tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49054709362307835082024-03-05T12:44:56.955-08:00Abbot Mark's BlogFather Mark Caira was elected fourth Abbot of Nunraw, Scotland, on the 30th May 2009.Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-29775866109832896692013-11-07T10:53:00.000-08:002013-11-07T10:53:20.100-08:00Monastic life at Nunraw Abbey 3 - Abbot Mark<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span>Saturday, 2 November 2013</span><b><span style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: 2.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1 2013</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></h2>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #00CC5C; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: 2.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">SCOTTISH CATHOLIC OBSERVER</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: 2.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">REFLECTION</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #00cc5c; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 23.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Stay on the right path in your search for God.</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In the latest in our series on
spirituality, a monk from </span></b><b><span style="color: #00cc5c; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">NUNRAWABBEY</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <b><span style="color: #333333;">speaks about
the importance of seeking God in our lives</span></b></span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">.</span></b></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYhyphenhyphen2NwFRDxSymBF7x5BVlImvmjg2WtWRbFDfsoIo4eNutufz76pey0lTAASZ8vJPiFoKxQQTaUYrmHTRSsehOiOtsqvfwM78xGL8AhaFrZTkdZqk_1E60ZkW-frP3voNicxFcdPaLzdo/s1600/DSCF1915+Mass+Cloister.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYhyphenhyphen2NwFRDxSymBF7x5BVlImvmjg2WtWRbFDfsoIo4eNutufz76pey0lTAASZ8vJPiFoKxQQTaUYrmHTRSsehOiOtsqvfwM78xGL8AhaFrZTkdZqk_1E60ZkW-frP3voNicxFcdPaLzdo/s640/DSCF1915+Mass+Cloister.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;">Nunraw Abbey - morning sun through the cloister windows</span></i></u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Seeking God</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">As a salmon makes its way back to
where it came from, so we by our nature turn back to God as we seek out our
vocation in life. Unlike the salmon, we might get lost or
distracted on the way. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But, when we do get back on stream, our homing instinct draws us onwards
to God. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The well-known quotation of St Augustine comes to mind, ‘God has made us
for himself and our hearts are restless until they rest in him.’</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">To seek God is part of every
Christian’s vocation. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It’s not surprising therefore that St Benedict in his Rule for monks
says that anyone coming to enter the monastery must be tested to see if he is
truly seeking God.</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Many people feel attracted to
different aspects of the monastic life. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Its appeal may be its distance from the hectic rush
of everyday life in society, its atmosphere of silence, or perhaps its
spirituality which has developed over the centuries. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Obviously not
everyone can or will want to spend their lives in the monastery. But it's’
healthy for us to see and learn from the positive values in other vocations
different from our own. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Some laypeople have actually introduced some elements of the Rule
of St Benedict into their family practice. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">For example, they have set aside specific time for
private prayer, or for praying the divine office together with family or
friends.</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Finding God is a treasure that will
only be fully realised in heaven. Here on earth, however, we can keep
the search alive by our openness and generosity.</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> In human friendships and in marriage people
keep developing and changing, though that will normally be in slow and in
imperceptive ways.</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Our personalities keep growing and developing and this need,
it will add to our underWe mightstanding of ourselves and of the world around
us. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">This makes our search for meaning and happiness all the more
interesting. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">To Change</span></b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">When</span></b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> we feel we need to do something more
with, or in, our lives, that desire will stimulate growth and change. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We don’t
necessarily have to leave home or country to do that. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Cardinal John Henry
Newman said that “in a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is
to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often”. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Now that he has not
long ago been declared Blessed by the Church may add more weight to his
words. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But, whether we live in a monastery or outside it, we don’t remain
static as if we have already found God and need go no further. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-fIVU6MUygeMnVLIFQIJouS6v0NDCwCG_nvxb8cxj3wxpzHhtaBAYeoajC03S0BNdc3FqRiUCwLSeiEQdhogekeZKo6JaIENj4X3fRZAI6RKcf9vFbEnnZm_rFEAT2T_jXqfi90_oU0/s1600/Spirutual+Reflection.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-fIVU6MUygeMnVLIFQIJouS6v0NDCwCG_nvxb8cxj3wxpzHhtaBAYeoajC03S0BNdc3FqRiUCwLSeiEQdhogekeZKo6JaIENj4X3fRZAI6RKcf9vFbEnnZm_rFEAT2T_jXqfi90_oU0/s320/Spirutual+Reflection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Together with our seeking, we need
the humbling awareness that we can never be one hundred per cent sure of what
is in us and where we are going. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">No matter how much we learn of, or know God; no
matter how often we have experienced graces in prayer, we need Sister Humility
to keep our two feet on the ground. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Self-awareness will teach us that, no matter how
much we increase in knowledge of God, there will always be much more we will
have yet to learn. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">That may frustrate and even annoy us. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But love is a
gift. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We can’t buy or earn it. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Even when it is freely given to us we can’t possess
it or keep it safe. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Someone said recently that love only grows when it is given away. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Real lives are never wrinkle-free or
without spots. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">There are always some imperfections in them, even in the holiest of
lives. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Saintliness lies within, below the outer surface of things. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But the inner
workings of the heart and the deep yearnings for God in them can sometimes give
a certain tangible beauty in the lives of some holy people. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">However, just like
a garden, lives are never free of weeds for very long. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">They will always reappear
and need to be dealt with. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Isn’t it strange that when we do set about digging
up the weeds we feel the better for it, even though it’s normally a tiring and
tedious job? </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Living is just like that.</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">God seeking us</span></b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Seeking</span></b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> God is the ultimate need in our
lives. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Scripture tells us that we can love only because God has first loved
us. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The same applies to our seeking of God. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In spite of our
desire for God, it is so easy to be lured away from our search for him. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The prophets In the
Old Testament kept chiding God’s chosen people for their wantonness, for their
running after other gods. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">This was God’s way of chastening them and bringing them back to
him. </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">He never gave up on them but always sought to show that he still loved
them.</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">‘<i>The
Hound of Heaven’</i> is a wonderfully atmospheric poem. In it the
author describes God relentlessly chasing after the wayward soul whose fear of
being caught was not as bad as he was expecting. Left to ourselves we can
very easily find ourselves doing our ‘</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">our thing’ and not
God’s. We should be all the more grateful then that in our seeking, God
is himself very persistent in his seeking of us: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">“I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> I fled Him, down the arches of the years;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Of my own mind; . . .</span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,<br />
I am He Whom thou seekest. <br />
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.”</span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Francis Thompson</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> (1859-1907)</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #DAEEF3; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-background-themecolor: accent5; mso-background-themetint: 51; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg59ZYcHI09XnMjMPH_mwjmcrK7rgA4DhoufCs7qolC1FDbhyphenhyphenZ3HhqMILUxfLDibw4WITQ4WuRgv3-MQA7gsuSyam1KYVBBpH8KPAIfKuU3JZCbqX87hFpe624gNcgI3ZvC6fj3xAvrehI/s1600/DSC02770+Frame++out+porch.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg59ZYcHI09XnMjMPH_mwjmcrK7rgA4DhoufCs7qolC1FDbhyphenhyphenZ3HhqMILUxfLDibw4WITQ4WuRgv3-MQA7gsuSyam1KYVBBpH8KPAIfKuU3JZCbqX87hFpe624gNcgI3ZvC6fj3xAvrehI/s320/DSC02770+Frame++out+porch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><i>Nunraw view to Firth of Forth and King of Fife</i></u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-84746953381727593482013-10-30T14:54:00.000-07:002013-10-30T14:54:20.028-07:00Monastic life at Nunraw Abbey 2 - Abbot Mark<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEjEUX0Nle9mpxLYPmZ9nvkuIlwU5b_KTwd74ND_RXBw1tPYfVHBZEZz7rdVYBfmNC95SQ-B9kdVX7wTgv68oxwwzwMpW7g26ArBOy2mdlAaqgpEjeJ1ukcFpatilVgXVhoDRkpNeIPI/s1600/SAM_1892+Ivy+Abl+wing+&+Rowans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEjEUX0Nle9mpxLYPmZ9nvkuIlwU5b_KTwd74ND_RXBw1tPYfVHBZEZz7rdVYBfmNC95SQ-B9kdVX7wTgv68oxwwzwMpW7g26ArBOy2mdlAaqgpEjeJ1ukcFpatilVgXVhoDRkpNeIPI/s400/SAM_1892+Ivy+Abl+wing+&+Rowans.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">Autumn Ivy & Rowan harvest</span></i></u></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #00CC5C; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.6pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: 2.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">FRIDAY
OCTOBER 4 2013</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #00CC5C; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.6pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: 2.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">SCOTTISH
CATHOLIC OBSERVER</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #00CC5C; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.6pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: 2.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">REFLECTION</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.6pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #00cc5c; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 21.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Roots are the firm
foundation for our lives, <br />and for our Faith. </span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.6pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #00cc5c; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">ABBOT MARK CAIRA of
NUNRAW</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <b><span style="color: #333333;">writes in this
week’s SCO spirituality section.</span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Roots</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It’s common enough nowadays to want to go back to our family
roots, to see where we came from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
need to feel that we belong to someone or we like to become identified with
something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We want to get to the truth
of our history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much of what we
believe about ourselves and our past may have become oversimplified and maybe distorted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truth can often be more interesting than
what we first believed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be
surprising if some of our personal history or anything that we are associated
with did not have a degree of fiction about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, we are told that the truth will set us free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be someone we don’t have to be larger than
life, like some of the mega stars in today’s world. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Beginnings</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Like all religious Orders, Cistercians have been looking at
their early history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contrary to a
popular belief, St Bernard was not their founder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That popular assumption may have arisen
because Bernard wrote so much about the life and times of the Order, or perhaps
from the influence he undoubtedly had in his own lifetime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before he appeared on the scene, it was a
small group of monks who founded the monastery of Cîteaux in 1098 in northern
France. This was the seed that grew into the Cistercian Order. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0ylTXXsE9j5r7cZKIJuUHonj1cVhO8h6rITz27m6TLuQkUCuDJEvfm9IavSw3GJdrHzCtDN_OCu9vFQg5kbQN2zH97bEuZSynPxtL0-iz9IDl-oAE76kNFBJ1fmrvIP2q4rGsUg6j4k/s1600/Spirutual+Reflection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0ylTXXsE9j5r7cZKIJuUHonj1cVhO8h6rITz27m6TLuQkUCuDJEvfm9IavSw3GJdrHzCtDN_OCu9vFQg5kbQN2zH97bEuZSynPxtL0-iz9IDl-oAE76kNFBJ1fmrvIP2q4rGsUg6j4k/s200/Spirutual+Reflection.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /><br />
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This little band of monks was led by Sts Robert, Alberic and
Stephen Harding, an Englishman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each one
of them no doubt had their own strengths and weaknesses of personality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But together they put down their roots in the
wooded area of Cîteaux.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There they set
about creating a suitable environment in which they could continue their search
for God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are different reasons
given as to why they left their monastery to make this new foundation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one that lies nearest the truth is that
they wanted to live the Rule of St Benedict more strictly according to what they
believed St Benedict intended when he wrote his rule for monks in the sixth
century. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It used to be claimed that these first Cistercians were reacting
against a decadent monasticism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is
far from the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The eleventh and
twelfth centuries were periods of enormous change in Church and society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People were being challenged with new ideas
and ways of doing things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were obvious
risks involved but peoples’ lives did become more meaningful.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In the Church itself at this time, men and women were being
drawn by charismatic and holy figures who were setting up new forms of
community life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What they were offering
was different from what went before. This upsurge of interest threw up new forms
of monastic life some of which still exist today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the best known of these are the
Carthusians under the inspiration of St Bruno.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Benedictine monks of this period were themselves far from decadent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One accusation against them was that they
were lax or had lost their vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it
wasn’t entirely a case of White Monks (Cistercians) rejecting the loose living
of Black Monks (Benedictines).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Around
this time, for example, there were the Benedictine monks of Cluny who lived edifying
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were headed by a number of very holy
abbots over a period of 200 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
feast day of these Holy Abbots of Cluny is kept on 11 May. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Then and Now</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Robert, Alberic and Stephen and their companions left their
original monastery because they sought to live more simply and strictly than their
monastery allowed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They didn’t leave to
follow some charismatic figure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With St
Robert and his companions it was a matter of doing things together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Robert was asked to return to his
previous monastery, Alberic was elected Cîteaux’s next abbot and when he died
Stephen was chosen to replace him.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It was only later that the first monks of Cîteaux began to develop
and organise their lifestyle so that their first spirit would be protected for
the future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They adapted to the times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of that they became the most
influential and popular of the new monastic groups of the twelfth century. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">These early Cistercians were responding to changed times in
