Kansas Monks October 2023

kansas monks

October 2023

Dear Friends,

One of the repeated sayings of Sacred Scripture is “Do not be afraid.” At Mary’s Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” At Jesus’ Birth, the angel who appeared to the shepherds said, “Do not be afraid; for behold I proclaim to you good news of great joy.” At Jesus’ Transfiguration, which we celebrated in early August, Jesus says to Peter, James, and John, who were lying face down on the ground in fear, “Rise and do not be afraid.” When Jesus walked on water to the Apostles’ boat, Jesus says to Peter, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” And after Jesus’ Death, in discovering the open tomb, Mary Magdalene heard the angel say, “Do not be afraid, I know you are seeking Jesus the crucified.”

Great and mighty things God has done in the face of human fear. But God does not want us to be afraid. The Christian life does not exempt us from difficulty, stress, trial, or suffering. In fact, it is typically brings more. But in order to heal us from our prideful self-reliance and willfulness, the Lord calls upon us to turn away from fear and to have faith. This faith is not a naïve optimism or a foolhardy brashness. It is a worshipful abandonment to divine Providence. It is a trust in the words of St. Paul who movingly tells us God “works all things to the good of those who love Him” (Romans 8:28).

If we linger or wallow in our fears, we are in a sense choosing to reject His invitation to not be afraid. What we can do when we fall to fear is immediately acknowledge God’s

power by asking for salvation as Peter did when he began to sink when walking on water. One of the great ways of acknowledging God’s power to save is by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary. The Rosary is a devotion historically associated with the month of October. Br. Jean-Marie Hogan has a nice article in this issue on it. I encourage you to read his article, and I also encourage you to take up the Rosary more frequently and fervently this month. It is a great way of combatting our fears and fortifying our faith. May God bless you as you draw close to Mary!

In Christ.

IN THIS ISSUE

The Rosary and the Psalms

By Br. Jean- Marie Hogan, OSB

The month of October is celebrated by the Church as the month of the Rosary. What is the origin of this prayer, and how did it come to be the devotion we know today?

The origin of the Rosary is often associated with the great preacher St. Dominic. One story relates that it was given to him by Our Lady in order to convert the Albigensians. While the record is somewhat disputed, St. Dominic did report to his brothers that the Blessed Virgin had appeared to him. He may well have promoted the Rosary in his preaching.

The basic prayers of the Rosary, the Our Father and Hail Mary, can be traced back to apostolic times. The former was given to the apostles by Christ Himself. Some scholars argue that there is evidence for Christians praying a form of the Angelic Salutation, combining Gabriel’s words to Mary with those of her cousin Elizabeth, as early as the 2nd century.

The Rosary as we know it today took shape during the 16th century. While the Turks were advancing

through Western Europe, Pope St. Pius V (himself a Dominican) asked the faithful to pray the Rosary invoking Our Lady’s intercession. After the Christian fleet won a signal victory at Lepanto in 1571, he instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory. Renamed Our Lady of the Rosary by Pope Gregory XIII in 1573, this feast is still celebrated on October 7th

Often regarded as “Our Lady’s Psalter,” the Rosary came to be regarded as a kind of substitute for the Divine Office. The idea was that lay people for whom it would be difficult to pray the full monastic psalter could recite a 15-decade Rosary instead. Prior to the Second Vatican Council, the lay brothers in many monastic communities would pray the Rosary while the choir monks chanted the Psalms in Latin.

Is the association of the Rosary with the Psalter merely accidental? Do the 150 Hail Mary’s just happen to correspond to the 150 Psalms by sheer numerical coincidence?

Regarding the Psalms, the Catechism says, “Prayed by Christ and fulfilled in Him, the Psalms remain essential to the prayer of the Church” (2586). The human heart of Jesus was formed by the Psalms. From the Cross, He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Mt 27:46). These are the opening words of Psalm 22. While it begins with a cry of distress, this psalm pivots halfway through, ending with notes of praise.

