kansas monks
Dear Friends in Christ,
As we journey through Lent, this month’s newsletter continues themes from last month—especially the importance of meaningful, fruitful conversation, deeply rooted in Benedictine spirituality. True conversation is more than words exchanged; it is a way of opening ourselves to the presence of God in others.
Fr. Jeremy’s article on the next page, about his pilgrimage through the places where St. Benedict lived, invites us to reflect on how following in the footsteps of the saints, and asking for their intercession in prayer is itself a kind of conversation. When we turn to the saints, we are not merely recalling their holiness—we are speaking to them, asking for their prayers, and awaiting their response, whether in quiet consolation or through more miraculous means.
Fr. Daniel also offers a thoughtful reflection on the art of asking questions and waiting for a response—something we may not often consider deeply in our daily conversation. As a Latin scholar for the Athenaeum of St. Anselm in Rome, his perspective reveals how this dynamic shapes not only language but also gives us food for thought when we engage with one another. His insights encourage us to cultivate a listening heart, one that seeks understanding rather than simply offering quick answers.
This month, we also celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph. Our Living the Liturgy section explores ways to turn to St. Joseph as a guide during Lent. His quiet strength, trust in
march 2025
God, and devotion to caring for Jesus provide a powerful example for us all. We are also pleased to share an exciting initiative related to our own call to care for young children in our community—an effort that reflects St. Joseph’s love and steadfast protection of the Holy Family.
As we continue through this sacred season, may we embrace deeper conversations—with one another, with the saints, and with our Lord. I pray that this Lent brings you closer to Christ in prayer, reflection, and love.
Abbot James R. Albers, O.S.B
IN THIS ISSUE
Feature | Holding Your Question Within Me . . 4 The Value of Dialogue
2 Pilgrimage, Part II of II
Pilgrimage
The second of a two-part series from Fr. Jeremy Heppler, O.S.B. about his pilgrimage through the territories and abbeys where St. Benedict and St. Scholastica lived and served.
By Fr. Jeremy Heppler, O.S.B.
We are in a very special and holy season. Last month, we celebrated the Feast of St. Scholastica (Feb. 10). This month, we Benedictines celebrate the Solemnity of the Passing of our Holy Father Benedict (Mar. 21).
In last month’s newsletter, I introduced you to the Cammino of St. Benedict and to some of the lessons I learned on this pilgrimage, especially journeying with the saints. This month, the focus will be more on walking specifically with Benedict and Scholastica at the holy sites related to them.
We began the 16-day cammino in the town of Norcia, the birthplace of the holy twins. It was not, though, until we were about halfway through the journey that we entered the heart of Benedictine territory. To make that journey more alive, I read the sections of The Life of St. Benedict according to St. Gregory the Great corresponding to where we were. Thus, I also was able to walk with this great pope, his monks, the other figures mentioned in The Life.
At the end of the first half of the cammino was our longest day of walking (over 22 miles). In the middle of the pilgrimage, the large blisters across the ball of each of my feet was a constant reminder that this was a pilgrimage, not a vacation. By mid-morning, we arrived in Vicovaro. After leaving his studies in Rome, Benedict fled to a cave above Subiaco to live as a hermit. Eventually, a group of monks recruited him to be their abbot, bringing him to Vicovaro. But, not liking the way of life Benedict demanded, the monks tried to poison him. The ruins and caves are on a cliff above the Aniene River. The beautiful church of San Cosimato, which was decorated for a wedding when we visited, is situated above the ruins. The contrast between the joyous decorations for the wedding and the simplicity of the caves, one of which had an ancient painting of the attempted poisoning, served
as a good reminder of how God is truly with us “in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.”
Later that day, one of the great surprises of the trip occurred when Steve and I went into the town of Agosta in search of a spring to refill our water. Instead, we arrived as the town’s annual procession carrying the statue of the Madonna del Passo, along with banners, bands and even fireworks, was about to begin. We were so excited to have been present for this very local experience that we forgot to locate the spring. Oops.
A few hours later, we arrived in Subiaco. When Benedict came back to Subiaco after his Vicovaro experience, he ultimately established 13 monasteries in the area. We stayed at the guest house for Santa Scholastica Abbey, which is situated above the town. The long walk that day gave us an extra day in Subiaco to explore and recover.