which uncertainty and experiment were part of the spirit of the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God was still calling people to leave their
ordinary ways of life but the manner was different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The characteristics of the Cistercian way
were the call to simplicity and authenticity, without giving up beauty in their
liturgy or pleasing forms to their buildings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Religious communities today are facing reduced numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This does not necessarily mean that the days
of religious communities are over. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
we do need to be more alert in today’s world to what God is asking of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People are still searching for God, seeking how
to tune into his wavelength.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the
vocation of everyone to make time and space in their lives to receive the
message God is sending out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not all of
us are good at this but we can all pray that those who do have this gift from
God may help us become more attuned to it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The men and women of the eleventh and twelfth centuries were
called to serve God in the new ways that their society both offered and needed.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God didn’t stop calling them to give
themselves to the needs of the Church and society then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not likely that he has stopped doing
that now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Through the ages every religious order has had to take stock of
itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone in fact needs to do
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who do this well will find
peace in their lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who do not
are likely to wither.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the old call
of the Gospel for renewal and transformation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When we let God into our lives we get to know what the love of God is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we don’t make an effort to do this or
simply ignore God, it doesn’t mean that he will leave us alone – just that it
will take God a little longer to show us what is best for us.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
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<br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>+ + +</b></span></div>
Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-57324213044547954302013-10-30T13:13:00.001-07:002013-10-30T13:13:22.799-07:00Monastic life at Nunraw Abbey - Abbot Mark <!--[if !mso]>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #00CC5C; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: 2.0pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242;">FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 6 2013</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #00CC5C; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: 2.0pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242;">SCOTTISH CATHOLIC OBSERVER</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #00CC5C; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: 2.0pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242;">REFLECTION</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00cc5c; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 21.0pt;">Jesus lies at the heart of spiritual life and prayer</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In the first
article of a new series on spirituality, <span style="color: #00cc5c;">ABBOT MARK
CAIRA</span> from Nunraw Abbey explains the many benefits of monastic life.</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVaPS5Z1mz4qolwLT-OnhKLr4a81hYfvEtuH4Zb1HWMRbLgCwMu4fylFxjJFjg7TRNjIB0ZZOhW9pzXziM5NYs80Yq0iDwKGHgiRXVL4kkvqO6ubJu_HuUTQNSZo1taWYRAe0JMC3lU0/s1600/DSCF2214++paste+Overure+Dawn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVaPS5Z1mz4qolwLT-OnhKLr4a81hYfvEtuH4Zb1HWMRbLgCwMu4fylFxjJFjg7TRNjIB0ZZOhW9pzXziM5NYs80Yq0iDwKGHgiRXVL4kkvqO6ubJu_HuUTQNSZo1taWYRAe0JMC3lU0/s400/DSCF2214++paste+Overure+Dawn.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
general reader</span></b><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> may be forgiven for wondering what the monastic life has to
offer them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They probably see that there
is a place for the monastic life in the Church and that monasteries may even be
somewhere they may want to go to visit and perhaps even stay for a few days to
unwind and recharge their batteries. But monasteries seem to have no immediate
link with ordinary life in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Monks and nuns, after all, are people who ‘leave the world’ to follow
their vocation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They live a life that is
totally different from the rest of mankind and they should be left alone to get
on with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Is it as simple as that?<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Church is, in the main, immersed in ordinary society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christians are meant to live out their
calling from God and to make the world a better place for their being a part of
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is true that we all don’t always
live up to our calling. but Christ’s call is not to give up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we do fall down we need to see ourselves
as we are, get up after each failure and walk more humbly before God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever befalls us we are called to continue anew
following the Gospel through all the twists and turns of our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That applies to monks and nuns as well as the
rest of the Church and society.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We are all human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all
receive the gift of life in Christ through our baptism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Monks and nuns have a great deal in common
with the rest of the Church for they bleed like the rest of mankind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They get tired and hungry like everyone
else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, as with everyone else, they
have a need to know and love God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
good to remember these basic truths in this time of renewal in the Church as we
celebrate the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Vatican II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pope Francis has also been encouraging us in
these months after his election to take up the challenge offered us by Christ
and to joyfully engage in the life he offers us.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0ylTXXsE9j5r7cZKIJuUHonj1cVhO8h6rITz27m6TLuQkUCuDJEvfm9IavSw3GJdrHzCtDN_OCu9vFQg5kbQN2zH97bEuZSynPxtL0-iz9IDl-oAE76kNFBJ1fmrvIP2q4rGsUg6j4k/s1600/Spirutual+Reflection.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0ylTXXsE9j5r7cZKIJuUHonj1cVhO8h6rITz27m6TLuQkUCuDJEvfm9IavSw3GJdrHzCtDN_OCu9vFQg5kbQN2zH97bEuZSynPxtL0-iz9IDl-oAE76kNFBJ1fmrvIP2q4rGsUg6j4k/s200/Spirutual+Reflection.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">What
is the point</span></b><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> then of going to live in a monastery when God can be loved and
served in ordinary everyday life in the Church and society?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">One way of answering that question, perhaps, is take a closer
look at the makeup of society in general.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In everyday life people choose to live in different ways. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They take different jobs, they make different
choices in how and where they live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
choose to marry one person and not another or they may decide to live
singly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We who believe that God is present
in all of our lives know that he actively helps us to decide where our greater
happiness in life lies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Everyone has a vocation be it to marriage or the single life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within either state of life they may feel
called to other things as well, like nursing or teaching. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The monastic life in its various forms is one
such option that some feel God is calling them to follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As in other vocations it needs prayer and
enough time and space to discover if that is what God is really asking of them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Being a priest or a religious has often been described as being
a ‘higher’, or ‘better’, vocation than others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The natural temptation was to seek this ‘higher’ vocation, according to
that way of thinking, rather than what it was that God was offering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The understanding of Martha and Mary in the gospel gives a good
insight into the question of vocation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
are often told quite clearly that, to quote the Gospel, ‘Mary had chosen the
better part’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That seems to put Martha in
her place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, it is interesting to
note that in the calendar of saints, on the 29 July, the feast of St Martha, the
Cistercian Order celebrates not just Martha but also that of her sister, Mary, and
Lazarus her brother. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a commentary on
this feast, St Bernard tells us that a monastic community can profitably learn
from all three of these saints and not just from the ‘contemplative’ Mary. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a monastery monks need to work and they
suffer illness, as much as to pray and to do other things that are necessary
for the normal organising of life lived together..</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #E8F5F8; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are many God-given vocations in the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only perfect one for us is the one that God
calls us to live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often we find it
difficult to find out what that means for ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Life
in a monastery <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> different</span></b><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">
from what most would regard as normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And yet, when you put aside the fact that monks live mostly within the
confines of the monastery and with a set pattern to their life, what they do
from day to day is what most people already do outside the monastery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides
their time for prayer, they work and rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is the daily upkeep and cleaning of the abbey to be seen to; there
are meals to be prepared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Newcomers to
the community need training into the spirit and understanding of this life they
have chosen and to be shown when necessary the practical day to day organising
of the community life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are also
the physical needs of those who are unwell and the elderly to be taken care of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, monks may be ‘out of the world’ in one
sense but they are very much grounded in the needs and realities of everyday life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The early Cistercians, in the twelfth century used their
energies and talents to build their monasteries and set about reclaiming the uncultivated
land around them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their ingenuity was
put to good use in all of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
lives were very much rooted in the world that God created.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their minds and hearts were centred on
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was Jesus, the Word made man,
that lay at the heart of their lives and prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the lifestyle that has been handed
down to the present day Cistercians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps we can consider that in some detail at a future date.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4905470936230783508" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4905470936230783508" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4905470936230783508" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisUfKGwMps-ayTUr_qrzI82VQPtyuNhpB2MqdJpJghiOWyCyhVjP_EfgvHU2mcmqjzRa2U7oHypXyziOX1pijy5denode2_lrqzeJjBZ8jc80dP_QKax7kJ-1tBP8zRDKbFjyrFC7CSVY/s1600/CIMG0382+H%2526S+Eamon+Visit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisUfKGwMps-ayTUr_qrzI82VQPtyuNhpB2MqdJpJghiOWyCyhVjP_EfgvHU2mcmqjzRa2U7oHypXyziOX1pijy5denode2_lrqzeJjBZ8jc80dP_QKax7kJ-1tBP8zRDKbFjyrFC7CSVY/s640/CIMG0382+H%2526S+Eamon+Visit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b> + + + </b></span></div>
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Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-46114792768060734502013-06-02T12:17:00.000-07:002013-06-02T12:17:35.061-07:00Corpus Christi Homily Fr. Mark<br />
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<br id="yiv3082966373yui_3_7_2_31_1370166097496_64" /></div>
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<div class="yui_3_7_2_32_1370184500097_65" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-size: small;">----- Forwarded Message -----</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><b>From:</b> Mark <abbot> ...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkY5VgXsAsapDvt1CkbFD7jdLmR0Z7vGw70toodssHOyTdprRw4-8QiXI7zvOwptGWSDqetU74Jbn3tx_CUnaVY_JBOOkT1peZUH_xrrMLb2E_w9ylFMAq9oGQFp4YNyFYiE-75y7lyI/s1600/SAM_1058+Procession+inscribe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkY5VgXsAsapDvt1CkbFD7jdLmR0Z7vGw70toodssHOyTdprRw4-8QiXI7zvOwptGWSDqetU74Jbn3tx_CUnaVY_JBOOkT1peZUH_xrrMLb2E_w9ylFMAq9oGQFp4YNyFYiE-75y7lyI/s320/SAM_1058+Procession+inscribe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><i><u>Eucharistic Procession</u></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /><b><br /></b></abbot></span></div>
<div class="yui_3_7_2_32_1370184500097_65" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, 2 June 2013.<br /><b>Subject:</b> </span></div>
<div class="yui_3_7_2_32_1370184500097_65" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Corpus Christi Homily</span></b></span></div>
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<b style="font-size: large;"><span class="yiv3082966373yui_3_7_2_31_1370166097496_93"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Homily for Body and Blood of Christ, 2013, Year C</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv3082966373yui_3_7_2_31_1370166097496_99 yui_3_7_2_32_1370184500097_93" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">An angler sat on the grassy bank with the salmon he had just caught lying beside him. He was waiting for the young family he had befriended. The salmon was to be his parting gift to them at the end of their holiday. Their car arrived. Greetings were exchanged and the gift was handed over. ‘We have a long journey ahead’, they said. ‘Well, then, their friend rejoined, ‘Let you be driving and driving!’ These were words of blessing. He was saying to them: The road may be long, but may you go safely all the way to your destination. In the years to come, as that family grew up, these words were often used in blessing whenever they parted from each other.</span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv3082966373yui_3_7_2_31_1370166097496_111 yui_3_7_2_32_1370184500097_105" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">It was a word of blessing and a gift of bread and wine that Abraham received when he returned from battle. He had gone to rescue his kinsman, who had been taken captive. On his return the priest-king Melchizedek blessed Abraham for his courage and blessed God for guarding him. This ancient story of blessing belongs to a time two thousand years before Christ, but its meaning points forward to the great blessing that will come upon the world in him. The blessing given to Abraham will be fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.</span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv3082966373yui_3_7_2_31_1370166097496_118 yui_3_7_2_32_1370184500097_112" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">St Paul explains this blessing to the early Christians of Corinth, by telling them the story of the Last Supper. It was a final parting of friends, and Jesus wanted to give them a gift as he left them. As we know so well, he took bread and wine, blessed them and said, ‘This is my body. This is my blood. Do this as a memorial of me.’</span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv3082966373yui_3_7_2_31_1370166097496_125 yui_3_7_2_32_1370184500097_119" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">In the parting of friends, the separation is overcome by the giving of gifts and the words of blessing. ‘Goodbye’ means ‘God be with you’. In the gift that Jesus gives, he truly is with us always. He has given us a gift for the journey of life. It is a personal gift and one for the whole community. In fact, it is a gift that <i>makes</i> community: we share Christ as we share the bread and wine. </span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"> </span></div>
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<span class="yiv3082966373yui_3_7_2_31_1370166097496_137 yui_3_7_2_32_1370184500097_131" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">This feast of Corpus Christi celebrates the fact that we are the Body of Christ. The gift that we receive, the sacrament that we celebrate in the Mass, transforms us from a crowd of people into a family of faith; from separate individuals into the brothers and sisters of Christ; from a wandering mass of people into the people of God; from an aimless group into a journeying people. We have a destination and we are travelling together into a Promised Land.</span></span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_32_1370184500097_136" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;">In a way our procession through the cloisters and back into the Church is a symbol of our lives. We are on a journey and we follow the one who alone can lead us to our true destination. And we are blessed on our way and fed by God’s own life. We must do the same for the great crowd of hungry people who seek to have their hunger satisfied and who are looking for direction in their own lives.</span></div>
