+PAX

Our Abbot Hugh of Pluscarden thanks all for their prayers for Fr. Maurus, who
has still not been found. He asks special prayers for today, Thursday and
Friday, as the police are bringing dogs trained to search for human remains to
comb the area. If they fail to find Father, there is nothing more they can do at
this time. It would mean so much to the community to have his remains to bury
properly. Prayers, too, for Br. Mungo of Pluscarden, who had a hip replacement
and faces a long recovery. Br. Mungo, quite elderly, has the most beautifully
kind blue eyes and a Christ-like face and smile to match. He is one of my
fondest memories of Pluscarden.

Prayers, too, for Kevin, sent to Iraq with his Special Forces unit, and for
Linda, his Mom, Ronnie, his great aunt, and all his family. May God protect all
in harm's way in war. Prayers for David and his diaconate program studies.
Prayers for Carolyn, her husband, another Kevin, daughter Mary Catherine, and
all her family. Carolyn was killed in a freak accident, struck in the chest by
something thrown from an overpass on the highway. Mercifully, she and Mary
Catherine were driving back from Mass and both has just received Communion.
Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him Thanks so much.  JL

[An aside about receiving the Eucharist: Carolyn had no idea at all that
Communion on that day was her last, her Viaticum. Minutes later, she was dead.
That could be true of any of us. We may never know which of our Communions is
our Viaticum, so we ought to always receive them as if they were going to be our
last. Tall order, I know, but a great idea... How many of us have seen the
sadness in that last security video of Princess Diana getting into her
limousine. She had no idea at all that she had only minutes to live. Vigilance
and mindfulness are the answers- always be "packed" for the journey which might
take us by surprise.]

January 31, June 1, October 1
Chapter 7: On Humility

The third degree of humility is that a person
for love of God
submit himself to his Superior in all obedience,
imitating the Lord, of whom the Apostle says,
"He became obedient even unto death."

REFLECTION

Looks a little repetitious here, doesn't it? Almost like St. Benedict
was scraping the bottom of the barrel to find something to use for a
third step, so he'd still wind up with twelve. Not so.

This short passage tempts one to a short reading and that casual
perusal will miss the terribly important things here. These are the
important elements that frame and sustain our obedience: it is done
for love of God, it is submission to another and it is lifelong.
Remove any one of those mainstays and you no longer have a
Benedictine.

It is nothing to persevere to the end without love. Nothing. It is
nothing to obey without love, Eichmann did that quite admirably. Nor
does it avail us anything at all to be obedient to ourselves: big
challenge there! We'd wind up Sarabaites for sure, worshipping
nothing but the idol of our own wills.

This third degree gives the reason for Benedictine obedience: "for
the love of God." We do not obey for so little as an orderly community,
our obedience is not mere sociology, it is love. More even than just
love, it is love of the One Who is Love at its highest perfection.

We obey Love's delegates, our superiors, unto death. There are two
meanings hidden in that phrase. It can mean martyrdom, obeying even
to the point of being killed, but it also means obeying all of our lives,
till the moment of our deaths. Frankly, few of us will be martyrs, because
few of us are worthy of that grace. ALL of us, however, are called to the
lifelong white martyrdom of obedience, which can often remind us that
St. Teresa of Avila said that the martyrs "bought heaven cheaply", that
they gained in one instant what the rest of us must plod on for many
decades in a lifelong struggle to gain.

Like Christ, for love, we become "obedient even unto death." During
the Spanish Civil War, in the 30's, Communist forces raided the
Benedictine monastery of El Pueyo, taking its 18 monks prisoner. One
of the very significant things about this group is that many were
just average monks, nothing special. All of them were martyred and
one witness said that they went to their death "joyfully, as if going
to a fiesta." These martyrs were members of our Subiaco Congregation
and we are justifiably proud to have them as our brothers.

Benedictine obedience of love, even unto death is decidedly not the
kind that would please earthly tyrants. In fact, they'd gladly kill
us for it. There is quite a likeness to our crucified Lord if we
embrace that peril fully.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for the search for Father Maurus' body, continuing today and
tomorrow. Prayers, too, for Pluscarden's Father Giles, leaving today for our
monastery in Ghana, and for Pluscarden's new acting Prior, Br. Meinrad, acting
Subprior, Fr. Benedict, and acting Cellarer, Br. Michael, as well as for Br.
Cyprian, going to Japan for a month's stay in a Zen monastery as part of an
inter-religious dialogue. Prayers, too, for Abbot Hugh and all the Community
there. Fr. Maurus' disappearance has been so hard on everyone, and now there are
so many other changes to adjust to in their daily life. I have deep faith in
them, but prayer strengthens even the strong!

Prayers, too, for Chris, a young man bravely and holily preparing for death from
gall bladder cancer. He is truly edifying those around him, but we all need
prayer to protect us at that time when we are most likely to be assailed by the
tempter in a last ditch effort. Prayers for all his loved ones, too. Prayers for
Catherine, facing an MRI for some troubling and frightening neurological
symptoms, for peace in her heart and the grace to give all anxiety to God. For
Mary F., unemployed for over a month now and getting into real financial
straits. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy
and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks so much. JL

February 1, June 2, October 2
Chapter 7: On Humility

The fourth degree of humility
is that he hold fast to patience with a silent mind
when in this obedience he meets with difficulties
and contradictions
and even any kind of injustice,
enduring all without growing weary or running away.
For the Scripture says,
"The one who perseveres to the end,
is the one who shall be saved" (Matt. 10:22);
and again
"Let your heart take courage, and wait for the Lord" (Ps. 26:14)!


And to show how those who are faithful
ought to endure all things, however contrary, for the Lord,
the Scripture says in the person of the suffering,
"For Your sake we are put to death all the day long;
we are considered as sheep marked for slaughter" (Ps. 43:22; Rom.
8:36).
Then, secure in their hope of a divine recompense,
they go on with joy to declare,
"But in all these trials we conquer,
through Him who has granted us His love" (Rom. 8:37).
Again, in another place the Scripture says,
"You have tested us, O God;
You have tried us a silver is tried, by fire;
You have brought us into a snare;
You have laid afflictions on our back" (Matt. 5:39-41).
And to show that we ought to be under a Superior,
it goes on to say,
"You have set men over our heads" (Ps. 65:12).


Moreover, by their patience
those faithful ones fulfill the Lord's command
in adversities and injuries:
when struck on one cheek, they offer the other;
when deprived of their tunic, they surrender also their cloak;
when forced to go a mile, they go two;
with the Apostle Paul they bear with false brethren (2 Cor. 11:26)
and bless those who curse them (1 Cor. 4:12).

REFLECTION

[It is well worth noting that Father Maurus, for whom we have been praying, felt
that this fourth step
of humility was a tremendously important summary of the monastic struggle.]

Be careful how you read this fourth step of patience. It is an ideal,
presented in its most flawless form. It is not an unreachable goal, but neither
should we expect significant progress before noon today. It is our call and
our vocation, but it is a lifelong task.

The danger for schleps like me is that this step can give one an image
of a perfect, 1950's TV sitcom Mom: shirt dress, high heels and pearls as
everyday wear, cookies and  milk always forthcoming in a kitchen as clean
as a surgical suite and  never a hair out of place. Full make-up on rising
and wears hat and  matching gloves to shop. PUHLEEEZE! Give me a break.
Real patience  in action is not at all like that.

Patience in action is a fierce struggle. Never think that it's easy for
others and therefore something is wrong with you: it isn't easy
for anyone. One of the biggest flaws of the "I'm OK and you are
not..." school of ministry is that it makes people think exactly
this. "It's easy for her and there's something terribly wrong with
me." Neither is true.

Please drop that TV image of perfect models, who flit from flower to
flower in life beamingly, fraught with about as much stress as a
butterfly in a climate-controlled greenhouse in full bloom. That
image will harm you. The Holy Rule and Scripture were not
written for such brainless, clueless potted plants. They were written
for strays and plodders like ourselves.

The Rule and Scriptures were meant for strugglers. They were written
for real, average people, halt and lame, battle-scarred veterans like
you and me, for people who have weathered life, but barely. Honey,
there may be cookies and milk, but you'll probably have to get the
plate yourself and brush aside a LOT of blood, sweat and tears to
find one. Oh, and please drink the milk fast and take as much as you
can... the fridge broke today.

Patience is surely one of the most important fuels that perseverance
runs on, but don't be surprised if it often is not very high octane!
Neither should it surprise you if your engine is not a slant V-8, but
rather a very cheap lawnmower that has trouble starting. Patience
is ENDURANCE, not ease. It may, after years of struggle, confer a
great peace and serenity, but it rarely, if ever, feels like that in
the middle of things.

Brother Patrick Creamer, OSB, of Saint Leo Abbey in Florida, taught
me patience and perseverance. He was able to do so because he was so
transparent about his own struggles. Many others tried to tell me how
hard it was, but their lack of candor made me dismiss their warnings
as tokenism. It certainly didn't seem to be hard for them. I couldn't
believe them. Patrick, my late and beloved mentor, was so very different.

Patrick entered the monastery in 1954, when he was 40, after a long
career at sea. He missed being at sea so much (and for so long!) that
it magnified many of the every day crosses of monastic life. Abbot
Marion, who loved brothers and had a very tender spot for them, used
to send Patrick to the beach for a weekend now and then, in years
when that sort of thing didn't often happen. +Marion was wise enough
to know he'd lose Patrick if he didn't get a salt air fix now and
then.

Even the beach trips were not enough alone. Patrick told me he was
tempted to leave every single day for ten years. Patrick, when I
lived with him, literally stayed packed with a hidden suitcase for
years and boasted of his ability to be gone in an hour. As a novice,
my heart used to be selfishly in my throat. I wanted him to go, if
that was what he was supposed to do, but I really didn't want to lose
him.

I am breaking no confidence if I also tell you that, during the worst
of those years, Patrick joined AA and remained faithfully sober for
decades, helping scores of alcoholics who came to him, because a
transparent broken person usually can. I can also tell you that
Brother Patrick finally decided to stay: when he was 83 or so!! What a
witness of hope that was to me, to others struggling like me.

Please, let us all be given patience. But when we get it, however
little at a time, let NONE of us be TV Moms. Let us all be Patricks,
let us show others how terribly hard, yet doable it can be.

Patrick held forth from his infirmary room until his death last year,
at two weeks short of 90. A steady stream of visitors never  waned.
On the head of his bed and on the shaving mirror over his sink were
two small notes, written in his own inimitable hand: "Lord, let me
come to You." They broke my heart the first time I saw them. I still
didn't want to lose him. But I know how right he was and how richly he
deserves that loving embrace for which he so patiently waited.

Love and prayers,
Jerome LEO, OSB (again and again you'll see why I took the second
name!)
jeromeleo@... St. Mary's Monastery
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

A blessed Solemnity of the Sacred heart to all who are celebrating that today.
Prayers, please, for Sr. Lany Jo, ASCJ, and all the Apostles of the Sacred
Heart, as well as for all religious congregations dedicated to Jesus' Sacred
Heart.

Prayers, please, for James, a teacher beset by the brutality of his public
school, seeking to find a job in a Catholic school. Prayers, too, for Harry and
a Scotland-wide vocations drive- may some of them come to our Motherhouse,
Pluscarden! Ardent prayers for this, the last day of the search for Fr. Maurus'
body. Prayers for Shirley, in terrible pain from her knee injury that is keeping
her awake and meds seem not to help. Prayers for Catherine, awaiting results
from her MRI, and for David, and all whom the evil one pesters when they pursue
their vocation! Let God arise and may His enemies be scattered, and may those
who hate Him flee before His Face! Prayers for Mary, extensive and tryingly long
day of testing for retinitis pigmentosa today.

Prayers of thanks to God, without Him, I would never be able to offer you
anything at all, and for my parents, Louise and Jerry, and all my ancestors.
Without that divinely fine-tuned chain of folks I would not be here today to
celebrate my 56th. Prayers, too, for my "birthday twin," Sr. Rita Marie, ASCJ,
same day but not as old! May God see fit to use us both now and then in yet
another year. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is
mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much. JL

February 2, June 3, October 3
Chapter 7: On Humility

The fifth degree of humility
is that he hide from his Abbot none of the evil thoughts
that enter his heart
or the sins committed in secret,
but that he humbly confess them.
The Scripture urges us to this when it says,
"Reveal your way to the Lord and hope in Him" (Ps. 36:5)
and again,
"Confess to the Lord, for He is good,
for His mercy endures forever" (Ps. 105:1).
And the Prophet likewise says,
"My offense I have made known to You,
and my iniquities I have not covered up.
I said: 'I will declare against myself my iniquities to the Lord;'
and 'You forgave the wickedness of my heart'" (Ps. 31:5).

REFLECTION

A caution here: the Holy Rule uses the Septuagint version's numbering
of the Psalms, not the Hebrew. Since most Bibles today use the latter
system, even many Catholic editions, you might find that the Psalm
referred to in this passage, which I strongly recommend you read
through, is 32, not 31.

Psalm 31 (32) is a wonderful exposition of sin and forgiveness. It
begins by recounting the joy of one whose sin has been forgiven, then
proceeds to unfold how concealing sin affects one and confessing sin
heals one. In vv. 3-4, immediately prior to the 5th verse which St.
Benedict quotes, we find the following: "I kept it secret and my
frame was wasted. I groaned all the day long for night and day Your
hand was heavy upon me. Indeed, my strength was dried up as by the
summer's heat."

How do we know- or think we know- when a person is hiding something?
There are all kinds of human, natural signs, verbal and nonverbal
messages, body language, the whole lot! This is far afield of
theology. We're talking crime novels here! There is something rooted
in our human nature that makes guilty concealment affect both our
behavior and others' perceptions.

