Homily for Feast of Benedict, celebration of jubilees and final profession
Saint Benedict could have written the passage from Deuteronomy:
“This command which I give you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.
It is not up in the sky
nor across the sea —
No, it is very near to you,
it is already in your mouths and in your hearts —
you have only to carry it out.”
Though he has a very positive view of human beings,
Benedict’s confidence is really in God’s grace
and in the human capacity to live into grace,
especially in the give and take of community living.
So Benedict’s understanding of grace is sacramental:
the way water is the medium for all of the biochemistry that happens in our bodies,
so the community is the medium for giving praise and glory to God.
Today we celebrate the generosity and grace that have been present
to us in our jubilarians.
Sixty, fifty and twenty-five years ago
our jubilarians professed their vows
in the presence of the Saint John’s community and the Church.
Truly, by the grace of God,
they have done their best to let the Holy Spirit work in them.
We also celebrate the grace of God at work
in our Brother Matthew who desires to make solemn vows.
Brother Francis,
you are a master gardener
here at Saint John’s, at Saint Augustine’s Monastery in the Bahamas,
and at San Antonio Abad in Puerto Rico.
For decades people delighted in your flower of choice, the rose.
You have also worked in the print shop, the library
and in our tailor shop.
A man of few words, good observational skills,
and a wry sense of humor about the human condition,
we thank you Francis for your fidelity to your monastic calling.
Father Bartholemew,
clearly music is the love of your life.
You taught piano, voice, bass violin, music history and Gregorian chant
in the college, and you served as organist for the community for many years.
You also taught music at Saint Augustine’s College in the Bahamas
and directed musicals for the students.
When you returned to Saint John’s
you founded the Schola Gregoriana.
Coming all the way from New Orleans
you also brought Creole spices
to the comparatively bland tastes of Minnesota cuisine.
Thank you Father Bartholemew, for your generous service
and presence in our community.
Brother Andre,
after working in the library
you went to school in nursing
and came back to work in the infirmary
and served generations of students.
You have developed a love for thrillers
and for caring for plants.
Thank you for your generous service
and presence in our community.
Father Roger,
hailing from the great town of Freeport,
you went to San Antonio Abad to teach
and then led the school for a total of seven years.
You came back here to work with the alumni association for the University
and as director of Financial Aid for five years.
After serving as university chaplain for three years,
you have been in full-time chaplaincy work at the Saint Cloud Hospital
for almost twenty years.
During much of the time you directed the Spiritual Care Program.
With a love for fishing, most likely inherited from a close relative,
and lively sense of humor,
Roger, thank you your gift of yourself to us
and to all those you have served in ministry.
Father Eugene,
you have been in pastoral work of one form or another
for much of your life as a monk-priest.
You began as a pastor, then became a hospital chaplain,
then you went to the University as registrar.
After coordinating the Parent’s Council of the University and serving as a faculty resident,
you returned to work as a chaplain before becoming pastor
of Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Hastings.
You are probably the only Benedictine to be
elected president of the National Chaplain’s Association.
You have been a warm, hospitable pastoral presence
and we thank you for your service and your presence.
Father Kieran,
an Irishman from the Bronx in New York,
a talkative gadfly, ideas and connections shooting off.
While teaching moral theology,
you founded the first program to educate permanent deacons in the country.
While being pastor of Saint John the Baptist.
you became rector and dean of the seminary for ten years.
You served the community here as subprior and vocations director.
More recently you served as prior of Saint Anselm’s Priory in Tokyo for eleven years,
during which time the transformation into the new
Trinity Benedictine Monastery in Fujimi was achieved.
There have been consistent rumors that you can be scattered at times-
but perhaps this is merely the stream of consciousness of pastoral genius.
You are a master of understanding the importance of human relationships
and making connections between people.
Kieran, thank you for your service
and your Irish wit and gentle humor in our community.
Prior Raymond,
you are the quintessential philosopher,
sitting, listening quietly, but all the time processing
and able to make a shrewd and accurate summary of the arguments.