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Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-62642028934754026752013-05-15T03:42:00.000-07:002013-05-15T03:42:23.138-07:00Homily for Ascension - Abbot Mark<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_27_1368385093552_98" style="background-color: #bfffff;">----- Forwarded Message -----<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><b>From:</b> Abbot Mark </span><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">Sent:</b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Thursday 9th May 2013</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /><b>Subject:</b> Homily for Ascension</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="yui_3_7_2_28_1368613315733_100"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Homily for Ascension, 2013 </span></span></b></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_28_1368613315733_102"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Holy Spirit was with Jesus from the very beginning of his public ministry in the River Jordan. The Spirit was never far from him as he went about preaching among the people. It is not surprising then that Jesus told his disciples that they would be given the Holy Spirit as <i>their</i> guide and would bring to mind all that he had been telling them. The Spirit would lead them into all truth and make clear to them what they should do and say. Like all disciples, they heard what Jesus had told them but did not always understand or even remember everything he had said to them. </span></span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_28_1368613315733_106"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As with all good teachers, Jesus had to pass on and leave these pupils of his to put into practice what they had been taught. Only in this way would they show if they had really learnt what they had received from Jesus. It’s all very well to show people the sea and to even encourage them to dip their feet in it by the shore. But, until they themselves plucked up the courage and plunged into the deep, they would not learn how to swim.</span></span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_28_1368613315733_108"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That is the teacher’s role: to show his pupils how to swim. His job was to hand on what he knew and then to move on, leaving them enough space to develop on their own. A good teacher lives on in the deeds and appreciation of those he has taught. The Spirit that guided him would be passed on to them. And Jesus, our Good Teacher, leaves us to fend for ourselves but always with the guidance and inspiration of his own Holy Spirit. Our Lord tells us as much himself. He had to leave them or the Holy Spirit will not come and be <i>their</i> Spirit. </span></span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_28_1368613315733_112"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus returned to where he had come from. His place now is with the Father. And now that he has taken his own proper place in heaven, his disciples had to take up his mantle and themselves teach about the kingdom of God by their lives and words.</span></span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_28_1368613315733_114"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What Jesus was to the disciples he remains the same for us today. The Holy Spirit is the bond between the Lord risen the dead and those who are now his disciples. Unless we realise that, something is lacking in our understanding of our Christian faith. The figure Christ’s remains present in the world for us but only through the Holy Spirit. If we don’t grasp that then we have yet to learn from the teaching of the Gospel.</span></span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_28_1368613315733_118"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus ascended into heaven in order to prepare the disciples mentally for the coming of the Holy Spirit. This same Spirit who was present in Jesus’ life and came down on the apostles at the first Pentecost now comes to be with us. As Jesus told his disciples, the kingdom of God is very near. What they experienced remains a reality for us. We may not see the wonderful works that we read of in the Scriptures. But we will meet with unusual things happening in peoples’ lives though prayer and trust in God. To believe in the power of Christ we need to pray with confidence that the Holy Spirit will indeed be present in the Church and in us. The Spirit will indeed make all things new in our lives. For that to happen we have to keep listening to Christ who continues to teach us through his word in the scriptures. </span></span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_28_1368613315733_122"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If we live by that word we will be doing something new. Miracles will happen in us. We will become a more transformed people through the power of the Holy Spirit.</span></span></div>
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Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-27566894770871654152013-05-07T03:38:00.000-07:002013-05-07T03:38:09.229-07:00Abbot Homily Sunday 5th May 2013 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Homily: Abbot Mark <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> (1 Cor 13, Mt. 25)</span></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divine Service (Knights Templar)<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Sunday, 5 May 2013</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">The Christian vocation is strikingly summed up for
us in St Matthew’s gospel when Jesus told the parable of the Last
Judgement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Mt 25.34-40)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">How we are welcomed<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> then</i> will depend on how we live <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">now</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no beating
about the bush as regards how we should behave in our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In true parable style, Jesus’ message is
given in strikingly black and white terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We need to be told, so Jesus does not pull his punches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also know that God is love, that he is
gentle and full of compassion, that he does not break the broken reed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we grow in love we come to know our
selfish tendencies as well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">In the first reading from chapter 13 of the first
letter to the Corinthians, we see St Paul spelling out some of the warmer but
still difficult messages that come from our Lord’s own life and teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could be said that the passages for
Matthew and Paul are two sides of the one coin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This coin will gain us entry through the pearly gates of heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">We may use all the fine words of eloquence and
create a wonderful impression on our hearers, as St Paul himself says in this
letter to the Corinthians, but if we do not live what we say then our lives
will be empty and meaningless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we do
use them as a pattern for our lives then the world will be a wonderful place to
be in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our relationships will be happy
ones and our friendships will be rich and rewarding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">It’s not surprising that this chapter from I
Corinthians is often used at Weddings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Its words are warm and inspiring, direct and practical and speak in
everyday language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the newly
married are still in the first flush of their love for each other, the magic of
love flows equally from one to the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is in the later periods when their personalities are developing that
life can become difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one or
other of them does not recognise the changing landscape of their relationship,
there will be many crises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may fall
on one of them to keep up the loving because the other is finding it hard to
cope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is when love is tested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christ himself encountered much
misunderstanding and even hostility in his life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was through suffering that he himself
learnt obedience as Scripture itself tells us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He grew in his own understanding of his life and vocation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He remained faithful to God’s will for him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He died but then rose to a new life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a committed married life that is also what
happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vocation of married life is
a mirror for all our lives as we go to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like Christ’s own life, ours is tried and tested so that it may become
stronger and reveal the greater depths that lie within us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we</i>
are the weak partners in a marriage, or in any friendship, we are the ones who
need the love and support of our partners or friends.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">The love of the family is the source and bedrock
of society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love within the family will
grow when it goes out to help and support the extended family and beyond that again
to society at large.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in needy parts
of the world this is a recognised phenomenon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our world has become a village in which the concerns and needs of others
become ours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a native proverb
that says it takes a village to raise a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In today’s world wide communications everyone becomes our near
neighbour.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Many have commented that in today’s world there is
a growing selfishness, where there is little or no place for sympathy for
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are in a recession and wealth
is concentrated in the hands of the well off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Christian conscience makes love a force that turns from an initial
inward-looking love to an outgoing force that helps the needy. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">When we love others their lives grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we cast our love into the waters of life,
it spreads like the ripples from a pebble thrown into a lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When others do the same many small miracles
happen which help to change our world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">The message Christ gives us is that we must learn
to die to our self –to our selfishness – in order that we may rise up to a new
and better life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That life is Christ’s
risen from the dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It remains risen
when we maintain our spirit of compassion for one another in our sorrows and
our joys.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">When we do approach the pearly gates it won’t be
to join a long queue to have our records checked. Those who have lived in the
spirit of the gospel will walk through without realising that the gates are
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will be going simply where
their hearts are leading them.</span></span></div>
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Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-27045461585103767202013-04-04T05:01:00.000-07:002013-04-05T10:42:28.364-07:00Easter Vigil Homily 2013 - Abbot Mark<div>
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<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Easter Vigil </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Service of Light</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcbczwwxw6NDkFPNWPeMFB9kv5INugc2H_d-DBH8JUwh_2PEqxy71Q-7vexN6LNGUk9uWcHxqbNiyxGjdl006u4btN4bZhUdYcMe92eyWBqwEh9V-BkFeELUkZxpunBEAL5TS-Cf7bGw/s1600/Mark+Gold+IMG_1352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcbczwwxw6NDkFPNWPeMFB9kv5INugc2H_d-DBH8JUwh_2PEqxy71Q-7vexN6LNGUk9uWcHxqbNiyxGjdl006u4btN4bZhUdYcMe92eyWBqwEh9V-BkFeELUkZxpunBEAL5TS-Cf7bGw/s200/Mark+Gold+IMG_1352.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_83" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">Liturgy of Baptism - Homily </span></b></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_87" id="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_165" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">Holy Saturday has seemed like a vacuum crying out to be filled. It was a day when liturgically there was no centre of focus. The crosses and crucifixes were out of sight; our statues covered over. Christ was not reserved in our tabernacles. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;"> Liturgically, we were disorientated. There was no reverent bowing or sense of direction in the church. We prayed as if we were just in a room, just as the disciples were, gathered together after Jesus was crucified.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_96" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">The disciples were devastated. They thought that their dreams were destroyed with the death of their Master. Their astonishing years travelling round with him had seemed so full of promise but now were all for nothing. </span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_102" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">Our time together has not been exactly like that of the apostles. The difference is that they were left in a kind of limbo; our situation has been helped by our knowledge of what actually happened in the days that followed the harrowing experience of Calvary. <i>We</i> can see where the scriptures were leading them; <i>they</i> had to live through the deepest of disappointments and aimlessness. But they <i>did</i> come through it all because, in spite of their misunderstanding and cowardice, they renewed their however badly they had coped with the treatment Jesus received from his enemies, and especially with his death.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_111" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">With the rumours that Jesus had risen from the dead, and then his mysterious meetings with a number of the disciples before he met all of them again, their lives began to be pieced together once more. This time there was an awareness that things were not as mistaken as they had imagined. Jesus’ words to them were true but they themselves were now different. They understood better and acted differently. They were more convinced of what they had been told and they were now more responsible in living it and preaching it, especially after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_118" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">The scriptures tell us that God is love. We find it hard to believe this is true. Our laziness, our distrust of others, our own lack of real commitment all have an effect on the degree to which we are open to God. We find it hard to understand God knows that about us and that he won’t give up on us. Like the disciples hiding in that room in Jerusalem after Jesus was crucified, God is putting about rumours that something is happening. Strangely, it is when we are let down and feel broken in our lives and very vulnerable that we become more open to God. The cracks in our lives give God a chance to break through our hard defensive shell.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_127" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">No matter how bad or indifferent we are, love is an attractive proposition. It’s our nature to love. There was once a popular song which said that it is love that makes the world go round. It is love, in whatever form it God calls us to, that makes us happy ultimately. God is the proof of that.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_134" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">And that is what lies at the heart of our celebration tonight. Our Lord gave himself to his Father and to us because of love. He defied all that evil could do to him, because he knew that what he lived and said was true. He became newly alive in the resurrection to show us that.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_140" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">That is his message for us. He did in his own life what he had taught us through the apostles. More than that, he now <i>gives</i> us the strength and help we need to do the same ourselves. Our vocation is to be Christ for others. That means we ourselves must first live like Christ.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_147" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">Tonight’s liturgy now comes to the point where we are called to put our own name on the dotted line.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_150" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;">We have been baptised into the life of Christ. We have the opportunity to strengthen it as we now renew our commitment to make Christ more alive in us.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_19_1365048800774_150" style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.14px;"><u><i>Abbot Mark</i></u></span></div>