Guilty secrets control us, they rob us of our freedom, they destroy
our peace. Long before one's frame is wasted (though that, too will
eventually happen,) one's mind and spirit are trashed, laid low by
the relentless fear of discovery. It's very true that one can run,
but not hide. It is also true that, without the peace such shameful
hiding steals from us, we shall have a MUCH harder time with our spiritual
life.

What the guilty one is fleeing is within herself, and
travels right along with her. Ever see a news clip about a fugitive
who successfully hid for decades and then was caught? I wonder what
kind of life they had in the meantime, a life never free, a life that
always had to fear. This garbage is not what Jesus called us to.

We cannot be Benedictines without serenity and peace. It will not
happen. The tracks of our lives have a reasonable number of railway
switches that must be set correctly, or we will wind up stalled on a
siding. This confession is one of those switches.

[And, by the way, "stalled on a siding" is the opposite of stability.
Stability is great growth and moving forward in a fixed spot or vocation!]

One may not belong to a tradition which practices sacramental
confession, but all of us need the abscesses of our secret guilt
lanced and drained somehow. AA, a spiritual program which can fit
itself to any religion or no religion, insists that without confession to at
least one other trustworthy person, our faults are likely to rule us forever.
Don't spill your beans to just anyone, but don't hold them festering
within, either! [A heavy PS, too: if you DO belong to a Church that
has sacramental Confession, GO!! Too many put that off at great
risk and harm to themselves.]

What keeps us chained to our dirty secrets is lack of faith, lack of
trust: no one will love me if they know this, not God, not anyone.
Well, the ending verses of Psalm 31(32) deal quite neatly with this
falsehood:

"Many sorrows have the wicked, but those who trust in the Lord,
loving mercy surrounds them. Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord, exult, you
just! O come, ring out your joy, all you upright of heart!" (Ps.
31:10-11)

Not only does God forgive, but the guilty one now freed is accounted
as among the just and the upright of heart, without any further ado.
Now THAT is divine mercy! No heart is more full of such infinite
mercy than the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Trust Him!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You. Jesus, meek and
humble of Heart, make our hearts like unto Yours.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for a remarkable fellow who has returned to the Church after
many years. News of his Confession yesterday was an awesome joy!!! For his
continued close walk with the Lord! Prayers, please, for Sister Clare (not our
Sr. Mary Clare at Petersham,) who is failing mentally with age, also for Brad,
second brain tumor has developed on his brain stem, after an earlier one was
removed, prayers for a young boy murdered by his father's girlfriend, and for
all his family. Fr. Francis Schoering, for whom we prayed, has gone to God,
eternal rest to him and grace's serenity to all who mourn him. Prayers for
Dottie, having a heart device implanted on June 9, and for Don, surgery Tuesday
for cataract and glaucoma, vision still not cleared, so pray on!
The brave young man preparing for such a holy death, Chris, has gone to God. Deo
gratias! May he have eternal rest and prayers for all his family and friends.
Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him. Thanks so much. And special thanks for
all those birthday greetings and prayers! JL

February 3, June 4, October 4
Chapter 7: On Humility

The sixth degree of humility
is that a monk be content
with the poorest and worst of everything,
and that in every occupation assigned him
he consider himself a bad and worthless workman,
saying with the Prophet,
"I am brought to nothing and I am without understanding;
I have become as a beast of burden before You,
and I am always with You" (Ps:22-23).

REFLECTION

OK, first warning. Some people who truly do have low self-esteem have
to be very, very careful to remember that humility is truth, that ANY false
and distorted self-image spells trouble. Increasing closeness to God, Who
is Truth, must bring us to increasing truthfulness about ourselves. That can
mean adjustments up OR down in our attitude.

While it may be true that some people have self-esteems
which are far too low, I think that most people, from my generation onward,
have "worked through all that" with more than enough success. Relax,
I think that often we have compensated for any imbalance and then some! With
ears attuned to such 21st century self-affirmation, it is hard for us to hear
lines like "worthless workman", "brought to nothing" and "a beast of
burden before You."

Understandably, we may listen through our filtered ears and wonder
how on earth the Psalmist could say such things. Mechanisms to
explain them away and denial defenses spring right up: " Must have
been his primitive society, must have been some neurotic notion of
religion in those days! Boy, that David REALLY needed to work on his
self-image, so sad in a King, too!"

I don't think any of those things are true in more than the most
minimal sense, if that. David COULD say those things with honesty,
because he was a mystic. Let me hasten to console all concerned with
that news that he was a very human mystic. Face it, he had the hots
for Uriah's wife and conveniently arranged Uriah's death in battle
to "legitimate" things. Nathan the prophet confronted David with the facts
and the child born of his dalliance with Bathsheba died. Hardly the type
of thing one would read about St. Therese, the Little Flower!

Because this terribly human David, in a mystical sense, had "seen"
God, at least with the eyes of his soul, he could easily make
truthful remarks like these about himself! Once we see even a bit of
God, scales fall from our eyes and we can easily see how the Prophet
could say such things: they are true!

I am no mystic, but I sure know I am nothing, nothing at ALL compared
to God. If I have done a good job here and there, make no mistake
that I can tell you from an inside perspective that successes were
just that: here and there. Not one of them would (or could!) have ever
happened without God's grace. Nada. Zilch! The total workman profile
has a LOT of gaps and stuff undone, deliberately and otherwise. The merit
review will probably NOT recommend a raise at this time!

We need the truth of humility because we take ourselves- and the
falsehoods about ourselves for good or ill- far, far too seriously. Yes, we
sometimes need to know we really did "OK", but we also need to often
remind ourselves that we are not so hot as we thought!

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your Name give the glory!" Yet another of
David's pithy assessments of self-worth. We are, of ourselves, less than carbon.
It is only because of Christ that we carbon kids can truly become the "immortal
diamond" of which Hopkins wrote!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Sunday bumps the Feast of St. Boniface, OSB, Apostle of Germany, today, but
happy feastday anyway! For MANY of us in the US, if there had been no German
Church, our Abbeys and Priories would never have been founded. Hence, we owe
this Anglo-Saxon Benedictine martyr big-time, as well as St. Lioba, and the many
nuns and monks who came to help him. Deo gratias!!!

Prayers, please, for Father Basil Pennington, OCSO, noted author and former
Abbot of  Holy Spirit Abbey, Conyers, GA, who died on Friday, during Second
Vespers of the Sacred Heart, from injuries he received a while ago in an auto
accident. We had prayed for him at least once, and I should have put him on
again later, too. But God is outside of time, may He grant him eternal rest!

Prayers, too, for a tragic family: an alcoholic father killed his wife and their
two children, then remained in the house with their bodies for 2-3 days. Police
found him there. What a heart-breaker! Many prayers for ALL, including the
father. He probably needs prayers most and many are most likely praying only for
the victims and contemptuous of the father. We ought to always remember this:
those who commit such horrible acts, whom people are inclined to loathe or
blame, are often cut out of many needed prayers. Remember this particularly when
watching or reading the news, when some dastardly deed is reported. It is our
job to love the unlovable in prayer, it is our job to love everyone, because God
surely does. We are called to be as much like Him as grace and our cooperation
with it can make us. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best.
All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

February 4, June 5, October 5
Chapter 7: On Humility

The seventh degree of humility
is that he consider himself lower and of less account
than anyone else,
and this not only in verbal protestation
but also with the most heartfelt inner conviction,
humbling himself and saying with the Prophet,
"But I am a worm and no man,
the scorn of men and the outcast of the people" (Ps. 21:7).
"After being exalted, I have been humbled
and covered with confusion" (Pa. 87:16).
And again,
"It is good for me that You have humbled me,
that I may learn Your commandments" (Ps. 118:71).

REFLECTION

So many people get blown away arguing against the line: "I am a worm
and no man..." that they completely miss a crucially important fact.
Very ancient interpretation of this Psalm has the Suffering Servant,
Jesus, as its focus. Jesus Himself quoted its opening line from the
Cross: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" There are numerous
allusions to the crucifixion in this Psalm, casting lots for
garments, piercing hands and feet and the derision of the crowd, to
name a few.

OK, so if we dare to put these wormy terms in the mouth of Christ,
how come we get upset about saying the same of ourselves? Good
question! If HE can say it, even metaphorically, we surely should
have no problem!

But many seem to have a big problem there, so let's look at the
matter from a different angle. We absolutely CANNOT know that others
are worse than us. It's not possible, because we cannot see into
their hearts, we cannot know every factor in their guilt or lack
thereof. We cannot know that they are NOT better than us. God, and
God alone can know all those things. Even the individual involved
knows less about her complicity and culpability in a given action
than God does. That knowledge is always and everywhere partially
withheld from human consciousness. No one will ever know it all until
they die, when everything that was hidden will be made evident.

OK, one argues, so if we can't know anyone is worse, we sure can't
know if they're better, either. Quite right! Our God-given natural
assessment abilities allow us to be sure of no one's wickedness or
goodness, not even our own state of grace. BUT we have more facility
in self-judgement than we have in regard to others. We have more
parts of the puzzle there, even though we still don't have them all,
we have windows into our own hearts and minds that we have in no
other case.

So, with all this ironclad uncertainty, why would Scripture and the
Holy Rule ask us to think ourselves less than anyone else? For two
very important reasons. First, it is the safest position to take.
Even without full knowledge of ourselves, we have more information
there than we have anywhere else. Secondly, it is the most profitable
position for learning and spiritual growth.

If we think someone is less than ourselves, there is little chance we
will learn anything from her: we're so busy with patronizing
condescension that only now and then will the woman's REAL words come
through to us. On the other hand, if we think everyone has something
to teach us, knowledge and growth start popping up all over the
place, in some very unlikely locations! This attitude is part of
listening, really listening.

And after all, "Listen" is where our Rule begins!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Perhaps not nearly often enough, I am aware that one or another facet of
Catholic faith might be unfamiliar to many of our readers. I apologize for not
being better about explaining same, but Friday's feast of the Sacred Heart was
one time it really occurred to me that something was in order. A word or two of
my own, then this EXCELLENT and concise paragraph about why we have such a feast
by Pope Benedict XVI.

Jesus is God. All of His humanity is sacred and worthy or worship, but when we
worship His Heart, we are worshipping His love for us, of which that burning
Heart is an apt and wonderful symbol. It is as the Fount of His Love and
infinite Divine Mercy that we worship His Heart.

Love and prayers,

Jerome,OSB

On the Sacred Heart
"We Adore God's Love of Humanity"

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Last Friday we celebrated the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus,
devotion profoundly rooted in the Christian people. In biblical language,
"heart" indicates a person's center, seat of his feelings and intentions. In the
heart of the Redeemer we adore God's love of humanity, his will of universal
salvation, his infinite mercy. Worship of the Sacred Heart of Christ means,
therefore, worship of that heart which, after having loved us to the end, was
pierced by the spear, and from the cross on high, shed blood and water,
inexhaustible source of new life.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for the soul of Dom Gregory van der Kleij, OSB, Prior of the
Olivetan Monastery of Christ Our Saviour, Turvey, England, who died last
Saturday. May he rest in peace!

Prayers for Fr. Hugo and his family, traveling to Argentina to see his Mother,
Paulina, who has breast cancer and is having surgery and his brother, going
blind as a side effect from chemotherapy, prayers, too, for Fr. Volodymyr and
his family, who is replacing Fr. Hugo while he is away. Deo gratias that Fr.
Basil has returned to Tucson, thus lightening the load on Fr. Hugo's parish
duties. Prayers for Sharon's granddaughter, having surgery this Friday. Lord,
help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God
is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

February 5, June 6, October 6
Chapter 7: On Humility

The eighth degree of humility
is that a monk do nothing except what is commended
by the common Rule of the monastery
and the example of the elders.

REFLECTION

Well, this one looks deceptively simple enough. Just try it! I speak
as one who has frequently failed it and who sometimes* fails it
still. [* I only fail it on special occasions: Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday.... you get the picture.] This step of humility,
by the way, will translate very easily into family life, the
neighborhood, or the workplace.

The goal here is not just external uniformity so much as internal
detachment. We are deeply attached to the things we do. Demanding to
do things our own way is not humble. When observers come to the
monastery, as vocations for the monks or the nuns, I often see little quirks of
external piety in church and think: "Well, that'll have to go..."

One cannot profitably go through monastic formation cherishing the
notion that one has got it right and one's elders have it wrong. You
may even be right, or the matter may be completely neutral. (The
term "optional" comes to mind, but that was NOT used to express
neutrality!) That's not the issue here. Detachment and humility are.

When we singularize ourselves without real moral imperative, the
message given to the whole community is "I know better." That this is
not warmly received in a junior or newcomer should come as no
surprise. A monastic family is like any spouse: you had better not
marry what you hope to change them into, but only what they ARE. If
we fail this, we change "Thy will be done" into "MY will be done!"
and we do so with sorry results.

No spouse is perfect, neither is any family, monastery or job, but if
you expect to change them right off the bat, you're doomed to woe. In
monastery and marriage and workplace, the only person you can REALLY
change is yourself and the sooner you get around to doing that, the
better for all concerned.

The sad thing (and I am guilty here!) is that sometimes these things
we do on our own have nothing to do with piety at all. They are,
pure and simple, revolt, passive aggression, small, though very
public ways of expressing our scorn for this or that concept or
person. Having lived in the Church of the 60's and 70's, I picked up
the idea of refusal as a kind of non-violent demonstration.

I also must say that, in those less-than-halcyon days, I picked it up
from my monastic seniors, just not always the best seniors! I still
do it at times, and I still wrestle with paring those times down day
by day. The hardest humility and obedience are to things we truly
think are dumb and do not matter. The difficulty alone must mean
there is great potential for growth there. The stubborn attachment to
our own will absolutely guarantees such potential!