Not only did Christ pray the Psalms personally, but He also brought them to fulfillment. One outstanding example of this can be found in Psalm 114, “When Israel came forth from Egypt.” Recounting the story of the Exodus, this psalm speaks of the crossing of the Red Sea. It goes on to narrate the crossing of the Jordan and entry into the Promised Land. On a literal level, Jesus did come forth from Egypt when the Holy Family returned after Herod’s attempt to destroy the child. He was also immersed in the Jordan at his baptism by John. On a deeper level, Jesus recapitulates the

departure from Egypt through “His exodus which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Lk 9:31). He leads His people from slavery to sin, through the waters of Baptism, and into the freedom of the children of God.

As monks, when we pray the Psalms, these events of salvation history form and shape our prayer. Though written long before His birth, the Psalms help focus our attention on the mystery of Christ. They are our prayer to him, but they are also His prayer in us to the Father.

In like manner, the Rosary sets before us the mysteries of the life of Christ. By drawing our attention to the events of His earthly life, it allows His life to take root in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Both the Psalter and the Rosary echo throughout

the year the events of the sacred Paschal Triduum. Here at St. Benedict’s Abbey, during the first week of our psalter, we pray Psalm 22—the words Christ spoke on the Cross—at the beginning of Vigils on Friday, the day of the Lord’s Passion. We also pray Psalm 114—the commemoration of the Exodus—at First Vespers for Sunday, the day of the Resurrection. It is no accident that in the Rosary, the Sorrowful Mysteries are prayed on Friday, and the Glorious Mysteries on Sunday. By tying into the particular character of each liturgical day, the Rosary and the Office help us participate in the events of our salvation. May Our Lady of the Rosary intercede for us as we celebrate this month in her honor. 

Caravaggio, 1607. Madonna of the Rosary, oil on canvas

Beyond the Constitution

By Fr. Matthew Habiger, OSB

Whatis the source of our human rights? The Constitution? Who determines what is just or unjust, right or wrong, or what is the meaning of human sexuality and marriage? The Supreme Court of the United States?

We live in a pluralistic society where there are many opinions and worldviews. One great advantage of a democracy is that people with different opinions and worldviews can openly debate these differences and come to a consensus they can all live with. Politics is often defined as the art of living together peacefully. That is why we have the legislative branch of the government. Any given issue, e.g., prison reform, immigration, abortion etc., can be openly debated and brought to a compromise that all can live with. This also leaves open the possibility that current laws can be reformed upwards, in ways that more clearly conform to universal norms and principles.

The government does not give us our human rights. If it did, it could also take them away, or place restrictions upon them. Our Constitution does not give us our human rights. The Bill of Rights is a listing of only some of our human rights that are protected by the Constitution. Our human rights follow from our human nature as persons endowed with intelligence and free will. Our human nature comes from God alone. Our human dignity and human rights are Godgiven. They do not come from society, or from a ruling class of elites, or from the founding documents, like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The opening statement of the Declaration of Independence is: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

If we want to protect our natural rights, then we

must go beyond the “paper parchment” protection of our founding documents. Slavery was wrong before the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution. Abortion is an absolute evil, and can never be justified by such contrived and spurious principles as the “right to privacy” used by SCOTUS in the 1973 decision Roe V. Wade. God’s plan for marriage is a permanent commitment between one man and one woman, who are open to the gift of life and children. Obergefell V. Hodges is a denial of God’s plan, and a ludicrous effort of some Supreme Court justices to play God in such an important matter.

If we want to find the source of our human rights, then we must go beyond the Constitution. There are enduring moral truths of right and wrong. There are universal moral principles that apply always and everywhere. And these can be known by anyone who brings an open mind and a sincere quest for the truth – reading reality as it was designed by God. No manmade documents, e.g., the Constitution, can do justice to all the universal norms and principles that are firmly fixed in our human existence. The Constitution only lists some of these principles, and attempts to defend them. The Constitution exists to protect our God-given

dignity and human rights, and wherever it is flawed then it must be corrected.