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Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-80292878762313919562013-03-31T05:46:00.000-07:002013-04-05T11:03:49.853-07:00Holy Thursday Homily, 2013 - Abbot Mark<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-weight: bold;"> Living of the Word </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 21.14px;">Holy Thursday is a day for remembering. When he was celebrating the Passover with his disciples, Jesus told them that they were to repeat that celebration in memory of him. His words and deeds are a key that unlocks for us the power of God still active in our world. It is consoling to relive the scenes of that Last Supper. But warm feelings are not enough by themselves to nourish faith and strengthen our conviction in our Lord’s teaching about life now as we know it, and about its fulfilment after death.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_17_1364663648411_95" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 21.14px;">To enter into the mystery of Holy Thursday and its fruition on that first Easter Sunday, we need, like him, to endure betrayal, personal and physical suffering before he died. All mature life involves that. Christ, however, raised life to a new level and, in doing so, showed us its ultimate meaning.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_17_1364663648411_99" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 21.14px;">Holy Thursday is the first of the three great events that lie at the very heart of our faith. Together with Good Friday and Easter Sunday it gives us an insight into who Jesus is and what we are destined to become in him. Our present life is passing but it gives us the opportunity to see into the Mystery of God and eternal life. Our present life is not something unreal, something that we have to put up with until we get to heaven. Jesus came to share this life with us with all its sorrows and joys. But while he was doing that he showed his disciples that this life was a stepping stone to something greater. Life was more than present pleasure, or the pursuit of power, or the seeking of possessions. It was more than one’s personal gratification. God is about love and we are destined to share and give that love to others as Jesus illustrated by his own life. This is what we celebrate during these final three days of Holy Week.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_17_1364663648411_110" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 21.14px;">The evening meal of the Passover was celebrated by the Jews to remember the saving power of God when they were rescued from their enemies in Egypt and in later ages. It was therefore a joyful feast. This is what Jesus and his disciples were doing. But within this celebration evil was not far away. Judas, the disciple, was looking for a way to betray him. Life is like that. It was so for our Lord, it remains so for us down through the ages. To be human is to live in a world of conflicting motives and desires. To be saved – to become what we are destined to be – is to hold fast to our deepest desires and loyalties whatever the temptation to do what is only good for ourselves. That is the spirit and attitude Jesus showed us on that Last Supper meal. He served and showed respect to those who followed him. They were disciples, but also friends. He served them totally and showed that they had to be of service to others just as he was to them.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_17_1364663648411_124" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 21.14px;">At the meal in the Upper Room it was only Judas who betrayed Jesus, but the rest of the disciples showed their disloyalty when they all scattered after Jesus was imprisoned and condemned. We are all like that – weak and in great need of support. We need God’s help and support to remain loyal to God and to one another, and to be true to ourselves. That in fact did happen after Easter when the meaning of Jesus’ teaching finally hit them.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_17_1364663648411_129" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 21.14px;">Good News is sweet to the ears when it is first heard. However, it takes time, setbacks or even failure before its meaning becomes embedded in the mind and heart. Truth and faith become stronger when they are questioned or attacked. With the Spirit of the risen Jesus faith becomes for us the lifeblood of our faith and the love we have for others.</span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_7_2_17_1364663648411_134" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; line-height: 21.14px;">This evening we enjoy and thank God for the gift of the Eucharist and the example of service he given us. The washing of feet which we now re-enact is both a reminder of what Jesus did to his disciples then, and what we need to do in many ways in our own lives for others.</span></div>
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Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-35449092771679167522012-10-13T11:01:00.000-07:002012-10-13T12:12:24.839-07:00Abbot Mark Golden Jubilee<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i><u><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: small;">Golden Jubilee Bouquet from Sisters</span></u></i></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Introduction to Mass - Golden Jubilee of Monastic Profession.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">The Church has called us to celebrate a Year of Faith, inviting and encouraging us to renew our belief in God. Pope Benedict wants us to see the Holy Spirit at work in our world and in each of our hearts<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Today is the Golden Jubilee of the opening of the Second Vatican Council on 11<sup>th</sup> October, 1962. On that same day fifty years ago I made my profession as a monk. So it’s not just because we are celebrating the opening of Vatican II that you have been invited here today.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">Fr Mark’s Golden Jubilee of Monastic profession.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_mimoWQ8jQTMoLFqkna_NVW8MMkrI0GnCdJH89oPMGMR7mqfRPa9KyPAQBKvhxFUUzHvKWh0iKMc0xc5nJojfPFHbUxcJqiskS82v13hfDRrOUYpZ0BgJwYD0E6zszBiWbXsycx0OcQ/s1600/SAM_0240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_mimoWQ8jQTMoLFqkna_NVW8MMkrI0GnCdJH89oPMGMR7mqfRPa9KyPAQBKvhxFUUzHvKWh0iKMc0xc5nJojfPFHbUxcJqiskS82v13hfDRrOUYpZ0BgJwYD0E6zszBiWbXsycx0OcQ/s200/SAM_0240.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">I’m sure you will all have vivid memories of the glorious years of Vatican II. (Well, maybe not all of you!|) Fifty years ago today Pope John XXIII opened the Council with a great flourish. He announced in vibrant terms that Christianity was not about gloom and doom but the joy of the Holy Spirit. Much water has passed under that bridge and has at times been diverted into some waterways. Those were stirring times, but not everyone found them pleasant. It must be admitted that some of the enthusiasm did go over bounds. But the spirit of the Council is still a thing to treasure and to look back to. It gave us much to be thankful for and to learn from. But, fifty years on, our world has moved on to some extent and our needs have to be reassessed. Even so, there are treasures in the Council’s documents that have yet to be mined, and perhaps some of those we have already taken up have still to be properly understood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">Today’s scriptural readings are from the ones that would normally be used for today. As always, when we look close enough, the Spirit gives us surprises even within our ordinary routine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">‘Are you mad?’ is the encouraging way Paul speaks to the Galatians. Some time ago I was listening to a radio programme on religion. There were a number of atheist and believers on it. One of the atheists was quite fanatical. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">He said, without any attempt to moderate his view, that anyone who believes in God was mad. So, Paul must have got it right!</span><br />
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">Seriously however, Paul was referring to the way the Galatians had forgotten the real meaning of religion; they had put their faith in externals, forgetting that the new life promised by Christ came from within.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">In the Gospel Jesus uses several images telling his disciple that they had to ask, seek, knock, if they wanted to receive the Spirit who is life. Faith is not an object that we are given and can keep in some safe place. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;"> It is a living thing that will grow or become less within them depending on how it is lived. Asking God should be a permanent attitude that we have whenever we need help. Friendship with God is a relationship that should find us looking for and seeing God as we go about our daily round. Like any human lovers, Christian disciples have God in their minds and hearts as they go perform their daily tasks. Jesus tells the disciples that God is behind the door. If they knock on it, it will be opened to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGPlB7THlMVaGfkGBYnD7DNEy5lhO9lAd7P-WmaPo47dPtnuuczZH740xWHBo3QVY0iD9N9p4TpO8r1FXkjNgwitykjokdhQUk2JtAXa0oXvRTC9HhHIpLlP-b__zKO46OMzxxgCkiMo/s1600/SAM_0247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGPlB7THlMVaGfkGBYnD7DNEy5lhO9lAd7P-WmaPo47dPtnuuczZH740xWHBo3QVY0iD9N9p4TpO8r1FXkjNgwitykjokdhQUk2JtAXa0oXvRTC9HhHIpLlP-b__zKO46OMzxxgCkiMo/s200/SAM_0247.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">This is another interesting coincidence in today’s readings. Pope Benedict has written a special letter for this anniversary entitled, as these papal letters are, by the words <i>Porta Fidei</i>, (the Door of Faith.) It is Pope Benedict’s wish that this year, beginning today, will be a Year of Faith in which we revisit the sources of our faith in the scriptures. The Vatican II documents were an attempt to do just that. They looked to the Word of God and the traditions that sprang from it through the years and tried to teach us how we should live them in our own time. Now, fifty years later, we are being asked to do the same. Other Christian Churches were represented at Vatican II and will no doubt be encouraged to contribute to the happenings of this new Year of Faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">We have an ongoing need to revitalise our belief in God. We need a vision that will carry us forward, one that will support us as we try to live with full hearts and generosity in our following of Christ. And we need to let that overflow in some way or other for the benefit of our neighbour. They should be happier that we are around. Not everyone can be a sparkling companion but being what God wants us to be in ourselves should somehow communicate itself to others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLhH2bVxesQx1gmwtUOJeK_OjNFRhbrSC9sXf0535bd7jRj36dZXNFkfJip22fSH2JR83R288l4p2UELLUtb_RkVXasBJECi0f9cok0iX5611POrrKmIOYpC8B80zbYxl-HWVSCKpxKw/s1600/DSCF0563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLhH2bVxesQx1gmwtUOJeK_OjNFRhbrSC9sXf0535bd7jRj36dZXNFkfJip22fSH2JR83R288l4p2UELLUtb_RkVXasBJECi0f9cok0iX5611POrrKmIOYpC8B80zbYxl-HWVSCKpxKw/s200/DSCF0563.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">Those who were caught up in the spirit of the times all those years ago won’t have lost that spark of life that held so much promise for the future. As often happens, history has its own ways of diluting positive experiences. Like all good living, so too with the gospel much effort is required to embrace and assimilate its values. The cross that Christ dies on was not a symbol but a reality for him. It is a symbol for us of what he achieved. To be true to it we must ourselves accept the crosses that we have to meet as we try to follow the path to life that Christ opened up for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21px;">My monastic life in the past fifty years has had its ups and downs. (I’ll spare you the telling of those.) But the things that happened at the various sessions over the four year period of the Council has always stayed with me. The optimism generated by the Council was a wholesome and life-giving thing.. The yearning within many at the Council and outside it for new and fresh initiatives is what the Gospel is all about. Not everything that was hoped for saw the light of day, and not everything that was advocated deserved to survive the scrutiny of the Council Fathers. But it is also true to say that some things did not come to fruition because people were not ready for them or they were not properly implemented.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">What happened at Vatican II is what happens to all of us in our lives. Some things we win, others we lose. A vocation is just like that. There are negative forces at work in our lives as well as, thank God, positive ones. They are the making of who we are and how, strangely enough, God draws us to what we are called to be. Some of the negative forces may well be of our own making. If so, we will stumble and fall down. But falling down is not the problem. Scripture says the just fall down seven times a day. What determines our character, our destiny, our holiness, is the getting up. However, if we get up and allow our minds to remain in the mud, we might as well stay there. If, on the other hand we don’t give up on our initial ideal and vision, we will not stay down for very long. That attitude remains true for the Church as well as for people in general. It is also true for each one of us as we strive to follow God in the ways he beckons. To misquote Tony Benn who, in his eighties, said ‘Life gets better the longer you live it.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">I thank God for showing that to be true, and you also for coming to share this day with me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #bfffff; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website) </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #bfffff;">Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk </span></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">|</span></span></div>
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<span class="yui_3_2_0_17_1350066147925123" style="background-color: #bfffff;">domdonald.org.uk </span></div>
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<br />Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-67565540251145644072012-08-22T10:38:00.000-07:002012-08-22T10:38:10.592-07:00Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Solemnity Homily Abbot Mark<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="yui_3_2_0_18_1345638259292121" id="yui_3_2_0_18_1345638259292163"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Wednesday, 15 August 2012 </span>The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Solemnity <span style="font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;"><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke </span></span><span dir="ltr" style="font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1:39-56</span>. </span></span></h2>
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<b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Assumption of Mary, 2012 Community Mass Homily<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The
feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven may seem to some like putting her
on a pedestal which we look at from afar. - We admire her position and then forget
about it for another year. If we did think
along those lines we would be missing out from an awareness of what our
Christian life is all about. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The
life stories of the saints, and of our Lord himself, show us what we can
become. They are a mirror in which – if
we look at them long enough – will transform us into what we see there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In
recent days and weeks we have seen the happy enthusiasm that has emanated from
the London Olympic Games. Everyone who
has kept in touch with what has been going on there has been caught up in this
infectious spirit. Athletes have
excelled in their achievements. Some
have won an Olympic medal for the first time or have set personal bests. Most of those who did not win but came in
second or third acted as if they had actually won. Their silver or bronze medal was ‘gold’ for
them. The achievements of their
teammates had encouraged them to perform better themselves. The huge crowd of onlookers also spurred them
on to higher levels of performance.
Together, individual sports men and women, their fellow competitors and
the watching crowds, all made for a wonderful winning experience. The ones cheering and those being cheered on,
were all different parts of the same experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Entering
into the lives of the saints is not all that much different from the dynamics
seen at work at these Games. The Olympic
scene showed us the immense physical efforts, the speed and concentration
required for excellence. St Paul in one
of his letters to the early Churches writes about striving to win the
race. He urges us on by telling us that it
is only the person who comes first wins the crown. So, he said, we must strive to win. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">However,
the spiritual life is not logical in these matters. There is always the need for sustained and
real effort to win. But all of us have
different gifts and different levels of excellence. It may be that the nearest we get to a medal
is a personal best. In the Olympic Games
one person who gets the gold medal, but we all strike gold if we prepare and
perform as well as we possibly can.
There is only one colour of medal in the spiritual life if we run in it
as best we can. The saints show us
this. They competed in the race where their
better selves ran against their less-than-desirable selves, using all their
abilities and working with the handicaps they had. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The
glorious anthem and the golden light of the resurrection shone for Christ at
the end of his race when he rose from the dead.
When we put on the new man that is Christ, we take part in his race of
life in our own particular way. And our
Lady followed him closely, so closely that she has joined him, standing by his
side with her own winner’s medal. In
Christ we are all runners and, so long as we keep running, all winners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">All
the talk after the London Olympics has been about leaving a legacy to encourage
the young, and perhaps the not-so-young, to take up sport and to excel in it. That is what the Church has long been recommending
that we do as regards our faith and life in Christ. We learn to put on Christ, to achieve as he
did, by watching how other holy men and women themselves learnt from his
example throughout the ages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">When
we look at the lives of the saints generally we see the energy and attention
they exercised in their following of Christ.
But in the Assumption of Mary, which we are celebrating today, we
rejoice that she has, after her own efforts and discipline, arrived. She has been taken up to heaven where her Son
has himself already ascended to. They
have both received their gold medals. The Feast of the Assumption is Mary’s
finishing line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">No
one achieves anything of lasting value by themselves. We can do it only by living in and through
the energy and strength of our Lord’s own resurrection. It is the power and
adrenaline of his Holy Spirit who fuels our muscles and pumps his blood through
our veins that make our success possible.
We all go to heaven together on this track of life. And together we will find Mary standing by her
Son waiting to present us with our own winners’ medals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-29875213721161862842012-06-24T13:45:00.000-07:002012-06-24T13:45:59.522-07:00The Nativity of St John the Baptist - Homily<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIGvUoV3V8FwxFyqn9zX_-LC-xeQwLSoJDrRcp5_TgPvH89ZUL5hk-i75jGWjwEehPIu4caiTm5NKylhZxeCsS441ouez9OwlC2D9Q5rl7_34XQKwzkl5Ot082EYoGQczkp8AQbrwbCBU/s1600/eching+Birth+John+Bapt+50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIGvUoV3V8FwxFyqn9zX_-LC-xeQwLSoJDrRcp5_TgPvH89ZUL5hk-i75jGWjwEehPIu4caiTm5NKylhZxeCsS441ouez9OwlC2D9Q5rl7_34XQKwzkl5Ot082EYoGQczkp8AQbrwbCBU/s320/eching+Birth+John+Bapt+50.jpg" width="294" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">'His name is John' </span></b><i>Cistercian Breviary</i></td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.abbotmark.blogspot.co.uk/" style="background-color: white;">http://www.abbotmark.blogspot.co.uk/</a> <br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Birth
of John the Baptist,. (24 August,2012) <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Homily 11.00 am<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">John the Baptist
is the only person outside the Holy Family to have two days set aside for him
in the Church’s universal calendar. He
is obviously an important person in the life of the Church. John links the two Testaments. He is born in the Old to prepare the way for
the New. In later life John comes over
in the gospels as rather a fierce character.