An interesting aside here. The dissenter often thinks she is a grand
and eloquent witness for justice and truth. The stubborn monk thinks
he has scored a real victory for integrity and correctness. In fact,
those who live with them often think they're just pathetic fools. Of the
two impressions, this last is closer to truth!

It is also interesting to note (again, from sorry personal experience,)
that the rebel often looks at other rebels (with whom he does not agree,
so they are, of course, WRONG...) as silly fools. Wow! If one can be so right
about those other rebels, how come the other monastics aren't right about
oneself?? Hmmmm....

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Here is part of the news about Michael Ross one doesn't ordinarily hear.  JL

Jun 5, 2005 9:10 am US/Eastern
1010 WINS (Redding, CT) A funeral liturgy attended by about 30 people, including
the retired bishop of Norwich, was held for serial killer Michael Ross on
Saturday, his spiritual adviser said.

Ross, who celebrated his oblation as a Benedictine oblate on death row shortly
before his first, and aborted, scheduled execution in January, will be buried at
``an undisclosed time and place,'' said Father John Giuliani of the Benedictine
Grange in Redding.

``He wanted it to be not so much secret, but private,'' he said.

Ross, 45, was executed May 13. He had sought death since October despite having
years of appeals available to him. The Cornell University graduate and former
insurance agent admitted killing eight women in Connecticut and New York during
the early 1980s.

The liturgy was attended by members of the Benedictine Grange community, several
friends Ross made through his writings and the Most Rev. Daniel Hart, the
retired bishop of Norwich, Giuliani said Saturday.

``People were influenced by his persuasive writings against capital
punishment,'' Giuliani said, referring to Ross.

A death penalty opponent, Ross wrote extensively about how believed he should
not have been executed because of his mental illness. But late last year, he
fired his public defenders and announced he wanted to forgo any further appeals
and move ahead with the execution.

As an oblate, a lay affiliate of the Roman Catholic Order of St. Benedict, Ross
chose the name Brother Dismas, Giuliani said. St. Dismas was one of two men
crucified alongside Jesus, and he rebuked the other who challenged Jesus to save
them.

Giuliani, who knew Ross for more than seven years, has said he watched him
become a devoted Catholic. Ross became devout since his arrest in 1984, meeting
regularly over the years with two priests and praying the rosary each morning.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Kaye, for whom we prayed for nodules in her neck, she is
scheduled for thyroid removal on June 20, also for her husband, who had a
gangrenous appendix removed Thursday. For Bill, doing very poorly after a heart
attack, and for his nephew, Felix and all Bill's family. Prayers for Bp. Basil,
who has lost or misplaced some badly needed cash. Prayers, please, for the
return to the Faith, for Ronnie, Fred, Liz and Louis. Lord, help them as You
know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent,
praise Him! Thanks so much!
JL

February 6, June 7, October 7
Chapter 7: On Humility

The ninth degree of humility
is that a monk restrain his tongue and keep silence,
not speaking until he is questioned.
For the Scripture shows
that "in much speaking there is no escape from sin" (Prov. 10:19)
and that "the talkative man is not stable on the earth" (Ps. 139:12).

REFLECTION

OK, if you are a parent, you cannot speak to your children only when
they question you. The therapy bills in later years would be
astronomical. There are many situations in a Benedictine life lived
in the world, among non-monastics, where this has to be altered, but
its kernel of truth must be discovered and maintained.

WHY do we talk needlessly? Quite often it is nothing more than a
trick to change the reality around us. We are bored, or we feel we
are not getting enough attention or we think the mood too heavy, so
we speak to change whatever annoys us at the moment. I should know.
I am infamous for creating my own entertainment when things seem
dull to me. That's not always a great idea...

Some tough moments, some difficult stuff are meant to be endured.
They are part of our necessary learning and growth. Ever notice how
we assess a child's maturity by its ability to be quiet and non-
fidgety in surroundings (like Church!) that do not spoon feed its
attention span? Well, the same is true of us at every stage. We do
ourselves harm if we defuse every single tense moment with a word or
two. We cheat ourselves.

All too often we speak only to remind the universe around us, which
has carelessly forgotten for a second that we are its center, of a
whole bevy of falsehoods: I am the cutest, smartest, or wittiest, I
have the solution to all of this. What folly on the part of the
entire cosmos to forget our importance! Better speak to clear the
matter up...

Those who know me are thinking: "HE wrote THIS?!?" Yes, alas, I am
guilty of all I wrote. Three times a year the Holy Rule reminds me of
that and each time I am aware that I need to work on it. Thanks be to
God, the Rule IS read three times a year: usually by the time the
next reading comes up, my interest has flagged and I have to start
over. As for the part about the talkative not being "stable on the
earth," well, there have been plenty of times in the last eight years
when God had to nail my feet to the floor to keep me here and I am
not dead yet... I have not always been His most willing pupil, but
oh, is He ever patient! And infinitely merciful!

But, as one Desert Father said, that's what we do all day in
monasteries: "We fall down and we get up."

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Abbot Paul, of Zevenkerken, Belgium, now being cared for at
home by his Community, and for Celine, in her 30's, mother of two young
daughters, she fell ill suddenly and is unconscious in ICU with either a brain
tumor or a brain hemorrhage. Prayers, too, for Steve, 51, who went to God Sunday
morning, for his happy death and eternal rest and for all his family and firends
who mourn him. Prayers for Kevin, a soldier in Iraq, and for all in harm's way
there. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy
and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks so much. JL

February 7, June 8, October 8
Chapter 7: On Humility

The tenth degree of humility
is that he be not ready and quick to laugh,
for it is written,
"The fool lifts up his voice in laughter" (Eccles. 21:23).

REFLECTION

Note that the Holy Rule does NOT say not to laugh at all, but just
not to laugh too fast! In another place, the Rule condemns "idle words"
which can "provoke buffoonery" (read immoderate laughter!) We are
not, however, forbidden to laugh at all. Life together will always produce
some truly comical stuff, and well-ordered appreciation of that gift of
humor is right in line with a good, balanced Benedictine life.

WHAT do we laugh at, and how? Do we find humor at others' expense cruelly?
Do we laugh in such a way as to make the person feel a fool, or in such a way
as to make her feel part of a shared family joke and joy? Do we laugh with
love and affection or with pompous derision? There are, make no mistake,
lots of good and bad ways to laugh.

Ever know someone who laughs too fast, too often, and at things that no one
else finds funny? Sometimes we laugh along, in kindness and charity, just to
keep such a one from feeling as out of place as they well might. Pejoratively,
we might say such people were kooks, but honestly, what we really feel is that
they lack depth or maturity or both.

Christians, all Christians, even Benedictines, are commanded to
rejoice. There is a Christian imperative to joy, even in the midst of
the sufferings promised us in this life. Picture joy without one
single moment of throw-your-head-back-in-glorious-laughter. My! What
a tasteful, discreet and bloodless little party animal that would be!
What a great, lifeless remove from the abandon of genuine joy, what a
total lie!

I have never known a Benedictine so bad as to never laugh at all, and
I have known more than a few who seemed to be, to all appearances,
dreadful enough. Granted, some of the holiest ones chuckled softly a
good deal more than they roared in laughter, but ALL of them laughed!
Even those holiest ones, who tended to occasionally just chuckle,
smiled a LOT and warmly!

There are, in every age, inappropriate uses of humor. Humor is often
a nervous cover-up, an avoidance, a substitute for real
communication. I think these examples are what the Holy Rule
addresses. We are called to relate to people on a more honest level
than perpetual joking about. That playfulness may be an antechamber
to intimacy, but it is no substitute. All loving friends share jokes,
but if jokes are ALL they share, they are, as yet, neither truly
loving nor friends. It takes something more than that humor alone.

It is because humor, jokes and shared laughter can be that first step
towards intimacy that they are so very necessary for a cenobitic,
community-loving Benedictine heart. Then, of course, there is also
that Christian imperative to JOY!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Sr. Mary Boniface, of our Nuns' dependent house in Tickfaw,
Louisiana, who died yesterday, full of years and surrounded by her praying
Community. Deo gratias for a good monastic end and prayers for her eternal rest.

Thanks for your prayers for Michelle. She has died; prayers, please, for her
eternal rest and for her husband and children as they mourn her. Deo gratias!
Catherine had a good result on her first MRI and now awaits a second one on her
brain stem, continued prayers, please. Prayers for Carol, a stubborn throat
infection has affected her voice and she is a pastor who has to preach- in
season and out of season, as the saying goes. She is also leading a group to
Mexico, where she will have to interpret in addition to her other vocal duties,
so prayers that she is able to do God's will. Prayers for Shirley, terrible knee
pain and for the strength to offer her pain as prayer for others. Prayers for a
couple trying to adopt, awaiting one more obstacle's removal. Prayers for Linda,
a bit homesick in a new home in another state, kids grown and her husband must
travel a good bit with his job. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will
is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks so
much. JL

[When I re-read reflection this from last year, I almost didn't run it again. I
thought there was a lot of anger and self in it. I thought maybe I'd edit it a
bit. Then, I decided not to do that at all. Here is an excellent example of
Jerome being the very kind of cranky monastic flop he often writes about: peeved
and miffed that the world has briefly forgotten it revolves around him. I offer
it as a counterweight to MUCH of the undeserved praise I receive. I am no less a
plodder than anyone, in fact, I am more so! There is a kernel of truth in this
reflection, but it gets buried under a LOT of Jerome. Sigh....]

February 8, June 9, October 9
Chapter 7: On Humility

The eleventh degree of humility
is that when a monk speaks
he do so gently and without laughter,
humbly and seriously,
in few and sensible words,
and that he be not noisy in his speech.
It is written,
"A wise man is known by the fewness of his words"(Sextus,
Enchidirion, 134 or 145).

REFLECTION

OK, writing as one who is 40% deaf, let me try to throw some light on
what this step is NOT. Remember that Benedictines espouse balance and
that balance should avoid both falsity and extremes. Benedictines are
also human and, without the help of good formation, or maybe even
with the encouragement of bad formation, they can fall prey to
affectation as easily as anyone else.

I have always been hard of hearing, so I have long noted a tendency
by some to interpret "not noisy" as barely audible. I hardly think
that's the case. Even talking on the phone to other OSB houses I
sometimes pick this up: the whispered inflections that one commonly
only hears in funeral parlors. Needless to say, that can set a very
funereal tone, whether it meant to or not!! Just as we should not
roar or yell when it is uncalled for, neither should we tiptoe about
whispering when there is no need.

There's a further problem here. This whispering can be and often is
learned as a purely social grace, nothing more. In other words, it
can reflect a popular behavior that has nothing to do with holiness.
Just as it is easy to feign the symptoms of illness, it is easy to
feign those of holiness or humility, too, with little or no reference
at all to the condition of goodness that ought to be their root.
Affected behavior is not humility, because it is not true. No wonder
affectation can annoy others!

So, for the last of my soapbox today, we don't yell, but we don't
whisper, either, unless such adjusted speech is truly necessary.
(Who, after all, would whisper "Fire," or "Shark,"?) We seek the
Golden Mean of carefully weighed speech that others can hear.

For the worst possible example of OSB sotto voce, try listening to
one hopelessly addicted to such modulation do a reading at Mass.
This, of all things, points to its silliness. At the very time when
one truly OUGHT to be heard, a fake whisper robs the Liturgy of one
of its strongest aspects, the proclamation of the Word of God. Not
only the deaf lose out, everyone beyond a yard of so of the reader is
clueless.

Not what St. Benedict had in mind, folks! He made that
clear when he insisted that only those who can edify the hearers
should read, but we sometimes forget that.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Susan, seeing a doctor to find out is she needs mitral
valve surgery, a pacemaker, or new meds, and for her Mom, too. Prayers, too, for
Freya, a small forehead skin lesion may need to be biopsied, her doctor referred
her to a specialist to find out. Prayers for Marlene, a stroke and heart attack
in the past year. Prayers for a wonderful, loving Pastor who is exploring
promising new ways to relate to the flock God has given, like all flocks,
sometimes a bit unruly. Prayers for all in the PanMass Challenge cycling event,
which raises money for cancer research. Courage and Deo gratias for them all!
Prayers for a parent agonizing over a daughter's decision to marry civilly, not
in Church, for enlightenment and the will of God. Lord, help them as You know
and will. God's will is best. ALl is mercy and grace. God is never absent,
praise Him!  Thanks so much.  JL

[This portion seems to beg for division into two parts, so I have done
that in the reflection.]

February 9, June 10, October 10
Chapter 7: On Humility

The twelfth degree of humility
is that a monk not only have humility in his heart
but also by his very appearance make it always manifest
to those who see him.
That is to say that whether he is at the Work of God,
in the oratory, in the monastery, in the garden, on the road,
in the fields or anywhere else,
and whether sitting, walking or standing,
he should always have his head bowed
and his eyes toward the ground.
Feeling the guilt of his sins at every moment,
he should consider himself already present at the dread Judgment
and constantly say in his heart
what the publican in the Gospel said
with his eyes fixed on the earth:
"Lord, I am a sinner and not worthy to lift up my eyes to heaven"
(Luke 18:13; Matt. 8:8);
and again with the Prophet:
"I am bowed down and humbled everywhere" (Ps. 37:7,9; 118:107).

REFLECTION

Alcoholics Anonymous jokes about what they call "Two-steppers," that
is, people who decide to jump right from Step 1, acknowledging their
problem, to Step 12, carrying the message to others, with nothing in
between! Wrong! Doesn't work that way...

Benedictines often see a similar mistake in novices and humility.
Bingo, they go right to the twelfth degree with nothing to build
their external humility on but the images of Hollywood. Such
individuals are usually well-intentioned enough, but one look at
their demeanor will tell one that there is probably a very badly worn
tape of "The Nun's Story" among the things they left at home!

