January 2010 - St. Michael's Abbey

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From the Hilltop News from St. Michael’s Abbey • www.StMichaelsAbbey.com The following is the homily preached by Abbot Eugene J. Hayes at the Midnight Mass of Christmas in the Abbey church. “T here has come from a virginal womb the one who is God and man, light and life, Him who is the very creator of the world.” Throughout the Church’s liturgy yesterday and into this night, this new day which is Christmas itself, indeed right up until this Mass, one finds a repeated admonition and exhortation: to be awake from, to be awakened to. Yesterday, early on Christmas Eve, during morning prayer here at the Abbey at about 6:00 AM, we heard the cry of the prophet Isaiah: “Awake, awake! To your feet, Jerusalem!” Then shortly thereafter, we heard words from St. Augustine, from a sermon on the Nativity of the Lord: “Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man. Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man.” Then again this night one hour ago once more words of the prophet plaintively chanted in this abbey church: “Awake, Awake put on your strength O Sion… all the day my name is constantly reviled … therefore on that day my people shall know my renown… Here I am.” Here I am – this is the message of this Christmas night. From darkness, not only of night, but darkness of gloom, the message comes loudly and clearly that something is happening, something wonderful, and therefore we are to be awakened: awakened from sadness and resignation, from lethargy and malaise, from despair and disappointment. We are to awaken to something, a reality ever-new and transforming, and a reality which touches everyone whether they realize it or not. Almost four weeks ago, in the opening days of Advent, the period of preparation for this night, we heard, as we do so each year, we heard explained the significance of an annual celebration of the events which touch our hearts. “Each year, as the Church recalls this mystery, she urges us to renew the Photo: R. Belcher memory of the great love God has shown us. This holy season teaches us that Christ’s coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all. We shall share his power, if, through holy faith and the sacraments, we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us, and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ. (St. Charles Borromeo)” IN MEMORIAM The grace of this night and this season (and it is a season, a season of several weeks even though the Christmas songs have stopped playing on the radio and decorations disappear from the malls) is not something of the past, not something of long ago, not something of personal childhood memories which can both console and wrench the heart, this is about tonight, here and now, for the grace of God is appearing. We, all of us, are contemporaries of the Christmas mystery and invitees to share in the power which is Christ’s now in this year, the year of the Lord, 2009. For while the world’s great ones preside, and wars rage and economies falter, the angel of the Lord appears once more, the bearer of God’s word announces: “Do not be afraid, for behold I proclaim to you, right here and right now good news of great joy for all people.” Where do we find ourselves in the new Christmas story being woven and told and lived this evening? Are we among the shepherds vigilant in their fields or among the wise seeking advice of others as to how to arrive while others, the courtiers and rulers, fear what this night means for those who are powerful in the world’s eyes? Maybe some of us feel more attuned to the message and song of the angels themselves, taking part with them in announcing good news. In every case the story is new and renewing, for this night: “There has come from a virginal womb the one who is God and man, light and life, Him who is the very creator of the world.” S Rt. Rev. Ladislas Parker, O.Praem. (1915-2010) As this newsletter was going to press, our founding abbot, Ladislas Parker, went to his eternal reward. We will cover his life in detail in the next issue of the St. Michael’s Messenger.
