey, Conyers, GA, more than made up for the unseasonably cold weather, complete with snow one day. Undaunted by the cold, daffodils were in full bloom by the time we left, a promise of better days ahead. Here in the Genesee Valley the crocus is beginning to flower here and there.

Holy Week Schedule
The schedule changes for our Holy Week liturgy has been posted on our liturgical schedule page.

Preview of Coming Distractions
Those of you used to purchasing the popular Venezuelan coffee from our on-site or on-line bread store have noticed recently that it is no longer available. The reason is that, try as we may, we have been unable to import the coffee from Venezuela for mysterious reasons unknown to us.

The idea came to us, why not carry our own coffee? And that is just what we are planning to do. We've found a local coffee roaster who will be blending coffee for us under our name, Genesee Abbey Coffee, according to our specifications. We hope to have it available by the end of the month in our bread store as well as well as on our on-line store. Stay tuned for further developments.

New Store Hours
Speaking of our bread store, with the advent of daylight saving time we've changed our hour store hours:

Summer Store Hours

Monday to Saturday
9:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Sunday
8:30 AM to 9:30 AM
After Mass to 12:00 Noon
Closed All Afternoon

It is the sin of pride which hinders believing in God, accepting his word, and obeying his law. It is the sin that still fills the world, the root of all the evils that afflict humanity and lacerate the Church.

But while man abuses his freedom and voluntarily withdraws from God, God never ceases to call him back, to invite him to return. God's ways are the ways of infinite love: he calls man to participate in his divine life, to live in intimate, personal communion with him. The ways of man the sinner are directly the opposite: a rejection of love, a breaking off of relations of friendship with God.

These are the consequences of mortal sin. But that is not all. Sin has diminished man, blocking his path to fulfillment, a fulfillment that can be realized only in communion with God, who is the one source of life, charity, and grace.

The death and resurrection of Christ are the greatest sign of his love for us who are sinners, and at the same time the utmost sign of his divinity. Whoever accepts him will be saved, will be able to wash away his sins in the blood of Christ, and will rise again with him to a new life.

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