(I'm not knocking the film, I loved it, too! But it WAS Hollywood and it
is not real life! Close runners-up of the same ilk would be "In This
House of Brede" and "The Song of Bernadette" and "Come to the
Stable." I loved them, too, so please don't be upset. The CLOSEST
of the lot to truth was still not right on the mark.)

Monastic life will do a lot of things but sorry, it will never make
you Audrey Hepburn, Jennifer Jones, Diana Rigg or Loretta Young!
People who learn that have a chance to stay, people who don't often
leave because no monastery fits the Hollywood model, though they
often keep looking for one that does!

Second Section of the Reading:

Having climbed all these steps of humility, therefore,
the monk will presently come to that perfect love of God
which casts out fear.
And all those precepts
which formerly he had not observed without fear,
he will now begin to keep by reason of that love,
without any effort,
as though naturally and by habit.
No longer will his motive be the fear of hell,
but rather the love of Christ,
good habit
and delight in the virtues
which the Lord will deign to show forth by the Holy Spirit
in His servant now cleansed from vice and sin.

This crucially important second part is why none of those Hollywood
roles quite make it AND why the first section is spared from
Jansenism. (Jansenism, you may recall, was a heresy which held that
we could NEVER be worthy, NEVER do enough penance and so forth. In
its sad extremes, it harked to a sort of Pelagian attitude, implying
that we might be able to do something if we did enough harsh stuff!
But, of course, even that would never be enough. It was a rather mean
idea of God.)

Humility is NOT affected, not presupposing, hence efforts to LOOK
humble when one is not so will fall woefully short of the mark. No
Academy Awards for this one! When they call for the envelope, it will
be empty!

Genuine humility is the most unself-conscious thing in the
world. It produces the external demeanor without any further ado,
because the person actually (and usually unwittingly!) BECOMES the
truth they are striving to live. Humility shows up in the face, in
everything, just as years of bitterness or years of love often do.

You couldn't hide humility if you wanted to, but you don't need to,
because the true humility is rarely even noticed and those who are
less humble tend to discount the really humble as nobodies. In one
sense, they are quite right! Both would agree on that!

If one never gets to the joy and love of the end of this passage,
there will be no reason not to look artificially rather glum over
sins that one probably doesn't believe at heart are great anyhow.
This is where some monastics miss the mark. They can stop at the
perpetual gloom and dread point, without realizing the contemplative
joy and love beyond that.

Monasticism is true, but the Gospel is more so. Neither Jansenism nor
perpetual gloom would play very well with Matthew, Mark, Luke or
John. That means they wouldn't play well with St. Benedict, either,
as his second portion surely guarantees. Love and joy and humility
are an inseparable trio! When fear is cast out, gloom goes right
along with it!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@... St. Mary's Monastery
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers of Deo gratias and thanksgiving for Richard and Mary Lou, celebrating
their 32nd year of marriage this week, and for MAtt and Bette, celebrating 11
years today. Prayers for Jean Sheridan, on her birthday. I think she may be 39
this year....

Prayers, too, for Harry and a vocations campaign he is helping in Scotland.
Prayers for TomKay and his Mom, Irene and his sister, Linda. Irene's knee
replacement became seriously infected after a fall, requiring hospitalization
and massive antibiotics, hope fully to be discharged early next week, then Tom
and Linda will be looking after her at home. Prayers all around!! Prayers for
Guerry, 15, who drowned while surrounded by friends. They did not realize he was
in trouble until it was too late; and for all his family and friends, mourning
this terrible shock. Prayers for Walter, 96, widowed last year. He had a stroke
and is in ICU but needs some soul healing in short order, especially if he is to
have a happy death, also for Richard his son and all his family. Lord, help them
as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never
absent, praise Him!  Thanks so much.  JL

February 10, June 11, October 11
Chapter 8: On the Divine Office During the Night

In the winter time,
that is from the Calends of November until Easter,
the sisters shall rise
at what is calculated to be the eighth hour of the night,
so that they may sleep somewhat longer than half the night
and rise with their rest completed.
And the time that remains after the Night Office
should be spent in study
by those sisters who need a better knowledge of the Psalter
or the lessons.


From Easter to the aforesaid Calends of November,
the hour of rising should be so arranged that the Morning Office,
which is to be said at daybreak,
will follow the Night Office after a very short interval,
during which they may go out for the necessities of nature.

REFLECTION

In St. Benedict's time, and for centuries afterwards, life on a self-sustaining
farm, which monasteries were supposed to be, was far more difficult and
time consuming than it would be today. The simplest things that we now do
with the flick of a switch were big deals, involving lots of human workers and
every available daylight hour.

Hence, the monks got up early, very early, to get in much of their monastic day
before the sun (and the critters!) rose for the day. There was, of course, a
penitential aspect to this early rising, too, but a lot of it was the
practicality of sheer necessity. One can look at monastic schedules in history
and
see that as farm labor became less, rising times became later. No point in
getting
up at the eighth hour of night , 2 AM, if you don't have to!

There's at least a possible hint for Oblates of today in all this. Get up a bit
earlier if you can, and devote those silent and dark morning hours or minutes to
your
monastic endeavors. Knock off a late TV favorite and go to bed a tad earlier. We
always find time for what we love most. If, however, one is married and has a
spouse that doesn't want one to blissfully retire at 7:30 or so, this will not
work. Marriage is a primary, sacramental vocation and demands precedence.

Two very human glimpses into the personality of St. Benedict here. He
is thoughtful and kind, making sure the monastics have time for a
bathroom run and he is not prudish about mentioning it. Its part of
the human and part of family life. As casually as a Mother asks young
children if anybody "has to go" before a trip, he throws out mention
of the fact that not everyone could make it through two long services
without great discomfort!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers for the repose of the soul of Melkite Archbishop Joseph Raya, long
retired, he led the Melkite Catholic Church in the U.S. for many years. Blessed
repose and eternal memory!

Belated birthday prayers for Cas Ilenda. Many more!!!  (This is not the Cas of
Petersham Mass and Vespers fame, folks.)

Prayers, too, for Bill recovering well from his heart attack and going to rehab,
also for Felix, his nephew. Prayers for Daniel, 18, who died from a
self-inflicted gunshot wound, and for all his family and friends, also for
Christopher, 9, who died of an undetected ruptured appendix, and for his parents
and family. Prayers for Andy, severe graft versus host disease (rejection of
stem cell transplant from his brother,) in early remission from lymphoma. This
caused terrible lung problems and also attacked his stomach and liver. He is in
ICU, prayers for him and all his family. Walter, 96, for whom we prayed, is
showing progress. Continued prayers for his spiritual healing, for his son and
family. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy
and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much. JL

February 11, June 12, October 12
Chapter 9: How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at the Night Office

In winter time as defined above,
there is first this verse to be said three times:
"O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall declare Your praise."
To it is added Psalm 3 and the "Glory be to the Father,"
and after that Psalm 94 to be chanted with an antiphon
or even chanted simply.
Let the Ambrosian hymn follow next,
and then six Psalms with antiphons.
When these are finished and the verse said,
let the Abbot give a blessing;
then, all being seated on the benches,
let three lessons be read from the book on the lectern
by the brethren in their turns,
and after each lesson let a responsory be chanted.
Two of the responsories are to be said
without a "Glory be to the Father"
but after the third lesson
let the chanter say the "Glory be to the Father,"
and as soon as he begins it let all rise from their seats
out of honor and reverence to the Holy Trinity.


The books to be read at the Night Office
shall be those of divine authorship,
of both the Old and the New Testament,
and also the explanations of them which have been made
by well known and orthodox Catholic Fathers.


After these three lessons with their responsories
let the remaining six Psalms follow,
to be chanted with "Alleluia."
After these shall follow the lesson from the Apostle,
to be recited by heart,
the verse
and the petition of the litany, that is "Lord, have mercy on us."
And so let the Night Office come to an end.

REFLECTION

There is an unfortunate and perennial heresy among would-be
liturgists, even some Benedictines, which holds that if it's long,
its good. Not so, and quite evidently not so to St. Benedict, either.
The order he prescribes for Vigils is almost exactly half the length
of the Roman cathedral Office of his time.

St. Benedict was very serious about monasticism, but he also wanted
to shorten the Office, which was obviously of central importance to
him. Why? I think he aimed, once again, at balance, at moderation and
at gentleness. His monastics were farmers, not wealthy cathedral
prelates with servants and benefices. They would have dropped rather
quickly from fatigue had he imposed the Roman Office of the time on
them.

There is a great message of moderation here for Oblates. St. Benedict
knew perfectly well that if his monastics were too long at Matins and
Lauds, the cows would be bellowing in pain from distended udders,
waiting for the high church milkers to finally arrive. See the
operative principle here? The Office is PART of one's life, a
terribly important part, but ALL of one's work and life is prayer.
Figuratively speaking, if your life and primary vocation has left you
with cows to milk, for heavens sake (literally!) go milk 'em!

Our Office, for every monastic, from Abbot Primate down to newest
Oblate novice, must be a harmonious part of our life. We are not
called to the excesses of Cluny, whose monks were in choir most of
the time, adding ever more and more gee-gaws and trinkets to the
Office. If one's children or spouse or work calls one to do less,
answer that call. No one is called to be a choir athlete, at it all
the time.

If illness or disability limit what you can do, do what you can and bless God
for what you cannot! He knows what He is about. The Fathers taught that
illness or other physical challenges, even just aging, took the place
of stringent penances performed by the healthy and well. Whatever the
limits imposed by bodily problems, they themselves became penance
and asceticism for the monastic.

In long dealings with Oblates I have frequently heard this issue
raised: saying the whole Office. That is fine, and some lives,
notably single ones, might make it possible. Other lives, lives
founded on sacraments like marriage, might well not. Trying to amend
one's primary, sacramental vocation to be a monastic in the world
misses the point. That primary vocation is part and parcel of HOW one
becomes a monastic in the world. Tamper with it and you mess up the
entire picture.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
St. Mary's Monastery
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

Prayers, please for Andy, for whom we prayed yesterday. He has taken a turn for
the worse.  Along with the graft vs. host disease, he has had fungal pneumonia
brought about by his many days in bed and his body’s compromised immune system. 
Though it appeared to have gotten much better a couple days ago, not so tonight.
He is at the moment unconscious, intubated, has a bladder infection, and on
dialysis. Ardent prayers for him and his family, please.

Prayers for Spc. Michael Kelley, killed last week in Afghanistan, and for Sister
Ann Bernard, OP, who has also died. She was my high school principal. Abbot
Paul, of Zevenkerken, Belgium, for whom we prayed, died peacefully Friday.
Prayers for the eternal rest of them all and for their families and friends!

Prayers of joy and Deo gratias for Sr. Carol Coston, OP, who taught me much and
well: she celebrates her 50th jubilee this week.

Prayers for Christie, test anxiety and yet another teaching exam to face to
today, also for Cheryl, colonoscopy today. Lord, help them as you know and will.
God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him.
Thanks so much JL

Chapter 10: How the Night Office Is to Be Said in Summer Time

From Easter until the Calends of November
let the same number of Psalms be kept as prescribed above;
but no lessons are to be read from the book,
on account of the shortness of the nights.
Instead of those three lessons
let one lesson from the Old Testament be said by heart
and followed by a short responsory.
But all the rest should be done as has been said;
that is to say that never fewer than twelve Psalms
should be said at the Night Office,
not counting Psalm 3 and Psalm 94.


REFLECTION

The gentleness of St. Benedict, his considerate thoughtfulness is
again apparent here. Another principle comes to mind, as well. The
Office is important, but it revolves WITH us to a certain extent. It
is the axis our day turns on, but that axis may be shortened by the
season. There are circumstances under which even the Work of God
itself changes for us. Was humanity made for the Sabbath, or the
Sabbath for humanity?

The message here is very clear. To all prima donnas and divas, of
either sex, who think the Office revolves around their own choral
fantasies, get a life! The Office revolves around the Son and the
sun, and your identity with either remains seriously in doubt. To all
amateur musicians (or even pros with bad manners,) who terrorize
their brothers or sisters in the name of perfectionism, lighten up!
To any of said groups who claim that Benedictinism justifies their
antics, you're dead wrong. It doesn't.

Two quotes I love come to mind. One was from the late Abbot Alfred of
Pluscarden, who said: "The monastery is no place for an amateur
musician." The other is from G. K. Chesterton: "The artistic
temperament is a disease which afflicts amateurs."

The rhythm here is pure agriculture, not liturgy: when the sun rises
sooner, so do the farm chores, which have no human seasonal clocks to
tell them otherwise! Critters have to be cared for, milked and
pastured according to their clocks, not ours. The upshot of this is
that, for nearly 1,500 years, until the late 1960's, Benedictines
followed the Holy Rule's advice and said Matins differently in the
summer and winter, even in the cities. (It is worthy of note that, at
least in the U.S., agricultural enterprises were being abandoned at
about the same time as no longer economically feasible in many
houses.)

Put another spin on this and you will find, especially if you are an
Oblate, that St. Benedict intends at least some aspects of his
monastic program to adapt themselves to the environment in which the
monastic lives. Do not wear yourself out trying to make the very
square peg of a relentless monastic life fit into the intractably
round hole of a life in the world.

Don't try to make your kids (or spouse!) understand that you are
going to be monastic, no matter whether they are or aren't. For one
thing, if you in any way diminish your primary vocation, like
marriage or parenthood, you are not going to be monastic at all!
For another thing, such tactics might drive them even farther from
the faith you hope to share and instill in them.

