Clothed with Faith God’s Will In Our Lives

KANSAS MONKS Clothed with Faith God’s Will In Our Lives

Diverse Backgrounds; One Vocation

St. Benedict’s Abbey had the opportunity at the end of June to host the annual Junior Monks Institute for all North American houses of Benedictine Monks. During this two-week stay at our home, 23 young men from all over the United States joined Kansas monks for prayer, study, work, and recreation. As one of two participating young men from St. Benedict’s, I was privileged in this experience to meet and develop fast friendships with many of my fellow Benedictines from various regions. And what a blessing this opportunity was! For me it did not take two weeks to arrive at the preliminary mutual understanding that is required for two strangers to truly comprehend one another. Within the first three days of the institute I became aware of how singular it is to make the acquaintance of a fellow Benedictine. There is, it seems, a vibrant commonality of experience that encourages a ready intelligibility of life between monks of different communities.

After the opening night orientation, a handful of the juniors at the conference gathered in the guest house lounge to chat and enjoy some refreshments. It was not long before the conversation found its way to a discussion of the endearing oddities of fellow members from our respective houses. This topic (which dominated most of an hour) arose spontaneously, with the striking circumstance that all present understood the innocent motivation of sharing the eccentricities of beloved community members. The tendency to take pride in your house’s “characters,” I learned that evening, is not a quirk unique to monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey, but, rather, is the inevitable result of throwing 30-plus grown men together under a vow of stability! To appreciate the peculiar qualities that abound in monasteries (and in families, for that matter) is part and parcel of being a Benedictine monk. The next day, as many of the visiting monks were given a tour of Benedictine College, a confrere named Michael Antonacci from our motherhouse in Pennsylvania offered, instead, to help out with garden work. Taking him out with me, grateful for the help, I learned that he too enjoyed manual labor and was pleased to spend as much time as possible working in our garden. That afternoon we dug potatoes for dinner and trimmed grass around the monastery. A couple of days later St. Benedict’s Abbey monks found themselves with even more help as four more Benedictines from visiting houses joined Brother Simon, Brother Joe, Brother Michael, and me for work in the afternoon. Brother Michael’s affinity for working in nature was, it seems, another instance of commonality amongst American Benedictines.

Our third day together was a Tuesday, the day of our traditional evening haustus (a weekly social hour with refreshments) at St. Benedict’s. About halfway through the recreation a few of the monks from other houses invited me to take a walk and I gladly accompanied them. As I conversed with the different monks on that stroll I was again struck by the similarities between my life and those of these near-strangers. The topics of discussion that we had, the reactions to turns of dialogue, the values that motivated our decisions, the judgments about what matters in life… all of these things revealed in us a unity of mind and heart that, upon reflection, was rather startling. While my parents and siblings and long-time friends can certainly claim an intimate knowledge of who I am based on their years of experience with me, these men whom I’d known for only two days could make a similar claim based on our similar lived experience over recent years. The shape of our beliefs and desires found a

Brother John Paul James of St. Anselm Abbey in Manchester, NH works in the Abbey Tomato Patch. Brother Leven Harton All work and no play...not around here. Shown above are Brother Simon Baker and Brother John Paul at Kauffman Stadium

If you are a young man interested in a monastic vocation or if you know of someone who might be, please contact the St. Benedict’s Abbey Director of Vocations, Prior James Albers. He can be reached at jalbers@kansasmonks.org or photos by J.D. Benningby telephone at 913-360-7830

Brother Michael Antonacci of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Penn., Brother Ignatius Kelly of St. Martin’s Abbey in Lacey, Wash. and Father Nickolas Becker of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn. attend class in St. Benedict’s Hall.

common origin in the monastic formation we’d received.

And so I found myself, not three days into the Institute, struck by the intelligibility of the lives of these fellow Benedictines. Needless to say, this trend continued throughout the two weeks. Wonderful friendships were developed. It was, I think, something unusual and unexpected in the context of cultural pluralism in which we live. In a world that consciously hurls itself toward increased fragmentation, isolation, and emphasis upon the individual, Benedictine life can be seen as a welcome alternative fostering an authentic unity under Christ and the Rule. Humility, obedience, stability, conformity—all seem to be viewed by many to be negative values in our contemporary society. Yet these virtues (each highlighted in our Holy Father Benedict’s Rule) create the foundation for the beautiful solidarity that I experienced with monks from diverse backgrounds.

So I thank my God, my Order, and my superiors for this opportunity to come together with my fellow Benedictines, and for my formation as a monk. Such an opportunity is a welcome moment of encouragement to the young man seeking God as a son of Benedict. May God bless the Order abundantly! May he so bless St. Benedict’s Abbey!

Editor’s Note: Photos Taken by Brother Jeremy Heppler.

Brother Leven Harton traveled to Rome in July for the International Congress of Junior Monks. The 26-year-old Brother Leven was part of this international gathering July 14-20 at Sant’Anselmo of monks in formation. During their time at the Benedictine house of studies, the young monks visited historical Benedictine sites and gathered to share details about Benedictine life in their respective countries. After the congress, Brother Leven travelled to St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, where he prayed with the monks and visited sites in Rome.