Some court decisions refer to “deeply held beliefs” of church groups, when the court gives exemption from the law, e.g. Hobby Lobby Stores V. Burwell (2014). Calling them “beliefs” does no justice to what people of faith hold as convictions, based upon solid and irrefutable reality. Abortion is the killing of a totally innocent human person in the earliest stages of its life. Consult any textbook on embryology. Abortion is never justified. It is used as a foolproof backup to failed contraception. We will never free ourselves from the scourge of abortion until we get to the root of the problem: the abuse of sex, contraception and sterilization. God has a definite plan for marriage, sex, and family. And this plan can be known by everyone, and everywhere, who bring an open mind and intellectual honesty.

Archbishop William Lori gave a strong statement on these matters in his “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty by the USCCB,” on March 2012: “It is a sobering thing to contemplate our government enacting an unjust law. An unjust law cannot be obeyed. In the face of an unjust law, an accommodation is not to be sought, especially by resorting to equivocal words and deceptive practices. If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them. No American desires this. No Catholic welcomes it. But if it should fall upon us, we must discharge it as a duty of citizenship and an obligation of faith …

“An unjust law is ‘no law at all.’ It cannot be obeyed, and therefore one does not seek relief from it, but rather its repeal.

“The Christian Church does not ask for special treatment, simply the rights of religious freedom for all citizens. Rev. King also explained that the church is neither the master nor the servant of the state, but its conscience, guide and critic.” 

For a further development of these thoughts, see Hadley Arkes, Mere Natural Law – Originalism and the Anchoring Truths of the Constitution (2023).

Monks in Action

Recent News

By Philip J. Smaldone

FACULTY PICNIC

On August 14th, St. Benedict’s Abbey hosted a picnic for the faculty and educators of Benedictine College, Maur Hill–Mount Academy, St. Benedict’s Parish, and St. Benedict’s Catholic School. The event was kicked off by a prayer and blessing from Abbot James and featured beer brewed by Br. Maximilian. Br. Karol brought some of the Abbey’s goats to the party as well.

FRESHMEN MOVE-IN

On August 19th, the monks welcomed new students at Benedictine College’s Freshmen move-in day. The monks were also hard at work moving luggage, appliances, and refrigerators into freshman dorms.

POSTULATE JACK

On August 6th, the Abbey welcomed Jack and his family as Jack became a postulant. Being a postulant is the start of the journey to being a monk. Postulants spend time in discernment while becoming acclimated to the life of the community. After studying under the Postulant Director and other monks for four months, a postulant can apply to novitiate.

TEACHING

The monks are continuing the charism of education by serving as teachers. On August 9th, Brs. Angelus, Jean-Marie, Placidus, and Maximilian started teaching at Maur Hill! They are teaching Church History. Br. Jean-Marie is teaching Latin. Fr. Jay continues to serve as the school chaplain.

Living the Liturgy

Commentary on the Liturgical Year

By Dr. James R. A. Merrick

MONTH OF THE HOLY ROSARY

Themonth of October contains the memorial of several significant saints: among them are St. Therese (1st), St. Francis of Assisi (October 4th), St, Teresa of Jesus (October 15th), St. Margaret Mary (October 16), St. Ignatius of Antioch (17th), and St. John Paul II (October 22nd). At the heart of the month, however, is the Holy Rosary.

The custom of repeating prayers, chiefly the “Our Father…” and “Glory Be…” goes back to the first centuries of the Church. The use of beads for counting prayers pre-dates the Church and it was a practice taken up especially by Egyptian monks.

During the early Middle Ages, the repetition of the “Our Father…” 150 times began to be seen as an alternative to praying the 150 Psalms in the Liturgy of the Hours. By the thirteenth-century, there were a number of alternatives to the Psalter that repeated prayers or phrases from Scripture, including the 150 Angelic Salutations, the 150 praises of Jesus, and the 150 praises of Mary. Since the Psalms were held to be the prayers and praises of Christ, it was often the case that each prayer or Psalm was juxtaposed with some sentence from the Gospel allowing one to meditate on the life of Christ while reciting the psalm. This was the forerunner to meditating on the mysteries in the context of the Rosary.