Lives of the Saints Norbertine Saints St. Dismas – from the Bedford Book of Hours, 15th Century Question and Answer St. Dismas the Good Thief March 25th There is a long history behind the reason that the Roman Church’s Martyrology gives the 25 th of March as the commemoration of the Good Thief. As early as the end of the A.D. 100’s St. Hippolytus of Rome first gave the date of the Lord’s birth as December 25 th . Naturally this meant the celebration of His Incarnation in the womb of Mary would be nine months earlier on March 25 th . Thus the Church celebrates each year on this day the Annunciation of the Lord to the Blessed Mother by the angel St. Gabriel. Another tradition from the same early century is first given by the Latin Christian writer Tertullian. He held that the 25 th of March was also the day of Our Lord’s death on the Cross, the first Good Friday. When ancient Christians combined these traditions about Christ with the fact that the Hebrews held the day of Man’s creation to be the Spring Equinox which was in ancient times the 25 th of March also, or very near it, a rich and beautiful picture appeared to them. We may still get a happy glimpse of this picture in our own time. In St. Luke’s Gospel the Good Thief, the one crucified on the Lord’s right, cries out “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The Lord replies “This day you will be with Me in Paradise.” In this brief conversation the ancient Latin Christian heard that the New Adam on the day of His miraculous Incarnation and Saving Death restores the lost Paradise to fallen Man in the person of the Good Thief on the day of his death and the day of his original creation. The ancient iconography of the Eastern Church shows the Good Thief already in Paradise as the just who died before Christ wait outside to be admitted after him. Sometimes his image appears on the side doors of their sanctuaries, as though he is poised to slip in to Paradise. We know from the Gospel that this man was a model of deep sorrow for sin and humble faith in Jesus, two things which we find hard to have when we are suffering at the hands of others. We have to begin where he did, by admitting our own faults and refusing to blame others. May his prayers obtain for us the same true repentance and love for Jesus in the midst of trials that will lead us to join him in the kingdom of heaven after the day of our own death. Patron saints are chosen as special protectors or guardians over areas of life that are important to us. The saints listed are either Norbertine saints or patrons of the confreres of St. Michael’s. January 7 St. Raymond of Penafort Patron saint of lawyers January 14 St. Godfrey, O.Praem. Patron saint of benefactors January 14 St. Gerlac January 20 St. Sebastian Patron saint of athletes January 25 Conversion of St. Paul Patron saint of public relations personnel February 4 St. Frederick, O.Praem. February 10 Blessed Hugh of Fosses 1 st - Abbot of Premontre, Abbot General of Norbertines February 15 St. Claude de la Colombiere Patron saint of toy makers February 15 Blessed Jordan of Saxony February 27 St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother Patron saint of seminarians and students March 17 St. Patrick Patron saint of Ireland, against snake bites March 19 St. Joseph Patron saint of peaceful death, the Church, husbands & working men April 5 St. Vincent Ferrer Patron saint of builders, construction workers April 25 St. Mark Patron saint of notaries April 26 St. Ludolph, O.Praem. Q How could Our Lord have perfect knowledge of His Father all His life and never make an error in judgment and still be a man just like us? I don’t mean to be irreverent but, He seems super-human, not just human. A If by human you mean something merely statistical or “for the most part,” then it is easy to see why Our Lord would not seem so human to you. But if you mean by human the ideal and perfection of human nature, then it is clear that Christ is more perfectly human than any of us. Most of us fall short a great deal from what is truly human, in favor of being, as we say “only human.” We are sinners. The kind of humanity we ascribe to Our Lord is the sort we refer to when we describe certain ways of acting as “humane” that is, worthy of human nature at its best. He is not a sinner. In anything we experience we recognize that a more perfect specimen of something more adequately represents its kind that an imperfect one: for us a crisp, juicy, ripe apple is not less of an apple than a mealy, bruised one; it is more perfectly an apple, a perfect score in golf is not less of a golf game, it is more of one. Now Our Lord’s human nature did have the natural limits of a human nature; He felt tired and thirsty and experienced fear and sadness, but these only show how perfectly He was a Man and how great was His love to take a nature, as the apostle tells us “like ours in all things but sin.” We should never hold that being human necessarily means to be sinful and ignorant as we are. Our Lord and Our Lady and the saints after their struggles show us otherwise. Let us seek to follow their ideal path with their help and prayers.
Page 1 and 2: January 2010 The St. Michael Messen
Page 3 and 4: The Pioneer Press News from St. Mic
Page 5: St. Michael’s Development Photos:

January 2010 - St. Michael's Abbey

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