Homily for the Feast of Saint Benedict and the Celebration of Jubilees
Readings: Wisdom 7:7-14; Colossians 3:5-17; Luke 6:37-38
Saint Benedict could have written the passage from Colossians:
Put to death whatever is earthly, that is,
whatever harms community life:
anger, malice, and abusive language.
Do not lie to one another.
Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, meekness and patience.
Bear with one another, forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
Though he has a very positive view of human beings,
Benedict's confidence is really in God's grace
that comes to us through our faith in Jesus Christ.
Benedict has confidence 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,
we are surrounded by grace as we are by life giving oxygen.
Today we celebrate the generosity and grace that have been present
to us in our jubilarians.
Seventy, 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.
Father Mark,
you taught Latin and religion at the Prep School for twenty plus years
as well as serving as chaplain.
Then you began a long period (actually 31 years) of chaplaincy work
first at Saint Mary's Hospital in Duluth,
then Saint Mary's Hospital and Nursing Home in Detroit Lakes
and Assumption Nursing Home in Cold Spring.
A master story teller, humorist,
skilled at gently puncturing those inflated balloons
that block self-awareness,
thank you, Father Mark, for your commitment to prayer and community life
and your generous and gracious service to the Church and to this community.
Father Florian,
coming to us from the huge Muggli clan that stretches across MN and ND,
after briefly teaching mathematics you moved over into the business office
where you served as procurator for sixteen years.
These were the years when many of the Breuer buildings
including this church, the library, the science center,
the Prep School, the Ecumenical Institute were constructed.
It must have been relentless.
Than you began a second career of pastoral ministry for 32 years,
including work at Saint Mary's in Stillwater
Saint Boniface and Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings.
To this work, especially at Elizabeth Ann Seton,
you blended patience, pastoral skill, a listening heart,
with a firm resolve to move forward.
We thank you Father Florian for your dedication to prayer and community life
and for giving so generously of yourself to the Church and to this community.
Abbot Timothy,
an introverted Irishman; what a rare combination!
A teacher of English for a few years,
from Collegeville to Tepeyac to Nassau;
then pastoring in the Bronx of New York
to the Red River Valley in Crookston.
After being novicemaster for seven years
and administrator at Belmont Abbey,
you served as abbot here for eight rugged years
and now you serve as President of the Congregation.
You have a broad vision of Church and of God's saving mercy
that has led you to participate in the encounter with Buddhist monks,
to teaching and working with the Methodist church,
as well as to ongoing work for the Church in China.
Thank you, Timothy, for pulling us deeper
into the wisdom of our monastic heritage,
for your commitment to prayer and community life
and for a far ranging vision of the role of monastic life in the Church.
Father Jim,
you taught geometry and fixed things at the Prep School
for the first third of your monastic life.
You served as leader at the Prep School
in a time of important transition to a co-educational school.
Then you worked in physical plant,
through the construction of the Hill Library
and the renovation of Stephen B Humphrey auditorium and many other projects.
Your natural easy-going, hospitable manner
made you a perfect fit working with the Special Events office.
In the last three years you brought your seasoned sense of monastic life
to the Saint Leo Abbey in its effort to regain stability and strength.
You have always been a positive, hands-on,
"don't sweat the details, we will make it work" kind of guy.
We thank you, Jim, for your commitment to prayer and community life
and all that you have given with energy and enthusiasm
to the Church and to the community.
Father Jerome,
you came to Saint John's already a superb, trained pianist.
After teaching theology for a few years
you went to Puerto Rico as a missionary for two years
and then to Saint Joseph parish in Moorhead.
After completing your doctorate in composition,
you returned to the abbey and university during my novitiate year.
I still recall the explosion of the meeting of the cultural heritage
created by Gregorian chant with contemporary atonal music. Wow!
It took us a while to develop the ear for the power of modern music.
You have made a huge contribution to our musical repertoire,
creating psalm tones that are singable and durable.
Many of your former students have moved into productive careers
in creating and making music.
Jerome, we thank you for your commitment to community life and prayer
and for your generous service to the Church and to our community.
Father Roger,
coming from the rich soil of the Red River Valley
you narrowly escaped the ravages of MS in your youth in the monastery.
Given this reprieve, you have been a teacher for 43 years.
first in art and theology
then moral theology and a number of other courses in the university.
In addition, you have studied and taught moral theology
especially in relationship to the moral issues that emerge with high-tech medicine.
You filled just about every role of editing
for Sisters Today for thirteen years.
In addition you were novice master for five years,
including yours truly as one of those rookies.
Thank you, Roger, for your commitment to community life and prayer
and for your faithful and dedicated service to the Church and to the community.
Father Jonathan,
coming to us from Strasburg, North Dakota,
you began teaching in the Prep School,
drilling guys like me the ins and outs of German syntax.
German is important to you professionally as well as personally
and you studied German at Middlebury and other graduate programs.
You were able to use this skill as Director of the Melk program
and for four years as field director for the Hill Library in Germany.
You also done pastoral service at Saint Joe, Saint Ben's and Ogema
before beginning the chaplaincy work for the past seventeen years.
You have found working with people in these crisis situations
to be richly rewarding,
a special time when good ministry can make all the difference.
We thank you Jonathan, for your good humor, your gentle spirit,
and your service to the Church and the community.
We remember too, Father Neal Lawrence, Father Otto Weber, and Father Conan Mawhoor, who are deceased and pray that they join with us in singing with the saints.
Father Bob,
another of those stars from Iowa,
you have been in pastoral ministry in Detroit Lakes
and here in Collegeville,
with a time of testing in the business office,
followed by a better fit teaching and leading
in the School of Theology - Seminary.
You now serve as chaplain in the university,
coordinating a dozen or so programs for our students.
A superb canasta player,
a skilled cantor and veteran schola member,
you have contributed mightily to the quality of our worship.
Thank you Bob, for your commitment to community life and prayer
and for your generous service to the Church and to this community.
Brother Kevin,
you come to us from Stewart, MN, a natural historian.
You probably know the story and the characters in our community
as well or better than anyone.
And you know the members of our community
all the way back to the beginning.
You enjoy repairing things,
especially vintage tractors.
You have served the community in many ways over the years,
doing many of the small things that make our life better
such as getting people to the airport at ungodly hours of the morning,
or helping people with difficult tasks,
and especially now as refectorian for the evening meal
and taking care of maintenance in the house.
Thank you Kevin, for your commitment to community life
and generous service to the Church and to our monastic community.
Brother David,
another monk from the great state of Iowa
you served first as university librarian
and then archivist for the university and abbey.
You have done yeoman service as organist for our community from the very first,
and as an in-house expert on hymnody from other Christian churches.
You have enriched our prayer immeasurably
by your wisdom and knowledge in this arena.
For years you headed up the North Star deanery
and made it a special place of community and celebration.
Naturally quiet, your steady and humorous gaze
gives you a keen understanding of community life
and the unique character of the individuals who comprise it.
Thank you, David, for your commitment to community life and prayer
and your dedicated service to the Church and to our monastic community.
Surely the God's promise is being fulfilled in our midst:
Abundant blessings have been given to us,
a good measure, pressed, shaken together, running over into our laps
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, 2005
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