The key to our struggle is obedience and humility, not control of others.
Our oblation must be done in addition to our sacramental and primary
vocations, never instead of them.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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+PAX

There are a WHOLE lot of prayer requests today, and I am terribly late- out at
the airport last night till 1:15 am picking up some one on a 5 hours delayed
flight, so I will not be able to respond to everyone individually, please let
the appearance of the intention be a response.

Prayers, please, for Fr. Jim Tingerthal, OSB, monk of St. John's Abbey,
Collegeville, MN, and former Administrator of St. Leo Abbey. He has suffered a
blood clot on his brain which has left him with some speech and memory problems
that are very frustrating to him. He did a tremendous lot of good while in FL
and richly deserves our prayers. Prayers for Em, inoperable brain tumor,
radiation possible, but prognosis does not look promising as this type
frequently recurs, and for G., heartbroken and trying to care for her at home.
Prayers for Helen Mamrovich, who died yesterday and for her niece, Charlene, and
all her family. Prayers for Dietrich Schueneman, beloved Scottish academic who
was killed in a car crash, and for his family , students and friends who mourn
him.

Prayers for Kaye, throat surgery on Monday and for her husband, growth around
his heart, slowing losing his battle with amyloidosis, for Pete, colon cancer
surgery on Monday and for Joan, his wife. For Claire, a couple of brain tumors,
a Filipina, she has no one here but her husband and young son and has had to
drop out of nursing school, and for  all her family. ALso for Frances' husband,
having a brain tumor removed.

Deo gratias! Christie passed her exam and got the job, Cheryl's colonoscopy went
well, no problems found, also, Bp. Basil found the mislocated cash on the feast
of St. Anthony!

Prayers for Father George, here to teach a week's class to our younger monks on
the patristic readings and baptismal catecheses in the Easter Cycle, and for his
students! Prayers for Tom and Mary and their family, especially Tom's Mom, who
died at 84 on Saturday. Prayers for Cynthia, facing a financially difficult
summer with loss of some employment. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's
will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks
so much. JL

February 13, June 14, October 14
Chapter 11: How the Night Office Is to Be Said on Sundays

On Sunday
the hour of rising for the Night Office should be earlier.
In that Office let the measure already prescribed be kept,
namely the singing of six Psalms and a verse.
Then let all be seated on the benches in their proper order
while the lessons and their responsories are read from the book,
as we said above.
These shall be four in number,
with the chanter saying the "Glory be to the Father"
in the fourth responsory only,
and all rising reverently as soon as he begins it.


After these lessons
let six more Psalms with antiphons follow in order, as before,
and a verse;
and then let four more lessons be read with their responsories
in the same way as the former.


After these let there be three canticles
from the book of the Prophets,
as the Abbot shall appoint,
and let these canticles be chanted with "Alleluia."
Then when the verse has been said
and the Abbot has given the blessing,
let four more lessons be read,
from the New Testament,
in the manner prescribed above.


After the fourth responsory
let the Abbot begin the hymn "We praise You, O God."
When this is finished
the Abbot shall read the lesson from the book of the Gospels,
while all stand in reverence and awe.
At the end let all answer "Amen,"
and let the Abbot proceed at once
to the hymn "To You be praise."
After the blessing has been given,
let them begin the Morning Office.


This order for the Night Office on Sunday
shall be observed the year around,
both summer and winter;
unless it should happen (which God forbid)
that the brethren be late in rising,
in which case the lessons or the responsories
will have to be shortened somewhat.
Let every precaution be taken, however,
against such an occurrence;
but if it does happen,
then the one through whose neglect it has come about
should make due satisfaction to God in the oratory.

REFLECTION

The idea of Vigils has very ancient Christian roots: watching all
night in prayer, particularly before Sunday, in anticipation of the
Second Coming (that they be found waiting, with lamps trimmed,) and
from the tradition that Jesus rose from the dead at dawn. The
connections of light/darkness and Son/sun are rich. Anyone who has
ever done an all-night Vigil can tell you it is a memorable
experience. They are frequently done, even in our own day, on Mount
Athos, lasting literally all night and including the chanting of the
ENTIRE Psalter.

With all this, it's no surprise that St. Benedict adds some extra
high church length to Vigils of Sunday. He still, however, makes a
lot of allowances for the monastics, even those who (God forbid!)
oversleep!! His Vigils are long, but they are quite pointedly NOT all
night! Doing an all night vigil for Sunday and every big feast would
do in a community of farmers in short order.

Many people who cut their teeth on pre-1964 Merton works, like "The
Silent Life" or "The Waters of Siloe", might think that the
Benedictines were a rather mitigated lot and the Cistercians were the
only ones who REALLY got the Holy Rule right. Well, yes and no... We
ARE a mitigated lot, we started out that way and have continued on
that middle road. St. Benedict designed his Rule as an adaptation and
yes, mitigation, of Egyptian monastic life, suitable for European
types. And no, the Cistercians are not at all necessarily the ones
who "got it right," as their own adaptations after 1964 clearly
indicate.

Our long history is one of decline and repeated reform. The reforms,
understandably enough have always been aimed at sweeping away
mitigations and laxity. Predictably, they have often swept away a
good deal of moderation in the bargain, as well! Also, predictably,
the reforms themselves decay and have to be reformed: why do you
think there are Common Observance Cistercians and Trappists- two
separate Orders?

Merton, like any of us, changed and grew. In his later years,
questions of observance and mitigation were at least less prominent
and sometimes totally absent. Right now it is probable that BOTH
Benedictines and Cistercians are living in their most relaxed and
mitigated conditions ever. That's not all bad. History might tell us
some of it will need tinkering, tightening up, but God will send the
men and women to do that in His time.

Rather than adopt an attitude of ALL-NIGHT, ALL the time,
get-every-boot-camp-in-toughest--shape and so forth, why not bask a
bit in the fact that we were born mitigated monastics and are meant to be so?
Nothing wrong with that, so long as we don't carry it too far. In the 19th
century, Russian Orthodox Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov said that the monks
of the latter days would NOT be doing many of the great works of old, but
that the peculiar conditions of the world in which they had to live would
balance
things out. The modern and post-modern monastic faces many new obstacles
of which the Fathers and Mothers of old could have at best only dimly imagined.

When I first read Merton, he had some growing ahead of him and I was
14...didn't make for a very complete grasp on my part! Now, instead
of scorning relaxed observance in horror, I welcome it. Both Merton
and I learned something on different schedules: God gives certain
monasteries their particular observances because they are the only
place in the world some people could ever become monks. And this is
as true of relaxed observance as it is of strict!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@... St. Mary's Monastery
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Fr. Steve Petrica, on the tenth anniversary of his
ordination yesterday and for me, on the thirteenth anniversary of my vows today.
Deo gratias for our vocations and for all he has given us in these years!

Andy, for whom we have been praying, died yesterday morning. Prayers for his
eternal rest and for wife, family and friends. Prayers, for Karla, 40, a cancer
nurse having surgery for what is believed to be ovarian cancer on Thursday.
Prayers for Eddie, mourning the loss of his beloved dog that he had for 13
years. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy
and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

February 14, June 15, October 15
Chapter 12: How the Morning Office Is to Be Said

The Morning Office on Sunday shall begin with Psalm 66
recited straight through without an antiphon.
After that let Psalm 50 be said with "Alleluia,"
then Psalms 117 and 62,
the Canticle of Blessing (Benedicite) and the Psalms of praise (Ps.
148-150);
then a lesson from the Apocalypse to be recited by heart,
the responsory, the verse,
the canticle from the Gospel book,
the litany and so the end.

REFLECTION

Ever notice how a loving parent makes allowances to the kids WON'T
slip up or be discouraged? Good teachers do the same thing. Some
things are made so deliberately easy that all of the students can
generally make it through the hoop!

St. Benedict does this with both morning Offices, beginning Vigils
and Lauds with 2 psalms that are said every day. He even stresses
that, at Lauds, the 66th Psalm is to be said slowly, so that the
monastics may have time to gather.

Those two Offices are the time people are most likely to be running
late, either because they had to bound out of bed at the last minute,
or because the "necessities of nature" break between Vigils and Lauds
delayed them unexpectedly. It is worth noting that only with these
two Offices, when tardiness can so easily occur, does the Holy Rule
make such allowance. For a further bit of trivia, these four Psalms
are repeated every day: one could miss them several times in a week
and still have said all 150 Psalms in that week.

Sometimes people (including, alas, ourselves!) can make unrealistic
conditions and demand that others meet them. The concept of failure
is built into those demands. We fence people about with our own
standards that they could not possibly meet, then condemn them for
failing to meet them! What a sad and tragic game.

Take a self-inventory and check to see if there is anyone you dislike so
intensely that they cannot be right, no matter what they do. If there are any
such
folks, it's time for you to change, not them! I recall, alas, one pastor who
annoyed me so much that even when he used incense (something I ordinarily
love,) I carped to myself that he didn't do it right. With me, he just could NOT
win. Sigh...  When things get that bad, it's ourselves who need the overhaul,
not the presumed "offender."

St. Benedict, by his example, teaches us to be the exact opposite. He
shows us that we should be gentle and loving, that we should not be
about setting burdens on others that are guaranteed to make them fail
or quit or be discouraged. If we have received such kindness, we
should pass it on!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers of thanks and Deo gratias for Trisha, who has finally been able to
return to work on a limited basis, she has waited so long for this, may she
improve and ease in GRADUALLY!!  Trisha is so grateful for your prayers. 
Another Deo gratias for Claire, for whom we prayed. Her brain tumors are not
cancerous and she will forego surgery for now, just close monitoring. And Deo
gratias for a pastor/flock controversy that seems to be making progress in the
right direction of resolution!

Prayers for the repose of the soul of Sr. Veronica, 70, a Chicago nun who died a
little over month after a hit and run driver  accident, and for the driver, as
yet unknown. Prayers for Tanner, a little girl struck by a car and thrown 30
feet, prognosis unknown, and for her family and friends. Prayers for Loretta,
her sister and brother-in-law and their two young children. The brother-in-law
has a serious substance abuse problem threatening to tear up the family. Lord,
help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God
is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much. JL

February 15, June 16, October 16
Chapter 13: How the Morning Office Is to Be Said on Weekdays

On weekdays
the Morning Office shall be celebrated as follows.
Let Psalm 66 be said without an antiphon
and somewhat slowly,
as on Sunday,
in order that all may be in time for Psalm 50,
which is to be said with an antiphon.
After that let two other Psalms be said according to custom,
namely:
on Monday Psalms 5 and 35,
on Tuesday Psalms 42 and 56,
on Wednesday Psalms 63 and 64,
on Thursday Psalms 87 and 89,
on Friday Psalms 75 and 91,
and on Saturday Psalm 142 and the canticle from Deuteronomy,
which is to be divided into two sections
each terminated by a "Glory be to the Father."
But on the other days let there be a canticle from the Prophets,
each on its own day as chanted by the Roman Church.
Next follow the Psalms of praise,
then a lesson of the Apostle to be recited from memory,
the responsory, the hymn, the verse,
the canticle from the Gospel book,
the litany, and so the end.

REFLECTION

Again, we have the gentleness of St. Benedict, insisting on the slow
recitation of Psalm 66, to give all the stragglers and strugglers
time to arrive! But we have it here in other respects, too. Check out
the length of the Canticle from Deuteronomy. Pack a lunch!! St.
Benedict divides it, drops one Psalm and lets one half of the very
long canticle take its place.

Even though St. Benedict went out of his way to shorten the Roman
Office of his day, here he says that the canticles chosen by the
Roman Church for most of the week should be used. When he sees a good
idea, he embraces it. When he sees a need for change, he does that,
too. It is very evident that he did not care for lengthy services,
that he did not want his monastics to become liturgical gymnasts,
spending ALL their time working out! As always, he wanted balance.

We must always be careful NOT to read St. Benedict with purely 21st
century eyes. Liturgy and uniformity were very, very different in his
time. If anything, uniformity was little known. The greatest
ascendancy of the Roman usage before Trent in Europe- and even that
was far from complete- would come hundreds of years later, under the
aegis of Charlemagne. The enforced uniformity of Trent was over a
thousand years away.

Trivia: We forget that the Roman rite of Trent was not used
everywhere before the 16th century, or even used everywhere AFTER the
Reformation. One of the minor complaints to arise about the priests
of the post-Reformation English mission was that some used the new
Roman Mass of Trent, while others clung to the more ancient and
properly English rite of Sarum. Dominicans, Cistercians and
Carthusians retained their own rites, with Gallican peculiarities,
right up until the late 1960's. Carthusians still use their own rite
for Mass and Office, currently the most ancient and rare rite in the
West.

Hence, when we see St. Benedict setting up his own complete Psalter,
that is not unusual: every monastery would have to do that for
itself, some better than others. It was that "some better than
others" part that St. Benedict wished to avoid: he set a standard for
his monasteries that would protect them from the surrounding extremes
of too much or too little.

Love and prayers,

Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers of Deo gratias and thanks! Karla, for whom we prayed about her surgery,
does not have ovarian cancer!

Prayers for Bp. Basil, possible early signs of serious kidney problems, as
always, the uncertainty of waiting for more news is very hard. Prayers also for
Peggy, who needs a second opinion on her liver biopsy and the suggested hospital
is not on her insurance coverage. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's
will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so
much.  JL

February 16, June 17, October 17
Chapter 13: How the Morning Office Is to Be Said on Weekdays

The Morning and Evening Offices
should never be allowed to pass
without the Superior saying the Lord's Prayer
in its place at the end
so that all may hear it,
on account of the thorns of scandal which are apt to spring up.
Thus those who hear it,
being warned by the covenant which they make in that prayer
when they say, "Forgive us as we forgive,"
may cleanse themselves of faults against that covenant.