You began teaching in the classics department
but after graduate school taught philosophy for 39 years.
You have been fascinated by the work of British philosophers
and that Austrian turned Brit, Wittgenstein.
You served as cleric master for three years
and now are in your fourth year as prior.
A special thanks to you, Ray,
for being willing to serve the community as prior
and for your even-handed approach to monastic life.
Father Chrysostom,
you obtained your doctorate in social thought at the University of Chicago
and developed and taught in the Honors Program in the University
from 1967-1986.
Gifted students of all kinds read poetry,
Tolstoy, Dostoyevski, Saul Bellow, and other great writers with you.
After this you served in Saint Anselm’s Priory in Japan for seven years.
At community meetings you are known for making complex political and social observations that sometimes take years to understand.
Chrysostom, thank you for your service
and your presence in our midst.
Timo,
you started out teaching English at Prep
then went to graduate school in moral theology
and integrated your love for literature with this new area of study
by doing a dissertation on Flannery O’Connor.
You taught theology for twelve years
and served as chaplain in the University for nine years.
You are now the only moral theologian serving
as an athletic director in the MIAC.
Timo, you have graced our life of worship with a beautiful tenor voice
and our community life with a positive, generous spirit.
Brother Paul,
you established the Saint John’s Boy Choir twenty three years ago
and in doing so, brought a whole new level of musicality to the campus.
Through this work,
you created new relationships with families in local communities
and provided a unique environment for the young to learn music.
Your ongoing work with the abbey schola,
as well as other creative ideas have benefited the entire community.
We thank you too for being willing to serve the community as subprior at this time.
Father Gregory,
you came to us from Chicago and New York.
With an alert, scholarly mind
you fit into the classic mold of a Benedictine scholar and researcher.
With great learning and a wry sense of humor,
you primarily labored as a cataloguer at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library,
but you were also a gentle chaplain with our Benedictine sisters
at St. Raphael’s in St. Cloud.
Your gratitude and polite manner are renowned among the staff of St. Raphael’s Hall.
Thank you Gregory, for your service and presence in the community.
Brother Doug,
you have covered the bases of our educational apostolate,
first teaching and then leading Saint Mary’s School at Red Lake,
becoming Dean of Students at Prep and teaching math,
then going on for a doctorate in education
Within a short time you became chair of the CSB-SJU education department.
In all of these situations,
you have shown yourself to be a trustworthy colleague,
honest, fair, with a deep desire to serve the common good.
As a subprior for six years,
you were a valuable member of the abbot’s staff,
with a special care for our students from other cultures.
Doug, thank you for the gift of yourself to God and to this community.
Father Luke,
you originally came to Saint John’s from the Olivetan community
in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to study theology.
You transferred your stability to Saint John’s in 1988.
After doctoral study you have inspired
students in English with outstanding teaching.
Your knowledge and love of poetry, especially the work of Walt Whitman,
and of other literary works can be equaled by few, if any, of your confreres,
past and present. Your love of film is legendary,
especially your oft-quoted comment —
“that movie changed my life.”
For years, you served as a chief hospitality minister at Sunday Eucharist,
welcoming countless persons to this church
Thank you Luke for your service to the community.
Brother Matthew,
today you make solemn vows to God and to this community.
As you can see from the lives of these confreres,
you can expect your life to take many twists and turns.
But the community is constant in opening itself to the mystery of God’s love.
None of us knows what will be asked of us.
We do know that Christ will be with us
to support and sustain us on this journey.
Surely the God’s promise is being fulfilled in our midst:
Abundant blessings have been poured our lap
because of the graced commitment of these men, who have preferred nothing to Christ.
May all of you, our solemnly professed, our jubilarians, confreres, oblates, and guests,
have a joyous and blessed Feast of Benedict today.
Abbot John Klassen, OSB
July 11, 2004
|
 |
Contact the Abbot
|