Films, plays, and even opera have portrayed him as a wild man, even a
fanatic. It makes for good theatre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are people
who preach religion but for all their fine words reveal only themselves. There are others who never get in the way of
their message but point beyond
themselves. John was caught up by his
love for God and the desire he had to bring the hearts of people back to
God. However blunt his words, he did not
claim anything for himself. John was
humble. When he recognised Jesus, John
knew his work was nearly over. “He must
grow greater”, he said and, “I must grow less.”
John knew when to let go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As an only child
born to elderly parents who had long ago given up hope of having a family, John
the Baptist must have been a much-loved child.
At the same time it is very likely that he was a spoiled one as well. . Elizabeth
and Zechariah knew that their son was even more special than other
children. The meaning of his name is
“God’s gracious gift”. The name, John,
broke with the tradition of his family and yet both father and mother had
independently picked it. They were of
course inspired by the Holy Spirit<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The people
throughout the area were speaking about the unusual circumstances of his
birth. He was quite a little
celebrity. And it was the same when he
began his ministry. Crowds flocked to
him and, for a while, he was again a celebrity.
This time the whole of Jerusalem were talking about him. Some were saying openly that he was the
Messiah. Talk like this could go easily
to a man’s head. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And yet, somehow
John was aware, deep within himself, that he was not the one the people thought
he was. He knew that there was one
coming after him who was more important than he was and that his job was to
step aside and make way for him...This labour without reward or recognition must
have been hard at times. As he lay in
prison hearing about the crowds now following Jesus, he must have wondered if
he had toiled in vain and had exhausted himself for nothing. Surely there must have been times in that
prison when he hankered again for his younger days when people were over-awed
by him and he was both popular and successful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">John’s
experience is a kind of model for all those whose best days are behind
them. Men and women who were once
well-known and had succeeded in their lives, inevitably have to give way to
others younger than themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We should
remember such people as they try to cope with the changed circumstances in
their lives. They are not now useless,
simply that their circumstances have changed.
They do need to adapt to a changed reality where their usefulness is not
ended but different. They can always do
something else. And, if that becomes too
difficult, they can certainly <i>be</i>
themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">John himself
remains a model for us in that he shows that we can and should step aside so
that Christ is the one who stands first in our lives. We find Christ when the time comes for us to
step back and let the other people in our lives and our work move into a more
central role. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">John let go when
the time came, and - with his help - so can we!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-80946297408756712092012-06-14T02:40:00.000-07:002012-06-14T02:53:36.002-07:00solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">Intro Mass Body and Blood of Christ, year B 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">Today is the solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ. It is also the beginning of the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, which continues for the whole week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">The purpose of the Congress, as it is of today’s solemnity, is to celebrate and understand more fully the legacy left us by our Lord of his body and blood in the bread and wine of the altar. He imparts to us his risen life. <u>That</u> is what we receive and celebrate. It is not his physical, earthly, body and blood as he was then but as he became and is for us now in his risen life. This new life is forever a new beginning for us as we try to rise above our faults and sins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">1<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">Lord Jesus, you raise us to new life. - Lord, have mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">2<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">You forgive and free us from our sins - Christ, have mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">3<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">You reconcile us to one another in your own body. <br /> - Lord, have mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">Intro. As one body, let us prayer to our Father<br />who gives life to the world.. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">Concl. God our Father, may the gift of food we eat at this table make us strong, and may all of your gifts fill our lives as we seek your kingdom in heaven.<br />We ask this through Christ our Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-33576634011593483642012-06-11T13:23:00.000-07:002012-06-14T02:35:01.534-07:00Novice Habit - Abbot's talk on the Reception Br. Seamus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Monday, 11 June 2012</h2>
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Novice Habit - Abbot's talk on the Reception Br. Seamus</h3>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="font-size: 14pt;">Sent:</b><span style="font-size: small;"> Sunday, 10 June 2012, 16:25</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Subject:</b> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Talk on reception of the habit</span> </b><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">After Lauds, the Chapter of the Community was present for ceremony of the habit given to the Novice, Seamus Conway. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">The Reception of a Novice is a very practical activity but full of symbolism. On this occasion for the time, the Sacristan was asked to photograph the happy event, as the pictures attached.</span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Talk on the Reception of the Habit </span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Seamus Conway 10 June 2012</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;">Traditionally the abbot uses this talk to remind a postulant on the day he receives the habit what his vocation is about, what he has come to the monastery for. God calls people to the monastic life by various roads but always to the same end. That end is truly to seek God. The means to it are many. The chief of these are prayer and love of the brethren. Unless we remind ourselves of the need to keep God in our sights and to keep walking with him, we will falter on the way.</span><span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">Our daily reading, our regular attendance at the Divine Office and our openness to the calls on our time at awkward moments – when others have a real need – are also means to keeping God before our eyes. We need to plan our days and to work within the structures of the monastic timetable, but it’s amazing how often we have to drop our own plans because of other circumstances. We can be busy doing God’s work and yet at the end of the day wonder what on earth we have been doing all day. The time has flown and we don’t seem to have done anything constructive. We must not use this experience, which hopefully won’t happen too often, as an excuse for not planning our day. An ordered day does matter. It is pleasant to do the things that we like, but it is better to get on with the things we have to do whether we like them or not. That is the way monasteries came to be built over the years and how holy monks came to be formed. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrhc9frXtZ7_B0KWU4zHj12S53WfS9SNDreHsGDi-PmIy55BVBICmtKSnEAmUCIZ2HziW30Uvz1gxIRpNzlPXvXy99I9tP-WHoCWHarPFgvHZwdpGZI5r6of5IJrgjcOOtbG6_MzJ_5o/s1600/CIMG0155+Novice+Director+r..JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #993322; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrhc9frXtZ7_B0KWU4zHj12S53WfS9SNDreHsGDi-PmIy55BVBICmtKSnEAmUCIZ2HziW30Uvz1gxIRpNzlPXvXy99I9tP-WHoCWHarPFgvHZwdpGZI5r6of5IJrgjcOOtbG6_MzJ_5o/s320/CIMG0155+Novice+Director+r..JPG" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; border: currentColor; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px rgba(0,0,0,0.0976563); padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10px;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-small;"><b>and Br. Seamus</b></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Lnz1LW-qd5zwCsafLxen8G5fuCi0m0FQfQ6MPpwoKPbuxqfuOFHPgLHoVuVycoPXL5ukg1Q70J1xsNg7cGVOHE8lxsu-GYUpzSbEy2kcHGVj5t8WtNsyjgb0vGcEKlyxZYKNo73kLlQ/s1600/CIMG0156+crop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #993322; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Lnz1LW-qd5zwCsafLxen8G5fuCi0m0FQfQ6MPpwoKPbuxqfuOFHPgLHoVuVycoPXL5ukg1Q70J1xsNg7cGVOHE8lxsu-GYUpzSbEy2kcHGVj5t8WtNsyjgb0vGcEKlyxZYKNo73kLlQ/s200/CIMG0156+crop.JPG" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.496094) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: currentColor; box-shadow: 1px 1px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.496094); padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="178" /></a><span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">To grow as a person and to become steeped in monastic wisdom is not just about filling the mind with information, though that is important and part of our formation. True growth is more of a mentality and a training of the heart. Life can be hard. In ancient monastic folklore and in the annals of monastic history it has been known for newcomers to the monastic life to be asked to do foolish or ridiculous things. The famous one is being told to plant cabbages upside down. Daily living in community is difficult enough without spending time creatively thinking of ways to make life more difficult for newcomers. There are enough of us who can create that kind of situation naturally without trying. Part of community living is to put up with such situations, though the community should try and put a stop to such things happening. The funny thing is that we almost always think that some people do go out their way to make life difficult for us.<br /> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">However these times in our lives can be the very ones that lead us closer to God because they force us to go to God like the psalmist, and plead for help. We learn quicker our need of God. These times are also moments when we can get a better awareness if we really do have a call to the monastic life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">Our fellow monks are there to help us on way to God. We should not let any quirks or peculiar personal oddities they may have to throw us off course. St John of the Cross, I think it was, said that if we want to have love in our lives, we should put love into life and then we will find it.<br /> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">That, Seamus, is what you have before you. You came to us with your own particular gifts and you will add to them by receiving the gifts that the other members of the community themselves possess. Fullness of life comes from giving and receiving what we all have to share.<br /> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #813d05; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19px;">These are only some of the things that have drawn you to the monastic life. Our vocation is to seek and find God, to hold fast to him in good times and bad. That is the way offered to you. After your experience over a number of months in this community, it is time for you now to decide if you wish to continue living with us as you continue to seek God’s will in your life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-2148484249892038072012-06-10T21:31:00.000-07:002012-06-11T13:16:49.236-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sunday, 10 June 2012</h2>
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<a href="http://nunraw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/holy-trinity.html" style="color: #993322; text-decoration: none;">Holy Trinity</a></h3>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><u>Homily for Holy Trinity, 2012</u></strong></span> <strong> </strong><strong> </strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">When we think of the Holy Trinity, due to our upbringing and the particular focus of theological thinking in the Church of our time, most of us normally think of three Persons in the One nature of God. Sometimes this can make our understanding of God seem far away and ‘up there’ - very remote from everyday life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">In fact the knowledge of God which Jesus gave his disciples was very personal. He spoke to them of the experience he had with the Father. His Father was not an idea but a Person. That seems quite a concrete but because of the way he went on to talk of the Father, the disciples found it difficult to understand him at times. We can find it difficult enough to understand each other so it is hardly surprising the disciples having this problem, too, on hearing Jesus’ words.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Jesus was an immensely attractive individual. All sorts of people were drawn to him by the force of his personality and the compassion he showed to the poor and the needy. Some looked to him for new life and others to find reasons for doing away with him because of the threat he was to their lifestyle. So Jesus was someone who touched on the lives of others for good or for bad. Life is never neutral. During the course of it we will make choices for what is life-enhancing or what is ultimately selfish. We cannot stand by and not take part in the drama of life. Our lives are either increased or diminished by Christ’s coming on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">So what is it that made Jesus so different from the rest of humankind? He was first of all concerned not for himself but for others. He gave from what he himself had received. That came from this close but mysterious ‘Father’ Jesus spoke about to the disciples. They had lived with him during his years of ministry, so they knew him well enough to know that what he told them was somehow true, even though they may have found it hard to understand him fully. There was always room for misunderstanding. But those grains of truth had been sown. When he rose again from the dead those grains of seed came to life and bore fruit in their new awareness of who he was.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">And who was this man Jesus? He is the one who spoke of God as his Father. No son was as close to his father as he was to his. No married couple or closest of friends were as intimate as he was with his Father. At times he spoke as if he<i>was</i> the Father or that the Father was him. At other times he said he was doing the work of the Father and that he did nothing that was not from the Father. Jesus said that he must go to be where he was from the beginning. It is all so unusual!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">And then there is the mention of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told the disciples that he had to go or the Holy Spirit would not be able to come to them. When he came he would reveal the full meaning of all he had told them. This Spirit was the expression of the love, of the being, of Father and Son<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Jesus told us he was one with the Father. But now there is a difference. Jesus, true Son of God the Father and true son of man, has risen from the dead, and has ascended with this humanity into the Godhead. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The Holy Trinity which we honour today now contains some of our humanity. With the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this same risen Jesus said he would return to be with us always. But the Father would also be with us because Jesus said that he and the Father are one. Together they would remain with us. When we are alone in times of sorrow, or when we are feeling deserted, they would still be with us in their care and friendship.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The bishops and theologians in the early centuries of the Church’s existence were so convinced of Jesus’ words about the Father and the Holy Spirit that they stated clearly that there <i>are</i> three Persons in the One reality of God. This is not a puzzle to be worked out but more a bond of love and relationship which embraces all of us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Today’s readings at Mass do not give us the main texts of the gospel which speak of the relationship of Father and Son. But they do speak of the mystery of God and of the mission to go and preach that good news to our world. Grace, love and fellowship are the blessings we receive from Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. These gifts of such a marvellous God are what the Church proclaims to the world. We are called to be true to them and to express them through the lives we lead.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: small;"><b><u>Abbot Mark</u></b></span></td></tr>