But at the other Offices
let the last part only of that prayer be said aloud,
so that all may answer, "But deliver us from evil.

REFLECTION

The Our Father is THE Christian covenant of peace. If St. Benedict
insists it be said aloud twice a day, it is because he knows well the
tempests- nay, HURRICANES- in teacups that can spring up in any
enclosed home group, be it cloister or family. Things get magnified
inappropriately precisely because those we live with are dear to us.
If they weren't, they would be much less able to hurt or annoy us!

There weren't subways in St. Benedict's time, but there was a world
outside. Picture yourself riding a subway with any or all of these
types: an alcoholic, an abuser, a severely disturbed mental patient,
a tragic drug addict. These are just the ones that we might notice,
too. All of us on the subway ride daily with liars, thieves,
adulterers and worse, we just don't know it. Even though the subway
can offer a bit of a challenge to Christian peace, to forgiveness,
one usually has only to wait for one's stop, hoping meanwhile that a
transit cop will appear. If the situation is really frightening, one
could get off early and catch the next train.

In family or community, sometimes even in the workplace, we may not
change trains. Not only that, but there are often no transit cops at
all. (Even less than in Boston, where one may safely wonder how we
can afford all those parked MBTA cruisers with so few officers ever
in evidence to justify the expense....) Always remember that
Christian life, Benedictine life, is never tested when it is easy.
Alas, it is only through testing that we grow, that our practice
improves.

On the subway or bus, or even in the artificially detached situation
of world newscasts, it can be a LOT easier to forgive. It comes at
little or no price at all. It's pretty easy to forgive even horrible
criminals if they have not harmed our home circle, if they have not
directly harmed us. Hate to say it, folks, but the easy stuff is not
where it's at for us. A 50 yard dash may be the beginnings of an
Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, but it is never the whole
picture.

The key to Benedictine peace is forgiveness, which is why St.
Benedict stresses that phrase and calls it a covenant. It truly IS a
covenant of peace. We are daily asking God, twice out loud, but
ideally many more times than that alone, to forgive us in the measure
that we forgive. Whoa! Risky business there! Any chain's strength is
decided by its weakest link, so think of the person you LEAST
forgive. There you will have the model you are suggesting to God that
He use in forgiving you. As Fr. Hugo used to say: "You love God as
much as the one you love least."

Fortunately, for most of us, God's Divine Mercy is unfathomably deep.
I don't personally think God feels Himself completely bound by the terms
we offer Him, at least I hope he doesn't. If He did, I imagine heaven would
be a quite appallingly empty place, indeed. It is never too late, even at
the last fleeting instant of life, for us to repent and accept His mercy!

Nevertheless, I'll bet He will remind us of the terms we offered and
how little mercy they would afford us. That is one very good reason
why Roman Catholics believe in Purgatory- a chance to shower off the
terms we offered God that were so limited they would never cut anyone
much slack!

Roman Catholicism and most other mainline Christian denominations
have not been known as peace churches, historically. They have not
made the dogmatic necessity of pacifism that the Mennonites or
Quakers have. Still, it is very hard to look at the Gospel itself or
at the daily Our Fathers and understand how so many wars have happened in
Christian history, especially between allegedly Christian nations.

The terms we have offered God as to how we would
like to be forgiven have been far less than optimal. "OK, we will
forgive you AFTER we have reduced your country to rubble and your
population by say, 20-30% or more...." If God took (or takes!) us at
our word, we shall be in deep trouble, indeed.

If every monastery refectory, every dining room table and every
workplace lunch room had perfect forgiveness and peace, there would
likely be no war. Wouldn't happen, because genuine peace truly is
contagious. Do you see why we have to start at home, to start small?
It's the only place we have to begin.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for the repose of the souls of Lillian, Erma and George, and
for all who mourn them. Prayers for vocations to St. Mary's Monastery, and all
our monasteries. Prayers, too, for all agnostics and those whose faith is
weakened or tested. Prayers for someone preparing an important sermon, for God's
words to come shining through. Prayers of thanks, Deo gratias and blessings for
Ellie, who donated some badly needed new pillows and such to the guesthouse!
Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much!  JL

February 17, June 18, October 18
Chapter 14: How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the
Saints

On the feasts of Saints and on all festivals
let the Office be performed
as we have prescribed for Sundays,
except that the Psalms, the antiphons and the lessons
belonging to that particular day are to be said.
Their number, however, shall remain as we have specified above.

REFLECTION

Every love life needs a bit of variety now and then, even the
monogamous ones, even the celibate ones, and, let us face it, our
prayer is (or ought to be!) a love life. Without marking certain days
as special, our Office would quickly become a bland and tedious bore.
On the other hand, mark too much as special and people soon get worn
out. Variety itself becomes boring and a chore. What sane married
couple would insist on spending every night in a different motel? One
or both would quickly tire of that and it would destroy the very
unity it was aiming to protect.

Having lived in a monastery for part of the 1960's and 70's where the
liturgy became the sad equivalent of a revolving door, changing often
and not often well, I can speak from experience. It became dreadful
to wonder what would happen next. It pulled out the necessary
underpinnings of a certain stability (gasp!) and changelessness that
a Benedictine life of prayer requires.

Ah, but in the quest for simplicity carried to unfortunate extremes,
it did, at times, become UTTERLY changeless. Same old same old, every
single day with nothing different but the prayer at the end, if that.
("Oh boy, it must be Tuesday again....!") No antiphons, just psalms
and canticles. No music other than the hymn, same seven each week for
each hour, a few good, many bad.... No Glory be between Psalms, just
one at the end. It was dull and gave even more of an impression
of "let's just get this over with" than the old Office did at its
very worst. One often wondered why we still bothered to go to choir.

A balance between variety and stability is where the virtue truly
lies. I have never heard anyone complain about singing or saying the
same unchanging parts of the Mass every day, because they are set in
the midst of elements that DO change every day. The same must be true
of the Office to a certain extent. When SO much changes at feasts
that one longs and pines for a weekday with one book and NOTHING
special, that balance has been missed. On the other hand, the
changeless mundane misses the balance as well. One should never have
to come out of a "simple" Office and think quietly: "Wow, that was
dumb...." (But I often have.)

St. Benedict built the necessary change right into his Office for
monasteries. Ignore his bottom line or extend it unduly and you get
into trouble. In this instance, as in so many, he was far wiser than
we are, than people of any age are.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for the repose of the souls of Lillian, Erma and George, and
for all who mourn them. Prayers for vocations to St. Mary's Monastery, and all
our monasteries. Prayers, too, for all agnostics and those whose faith is
weakened or tested. Prayers for someone preparing an important sermon, for God's
words to come shining through. Prayers of thanks, Deo gratias and blessings for
Ellie, who donated some badly needed new pillows and such to the guesthouse!
Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much!  JL

February 17, June 18, October 18
Chapter 14: How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the
Saints

On the feasts of Saints and on all festivals
let the Office be performed
as we have prescribed for Sundays,
except that the Psalms, the antiphons and the lessons
belonging to that particular day are to be said.
Their number, however, shall remain as we have specified above.

REFLECTION

Every love life needs a bit of variety now and then, even the
monogamous ones, even the celibate ones, and, let us face it, our
prayer is (or ought to be!) a love life. Without marking certain days
as special, our Office would quickly become a bland and tedious bore.
On the other hand, mark too much as special and people soon get worn
out. Variety itself becomes boring and a chore. What sane married
couple would insist on spending every night in a different motel? One
or both would quickly tire of that and it would destroy the very
unity it was aiming to protect.

Having lived in a monastery for part of the 1960's and 70's where the
liturgy became the sad equivalent of a revolving door, changing often
and not often well, I can speak from experience. It became dreadful
to wonder what would happen next. It pulled out the necessary
underpinnings of a certain stability (gasp!) and changelessness that
a Benedictine life of prayer requires.

Ah, but in the quest for simplicity carried to unfortunate extremes,
it did, at times, become UTTERLY changeless. Same old same old, every
single day with nothing different but the prayer at the end, if that.
("Oh boy, it must be Tuesday again....!") No antiphons, just psalms
and canticles. No music other than the hymn, same seven each week for
each hour, a few good, many bad.... No Glory be between Psalms, just
one at the end. It was dull and gave even more of an impression
of "let's just get this over with" than the old Office did at its
very worst. One often wondered why we still bothered to go to choir.

A balance between variety and stability is where the virtue truly
lies. I have never heard anyone complain about singing or saying the
same unchanging parts of the Mass every day, because they are set in
the midst of elements that DO change every day. The same must be true
of the Office to a certain extent. When SO much changes at feasts
that one longs and pines for a weekday with one book and NOTHING
special, that balance has been missed. On the other hand, the
changeless mundane misses the balance as well. One should never have
to come out of a "simple" Office and think quietly: "Wow, that was
dumb...." (But I often have.)

St. Benedict built the necessary change right into his Office for
monasteries. Ignore his bottom line or extend it unduly and you get
into trouble. In this instance, as in so many, he was far wiser than
we are, than people of any age are.

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

A blessed feast of Saint Romuald to all our Camaldolese OSB friends. May your
founder's prayers fill your own lives with grace and joy! Deo gratias for all
the gifts their lives bring to the Church, to us all!

Prayers of thanks and Deo gratias for Art and Jean, celebrating their 50th
wedding anniversary and for all their family. Many more years! Prayers for
Debbie, facing a complicated hip replacement on Monday with a long recovery.
Roles reverse and her husband and boys now have to take care of her. May the
lessons of grace in that be readily learned by all. Prayers for Anne, tests for
some GYN problems, waiting three weeks for final results and waiting is so hard,
also for John, her husband. Prayers for Tom, embarking on a pastoral associate
job in a very challenging parish, lots to do there! Lord, help them as You know
and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent,
praise Him! Thanks so much!  JL

[While I did try for a while to add Alleluia to the end of every prayer post,
even I got antsy about doing that in Lent. Too often I had to forward a post to
people who would not know why I did it, so I shortened it to the very apt
translation of "praise Him!"]

February 18, June 19, October 19
Chapter 15: At What Times "Alleluia" Is to Be Said

From holy Easter until Pentecost without interruption
let "Alleluia" be said
both in the Psalms and in the responsories.
From Pentecost to the beginning of Lent
let it be said every night
with the last six Psalms of the Night Office only.
On every Sunday, however, outside of Lent,
the canticles, the Morning Office, Prime, Terce, Sext and None
shall be said with "Alleluia,"
but Vespers with antiphons.

The responsories are never to be said with "Alleluia"
except from Easter to Pentecost.

REFLECTION

When I lived in the Byzantine rite for a very happy while, one of the
things that surprised me was the fact that they still used Alleluia
in Lent. That sounded strange to my Western ears, but not for long.
In the West, Alleluia has become virtually nothing but a synonym
for "Hooray!" In the East, not so. Our Western connection of Alleluia
as primarily a word of rejoicing reserved for happy times is not
quite on the mark, with all due apologies to St. Benedict and the
rest of Western tradition.

When was the last time you stopped to think that "Amen" really
meant "So be it"? I do now and then, but usually just parrot the word
out without a thought. So it is with most people saying
Alleluia. "Oh, yeah, uh...alleluia...." Alleluia means "Praise the
Lord." Focus on this and one can readily see why the East still says
it during Lent.

Of course, St. Benedict's prescriptions here are a perfect blend of
change and variety for the Office. They "dress up" the most festive
times of the years and provide a break from the ordinary. Probably
what St. Benedict had in mind at the time was that our hearts should
be so full at Paschaltide that no other words would do: only the
ineffable stuttering out of "Alleluia!!" would convey our joy. He
wasn't wrong about that, but saying Alleluia mindlessly misses the
point.

So, forgive me, does saying Alleluia only at joyous times. The
charismatic movement in the 1970's made popular the English
equivalent of Alleluia: "Praise the Lord!" It was an expression of
joy and gratitude for whatever God had done for one. Ah, but then
the "whatever" part of that phrase soon came to be evident! A very
clever catch phrase evolved for those times when things WEREN'T so
great, when one had difficulty appreciating what sometimes seems like
God's decidedly strange sense of humor. On such occasions, they
said: "Praise the Lord Anyhow!" Now that one is probably closer to
the real sense of "Alleluia!"

Our Office and Mass may change in Lent in the Western tradition, but
our hearts must always and everywhere, in every circumstance,
say "Alleluia!" and really mean it, really know it.

Love and prayers and Alleluia!
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Marina, looking for lodging in July, and for Nanette's
parents, celebrating 50 years of marriage, also for Nanette, exploring education
for new career opportunities. For Fr. Jim, responsible for 4 parishes and one
year from retirement, and for Tom and all those who help him in his ministry.

Continued prayers for: Father Jim Tingerthal, OSB, recuperating from a brain
clot at home, for baby Izeck, brain aneurysm and still needs a lot of prayer.
Prayers  also for new born, Samuel, in ICU with a nasty hernia and Josh, 10,
very ill with a fever that is not responding to treatment.

Prayers of Deo gratias and thanks for Cherrie, 17, for whom we prayed after her
brain problem, she is now getting around with a walker and slowly regaining her
speech.

Prayers, please for all the North Yorkshire areas affected by flash floods. No
human lives lost so far, but a lot of livestock and economic hardships. This is
the area around Ampleforth Abbey.

Prayers for Jane's Mom, badly infected cellulitis in one foot and leg and now
she has injured her other knee, with extreme swelling making it very hard to get
around. Prayers, too, for Karen, Dave and Gayle in Alaska. Dave and Gayle are
moving to Arizona and Karen will miss them sorely, for their safe trip and
Karen's graceful acceptance of her loss. Prayers for Margaret, having 2/3 of her
stomach removed this morning.