By the fourteenth-century, these different alternatives to the Psalter began to be consolidated and proposed as something more like the Rosary we know today. Around 1365, the Carthusians grouped the “Hail Mary…” into decades prefaced by an “Our Father.”

In 1569, Pope St. Pius V issued Consueverunt Romani which recommended the praying of the Rosary to secure Christians against the invading Muslims. He wrote of how St. Dominic, the founder of the

Dominicans, gave us a good example when he faced down the Albigensians by taking up “that simple way of praying and beseeching God, accessible to all and wholly pious, which is called the Rosary, or Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which the same most Blessed Virgin is venerated by the angelic greeting repeated one hundred and fifty times, that is, according to the number of the Davidic Psalter, and by the Lord’s Prayer with each decade.” When the Church miraculously defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the praying of the Rosary was given the credit and was cemented as a popular devotion.

Apart from being a venerable devotion, encouraged by Our Lady herself, the Rosary wonderfully combines different modes and aims of prayer, chiefly mental and vocal prayer. Mental prayer is defined as meditating on an event or image, allowing its spiritual meaning and reality to penetrate our hearts and minds and to transform our affections and intentions. Vocal or perhaps better, verbal prayer is when we recite words, typically traditional formula like the “Our Father…” or “Glory Be…”

Unfortunately, in modern times, the Rosary as vocal prayer has sometimes been discouraged. While some modern Catholics succumbed to Protestant criticism of Marian devotion, thinking it some sort of medieval superstition, others, imbibing the spirit of democracy and individuality, simply thought it better to pray in one’s own words rather than with the words of others.

While we should certainly recognize that another person’s relationship to God cannot be substituted for our own, we do not have to fall into an either/or mentality. Christians have long understood that in the same way a sunset moves us to praise and give thanks to God, so the life and words of a saint can inspire us

and provide perspective on what God is calling us to do. In this regard, using time-honored prayers or acclimations hardly stifles our personal growth but, when engaged prayerfully, expands our spiritual horizon.

Yet there is more to the recitation of these ancient patterns than simply fertilization of our spiritual life. Christians acknowledge the Scriptures to be divinely inspired. As the Second Vatican Council put it, “everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit” (Dei Verbum, 11). The reason why our spiritual ancestors prioritized the repetition of the “Hail Mary…”, the “Our Father…” and the “Glory Be…” above personal or improvised prayers is because they are divinely inspired and have been hallowed for us by inclusion in Sacred Scripture.

Allowing these words to form the basis of our prayer does at least two important things. First, it allows us to surrender to these events and persons. It allows us to set our concerns and the events of our lives in the context of the great events of our salvation. In the second place, it allows our act of prayer to be itself an act of thanksgiving and praise. Since these words have been hallowed by God, when we honor these words and use them as the basis of our own prayer, we show special reverence for His inspiration of Scripture. By cherishing the words He gave us, we draw especially close to His divine heart. So let us pray the Rosary this month, keeping in mind that even if we don’t “feel it,” we are still honoring God.

1 OCTOBER – 26TH SUNDAY IN ORD. TIME

Ezekiel, which has the Israelites complaining that the “Lord’s way is not fair.” To this God responds that “when someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.” Conversely, if this one “turns from the wickedness…and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life.” Here we see that justice demands punishment but its delay is a mercy that allows one the chance to make amends. Aware of this, we turn to the Lord in the Psalm, declaring “remember your mercies, O Lord.”

The second reading from Philippians calls us to set aside our pride and be humble, having the same mind as Christ who although divine, humbled Himself in human flesh and death on the Cross. The Gospel comes from Matthew 21, when Jesus asks the chief priests of the Temple which son does the father’s will, the son who initially says “Yes” but then fails to do the work or the son who initially says “No” but then changes his mind and does the work. Taking advantage of God’s mercy means seizing upon the time He has given to us to change.