The next morning, we walked about a mile to San Benedetto Abbey for a tour of the sacred space. Many precious paintings tell stories from The Life or from other events important to our faith and to the area. One such is the painting of the famous story of Maur walking on water, pulling drowning Placid back to safety. After spending days walking near the Aniene River, seeing how quickly it flowed at points, this story took on a new life as I looked down at the steep path monks would have needed to take to get to the water. Across from this painting is the sacro speco, St. Benedict’s hermitage cave. Even more than looking at the art, the highlight of the day was praying in that holy place and saying Mass at the chapel just across from the cave.
A week later, the last stage of the cammino took us to Monte Cassino. Just before the last major climb of the walk we came across the ancient sanctuary of Madonna delle Grazie. This church claims to be at the site where Benedict and Scholastica met
throughout the day, and aided by a thunderstorm, and night shortly before Scholastica’s death. Only because I walked the cammino did I, to my surprise, come across the sacred location.
At the top of that last climb, we caught our first glimpse of the Abbey. A few miles later, we arrived at the Polish Cemetery. During WWII, Monte Cassino Abbey was bombed, and the surrounding area was the site of a major battle between the Germans and a division of Poles fighting for in the UK army.
Finally arriving at the Abbey itself, we not only were able to spend time visiting the stunning church and museum, but we also stayed the night in the monastic guest quarters, eating and praying with the monks. Being alone in the piazza after the complex was closed to the public, praying at night at the candlelit tomb of the holy twins, and, most especially, alone in the church kneeling before our Eucharistic Lord with the painting of St. Benedict receiving Communion just before his death above the tabernacle—were my favorite moments at Monte Cassino.
When we returned to Rome, amongst other places we were able to visit San Benedetto in Piscincula, which claims to have been built at the location where he lived while studying, the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, which is entrusted to the care of the Benedictines, and Sant’ Anselmo, where we were able to visit with Fr. Joseph, who was with us for the first few stages, and our Fr. Daniel.
Throughout the trip, and especially at Sacre Speco and at the tomb of Sts. Benedict and Scholastica, I prayed for our monks, all Benedictines, the oblates, those associated with our apostolates, those who asked me to pray for them, and for you. This pilgrimage brought me into a deeper relationship with God through St. Benedict, the other saints we encountered, and my travel companions. I would recommend visiting these the holy sites and, for the adventurous, hiking this cammino.
Next Month: Reid Bissen’s series on Dietrich von Hildebrand’s The Art of Living will return in April.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Fr. Daniel links his study of the Latin language to the importance of entering into deep, meaningful conversation with others.
is the First Step
An update on the Abbey’s partnership with an Atchison childcare center to provide a new community resource for local families.
Reflect on the readings for this month’s Sunday and Holy Day Masses. In March, we focus on Lent and the patron of the universal church, St. Joseph.
The mission of St. Benedict’s Abbey is to glorify God by seeking him through joyful self-sacrifice, by embracing fully the monastic and apostolic ideals, and by leading others to encounter Jesus Christ, who brings us all together to eternal life.
The Kansas Monks newsletter is a monthly publication of the monastic community of St. Benedict’s Abbey to help fulfill this mission.
Read our archives at www .kansasmonks .org/newsletter
The Lord measures out perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them.
saint john of the cross
Holding Your Question Within Me
A monastic perspective on the value of intentional dialogue, from a Kansas monk in Rome.
By Fr. Daniel McCarthy, O.S.B.
I came to realize the importance of holding the idea of another person within myself and expressing it in my own thoughts. This is a deeper form of listening to another person, so highly prized in the Rule of St. Benedict and in monastic life. Practicing such profound listening could help monastics come to greater understanding of one another, and help us all make our world a better place.
When I write, I can first make my own statement. Second, I can also directly quote the statement of another person. Third, I can take the statement of another person and hold it within myself, in my own thoughts and then retell it in my own words and from my own perspective.
These perspectives are embedded in our daily ways of talking, in ordinary speech, but awareness of these shifting perspectives can help anyone communicate
more profoundly. This practice can help people negotiate conflicts with deeper sympathy.
The ability to hold the comments of another person in my own speech shows:
• respect for the other person,
• my own integration of their ideas,
• my ability to present their ideas from my own perspective.
It also gives the other person the opportunity to hear their own words reflected back at them as told from my perspective. I don’t have to agree, but I can practice profound listening. I would like to give a simple example for your consideration. To highlight the different voices, I shall assume that that we are speaking together, and you ask me a question. Then I shall restate your question directly and finally from my own perspective.