Prayers for Joan, 97, in badly failing health. She has been unhappy and angry
for years and has no hope nor faith. Ardent prayers for her to turn around in
time. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks so much! JL

February 19, June 20, October 20
Chapter 16: How the Work of God Is to Be Performed During the Day

"Seven times in the day," says the Prophet,
"I have rendered praise to You" (Ps. 118:164).
Now that sacred number of seven will be fulfilled by us
if we perform the Offices of our service
at the time of the Morning Office,
of Prime, of Terce, of Sext, of None,
of Vespers and of Compline,
since it was of these day Hours that he said,
"Seven times in the day I have rendered praise to You."
For as to the Night Office the same Prophet says,
"In the middle of the night I arose to glorify You" (Ps. 118:62).


Let us therefore bring our tribute of praise to our Creator
"for the judgments of His justice" (Ps. 118:164)
at these times:
the Morning Office, Prime, Terce, Sext, None,
Vespers and Compline;
and in the night let us arise to glorify Him.

REFLECTION

Tucked neatly into all this business of naming and counting the Hours
of the Divine Office comes the actual reason we go to choir or say the
Office alone. It is "our tribute of praise to our Creator 'for the judgments of
His justice' " God makes neither junk nor mistakes!

OK, tribute, praise, glorify, all those things are familiar enough to
us, but the zinger here is "for the judgments of His justice."
Whoops! A lot fall out on that one! Whether we realize it or not, the
reason we praise God as Benedictine is to thank Him for ALL His
decisions in regard to us. That isn't easy, but it is terribly valid
and terribly necessary.

We thank God- admittedly sometimes with gritted teeth- for all the
things that did and DIDN'T work out the way we wanted them, for every
acceptance and every rejection that brought us to be as we find
ourselves today, in His arms. The jobs we didn't get, the great loves
which were not reciprocal, the course we flunked, the kids that went
wrong, the illness that dogs us, the spouse we should never have gone
out with twice, the unwanted pregnancy, the miscarriage, EVERYTHING
that has shaped our lives and persons is something we thank God for
in the Office.

I mention only the difficult things, because anybody can be thankful
that the apparently GOOD stuff worked out. Nor am I saying all the
bad stuff is God's fault, or that it's our own fault, but ALL of it
is turned to GOOD by God, and that is worth singing about! All of it!
If we look back honestly, we can see the hand of His goodness in the
darkest times, we can see it in NOT having our way, we can see it in
everything.

Since the way God turns all to good is a mystery we shall never know
fully in this life, we cannot adequately say much of anything but
thanks and praise, the stammered joy of someone who has received a
really great gift and is astounded at such generosity. Thanks, God.
And hey, You really DID know what You were doing all along, didn't
You?

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
jeromeleo@...
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Forgive me, but due to an unusually challenging week in the guest house, I will
most likely not be able to respond to prayer requests individually, so please
take the appearance of the intentions here as the only response. I am sorry, but
I know I'd never get around to all of them and the guesthouse, by obedience,  is
my "day job" so to speak... and often my "night job", too! If I have missed any,
please resend them and forgive me.

Prayers, please, for Fr. Brian, post-op appendectomy, and for a raging flu
epidemic in his part of New Zealand which is hitting lots of folks. May Father
be spared as he recovers and may the others be helped! Prayers of thanks and Deo
gratias, our pastor who had to go to Mexico with voice troubles was readily
helped by God with interpreters and musicians and all went smoothly!

Tragic prayers for a father who accidentally left 9 1/2 month old twins in his
car on a hot day. One died, the other lived, prayers for William, Sheila, Gabby
and the other twin. Prayers, too, for Joey, the chaplain who is trying so hard
to help them shoulder this terrible loss. Let us pray that the little one did
not  suffer too much, too. God is outside of time.

Continued prayers for Irene, 75, TomKay's Mom, and for Linda, his sister.
Irene's infection has worsened and spread to her bloodstream. Her artificial
knee will have to be removed and there is a lot of intensive and aggressive
therapy needed and she really has a lot of discomfort, along with some
cardiology risks. Prayers for Tom and Linda as they try their best to help their
Mom.

Prayers for Mother Seraphima, a nun hospitalized with severe and possibly fatal
physical ailments which are aggravated by conditions at  her monastery. May both
improve! Prayers for Barbara, compression fracture in her spine and hoping to
avoid surgery. Prayers for Barry, pancreatic cancer and very depressed, and for
Beverly, his wife, who is trying to stay strong for him.
Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks so much.  JL

February 20, June 21, October 21
Chapter 17: How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at These Hours

We have already arranged the order of the psalmody
for the Night and Morning Offices;
let us now provide for the remaining Hours.


At Prime let three Psalms be said,
separately and not under one "Glory be to the Father."
The hymn of that Hour
is to follow the verse "Incline unto my aid, O God,"
before the Psalms begin.
Upon completion of the three Psalms
let one lesson be recited,
then a verse,
the "Lord, have mercy on us" and the concluding prayers.


The Offices of Terce, Sext and None
are to be celebrated in the same order,
that is:
the "Incline unto my aid, O God," the hymn proper to each Hour,
three Psalms, lesson and verse,
"Lord, have mercy on us" and concluding prayers.


If the community is a large one,
let the Psalms be sung with antiphons;
but if small,
let them be sung straight through.


Let the Psalms of the Vesper Office be limited to four,
with antiphons.
After these Psalms the lesson is to be recited,
then the responsory, the hymn, the verse,
the canticle from the Gospel book,
the litany, the Lord's Prayer and the concluding prayers.


Let Compline be limited to the saying of three Psalms,
which are to be said straight through without antiphon,
and after them the hymn of that Hour,
one lesson, a verse, the "Lord, have mercy on us,"
the blessing and the concluding prayers.

REFLECTION

Just as Lauds and Vespers are fraternal twins, at dawn and sunset, so
are Prime and Compline, before work and before bed. Both are somewhat
different from the other minor hours, but, like Lauds and Vespers,
they share a similarity and complementarity of sorts. Prime was
suppressed in the Roman rite, but not in the Monastic usage. Still,
in the reshuffling of things, Prime got lost in many, if not most
houses. I was delighted to find it still in use at some UK houses.

That's too bad, in a way. Just as Compline features many things that
prepare one for sleep or for the death it prefigures, always a
possibility, so Prime prepares one for the day at hand, for its work
and for life. The traditional time given for the celebration of Prime
was "before work."

Some older Oblate manuals used to offer the full text of Prime for
every day, with the other hour being the changeless Compline. That
made a great deal of sense. Many Oblates who could only dream
spending morning hours before work or school celebrating Matins and
Lauds could easily fit Prime into their schedule and its whole
liturgical slant was to prepare them for and bless their work day
ahead.

One reason Prime became such a prayer for one's workday is that, over
centuries, the minor hour got merged with a lot of stuff that
ordinarily happened in the Chapter room daily: reading the Rule and
assigning work. Hence, some of its additions may not have been of the
purest type, but let us face it, we are an age that rarely insists on
purism, and chiefly only when it agrees with agendas we already are
bent on anyway.

Since these are easily added to any scheme of morning prayer you
might be using,let me give you the two prayers offered at the end of
Prime. Either or both are a great way to begin the day and quickly
memorized. Just remember, as you say them, to join your heart to the
thousands and thousands of monastics who said them every day before
you. They are a very neat connection to our past and to the saints of
our Order who have gone before us.

"Lord God Almighty, You have brought us to the beginning of this day.
Preserve us now by Your power so that in this day we may not fall
into any sin; rather, that all our words, thoughts and acts may be
always directed to doing Your justice. We ask this through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen."

"Lord God, King of heaven and earth, be pleased this day to direct
and sanctify, to rule and govern our hearts and bodies, our thoughts,
words and deeds according to Your law and in obedience to Your
commandments. Now and forever may we attain salvation and freedom by
Your help, O Savior of the world, Who lives and reigns forever and
ever. Amen"

Enjoy them and use them!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Jeanne Edna, herniated disc and facing a hysterectomy, as
well as troubles at work due to her illness and a lot of stressful things.
Prayers for Danielle, seeking discernment about going for a nursing degree.
Prayers, too, for Deborah, severe pain after foot surgery, her meds are making
her sick and she cannot sleep, also for Frank, her husband, who is taking care
of her. Prayers for Jim, the uncle and godfather of Fr. Ed,  who has prostate
cancer and now has a small tumor on his kidney, all considered operable and
early stages, but prayers are welcome! Prayers for Br. Dominic's family, as they
travel home, and for Fr. Bede's, as they travel here for a stay. Prayers for Fr.
Giles and our monastery in Ghana, please. Lord, help them as You know and will.
God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!
Thanks so much! JL

February 21, June 22, October 22
Chapter 18: In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said

Let this verse be said:
"Incline unto my aid, O God;
O Lord, make haste to help me,"
and the "Glory be to the Father"
then the hymn proper to each Hour.


Then at Prime on Sunday
four sections of Psalm 118 are to be said;
and at each of the remaining Hours,
that is Terce, Sext and None,
three sections of the same Psalm 118.

At Prime on Monday let three Psalms be said,
namely Psalms 1, 2 and 6.
And so each day at Prime until Sunday
let three Psalms be said in numerical order, to Psalm 19,
but with Psalms 9 and 17 each divided into two parts.
Thus it comes about that the Night Office on Sunday
always begins with Psalm 20.

REFLECTION

Since Prime was to be said before work, its Psalms could vary. The
Tuesday through Saturday repetition of the same 9 Psalms for minor
hours excludes Prime, which was probably said in Church or Chapter
room, or partially in both. Since Prime was celebrated where books
were available, it could use different Psalms every day and did.
There was no need for the memorization which would allow farmer monks
to celebrate None in the midst of a hayfield.

I was glad to hear from some who especially loved the prayers of
Prime. So do I! Here, however, is yet another offering from the
Office of Prime: its hymn. Being metrical, it is easily memorized. A
nurse friend of mine told me years ago she used to sing this hymn
every morning at an Episcopalian summer camp for kids. Not a bad idea at
all! Enjoy!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA 01366

HYMN

Now that the daylight fills the sky
We lift our hearts to God on high,
That He, in all we do or say,
Would keep us free from harm today:

Would guard our hearts and tongues from strife;
From anger's din would hide our life;
From evil sights would turn our eyes;
Would close our ears to vanities.

So we, when this new day is gone
and night in turn is drawing on,
With conscience by the world unstained
Shall praise His name for vict'ry gained.

To God the Father and the Son
And Holy Spirit, three in one,
Be endless glory as before
The world began, so evermore. Amen.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

+PAX

Prayers, please, for Tom, severe sciatica, that nothing worse develops and that
his pain is relieved, also for Diane, job interview today and badly needing the
job to improve her life. Prayer, too, for Sr. Rita Marie, OP, slow and very
difficult recovery from pacemaker surgeries and for Dennis, AIDS is catching up
with him after many years with the disease and he is quite despondent, also for
Robbie, his worried partner. Prayers, too, for Bobby, who died of a sudden heart
attack, otherwise healthy at the time, and for his wife, Helen, and all his
family and friends. Prayers for a couple who may be nearing their last round of
adoption proceedings and for the baby they hope to adopt. Deo gratias and thanks
for Catherine, second MRI showed no neurological problems, however she does have
a rare disease which is causing her problems and she is beginning treatment.
Continued prayers! Prayers for someone severely injured when struck by a
motorcycle. Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is
mercy and grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much. JL

February 22, June 23, October 23
Chapter 18: In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said

At Terce, Sext and None on Monday
let the nine remaining sections of Psalm 118 be said,
three at each of these Hours.


Psalm 118 having been completed, therefore,
on two days, Sunday and Monday,
let the nine Psalms from Psalm 119 to Psalm 127
be said at Terce, Sext and None,
three at each Hour,
beginning with Tuesday.
And let these same Psalms be repeated every day until Sunday
at the same Hours,
while the arrangement of hymns, lessons and verses
is kept the same on all days;
and thus Prime on Sunday will always begin with Psalm 118.

REFLECTION

Running psalmody, that is, reciting the Psalms in numerical order, no
matter what came next, was a very common ancient monastic practice.
Since one of the principles behind the Psalter was to "get it all in"
in the space of a week, that running psalmody was a natural
consequence. St. Benedict obviously had some of that on his mind: he
goes from detailed directions about the spacing of the longest Psalm,
118, right into assigning the next 9 to the minor hours which are
repeated throughout the week from Tuesday to Saturday.

As a result, one could safely say that there is nothing specific to
the time of day as such about these Psalms, but that it not entirely
correct. These nine Psalms from 119-127 are gradual Psalms,
pilgrimage songs. They were sung by the Jews as they were going up to
Jerusalem. They are filled with the tension of anticipation and
possession of God's Temple and His blessings, they are songs
of "already" and "not yet".

The gradual Psalms are short, compact units, easily memorized. Since
memory is one thing the Holy Rule no doubt was providing for- these
Offices frequently had to be said on the spot, in the fields, it is
very likely that this group were quite deliberately chosen. No one in
their right mind would suggest some of the longer Psalms from Matins
for easy memorization!!

Regardless of what St. Benedict may or may not have had in mind, the
Holy Spirit can use all of us, even St. Benedict, in ways we do not
realize. Read through these Psalms and picture yourself saying them
in a distant field, with the Abbey in view, but far away. Get the
idea? The pilgrim songs that speak of already AND not yet were the
perfect thing for monastics to say in such circumstances. Jerusalem,
the House of God, was both a distant view and a complete possession,
since ALL of the monastery is the House of God.

History and economics has changed this somewhat, but until the 20th
century, most Benedictine abbeys were built on prominent rises in
the midst of hundreds of acres of cleared farm land. They were, after
all, farmers, and as the old saying goes: "Benedict loved the hills..."
In times past, the image of a towering abbey church dominating a wide
expanse of well-tended farmland was a usual thing.