8 OCTOBER – 26TH SUNDAY IN ORD. TIME

Today’s

Mass focuses on how accepting the mercy of God means taking the opportunities He has given to you to change. The Entrance Antiphon accepts the just punishment of God, acknowledging that “we have sinned against you and not obeyed your commandments.” But it asks for God to act to bring glory to His Name by treating His people out of the “bounty of your mercy.” The Collect continues this emphasis on mercy, recognizing that precisely because God is all-powerful, He can always offer a new avenue by which we can return to Him.

These themes are taken up in the first reading from

Therecurring theme of today’s Mass is the vineyard of the Lord, which is a metaphor for His people. It calls us to recognize the goodness of the Lord in His provision, calling upon His help without fear, while also recognizing that we will be judged for how we use the gifts of the Lord. The Collect is quite beautiful and merits serious contemplation. It is directed to God “who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you.” It then asks for our abundantly kind God to “pour out mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask.” How often do we fear going to God because we do not think we deserve to speak to Him or because we do not think Him kind enough to help us? Yet this prayer reminds us that God’s kindness surpasses both our worthiness and our desires. To not approach God with our sins or needs is to doubt His kindness. It is indicative of mistrust.

The first reading from the prophet Isaiah describes how the Lord worked hard to plant His people, as a vinedresser works to plant a vineyard. He found a

fertile hillside, cleared it of stones, and tilled the soil. He planted the best vines. But when it came time for the harvest, he found the grapes to be sour. This, explains the prophet, is a metaphor for God and His people. The Lord comes to His people to find justice and instead finds bloodshed.

The responsorial Psalm puts on our lips, “the vineyard of the Lord is the house of the Lord.” It remembers the time in which God delivered the Israelites from captivity in Egypt and, like a vine, transplanted them in the Promised Land. With this memory in mind, the Psalmist asks the Lord to remember His people again, to “look down from heaven, and see; to take care of this vine.”

This emphasis on the vineyard of the Lord culminates in the Gospel. Jesus gives a parable to the chief priests and elders. The parable begins similarly to the first reading in Isaiah with a landowner preparing a vineyard. However, when the landowner sends his servants to the tenants working the vineyard, the

tenants attack the servants. This goes on until finally the landowner sends his son, thinking they would surely honor him. However, they kill him, thinking that they can then get his inheritance. Jesus asks the chief priests and elders, “What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They recognize that the owner will execute punishment on the tenants and lease the vineyard out to more faithful tenants. Jesus agrees, remarking “I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

Perhaps the key to today’s Mass lies in the second reading, which exhorts us to “have no anxiety at all, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” God’s people have a habit of mistrusting Him, even after He has provided abundantly. This fear and mistrust leads them to see His work as a threat to their livelihood. Thus we reject every just and kind act of God, perceiving His fatherly care to be tyranny.

If we are to produce the kind of fruit that the Lord desires, we need to first be grateful for what He has given. We also need to keep in view His justice, that He will judge us for what we have done. But we also need to trust in His continued help and kindness, coming to Him, as the Collect says, even when we feel unworthy or our needs seem trivial.

15 OCTOBER – 28TH SUNDAY IN ORD. TIME

Around this time of year as harvest is traditionally upon us, we hear many biblical references to harvest time and the importance of bearing good fruit. Last Sunday, of course, we heard in the readings stories about the Lord as the owner of a vineyard who goes in search of delightful wine, only to find that the vineyard was ill-cared for and the wine is sour or, that, his workers have become treacherous.

The Collect for this Mass asks the Lord to give us the grace we need to bear good fruit: “May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good works.”

There is a sense from the readings, antiphons, and

prayers that it is good to be at work in the Lord’s vineyard. While the Lord is a just landowner who expects what is rightfully due to Him, He nevertheless abundantly supplies for the needs of His people and desires that they would return to Him when they have gone astray.