Arnold Lakhovsky. The Conversation. 1935. Oil on panel.
You can ask me a direct question. Who are you?
I can directly restate your question. You are asking me: “Who are you?”.
I restate your question from my perspective. You are asking who I am.
These three questions express different levels of listening which can help people:
• to hear oneself,
• to hear others,
• to hear others in my own speech and even
• to help others hear themselves as retold from my own perspective.
Practicing these several dimensions of listening can help us to hear others more profoundly and to deepen our relationships. Let us look at each question in turn.
Who are you?
This is all you need say when speaking your own question. This can be written as a full sentence which begins with a capital letter W and ends with a question mark. This is as direct as speech can be and so indicates your direct relationship with me. You are presenting yourself directly to me. There is no indication, however, that I am listening.
You are asking me: “Who are you?”
Now there is an indication that I am listening. I have heard you carefully and can reproduce your question directly. I can say this with an inflection in my voice to distinguish the two different people speaking, my own statement and then your question. If you are listening, you may realize that you have been heard and that I have respected your own formulation of the question which is now written within quotation marks. Two distinct voices are in direct expression, and this indicates direct relationships. You ask me a question which I am repeating.
You are asking who I am.
When I listen to your question and take it into myself, I can then retell your question from my own
perspective. This shows a deeper integration of your question into my own thought. Direct speech remains in this statement because I speak directly, “you are asking ...”, and so I am presenting myself directly to you.
But I have now taken your question into myself and then I restate your question from my perspective. The direct question, “Who are you?”, is now given indirectly, that is from my perspective.
So I am both presenting myself directly to you, and I am presenting your question indirectly through my own statement.
This type of indirect speech is simple to do when speaking. Typically the subject and the verb change places in the sentence, as indicated in the following diagram.
You can see that the question word “who” remains,
You are asking me: Who are you?
You are asking: who I am.
but the words “are” and “you” exchange places in the two sentences. The word “you” originally referred to me, and so has now become “I”, and your verb “are” becomes my verb “am”, because now I am talking from my own perspective.
This exchange also happens in writing, with a few additional indicators. You can see that the second line does not have quotation marks because it is no longer a direct quote. The capital “W” become a small “w” because I am no longer giving your full sentence. The question mark is dropped in favor of a period because now this sentence is my own statement, although your question is contained within but told indirectly in my statement.
Continued on page 11 >>
Love is the First Step
A New Community Childcare Center
St. Theodora Guerin once said: “Love the children first, and then teach them.” The monks’ planned partnership with First Steps Childhood Learning Center will put her words into practice.
In 2021, St. Benedict’s Abbey purchased over 160 acres of land on the north side of Atchison at a tax sale.
“There were ideas on what to do with the property, but nothing concrete. And then God started sending us community partners and opportunities,” said Joshua Harden, Director of Strategic Initiatives for St. Benedict’s Abbey.
The land purchased by St. Benedict’s Abbey was home to the vacant Kansas Juvenile Correctional Facility.
“The idea is to renovate the remaining seven buildings into a family-centric complex that provides childcare services, medical services and other social services to the Atchison community,” Harden said. “This is not just a St. Benedict’s Abbey project. It is truly a community project, and it would not be possible without our incredible community partners and the support of the state of Kansas, the City of Atchison, and Atchison County.”
One of those community partners was First Steps Childhood Learning Center in Atchison, Kansas.
“There is a desperate shortage of childcare services in Kansas, particularly in northeast Kansas,” says Nina Ostertag, co-owner of First Steps. “We are at
full capacity in our downtown location, and I have to turn down parents looking for childcare almost every day.” First Steps has been in business for fifteen years and is one of only two licensed childcare businesses in Atchison County, Kansas.
“The Abbey has the land and buildings, First Steps was looking to expand its business, and there is definitely a demand for high-quality affordable childcare services,” said Harden, “But it wouldn’t have happened without the five million CPF grant.” The Capital Project Fund (CPF) is a grant program, administered by the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, provides construction funding to build or renovate facilities that reduce barriers to education, health, employment, and childcare services. On February 2, 2024, St. Benedict’s Abbey was awarded $4,999,999.00 under the CPF grant program.
