Monastic Mumblings, a Friar's Journey

heart's desire unfolding..

I have recently heard from the Director of Vocations, and the process is moving forward.  If all goes as I hope, then soon, I will travel to Mount Alvernia Friary in upstate NY to have an interview with my Order's Brotherhood Council.   

If the interview flows in the direction of joining with the Brothers, I will be invited to come next summer to begin a more intentional part of my journey along with the Brothers of St. Gregory. Then I will make my Postulant vows before the high altar in the Church of the Stigmata. 

After being admitted to the Postulancy, I would then follow a prescribed course of study, Spiritual counsel, required self-examination and testing which lasts a minimum of one year (could and often does, go longer).

Part of me sings with joy, but there is another part that fears and draws back.  My life will change, and much like a marriage, I will give myself over to others, no longer will I be the supposed captain of my soul. (Isn't control just an illusion anyway?)

Poverty..Chastity...Obedience.   Which will be the hardest?  If I know me, and I do, I suspect the Obedience.

As I hold all this in my heart, I hear the words of Br. Ron Fender, who as a Novice wrote this:

I never dreamed that the vow of poverty could enrich my life so abundantly. I never imagined that the vow of chastity would allow me to love so many and with such passion. I never thought that the vow of obedience would grant me such freedom.

Christe Fili Dei vivi,  miserere nobis
(Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy upon me)

Annual Convocation 2007

The Brothers and Bishop Visitor gather on the steps of the high altar in the Church of the Stigmata at Mount Alvernia, the OFM friary in Wappingers Falls, NY.  Next year I plan on being there!!

Feast of the Transfiguration

Today, we remember the radical change in appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ, while in the presence of Peter, James, and John, on a high mountain. The Transfiguration revealed Christ's glory to His disciples, in shining splendor of Uncreated Light. For a moment the veil is drawn aside, and men still on earth are permitted a glimpse of the heavenly reality, the glory of the Eternal Triune God.  Before that small group of Apostles, Christ was shown greater than the Lawgiver (Moses) and greater than the Prophets (Elijah), He was shown to be the Messiah. 

Interestingly enough, Jesus already WAS the Messiah, it was the perception and understanding of the Apostles that was changed.  The Uncreated Light of God is always there. This Light is not part of our creation. It is Uncreated, just like God is Uncreated. It comes from God and it existed before the Universe was created. Moses saw it on Mt. Sinai, and this is the Light that floods the City of God in Rev. 22. This Light of God, the energies emanating from the Triune Being, is always about us, yet humans rarely see it

At this feast, people often say Jesus was changed on Mount Tabor, but in fact it was the Apostles who where changed. May our own hearts be Transfigured in our daily lives in such a way to see the manifestation of the Divine glory that is in our lives, each and every day. May that Light, Uncreated since before the world began, shine on us also.

O God, Who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses Your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in His beauty; Who with You, O Father, and You, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.

Nicodemus, Rabbi 3 August

"He came by night, quiet as the hunter on the stalk,
the moon for light, his cloak a moving shadow while he walked,"

So goes the song from Bob Ayala. It has always gripped my imagination, seeing the image of Nicodemus, slipping though the night, not wanting to be seen, but wanting more, maybe needing to meet with Jesus to know what was the truth about this Nazarene Rabbi.

When he talks with Jesus, he is told that "no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above".  Now these days we are familiar with being "born again", but imagine what it was like for this leader of Israel.  Jesus might as well told him he needed green skin or required backwards knees to "see the kingdom of God." Being born a second time made about that much sense to someone when hearing it for the first time.

But Nicodemus did not let it drop, but continued his exploration of Jesus' word and ministry.  We see him defending Jesus in the Sanhedrin and joining Joseph of Arimathaea to gather up and bury Him after the crucifixion.

O God, Who led the learned scholar and judge Nicodemus to seek for wisdom from the mouth of Your Son Jesus Christ, give to all persons, both scholars and others, minds that are open and hearts that are ready to hear the good news of salvation, not rejecting out of hand what seems strange or unfamiliar in it, but carefully studying to understand it; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever.

women in ministry

Recently on this blog a commenter mentioned a common point about women ministers, that point being  "the  Bishop and Priest serve as an icon of Christ ... and Christ was a man."  This being a view that I hear often, I wanted to lift it from the comments and make it into a posting.

Naturally I do agree that Christ was and remains a Man. However, there is more than manhood to consider here.

All modern Churches accept the Definition of Chalcedon as the base for understanding Who Jesus was and is. Those that do not are considered cults, the Mormons for example.

Having that understanding as a basis, it is understood by the teaching of Chalcedon that what is not assumed (by Christ in the Incarnation) is not redeemed. What Christ assumed was the whole of human nature, for if He only assumed maleness, how could females be saved?

I strongly believe, and the Church has taught for centuries that Christ assumed the totality of human nature when He was made Incarnate. The Definition of Chalcedon goes on to tell us that the nature He received, was solely from His mother, the Virgin Mary, the God-bearer. No human male being involved and she was, obviously, a woman. 

So, having the affirmation of the Chalcedonian Council that whatever it is in human nature that needed to be assumed by Christ (since that whole point of the Incarnation) came through a woman (the Virgin Mary, the God-bearer) we have to realize that she could not pass on to Jesus what she did not possess. So, then His maleness is not of salvic importance, but the totality of what makes us human is.

So, I have come to believe that it can not be Christ’s maleness that is of significance, in the Eucharist or in anything else, but His total humanity, which obviously includes His maleness, but does not appear to be limited to or by it.

Therefore, I see no reason, that women should be barred from the Holy Orders of Priest or Bishops.

Deliverance of the Apostle Peter 1 August

Most of us have heard or read the story of the Angelic Deliverance of St. Peter, the Apostle in Acts 12.  He was imprisoned by King Herod with the intention of killing him as he had killed the Apostle James bar Zebedee.  God had different plans, however and sent an Angel to poke Peter in the side (I love that imagery) and scooted him out of prison.

So, on this Feast of the Deliverance, where the Church remembers how God delivered His servant Peter, does anyone want to share a story of deliverance?  If not personal, then perhaps a story you are personally connected with.

Gracious Father, by Whose hand Your servant Simon Peter was most wonderfully delivered out of prison and from impending death: Grant us, in all the changes and chances of this mortal life, to dread nothing but the loss of You, and to cast all our care upon You, Who care for us. When disasters lie ahead, help us to avoid them if we may, and to endure them if we must, knowing that we walk with Him who endured all for us, Your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, Who now lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.