We might ask ourselves whether or not we see our devotional lives in these ways. Do we see the work God has given us to do as good? Do we think of ourselves being put into abundant, fertile land tasked with the joyful activity of laboring for the Lord’s harvest? Or will the Lord find us as sour grapes, bitter, resentful, unwilling to do what He asks?

It might be helpful for us to reflect this week on how we see the work God has set before us? Do we find it to be fertile soil for our bearing of good fruit or do we see ourselves to be in a wasteland? Metaphors aside, the question is, how can you look at your life’s circumstances not as trials to be ignored or suppressed but as the fertile soil that can produce good, spiritual fruit for the Lord? The confusion we often make is thinking that if we are to bear good fruit for God, our circumstances need to be idyllic. But if we are to grow in the virtues of humility, fortitude, patience, and especially faith, hope, and love, we often need difficulty and adversity. How,

Bartolomeo Manfredi, 1610. Il tributo a Cesare, oil on canvas

then, can you look at your life not as a curse, but as a gift from the abundantly kind God, a fertile vineyard from which you can bear good fruit and choice wine?

22 OCTOBER – 29TH SUNDAY IN ORD. TIME

Intoday’s Gospel, the Pharisees are desperate to be rid of Jesus, and, having not found a sure way of accusing Him of heresy, are now looking to get Him into trouble with the political authorities.

They ask Him whether the Jewish people should pay the tax to Rome. Rome was a pagan empire. Her presence defiled the holy land of Israel. Furthermore, her occupation of the land was seen as contrary to the promises of God. The Jewish people ought not aid Rome because of any complicity in her idolatry and infidelity to God’s promises. Thus, if Jesus answered that the Jews should pay the tax to Rome, He would be seen as compromised, like those Jewish tax collectors so often disparaged in that day.

However, if Jesus said that they should not pay the tax, then He could be seen as inciting insurrection. The Pharisees could take this to the authorities and have Him arrested.

Jesus’ response is quite subtle. He doesn’t reply at first, but asks a question of His own. He asks to see the coin by which people paid the tax. He then asks whose image is on the coin, to which the answer is Caesar’s. He then says, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to him and to God what belongs to God.”

But Jesus is not validating the reign of Caesar. Jesus’ question about the image on the coin is important. It conjures up the moment in Genesis when God creates humanity in His image. It is quite clear then that Jesus’ answer is to give to Caesar what has His imprint on it while giving to God what has His image on it. It means that God is the one who really has authority over humankind. Jews can pay the tax, returning Caesar’s trifle to him. But that doesn’t mean they are somehow accepting Caesar’s reign over God’s.

29 OCTOBER – 30TH SUNDAY IN ORD. TIME

Today’s Mass revolves around the theme of loving the Lord. The Entrance Antiphon declares “Let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.” The response

of the Psalm is “I love you, Lord, my strength.” The Gospel acclamation announces that “whoever loves me will keep my word.”

All of this leads us to the Gospel reading in which the Pharisees ask Jesus to identify the greatest commandment. Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” But then He immediately adds that the “second commandment is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The connection between loving God and loving neighbor is rooted in the fact that humanity is created in God’s image, a notion at work in last Sunday’s Gospel as well. It would be impossible to love God while not loving what is in His image.

But we must love our neighbor out of love for God. We cannot, in other words, turn love for neighbor into an excuse to disobey or disregard God’s commandments. We cannot say that in order to love my neighbor I must reject that marriage is between a man and a woman, for example. The love of God is the basis for and criterion of true love of neighbor. And as the Gospel acclamation indications, “whoever loves me will keep my word.” To believe that in order to truly love one’s neighbor one must set aside God’s commandments and revelation is to invert the proper order of love of God and love of neighbor. It is to make the love of God the second commandment and the love of neighbor the basis for what it means to love God.

We need, then, to pursue loving God above all. But if we find ourselves loving God in such a way that we grow in contempt for our neighbors, then we have succumbed to some sort of distortion. Genuine love for God leads to a truthful love of neighbor, even as it may require that we love our neighbor so much as to rebuke or correct them.

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