“We basically went out and developed partnerships with local organizations and businesses that could help us fulfill the requirements of the CPF grant. That is how First Steps with Abbey was born,” said Harden. First Steps with Abbey (FSA) is a nonprofit organization comprised of the member organizations that will
provide the services required under the CPF grant. “The purpose of FSA is two-fold: Help connect families to the services that they need to be healthy and thrive. And, to coordinate services between member organizations.” FSA seeks to expand not only access to childcare services, but also medical monitoring services, and education and workforce. “Each family is different and has different needs. It is not just childcare. Our goal is to make it easier and more efficient for families to get the services that they need,” said Ostertag.
The First Steps with Abbey complex is located at 1926 N. 2nd St., Atchison, Kansas and includes seven buildings spread over 3.7 acres. These buildings, constructed between the 1950s and 1970s, have suffered from neglect and vandalism since their closure. “Structurally, the remaining buildings are solid. But there is a lot of work to be done on HVAC, electric, plumbing, and road infrastructure. Also, childcare facilities have lots of regulations that affect design,” Harden said.
St. Benedict’s Abbey retained the services of Plunkett Raysich Architects to design the renovation of the FSA Complex. “We have our design almost complete, and we are now in the contract document phase. We expect the project to go out to bid this year and to start construction in the spring of next year,” Harden said. “Our goal is to have FSA childcare services operational in the newly renovated buildings by the end of 2025.”
The need for such initiatives in Atchison County is pressing. Atchison County currently faces a significant shortage of childcare facilities, with only two centers available for its 1,141 children under six years old. FSA aims to address this gap by adding over 100 childcare slots in the renovated buildings. “We are currently sending ten future childcare associates to school with our partners at High Community College Collaborations to staff-up for the new location,” said Ostertag.
Poverty rates in Atchison exceed state averages, highlighting the need for accessible services that promote economic stability and community health. Project First Steps represents a transformative effort to revitalize a neglected property into a flourishing community resource. By co-locating childcare, health services, and workforce training, FSA aims to create a holistic environment that meets the diverse needs of Atchison County families. As the project moves forward, it stands to significantly impact the lives of families in the area, fostering a healthier, more educated, and economically stable community. The collaboration of local organizations under FSA’s leadership is a testament to the power of community in driving positive social change.
Above: Abbey North Property, Civil War Soldiers Orphanage 1868-1965. Opposite (bottom): The same property today.
Living the Liturgy
Commentary on the Liturgical Year
Reflect on the readings for this month’s Sunday and Holy Day Masses. In March, we focus on Lent and the patron of the universal church, St. Joseph.
By Tom Hoopes
Less is more in March. Like St. Joseph. And Lent.
In March, a little spring goes a long way. We are delighted by every warm day and every leaf bud, because they are rare. The outdoors is back in business in March, but with limited availability. The weather won’t let us do whatever we want—the wind will be a little too chilly, the ground will be a little too muddy—and so we make everything count.
I think that makes it very fitting that the Church dedicated March to St. Joseph, the “less is more” saint. He said nothing at all, and did only a few things—but a little bit of St. Joseph went a long way.
Instead, he was a man of action—he silently agreed to become foster father of the Messiah, tasked with guiding the Queen of the Angels and the King of the Universe to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Egypt. There, he had to find work in a foreign land, then make arrangements to bring his family home. He did it all without fanfare, and took it in stride when his son disappeared to the Temple calling it “my Father’s house.”
Pope Francis’s letter about St. Joseph celebrates all those who, like Joseph, are: “ordinary people, people often overlooked. People who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines, or on the latest television show, yet in these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history.” He said this includes not just health care workers, but “storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel,” and many others.
In Lent, we are all ordinary people doing extraordinary things. In Lent we enter into the key events of salvation history “as the Church’s liturgy reveals it and enables us to live it” (Catechism, 1095). We enter with Jesus Christ into the desert, and we travel with him toward Holy Week, ready to rise with him at Easter.
“Those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation,” said Pope Francis, looking at both St. Joseph in March and us in Lent.
So in March we embrace the little that the month offers us, and unite it to our little efforts in Lent. If we live our ordinary life like St. Joseph did, then we can present it all back to the Father, through Our Lady, transformed by Christ.
START PLANNING TO GO DEEP THIS LENT
March 2 | Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
The First Reading for the last “ordinary” Sunday before Lent says: “As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just.”
In other words, we need a season like Lent to become who we are meant to be.
And what are we meant to be? The First Reading says that “The fruit of a tree shows the care it had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind.” Jesus in the Gospel says, “A good person out of the
store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil.”