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</div>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-54980315455453114012011-08-22T02:54:00.000-07:002011-08-22T03:03:16.694-07:00Growing into Christ<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">21 Sunday, Year A, 2011 (11.00 am) <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4FKAtTvFUPsquWdQHu7VoJxz3AJYje4uA4p5hyGUQy1PD7Dk-nsshAd5qKtJehJ5wPN_D9vYmIV6yYz48LJHzZXfR-y43qmjPbyCHr1yIJo-mbeMpaWTlTYmK6DAnW-eeh2V8nAU45E/s1600/glad53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4FKAtTvFUPsquWdQHu7VoJxz3AJYje4uA4p5hyGUQy1PD7Dk-nsshAd5qKtJehJ5wPN_D9vYmIV6yYz48LJHzZXfR-y43qmjPbyCHr1yIJo-mbeMpaWTlTYmK6DAnW-eeh2V8nAU45E/s200/glad53.jpg" width="156" /></b></span></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"></span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Today we have the gospel passage of Peter’s profession of faith in who he believed Jesus was. This section of the gospel is normally seen only as applying to Peter and his successors and of their importance in safeguarding the role and power of the Holy See and its care of the Church universal. </b></span></div></div><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Peter certainly meant what he said in his reply to Jesus’ question as to who the disciples thought he was. And yet subsequent events showed that Peter did not really/fully understand what he was actually saying in this magnificent profession of faith. Jesus himself told Peter that it was his Father in heaven who revealed the truth of what he had boldly stated.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Peter’s words were truly prophetic. Jesus responded by praising Peter and guaranteeing his position and future role guiding and caring for the Church. Jesus took this step in spite of Peter’s weakness and forthcoming betrayal of him. Responsibility and weakness go hand in hand. Peter spoke truthfully when he said who Jesus was. However it is obvious that he had not yet fully understood its implications. That is no different from the rest of us. We all have to make our basic life commitments. We know what we want to do but not necessarily what it will all lead to. That is why once we definitively commit ourselves we need to remain open to all that unfolds for us in the future. It is not possible to foresee what lies over the horizon.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We normally don’t realise want we are taking on. We can probably see the positive gains but not realise the difficulty of acquiring them in practice. Perhaps that is no bad thing or we might be too afraid to do what is the right thing. Life and the various vocations within it, whether they are to marriage, to the priesthood, the religious life, or careers in nursing, teaching, or whatever, they are all enriching and challenging. And they all demand ongoing change in us if we live them properly. God never stops giving us new challenges and gifts. If we respond to them we will grow more into what we are called to be. The challenges may not be world shaking. These may simply be small changes to the way we live with one another, to the way we pray, to responding more readily to the needs of those around us. These are things that make our world go round and keep us faithful disciples to the Lord. <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>To be happy in our lives is to be confident in God’s presence and help, whatever the weaknesses we are aware of within our hearts. In our following of Christ we needn’t necessarily feel more self-confident as life goes on. But those who follow Christ look to him more than at themselves, knowing their ever-increasing need of God. It is not unusual to find in the lives of the saints that they think ‘There go I –sinner - without the grace of God’.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Our vocation is to grow in confidence that Christ is with us, not that we are less in need of God. Our faith therefore is a journey of growth. That growth is an increase of God in our lives, which frustratingly is not very evident to us as we go about our lives. I suppose it is others who are the only true witnesses to our nearness to God. But, whether we know it or not doesn’t really matter in the end.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Peter grew into becoming the upholder and brother of his companions in the faith. His story of budding faith and movement from faltering to full belief in Christ is a reflection of our own. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif;"> </span></b></span></span></div></div></div>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-47019816326929246792011-08-14T12:26:00.000-07:002011-08-14T12:26:41.161-07:00The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4RBuwVSuX1XUX3jnTkMkJnVNA_YLI_Kl4QZsxYgTsDz-L3vpHumsPnSanoCVDkc_uXV5FRShzZ5NUe3LemCDR-AfwFvYbXANel-IP4cGS73yLShXfBoEz4rgkFm9q_Nt61F409cmqC4c/s1600/CN17_img_149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4RBuwVSuX1XUX3jnTkMkJnVNA_YLI_Kl4QZsxYgTsDz-L3vpHumsPnSanoCVDkc_uXV5FRShzZ5NUe3LemCDR-AfwFvYbXANel-IP4cGS73yLShXfBoEz4rgkFm9q_Nt61F409cmqC4c/s320/CN17_img_149.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">CNS photo - Baltimore Cathedral</span></i></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-size: medium;">Assumption, 2011 Chapter Sermon </span></span></b></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><ul style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: left;"><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 23px;">The Assumption of our Lady into heaven is not just another feast of Mary which completes</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"> her CV. Nor is it an anniversary which we remember each year and then go on with our own lives.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">Mary’s Assumption reaffirms our belief in the resurrection of Jesus, which is the bedrock of our faith.<span> </span>As St Paul says in writing to the Corinthians, ‘If he has not risen then our faith is dead.’</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">The Assumption of Mary expresses our belief that we are all on the road to heaven.<span> </span>Heaven is the destination we are heading for.<span> </span>Each morning when we awaken we are moving further along that route.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">Our Lady’s Assumption is the hook on which we hang our belief that she has ascended to be beside her Son in heaven and that our destiny lies in hers.<span> </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">Jesus is truly risen.<span> </span>That belief underpins our faith; Mary’s Assumption is the confirmation of that truth.<span> </span>She is the first disciple of her Son.<span> </span>And she is also the first to experience the full reality of what happened to her Son after his death.<span> </span>He rose to new life.<span> </span>She shares that reality in a much fuller way than we can appreciate. <span> </span>We believe that we are saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus - but not yet! <span> </span><u>We</u> still have to battle with our demons and conquer them. <span> </span>But the power of the risen Jesus is with us to guide and help us and the example of Mary and the saints are also there to encourage and assist us as we travel.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">On this feast of Mary we celebrate that mystery of faith. <span> </span><span> </span>We know that we are truly one with the risen Lord and must go on in faith believing that this is so.<span> </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">When Jesus was speaking to the crowd about the bread of life, they didn’t or wouldn’t understand what he was saying and so went away from him.<span> </span>It was a great act of faith they were being asked to make.<span> </span>(What would have been our own response if we had been there?)<span> </span>Jesus then asked his faithful band of disciples if they would go away as well.<span> </span>Perhaps the disciples were not sure what Jesus was actually saying.<span> </span>But they knew him and trusted him.<span> </span>Peter’s reply, ‘Lord to whom shall we go?’ must be ours, too, as we stand before this other great mystery of life after death.<span> </span>Mary now fully experiences that for herself. <span> </span>It awaits all of us at the end.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">The road to that glorious place has been mapped out for us.<span> </span>Sometimes in preparation for an important journey we like to drive over the ground ourselves to make sure we are on the right road.<span> </span>We can then see what lies ahead and be more sure we are going in the right direction.<span> </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">Unfortunately our own inner life journey doesn’t have that kind of precise and clear view of the road ahead.<span> </span>What we do know is that we will get there if we learn from those who have gone before us. <span> </span>They have shown us how they did it.<span> </span>We also know that the way we live/the way we drive, the courtesy we show to the others we meet on the way as we go along, and the care we take as we travel, all affect how we get to our destination.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">Like most road maps in today’s world we can’t be sure if the exact route others took is still viable for us as we make the journey ourselves.<span> </span>Even a satnav warns you to be wary as there may be diversions or road works ahead.<span> </span>So, even though we know where we want to go, we sometimes need to stop and check where we are.<span> </span>We may have to turn round to get back on to the proper road, either because we took a wrong turning or the route has been altered slightly.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">Holiness and getting to heaven is not like a carbon copy which we adhere to blindly.<span> </span>We have to apply the gospel to our life, to our vocation and personal circumstances, so that we finally arrive at the desired goal.<span> </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">The funny thing is that we may all travel in different ways but those who arrive at the ‘pearly gates’ share an uncanny likeness. They are all transfigured with the same glory that Peter, James and John saw shining on Jesus on the mountain. That was a foreshadowing of the glory given to the risen Jesus and now to Mary in her assumption into heaven. Please God it will be a foretaste of what lies ahead for all of us as we daily seek with Mary’s help to stay on that golden </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 23px;">road to God.</span></li>
</ul></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDr27wnQtj6mEzBiCiffHQeq_xonm-Bt58fDULa2t3ejaD1szVbVtp1eEkHwlhNqU2Nn0NSiBpSOoThaNqi-JyNquxoYAhrdv04B3W9ayTHR1tJwlA-wKbzSh_6JUUHjPjsDtXjl2g5Gs/s1600/markemail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDr27wnQtj6mEzBiCiffHQeq_xonm-Bt58fDULa2t3ejaD1szVbVtp1eEkHwlhNqU2Nn0NSiBpSOoThaNqi-JyNquxoYAhrdv04B3W9ayTHR1tJwlA-wKbzSh_6JUUHjPjsDtXjl2g5Gs/s200/markemail.jpg" width="121" /></a></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf5f00; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div></div></div>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-33048204263003710372011-06-12T10:44:00.000-07:002011-06-12T10:44:16.329-07:00Living Pentecost<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTLhDW7rOEYmoVwaHDJstaixnr_lZoAr_yrrScaskFKBoVvVAtrwZAGum-dx2zY_lVpUEpfuSXGLBDrXuDpngylobnlD7X8OPaiZcC6rRghok5ytBa127P1VHDlb0taiCOcpr_PPd-jxI/s1600/Holy+Spirit+brightflickrs_circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTLhDW7rOEYmoVwaHDJstaixnr_lZoAr_yrrScaskFKBoVvVAtrwZAGum-dx2zY_lVpUEpfuSXGLBDrXuDpngylobnlD7X8OPaiZcC6rRghok5ytBa127P1VHDlb0taiCOcpr_PPd-jxI/s200/Holy+Spirit+brightflickrs_circle.jpg" width="151" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">Homily - Pentecost, 2011</span></span></b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;">Some people are so gifted that there seems to be no end to the variety and number of their activities. They act so confidently and naturally and succeed in the many things they do. It’s not surprising therefore that we see the same in Christ. In him we see a many-sided personality. In the scriptures we find there many wondering who he is, both among his followers and those who want to destroy him.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</span></b></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>All sorts of people were attracted to him because of his teaching and also for his otherworldliness. He seemed more than the historical person we know him to have been. <br />
</b></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>There was something different and hidden about him. But it wasn’t really a long-kept secret, for Jesus did tell his disciples who he was but they did not understand what he had meant. That’s not surprising as we often don’t understand each other. We are not as open to others as we think. <br />
</b></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>The love and the care Jesus showed expressed in the pages of the scriptures were his but were more than his. During the course of the past week in the daily gospel readings at Mass Jesus was seen talking about his intimate relationship with The ‘Father’.</b></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b><br />
</b></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>He had a wonderfully close and understanding bond with the Father. Married love or ‘best friend’ relationships could not be closer than this unity Jesus tells us he has with his Father in heaven. It was so intimate that he spoke as if at times he was the Father or that the Father was like him. <br />
</b></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>It wasn’t surprising then that in succeeding ages the bishops and theologians in the early Church eventually came to the conclusion that there is indeed something greater in Jesus. He was not just a superhuman man. They believed that there is in fact an immensely complex reality present in Christ, in God. Somehow Jesus and his Father <u>are</u> one and have always been. They are separate identities - Persons, and yet one because of their great love. And it is this love that Jesus came to share with us. Not as something we can take or possess, but share. The nature of sharing is that you give something of yourself. When Jesus and the Father give us of themselves it is the Holy Spirit, their Spirit, which comes to us. That is what we see in the colourful words used in the Acts of the Apostles describing the first Pentecost. The apostles were transformed. They were taken out of themselves. In a way they were like Father and Son going out in love to express their experience. That is the way of all great experiences. We want to share it. We want others to see what we have been given. <br />
</b></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>This gift of God’s life contains so much of God that it became another expression of God, the Holy Spirit - another Person. This Paraclete, this other helper; was one with the Father and the Son. That is why the risen Jesus would be with us always through the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. <br />
</b></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>This realisation is so compelling that the Church has firmly stated that there are three Persons in the one reality that is God. This is not a numbers game. People have used ingenious explanations to try and reconcile the seeming contradiction of God being three but also one. The gospel tells us not so much that God is out there and needs to be found by us as that God is in our lives and in our hearts. There it is God who seeks <u>us</u>. God is the breath we live by.</b></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b><br />
</b></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>The Holy Spirit gave new life to the apostles in the upper room. They became energised and courageous enough to proclaim the good news of Christ and his message. This same Spirit has come to do the same for us making us one in the body of Christ the Church. This vocation may be in the public arena or quietly in the way we live our ordinary daily lives. <br />
</b></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>The Spirit’s coming upon us on this feast of Pentecost fills us with God’s life; through the Holy Spirit the presence of the risen Christ remains with us all the days of our lives.<br />
</b></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>Some priests were holidaying in the north of Italy in the month of August. They arrived in Milan for their final weekend. On the Sunday they went to the Cathedral to concelebrate Mass. The colour of the vestments was red. They asked the sacristan whose feast they were celebrating and he replied: ‘Today is Pentecost.’ (This was a very hot day at the end of August.) to all who would listen. The sacristan went on to explain that in the Ambrosian Rite used in Milan they wore red vestments for Pentecost, and for the rest of the year. The Holy Spirit given at Pentecost, he said, is still with us. Pentecost is not simply the celebration of the anniversary of an historical event. It is a permanent reality in the Church.</b></span></span></li>
</ul></div></div>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-5628451489616336372011-05-30T02:27:00.000-07:002011-06-01T07:42:04.723-07:00Parting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div align="left"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><u><br />
</u></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXYDg7uNwUfoWcx8Ra5nxRkQRUgYfX3patk7yOe6kBqXFOxvLK7Z9490X0qtkmK7N9hCKa8o8op_g5_vpnQBqCS0UA-xzcuYVS6Ewo2xcsZwgpSI61Wwkw15In64ixuvPX-iuHopvLhKM/s1600/Back+Ave+Crop+002.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612452662524975042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXYDg7uNwUfoWcx8Ra5nxRkQRUgYfX3patk7yOe6kBqXFOxvLK7Z9490X0qtkmK7N9hCKa8o8op_g5_vpnQBqCS0UA-xzcuYVS6Ewo2xcsZwgpSI61Wwkw15In64ixuvPX-iuHopvLhKM/s320/Back+Ave+Crop+002.jpg" style="display: block; height: 202px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 214px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #6aa84f;">Nunraw - 'Nun's Walk'</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaHygQfkvpNPyg1AS7Y_GzUkkm5uB_KFj6M2ha863VJo2TWKOpGacpVbQpfzlmAi_rz-ifWPlcCmumLh8AEElkN4AnNlBLFzVlrGDEdKzplbdrKOoMBtp7JSXKoJsMsL01HUHrK8MUylc/s1600/SM+-+002.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><strong>Homily for 6th Sunday of Easter, 2011</strong> </div><div align="left">This time of year in the liturgy we are living through the resurrection experience of Jesus. We are being shown how that burst of new energy and life was put into his followers.<br />