A complete aside here, but the first time I ever went to St. Vincent Archabbey,
the protoabbey of our Order in the US, I was a Florida boy with little or
no sense of Pennsylvania geography. I was VERY eager to get there, to
see the place, as I had just finished reading the biography of Archabbot
Boniface Wimmer, its founder. I knew we were getting closer, but was not
prepared for what happened next.

All of a sudden, after a turn in an very ordinary road, a vista such as I have
described sprang into view. It was a veritable Theophany to me! There, on a
hill, stood the Archabbey Basilica, twin towers reigning over gently rolling
farmlands. I shall never forget the wonder of that moment, now nearly 30 years
ago.
Truly, my heart "rejoiced when I heard them say, 'Let us go to God's house.' "

It is easy, terribly easy, to forget that we live "in the House of
God." We do, all monastics do, Oblates do, everyone does. It IS God's
world. Being reminded of this by those Psalms of journeying is a
great idea. Our feet really are "standing within your gates, O
Jerusalem!" We look from afar and see that Jerusalem is a city
compact, a unity of peace and order. Who has seen a monastery on a
hill and not had similar thoughts? Even the accidental end of the
sequence (which continues in Vespers,) has a wonderful
application. "Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who walk in His
ways!" It recounts the joys and protections of a life lived for God
and ends with the plea: "On Israel, peace!" Just picture yourself
saying that at the end of a hard day's work in the field, looking at
the Abbey Church. Not shabby!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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Those of you who have been readers for some time have benefited from Abbot
Laurence's wisdom as I passed on many of his conferences on the O Antiphons of
Advent, and he is a very good friend and frequent visitor here at Petersham.

He was struck by two hit and run motorcyclists in Rome, in a pedestrian
crosswalk, on his way to catch a tram. He has two broken ribs, head wounds and a
badly broken leg, which will require surgery. He has regained consciousness, Deo
gratias, in the hospital, but he was very badly hurt. He is a dear man and a
scholar as gentle and humble as he is profoundly gifted. He richly deserves all
our prayers. I put him in anonymously this morning, since I did not yet know if
I could release details.

Thanks so much.

Jerome, OSB

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Prayers of thanks and Deo gratias for: Susan, the surgical tech for whom we
prayed, she is now home and walking with a cane, but it may be a long time until
she can stand for long periods, as her work requires. She may need vocational
rehab, so continued prayers. Also for Mother Seraphima, she is being transferred
to a facility in another State where she can get the help she needs. May God's
will be evident to her there! Sr. Mary Stella, for whom we prayed, is doing much
better and getting around with a walker.

Prayers for Betty, mediastinal cancer, having a very tough time with chemo,
infections, etc. and has a long way to go. Prayers for Julie and Pat, who must
euthanize their beloved cat next week due to a tumor growing rapidly. Prayers
for Gayle and his brother Gayleard. Gayle has cardiac history and now prostate
cancer, and Gayleard has been having strokes, also for their sister, Verlene,
who is so worried for them. Prayers for Adrian, whose right hip replacement
needs to be re-done, but he cannot get a date before November 3, a bad time for
him. Prayers, too, for Fr. Brendan and all who got a bad lot of ineffective pain
med patches, that all will be made right and covered by insurance. Prayers for
Clancy, in her last days at hospice, for her happy and holy death, and for her
family and her friend, Peg, who asked for her.

Continued prayers for the happy death of Joan, 97, she passed away yesterday
afternoon, and for Abbot Laurence, having a terrible lot of trying pain from his
injuries. Lord, help the as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy
and grace. God is never absent, praise Him!  Thanks so much. JL

February 23, June 24, October 24
Chapter 18: In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said

Vespers are to be sung with four Psalms every day.
These shall begin with Psalm 109 and go on to Psalm 147,
omitting those which are set apart for other Hours;
that is to say that
with the exception of Psalms 117 to 127 and Psalms 133 and 142,
all the rest of these are to be said at Vespers.
And since there are three Psalms too few,
let the longer ones of the above number be divided,
namely Psalms 138, 143 and 144.
But let Psalm 116 because of its brevity be joined to Psalm 115.


The order of the Vesper Psalms being thus settled,
let the rest of the Hour --
lesson, responsory, hymn, verse and canticle --
be carried out as we prescribed above.


At Compline the same Psalms are to be repeated every day,
namely Psalms 4, 90 and 133.

REFLECTION

Maybe it's just me, but I find Vespers and Compline very different
and refreshing. They are evening hours, not followed by work, except
for the light clean up after supper, which is not a main meal here
anyway. Vespers makes me think of finally getting home and shutting
the door after a long day and a tough commute. It is a flavor no
other hour has for me. It ends the workday, leaving the evening for
family. Not shabby! A rite of passage from the job to the home hearth!

A brief glance at the Psalms for Vespers will show that they are yet
another example of consecutive, running psalmody. One right after
another, except for a few which get bumped elsewhere or are
thoughtfully divided because of their length. Apparently by numerical
happenstance, Psalm 140 winds us in the Vespers grouping, and it is
most appropriate: "Let my prayer ascend to You like incense and the
lifting up of my hands like an evening sacrifice." Historically,
Psalm 140 has appeared in the Vespers or services of light
(Lucenaria) of many, many rites.

For active monasteries, or for busy Oblates in the world, evening and
early morning are often the only times we get of relative cloister
and focus. The morning hours are largely available to anyone willing
or able to get up while the rest of the world (including offspring!)
sleeps, the evening hours perhaps less so. Those evenings are family
times par excellence and our first vocations must always be respected.

If, as a working parent or spouse, getting home means just getting
started with dinner, don't despair! There is (or can be, if you
provide for it,) a lot of undistracted solitude in cooking, even if
it is rather harried cooking. (Guests often ask what they can do to
help me in the kitchen. My usual response, I hope said kindly enough,
is "Yes, don't talk to me while I am cooking. I get too focused!" If
you can GENTLY establish a similar program of don't-talk-to-me-while-
I-am-cooking, go for it. The solitude of a kitchen at work feeding
loved ones is a rich one, indeed.

If you are into tapes, get one of somebody else singing Vespers and
play it. Heaven knows, if you can put up with the kids' music, they
can put up with yours for half an hour a day. Even if you do not
listen to every word, the soothing chant will settle into your bones,
become a backdrop of peace on which you can position the rest of your
evening. Give it a shot for two weeks and I'll bet you find your
evening meals and later times very different, because YOU are
different!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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Prayers, please, for the happy death and eternal rest of Bill, for whom we
prayed, who has gone home to God, also for all his family, especially his
nephew, Felix, who asked for him. Prayers of Deo gratias for Debbie, for whom we
prayed. She is home from the hospital and becoming good friends with her walker.
Prayers for all her family, too, as they explore this experience of caring for
her and each other. Prayers for Peggy Ann, two fractured vertebrae beneath a
herniated disc, plus her husband, Jerry, has just been diagnosed with prostate
cancer. A lot on their plates right now, and for Peggy's Mom who is so concerned
for them.
Prayers for Mary, arthroscopy on a bad knee next month. Lord, help the as You
know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and grace. God is never absent,
praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

February 24, June 25, October 25
Chapter 18: In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said

The order of psalmody for the day Hours being thus arranged,
let all the remaining Psalms be equally distributed
among the seven Night Offices
by dividing the longer Psalms among them
and assigning twelve Psalms to each night.


We strongly recommend, however,
that if this distribution of the Psalms is displeasing to anyone,
she should arrange them otherwise,
in whatever way she considers better,
but taking care in any case
that the Psalter with its full number of 150 Psalms
be chanted every week
and begun again every Sunday at the Night Office.
For those monastics show themselves too lazy
in the service to which they are vowed,
who chant less than the Psalter with the customary canticles
in the course of a week,
whereas we read that our holy Fathers
strenuously fulfilled that task in a single day.
May we, lukewarm that we are, perform it at least in a whole week!

REFLECTION

In his book, "The Benedictine Way", Father Wulstan Mork, OSB referred
to this chapter. I was a bit surprised, because the chapter is often
eclectically cited, stressing the ability to rearrange psalmody, but
not the requirement to do all 150 in one week. Father Wulstan wrote
that, whatever else we had done in reform of the Work of God, we had
often failed this one-week principle entirely and he found it strange
that something so insistent could be ignored. Given the centrality of
the Work of God in Benedictine life and the language employed, this
would seem to be a matter of greater import than just removing knives
before sleep.

I hasten to add a word of caution to Oblates here: the Holy Rule is
referring to choral Office in monasteries. To undertake for oneself
such an Office could well be unwise, and sometimes, even wrong. The
conditions of one's state in life come first. Oblates who are parents
or married have kept Vigils and Nocturns with sick children or
spouses of which professed monastics would never dream. Don't get
hung up on this one. SHARE the Office all you can, but tend first to
the responsibilities of your state in life.

OK, having said that, let's talk a little about monasteries and the
Office. The old notion of monastics as professional pray-ers whose
only mission in life was the celebration of the full liturgy is
simply bunk. Nothing in the Holy Rule supports that extreme view. On
the other hand, many things do support the idea of a task, a service,
even, to some extent, a burden of the Office that monasteries assume.

Put another way, balance, as always, is put forward here. The Office
should be neither too hard nor too easy. It ought to chafe a bit, but
not overwhelm, just like the Rule's injunction that both the weak and
the strong may have something to strive for and be not discouraged.
If we make the Office TOO easy, it becomes merely a dash of
devotional side-dressing to a busy, but otherwise only faintly pious
life.

The busyness of modern life is nothing compared to the amount of
labor required to maintain life in the first centuries of the Order's
existence. Neither were there lay brothers to do all that work in
those days, since they were a much later development. No electricity,
no indoor plumbing, no running water, no phones, no cars. In the
midst of a life that we would find crushingly different, St. Benedict
insisted on the weekly 150. Hmmmm......

We live in a world where countless labor-saving devices and perks
give us far more time than anyone in history has ever had. Are we
always good stewards of that largesse? Heaven knows, I don't want to
give up those modern advantages, look at how hooked on computers I
am. But what do we do with all that time?

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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Prayers, please, for the happy death and eternal rest of Allison, 23, victim of
a hit and run, and for her parents, Ed & Wendie and her brother, Chris; also for
Matthew, 20, the young man who allegedly struck her while driving under the
influence of alcohol.

Let us always remember to pray for the perpetrators of horrific acts. So many
pray for the victims, who, in their innocence, make very appealing
beneficiaries, but the ones who did the harm often need prayer much, much more,
and there are fewer willing to pray for them. God's love and forgiveness extends
to all, and, every time we say the Lord's Prayer, we affirm that ours must, too.
Lord, help them as You know and will. God's will is best. All is mercy and
grace. God is never absent, praise Him! Thanks so much.  JL

February 25, June 26, October 26
Chapter 19: On the Manner of Saying the Divine Office

We believe that the divine presence is everywhere
and that "the eyes of the Lord
are looking on the good and the evil in every place" (Prov. 15:3).
But we should believe this especially without any doubt
when we are assisting at the Work of God.
To that end let us be mindful always of the Prophet's words,
"Serve the Lord in fear" (Ps. 2:11)
and again "Sing praises wisely" (Ps. 46:8)
and "In the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to You" (Ps.
137:1).
Let us therefore consider how we ought to conduct ourselves
in sight of the Godhead and of His Angels,
and let us take part in the psalmody in such a way
that our mind may be in harmony with our voice.

REFLECTION

Students act differently (usually worse, alas...) for a substitute
teacher. Employees are different when the boss is off for the day.
These assortments of different behavior are pretty much shot through
the human condition, though not necessarily always a good idea.

Sometimes, we conduct ourselves in an artificially nice (or wicked!)
manner because we do NOT know with whom we are dealing. Our
politeness or our shyness or boldness can be terribly false facades.
Whether our projections are attempts to be cool and with it or
decidedly cultured and subtle, they can be masks, and are at times!

The message here is no masks. Know Him in Whose presence and House
you are. But really KNOW Him. That can take a lifetime of trying on
and shedding as false different modes of conduct.

God, like so many things, is very Benedictine in His perfection,
which stands between the extremes in which we are prone to think of
Him. If you think God is pretty much like the strictest teacher you
ever had, who ran a real death camp of a classroom, guess again.
You're dead wrong.

On the other hand, neither is God some smiling, spinelessly
"tolerant" chap Who will put up with any and all behavior with a shrug,
though I surely hope He has chuckled at some of my earthier moments
more than once! God has standards and He has shared them with us.
Both extreme views of God are wrong, not surprisingly!

God is Parent and Creator and we are always creatures, but we are not
always children. We have to grow to the adult relationship with God
that fortunate children eventually share with their parents. (If we
never got to do this, and many haven't, establishing such honesty
with God is possibly going to be a bit of a chore... Keep trying!)

As we grow in our knowledge of God, our behavior around Him (and we
are ALWAYS "around Him", that's another clear message of the Holy
Rule!) changes. It becomes more real and more natural. It changes with
a very clear eye to Whom God is and who we are. It changes from
knowledge born of love and security.

A final little word here about the angels. We are in the sight
of "the Godhead and His angels."  Protestant churches which would
not approve of prayer to saints can find ample Scriptural bases for
praying to angels! Again and again we see people conversing with
God's messengers in the Bible. Hence, don't waste 'em! None of us is
so rich as to afford to ignore friends!

Let the angels help. Ask them to help you on your road. The briefest
glance at their Scriptural track record will show one that that is something
they are very good at! Ditto protection. I ask the angels to guard the houses
of all on my prayer list every single night- as well as protect my chickens from
predators!

Love and prayers,
Jerome, OSB
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org
jeromeleo@...
Petersham, MA

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