There you have it—plan a Lent that goes deep, and changes your heart, not just your appearance.
START LENT WITH A BANG
March 5 | Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, a day of obligatory fasting for Catholics 18-59, can feel like a sad day; a day that we are signed with an ashen cross and we go to bed hungry.
But the readings counsel a different approach. In the First Reading, from Joel, the Lord himself says to start Lent with a bang, not a whimper: “Blow the
trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the people, notify the congregation.”
Paul matches that enthusiasm in the Second Reading, saying, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold the day of salvation.”
Our fasting is more than an obligation; it’s a call to arms, to fight the good fight with God against our deadly enemy, sin.
SCRIPTURE IS A FLASHLIGHT
March 9 | First Sunday of Lent, Year C
St. Paul makes strong claims about Scripture in the Second Reading, saying: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” and “No one who believes will be put to shame.”
For Paul, Scripture is a flashlight illuminating the way to Jesus through a dark world. This comes naturally to him as a Jewish believer. The First Reading, from Deuteronomy, describes how the Lord led the wandering Hebrews from “affliction, toil and oppression”
through “signs and wonders” to a “land flowing with milk and honey.”
As a grand finale, Jesus shows how to use Scripture to foils temptation.
We can use Scripture the same way: to light a path through confusion and to shine in the face of temptation.
LOVE YOUR ENEMIES SUNDAY
March 16 | Second Sunday of Lent, Year C
All the readings lead to the Transfiguration this Sunday.
In the First Reading, God points to the stars and compares them to Abraham’s descendants, then appears as a flaming torch and firepot passing between sacrificed animals. This is an ancient way of saying, “If I break my word, may what happened to these animals happen to me.”
In the Gospel, Jesus shines like a star with Abraham’s descendants on either side—as he prepares
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. The Holy Family with a Little Bird. 1650.
to be sacrificed like those animals to fulfill mankind’s part of the covenant.
We will all glow like that if we “Stand firm in the Lord,” says St. Paul. “Our citizenship is in heaven,” he says. “He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.”
ST. JOSEPH THE GREAT
March 19 | Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
It seems odd that the Gospel celebrating Joseph as husband of Mary, informs us that he wanted to separate from her, but Mother Teresa explained how fitting this is.
“St. Joseph is the most wonderful example!” she said. “When he realized that Mary was with child, he only had to do one thing: To go to the head, to the priest and say, ‘My wife has a child, not mine.’ … They would have stoned her; that was the rule.” But instead, “He decided, ‘I’ll run away.’ And the rule was that … if he had run away and left his wife pregnant, they would stone him.”
Mother Teresa is no theologian, but that explanation makes good sense—and it is powerful, just like St. Joseph. The First Reading says of his foster son: “Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever.” And the Second Reading makes him the “father of many nations.”
That is what happens when you offer to die for the Virgin Mary and the Son of God.
LIFE GOAL: STANDING UP
March 21 | Solemnity* of Saint Benedict
March 21 was St. Benedict’s major feast day for years, and still is in Benedictine communities, because it was the day that Benedict “stood with his hands raised to heaven and, as he prayed, breathed his last.”
Thus he died standing up—fitting for a man who spent his life “standing up”—praying and working for God. Each of us should die “standing up”—living our state in life to the best of our ability until the very end. St. Paul describes how in the day’s Second Reading: “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
* Celebrated as a Solemnity by the American-Cassinese Congregation of Benedictine Abbeys.
That is what happens when you offer to die for the Virgin Mary and the Son of God.
KIND AND MERCIFUL, ‘BUT...’
March 23 | Third Sunday of Lent, Year C
Today’s readings provide a beautiful vision of the patience and mercy of God—then add a terrifying word: “but …”
In the Gospel Parable of the Fig Tree the owner wants a fruitless tree removed. “Sir, leave it for this year also,” pleads the gardener. The owner agrees, showing that God is patient—but only for a year.
St. Paul puts us squarely in the same space of God’s patience —and his terrifying qualifier. He describes the tender care God provided for the Hebrew people—“Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were stuck down in the desert,” he says. “Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.”
God is who he is and does not change, as Moses learns in the First Reading when God says, “I am who am.” God is eternally good and patient. He never fails. But we do. The good news is, it’s not too late to repent—yet.
I, THE OLDER BROTHER
March 30 | Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C
We all love the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but notice to whom it is addressed: “Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So to them Jesus addressed this parable.”