<br />
We are being made more aware, at the same time, of Jesus’ imminent leave-taking. All departing can be difficult. Members of families leave the maternal home to set up a place of their own; loved ones go abroad, perhaps never to be seen again; and, there is the final parting of death.<br />
Whenever we do experience a parting, a change takes place in those who are left behind. Parents must allow their children stand on their own two feet and look to the future. The young ones need to explore the world for themselves, hopefully with the experience and earlier training their parents gave them to guide them. Young married couples must be left to live their new life together and to learn from their own mistakes. In the case of death in a family, there is the responsibility of creating a new centre of focus for the family’s future.<br />
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Today in the gospel reading, Christ tells his disciples he must leave them. They had gone through the trauma of his death on the cross but he had come back to them. Now he tells them that he is now really going away for good. They had lost him but had found him again. Now they were going to lose him once and for all. Life is full of uncertainties and sometimes of false hopes. The disciples seem to have had more than their fair share of those. But human hope springs eternal. That is what the disciples have learnt through the Lord’s resurrection and ascension to his Father. We too have to learn that lesson.<br />
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We know now that death is a gateway to a fuller life. That all departing is another beginning for those who leave but also for those who are left behind.<br />
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The risen Lord had to go back to the Father. He had come from the Father. His return however was different because he took with him his risen human nature. And that difference allowed him to prepare a place so that we could be with him and with the Father.<br />
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After Jesus’ ascension his disciples were empowered to take his message of hope, love and service to their hearts. They would now grow in their understanding of their mission. Now they began to really understand what Jesus had taught them. Through their new-found conviction Jesus would speak through their words and live through their lives. They learned themselves as they preached to others. They would preach the message of reconciliation with God and with one another after sin had cut them off from each other. They proclaimed the good news of peace and joy that comes from hearing and putting into practice what Jesus had taught them before his death. The disciples realised that they had to die to self and put their lives at risk if they were to be faithful to the truth that he taught them. That truth is a golden stone that needs to be handed on and lived by if the world is to be saved and to become one in mind and heart.<br />
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Being with friends is a heart-warming experience. In taking leave of them we normally plan to meet again. That lessens any sorrow there may be in the parting. Christ’s going to the Father gives that same, but deeper, dimension to our lives. There is a feeling of losing something in the leave-taking but we have the assurance that what we will receive later will be immeasurably greater than what we seem to have lost now.<br />
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Jesus himself said that if he did not go the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will not come to us. We might think of it as Jesus’ physical appearance which has to give way so that we can receive the Spirit which in some mysterious way is the risen Lord’s inner presence in us. The life of the risen Jesus dwells in our deepest being. When we are given that then we will truly live with him and speak for him. That is how we will be able to give his message to the world.</div></div>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-71456904707798143382011-03-24T13:16:00.000-07:002011-03-25T11:27:55.238-07:00Annunciation of the Lord 25 March, 2011<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicEQIcGJ6p4yk9Vh25P3CisAW5ihHpBuqQ6uCnKnn8Dr_07Cz3DIYA6t2IRY_o37QvVMU8VCRpg8jgm_VBtOSOikFQ8w3u8huO0d22TW5mCmjvPvR5VcyLsrqe5g6dFbzxS90UJbRI-uw/s1600/Annunciation+31KB++017.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 180px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587962804238649426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicEQIcGJ6p4yk9Vh25P3CisAW5ihHpBuqQ6uCnKnn8Dr_07Cz3DIYA6t2IRY_o37QvVMU8VCRpg8jgm_VBtOSOikFQ8w3u8huO0d22TW5mCmjvPvR5VcyLsrqe5g6dFbzxS90UJbRI-uw/s320/Annunciation+31KB++017.JPG" /></a> <p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; TEXT-ALIGN: center; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 14ptfont-size:130%;color:#cc6600;" >Annunciation - Solemnity 2011</span></b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; TEXT-ALIGN: center; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; tab-stops: 375.65pt" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Community Chapter - Sermon by Fr. Mark<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; tab-stops: 375.65pt" class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">In the early sixties, on a visit to Nunraw, Dom Jean Leclercq remarked that monks make bad librarians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That was because, he said, their minds were attuned to seeing the connections that any subject had with many others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So, for example, a number of books by Newman may be classified variously under the title Scripture, Theology, Patrology, Pastoral, Spirituality, and so on, depending on how you care to think about it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>It is good to be able see all the possible connections but that can give headaches to a professional librarian.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; tab-stops: 375.65pt" class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">When we come to celebrate the major feasts and solemnities of the liturgy, it is helpful to try and see the connections and to avoid the ‘Classification’ instinct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Today’s Solemnity of the ‘Annunciation of the Lord’ is a case in point. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>Many of us have been used to think of today’s celebration as a feast of our Lady.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is of course!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But it is also about our Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; tab-stops: 375.65pt" class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">The whole purpose of the Annunciation is to tell of the imminent coming of the Lord in the flesh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So the feast is of our Lady but it is much more about the Christ, about the One who was to come and save his people. Mary appears in the foreground of the play; Jesus, her son, waits in the wings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Jean Leclercq’s monk would want to go further and to include those of us who are watching the play and who want to see what it means for us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; tab-stops: 375.65pt" class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">The angel Gabriel and our Lady have the main speaking parts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We move closer to them to learn what they have to tell us about our Lord and Saviour. What each says to the other tells us much about the graciousness of God who is now fulfilling what has been only hinted at from the beginning of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Mary’s response as the story of God’s message unfolds and her acceptance of her part in the process is also our learning process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We learn from her how to be open to God as he reveals himself to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; tab-stops: 375.65pt" class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Each of our vocations is a kind of parallel image of Mary’s at the moment the annunciation was made by the angel Gabriel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>What she did then, because it was a heartfelt response and an acceptance of God into her life, has become a kind of template of what our lives should be. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>No one of course can have an identical life to any other person, but we can see how she left herself open to God’s word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We can learn how she quietly and undramatically followed that Word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She lived on earth before her son was born in the fullness of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But it was she who followed after him as the first disciple. We who come later in time, after both mother and divine Son, can enter into that mystery, learn from it and renew our appreciation of what we have been given. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; tab-stops: 375.65pt" class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">It is obvious from the story of the Annunciation that Mary had in her earlier years been well coached in the life of the Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She would hardly have been so prompt in accepting this revelation and its consequences if she had not been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That inner sensitivity could only have helped her deal with the awkward position in which she found herself when she became pregnant of the Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Just imagine what interior anguish she must have felt about Joseph’s reactions to her condition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>How was she going to tell him about her vision of the angel?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Would he believe her?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Would he happily go along with a situation he did not himself fully understand? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>Would he now feel unwanted as a father and a husband?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All, or some, of these feelings must have passed through his mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Both he and Mary were human like us. But they did not rush into major decisions when caught up in these uncertainties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Such precipitous actions can alter lives sometimes with long-lasting effects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So, these two important figures in Jesus’ life show us that, even in extraordinary events as these, we can learn to live quietly through what we cannot easily understand at first. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>In God’s hands, our problems will be resolved and our lives strengthened, given time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="BORDER-BOTTOM: red; BORDER-LEFT: red; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #ccecff; BORDER-TOP: red; BORDER-RIGHT: red; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid red 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="justify"><o:p></o:p></p>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-56268037734741693362011-03-19T11:44:00.000-07:002011-03-19T12:25:58.840-07:00St Joseph Solemnity - Mark<div align="center"><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;color:#cc6600;">Homily at Mass for St Joseph, 19 March 2011 </span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="color:#cc6600;"><br /></span></strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">St Joseph is renowned as a man of honour. In the bible that means he had firm beliefs and that he strove to do what was right in God’s eyes. It means also that he wanted to be just and yet to act with fairness and love. He had a great respect for Mary’s character and yet couldn’t understand how she had become pregnant.<br />The problem for us is to understand Joseph’s predicament and to interpret properly what scripture says about him and all the incidents we find in the early chapters of Mathew and Luke. Even modern biographers, when they have plenty of source material at their disposal, can find it difficult at times to explain clearly every aspect of their subject’s life.<br />Some think that Joseph was left in the dark about Mary’s condition; others that, Joseph knew either intuitively or from Mary’s own lips how she had conceived a child, even before the angel’s message in a dream. There are many gaps in the infancy narratives. Scripture Scholars and theologians have tried to piece together the various strands of Jesus’ infancy with greater or lesser success. I suppose we all tend to look at the story of this unique family with the critical historical eye of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. But that was not the way chapters one and two of Matthew and Luke were written. They were put together to show us the story of Jesus’ birth and of Mary’s and Joseph’s place in that life. And the two gospels look at the birth of Jesus from different angles. In varying degrees each one points out Jesus’ ancestry and reveal how he was the one through whom God’s love and the story of mankind’s future would unfold. Historical accuracy was not of particular importance to the early Church writers when it came to the things of God, but the theological implications most certainly were.<br />So we find many gaps in the infancy narratives. But what comes in between the gaps are the bits which are important for our understanding of God’s designs for our future.<br />Whatever Joseph knew about Mary’s condition, his initial reaction was to protect her from any innuendo and especially from severe retribution from the religious extremists who would have punished her according to the strict letter of the law. We might think Joseph’s plan of action would not have saved his betrothed. But his instinct was of the highest level and the true measure of the man.<br />Something unique happened when Gabriel announced that Mary would conceive without human intervention and give birth to the ‘Son of God’ who would save the human race for the glorious future that lay in store for them. He was the one who would show us human nature as it was meant to be. The experience of human love at its deepest level finds its meaning in this fusion of the human and divine. In Jesus, in God, human love and divine love meet and intertwine. That, at heart, is what true love and human life is about. In the child conceived in Mary, God reveals himself and puts his stamp on our lives. What to an outsider may appear to be natural love at its best is, in fact, the sign of God’s immersion in our human life.<br />We know from our study of theology that in the real world in which we live there is no such thing as a purely natural life. From the beginning of time God destined us to live in a higher dimension. And Jesus is the reason why that is so. Through him we are destined to be raised up to a life with God. If Joseph had any inkling of this as he reflected on the mysterious things that were happening to this young woman that he loved, perhaps it’s no wonder he wanted to put her away. He knew somehow that she wouldn’t have betrayed him, but he must have been very afraid of the implications this would have for him.<br />No one is born a saint. Joseph may have been afraid and feeling very insecure in the hole he found himself in. This is an understandably natural human reaction. But, when the angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream during the night, his attitude changed. It was Joseph’s response which made all the difference and made him worthy to be the father of Mary’s son. In spite of his feelings, Joseph accepted God’s call. That is where sainthood begins.<br />Joseph is a fitting father on earth of this amazing child. His example of obedience and faithfulness to God’s beckoning, even in the strangest of situations, is one that we can and ought to follow. </span></div>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-88443505137108106412011-03-09T13:12:00.000-08:002011-03-09T13:22:10.647-08:00Ash Wednesday Daffodils<span class="Apple-style-span"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvXS2yEI3Uu3xIkYQcTYv-Tscfho5YgHgrIvnTWVImLsC1iS8FOFFtjEbBLWTHJ9lCHxsq_nXQ3mkir58BjrlJC9sCpFpvAoXIwDvoj8hPYVp5RL5iZj2X6Ic3iH3Y42JPpF94acqysUU/s1600/CIMG0992.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvXS2yEI3Uu3xIkYQcTYv-Tscfho5YgHgrIvnTWVImLsC1iS8FOFFtjEbBLWTHJ9lCHxsq_nXQ3mkir58BjrlJC9sCpFpvAoXIwDvoj8hPYVp5RL5iZj2X6Ic3iH3Y42JPpF94acqysUU/s400/CIMG0992.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582192342912415986" /></a></span>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-52882709046330595962011-03-09T02:38:00.000-08:002011-03-09T03:08:21.328-08:00Journey to Easter<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;"><strong>Introduction Ash Wednesday and Lent, 2011</strong> <br /></div></span></span><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">‘Come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.’ So the Lord, through the prophet Joel, welcomes us to the season of Lent.