Author
Whenever we tell our benefactors that we thank them for their generosity we say “Reward unto eternal life O Lord, all those who do good for us in your name”, we always keep them and their families in our prayers, and beginning in September we are able to offer a monthly Requiem Mass for our deceased benefactors, to aid them in the next life as they helped us in this life. A Requiem Mass is a beautiful and stark jewel in the Roman liturgy; stripped of all the embellishments of a festal Mass it makes us recall the admonition of God to Adam: “Remember Man dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return”, and in offering a monthly Requiem Mass for our dearly departed friends we can better understand how to keep death daily before our eyes.
Yet even keeping death before our eyes in the same month that we began offering Requiem Masses we can rejoice in the growth and stability of our community as on the 3rd of September our house celebrated 13 years of life. True there have been many ups and downs, but we hear Christ when he says “everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock,” and no matter what waves come, our house will not fall. On the 3rd of September, but on different years, Fr. Benedict, Br. Basil, Br. Anthony, Br. Ignatius, Br. Evagrius and Br. Michael all made their first profession, the year from which we count how long a man has been a monk.
We ask that you join us in prayer, both for the souls of our benefactors and for our monks who celebrate their anniversaries during September, that we may hear the words of Christ and, by putting them into practice, be rewarded with eternal life.