Yes, the parable is comforting to prodigals, but it is meant to be uncomfortable to “older brother,” “holier than thou” siblings. Every reading has something to say to those of us who are more spiritually proud than prodigal.
In the First Reading, the Lord stops the Miracle of the Manna when his people enter the Holy Land: They are big brothers now, co-creators who work for food.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul gives the big brothers their duty: Be “ambassadors for Christ” who help the prodigals through “the ministry of reconciliation.”
That’s how life is for big brothers: We work with him, side by side. What could be better?
Holding Your Question Within Me (Continued)
Holding your question within me.
When I retell your question from my own perspective, I have come to a deeper level of listening. This does not mean that I agree with you, only that I can hold your question within myself. I could indicate disapproval by saying, “It is strange that after all these years you should ask who I am”, or approval as in, “You are right to ask who I am”. But I need not judge your question when I simply retell it from my perspective.
This retelling allows you to hear your question no longer from your own perspective, but now from my perspective. This may help you to reflect further on what you have said. The opportunity for reflection reveals both:
• your own words,
• your own words reported in my speech and
• you hearing your own ideas retold from my perspective.
All you need do is respond, “Yes”, and now I can see that you recognize what you originally said as retold from my own perspective.
These levels of listening remind me of the psychological insight which goes something like this:
I see me - you see me.
I see you - you see that I see you.
I see you in me - you see that I see you in me.
I see that you see yourself in me - you see that I see you see yourself in me.
Such profound listening happens in ordinary speech, and it surely draws us into deeper communion.
I learned how to talk about all of this while studying the Latin language, because studying another language helps me to reflect on my own language. We can state this in Latin.
Quis es?
Who are you?
Me rogas: “Quis es?”
You are asking me: “Who are you?”
Rogas quis sim.
You are asking who I am.
This last one we express in a different way in Latin than in English. In Latin we put the indirect question into the subjunctive mode of speaking, producing sim rather than es.
I would like to think that the study of Latin helped our ancestors in monastic life to hold one another’s questions within themselves as a normal experience of listening more deeply to one another. My hope is that by practicing such deep listening and holding one another’s questions within ourselves we might come to a greater appreciation of our differences in our mutual exchange of fraternal communion.
Fr. Daniel McCarthy, O.S.B. is a monk of St. Benedict’s Abbey currently living Rome, Italy.
Fr. Daniel’s publications include:
Ossa: The Mere Bones of Latin Ossium: The Bones’ Meats Abundant Transition in the Easter Vigil Appreciating the Collect
See also: www.thelatinlanguage.org www.liturgyinstitute.org www.architectureforliturgy.org www.danielmccarthyosb.com on Latin on Liturgy on Church architecture
Come into the Light Word and Spirit
All are available in the Abbey Guesthouse and online at www.kansasmonks.org/store
NOVENA TO ST. BENEDICT
SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 2025 OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS
Abbot James R. Albers, O.S.B. and the monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey cordially invite you to the the twelfth annual Abbot’s Table. Join us for prayer and fellowship to reflect on the contributions of our Lumen Vitae Medal honorees, celebrate the achievements of the Abbey, and support its ongoing spiritual and charitable works. Learn more and register at www.kansasmonks.org/abbots-table
march 12 - 21, 2025
Join us in praying a novena leading up to the Solemnity of St. Benedict on March 21st.
To sign up to receive daily emails, visit www.kansasmonks.org/novena
KANSAS MONKS
EDITORIAL TEAM
Editor-in-Chief - Abbot James Albers, O.S.B.
Managing Editor - Seth Galemore
Art Director - Olivia Wieger
Publication Advisors:
Fr. Matthew Habiger, O.S.B.
Br. Timothy McMillan, O.S.B.
Josh Harden
Dwight Stephenson
FOLLOW @KANSASMONKS ON
MONSIGNOR THOMAS TANK
Co-founder of Camp Tekakwitha at Prairie Star Ranch and Men Under Construction
REVEREND BERNARD X. GORGES
Co-founder of Totus Tuus Catholic Youth Program
DONATE TO SUPPORT ST. BENEDICT’S ABBEY www.kansasmonks.org/donate
SUBMIT YOUR PRAYER REQUESTS www.kansasmonks.org/prayer-requests
Are you interested in reading more from Fr. Daniel? Visit our the Abbey Guesthouse or online store to find more of his work. www.kansasmonks.org/store
2025 LUMEN VITAE MEDAL HONOREES