<br />It is the repentant heart not the torn garments that the Lord seeks from us. It is the inner spirit not so much the exterior appearance that our Lord wants from us, as we heard in the gospel reading.<br /><br />Lent can be such a positive time in our liturgical year. It’s not that we really are far from God but that we sometimes let the trials of life and our occasional sins and faults get between God and ourselves. We learn only slowly that we have to give control of our lives to God. We do need to keep moving ahead. But we also need to be alert to the prompting of God on the way. We may imagine that we know the road but there are certain twists and turns that we may not be aware of in our particular path home to God.<br /><br />It helps to do with less at this season. It makes sense to travel light. If we do anything extra we should choose the things which will assist the others travelling with us. They may be too weak to carry what they need and so be grateful for whatever help we can give them. It can help if we set out with a set purpose and a positive plan, though it may be hard to stick to it.<br /><br />The more we give of ourselves during Lent, the more likely will we reach the end of the journey with fewer mishaps on the way.<br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">We are that wasteful son whom the Father will receive with open arms for he is all tenderness and compassion. The other Son whose life, death and resurrection we prepare to celebrate at Easter will have the Father waiting for him as well. He is the first born, our elder brother. But unlike the elder son in the parable of the Prodigal, Christ will be as delighted at our return as his Father is for us. That is the very reason he undertook his own journey back from the dead.<br /><br />Christ’s journey and ours are really only one. But his is a pioneering one needed to show us the way for us back to God. Our journey hopefully is one of self-discovery, in which we find our true selves with all their warts and wrinkles. In finding them we realise that we can still go home and find the Father waiting to welcome us. </div></span>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-32490256990234074442010-05-24T02:50:00.000-07:002010-05-24T03:12:04.932-07:00PENTECOST<span style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman','new york',times,serif;"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><div id="yiv682693571"><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><b><span style="font-family:Times;">Chapter Sermon, Pentecost <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>Year C, 2010</span></b></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times;">We have begun to celebrate the feast of Pentecost. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>The gospel reading for the Mass of the day is very interesting. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>It might well have been chosen for the feast of the Blessed Trinity. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>In it Jesus says,</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times;">If anyone loves me he will keep my word<br />and my Father will love him,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />and we shall come to him and make our home with him.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />Those who do not love me do not keep my words.<br />...My word is not my own;<br />it is the word of the one who sent me.<br />I have said these things to you<br />while still with you;<br />but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,<br />whom the Father will send in my name<br />will teach you everything<br />and remind you of all I have said to you. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>(Jn 14:23-26)</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;">We have some understanding of what Jesus is saying because we have some inkling of what a human father is. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>And yet theologians warn us that in speaking of God we have only a hint of what we are trying to understand. There is in, as you already know, a stream of thought in the Eastern Church that says in trying to describe God the opposite of what you are trying to say may be more true of God. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>God is so different from our ordinary experiences that there is more mystery than clear light when we try to understand what God is in essentials and in our lives.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;">Jesus says that the Spirit will teach us everything. We often think that we understand clearly the truth of what we are being taught. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>But the test of that is if we can repeat what we have been told in our own words. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>If our new knowledge has become part of us, then do we truly know what we have learnt and can use it to live by.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;">The Holy Spirit came to help the disciples recall what Jesus had told them so that they really understand what he was telling them about the Father and of himself as God’s Son. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>Jesus told them the Spirit, would come down upon them to make sure they grasped the fact that the Father and he himself would remain within them.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The Holy Spirit would guide them to this fuller knowledge. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>Without Jesus saying as much, this means that the Spirit himself would be in them. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>This I suppose is the sort of thing the controversies of the early Church were dealing with when the Fathers and theologians of the time were trying to describe the meaning of the Three Persons and the one Nature in God.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;">This mystery of God is a deeply personal one for us in our own time, not so much in the area of abstract concepts, but in our own intimate relations with Christ. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>It’s not possible to have such a relationship with him without also having one with the Father and indeed with the Spirit. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of both Father and Son, uniting them with each other and also joining us in that union.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;">The truth is we don’t know in practice what our life with God is from moment to moment. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>Indeed do we know what any of our ordinary relations are like with anyone? <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>We are normally on firm ground in our relationships with our friends and acquaintances. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>And yet, because of the human condition, our lives are in a process. Each of us is in a flux of change.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We are either growing closer together in knowledge and trust or growing apart for other reasons. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>True fellow feeling or friendship grows with time and with the sharing of commonly held beliefs and interests. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>If there is no love or other common bond then the ties we thought we had with them fade and die away.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;">What Jesus is sharing with the disciples, and us, is something so intimate to him and to all who would follow him that it cannot but grow and be life enhancing. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>This was worth Jesus becoming flesh and dying for.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;">It is so difficult for us to understand, ‘to unpack’ as the saying goes. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>We need to give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to work on us and to draw us into the heart of the feast of Pentecost.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But the spirit of Pentecost is not just a one-day event. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>It is a living reality and we need to let the message of the gospel seep into our hearts day by day. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>We become new persons<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>─<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Spirit-bearers and Christ-bearers for own selves and for all who would be sharers in this Good News.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;">That is what the season of Easter and the feast of Pentecost is all about. <span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>We are called to be followers of Christ ‘from the heart’ so that we may be ready receivers of the Holy Spirit and mediators of this great mystery of God to the world.</span></p></div></td></tr></tbody></table></span></span>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-58971196652885222742010-02-17T12:08:00.000-08:002010-02-17T12:13:02.705-08:00Ash Wednesday<span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:Tahoma;font-size:100%;">---- Forwarded Message ----<br /><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Mark Caira<br /><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wed, February 17, 2010 6:58:12 PM<br /><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> fror Abbot's blog/ ash Wednesday<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;" valign="top"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family:Times;">Homily for Ash Wednesday<span style=""> </span>2010</span></span></b></span> </p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family:Times;">We come to the beginning of Lent, yet again!<span style=""> </span>It doesn’t seem all that long since we began Lent last year.<span style=""> </span>That is often the feeling we have when Ash Wednesday comes round.<span style=""> </span>Perhaps we can’t be blamed too much for that because we find something of that feeling when we read St Benedict’s chapter on Lent.<span style=""> </span>He says that the life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent.<span style=""> </span>But, Benedict continues, because we haven’t the strength for that we should at least keep Lent when it comes round.</span></span></span> </p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family:Times;">However, when Benedict spells out what we should do in these days of Lent, it is not any energy-sapping exercises or heroic deeds he asks of us but such things like devoting ourselves to prayer, to reading, to compunction of heart and self-denial.<span style=""> </span>These can all be done in ways that are very demanding of human nature.<span style=""> </span>But they are also the stuff of ordinary everyday living.<span style=""> </span>So we can live through Lent doing these things in a quiet and serious manner without them making us drawn or exhausted.<span style=""> </span>To keep doing the right things in life are not arduous in themselves but may well be when we try and do them all the time.</span></span></span> </p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It’s when we are weak or caught off balance that our true character, our Christian pedigree, comes to light.<span style=""> </span>That perhaps is why Benedict asks us to do more </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">─ </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">to train more, if you like </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">─</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> so that our inner selves are tested and strengthened.<span style=""> </span>Then we will the more truly be ready to enjoy the coming of Easter.<span style=""> </span>For, of course, Benedict does not overstate the penitential side of Lent.<span style=""> </span>He does, however, place before us the behaviour he desires of us.<span style=""> </span>He asks of us to listen to his words, take them to heart, and correct what is wrong or sinful in our lives.</span></span> </p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family:Times;">As we begin this Lent we recognise its arduous side but also should remember the weakened state of the community’s health.<span style=""> </span>At the present moment we have not really recovered from the bug that has been picking off the community one by one over the past few weeks.<span style=""> </span>In this condition we already look forward to, and pray for the strength and joy of, Easter When that time comes we will surely walk more steadily in the brightness and length of days of Eastertide.</span></span></span> </p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family:Times;">St Benedict is not soft; he is revered for his balance and moderation.<span style=""> </span>Whatever the situation in the monastery, he sees that the little flock that is his community must not be overburdened or the weak broken.</span></span></span> </p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family:Times;">In the end it will be the positive attitude of each of us which will bring us through the desert of Lent happily to the day of resurrection.<span style=""> </span>It is by setting our mind on the goal of Easter and not on the hardships of the journey there, that will make us true disciples of Christ and of Benedict.<span style=""> </span>Let us with joy, therefore, `and with a light heart gird up our loins for the six weeks’ journey to ‘holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing’ (RB 48.7).</span></span></span> </p><div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905470936230783508.post-61482738111111205492010-02-08T02:28:00.000-08:002010-02-08T02:34:35.257-08:00Education Sunday<strong>----- Forwarded Message ----<br />From: Mark<br />Sent: Mon, February 8, 2010 10:19:10 AM<br />Subject: Education Sun Hom<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Education Sunday<br />5th Sun Yr 2010 11.00 am.</span> </strong><br /><br />Today is the beginning of Catholic Education Week. There are suggestions from the education authorities for today’s homily. But it will be no harm to take a wider look at education and not just at what happens in our schools and colleges.<br /><br />At the present time Cistercian monks and nuns are themselves asking what they should do to provide a good formation for the new and younger members of their communities. There is the further question of how the other, older, members in our monasteries can best continue in the spirit of our earlier formation.<br /><br />Education is part of what it is to be human. We all need to be taught the basic facts of life and learning. But there are truths of life that lie dormant within each person waiting to be awakened and developed. These are gifts which like the seed of plants will one day be brought to the light of day, grow and unfold to reveal their inner beauty and riches.<br /><br />A well-founded education will allow the individual to realise their full potential as a person. The word ‘education’, as you know, is from the Latin word e-ducare (meaning ‘to draw out from’). Its aim is to develop the mind and should at the same time shape and open the heart to the love of God and neighbour. That love will lead us to choose, in time, what we want to do with our lives, who we want to be with, what our ambitions and attractions will be. It is probably true to say that a well-rounded education is the very means God uses to prepare us for whatever vocation or way of life we are called to live.<br /><br />True education is the oil that refines the mind and instils the courtesies that make our life with others run smoothly.<br /><br />Adult education or ongoing formation is something that is strongly recommended nowadays. In today’s world many people actively follow special interests and even change occupations so that their lives don’t become stale or boring. The same is true in the monastic life. I remember our late farm-manager, Br Carthage, saying that “there’s not a day on the farm when you don’t learn something new”. That is the general idea. But it applies to all of life, not just the practical side of it. We all need to keep learning about our past history and tradition and to learn from others who are doing the same, if we are to sustain a community or neighbourhood that is both rich and enriching.<br /><br />The Christian school has as its role the education of the young which includes the teachings of the gospel. In this way the seed is sown for the proclamation of the gospel throughout the world.<br /><br />Isaiah in today’s first reading, Paul in the second and Simon Peter in the gospel are each called to do God’s work. They listened and responded to what they were told. And that is what every vocation is about. To listen and to build on what we have heard by word of mouth or by the word on the written page. These are the ways that God uses to touch our hearts and keep us alert, ready to respond to what we are called to do with our life.<br /><br />Roger Schutz, the founder and prior of the Taize community, famously said that to stand still is to betray Christ. To remain faithful to Christ we must keep moving forward.<br /><br />Ongoing learning lets us do that. Education that doesn’t continue becomes dead. To keep realising our potential as a child of God makes us ever more open to the Holy Spirit in both mind and heart. And that, in simple terms, is ongoing formation.<br /><br />This coming week we are asked to pray for all who are engaged in education - the teachers and their young pupils. For it is the young who will be responsible for proclaiming the kingdom of God in the years to come. We who are not-so-young need to continue learning how to be open to the Spirit that we may make the kingdom of God really alive now.<br /><br /></strong><strong></strong>Abbot Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299157401259911255noreply@blogger.com0