From the Abbot

Why?

With the start of the school year at our Benedictine schools in Atchison, the monks are provided the great opportunity of participating in the lives of our new and returning students, and to get to know their families. It is the opportunity to hear the stories of their journeys in faith and the opportunity to share ours. Any journey in faith is a story of conversion, the path on which we grow closer to Christ. The sharing of these stories will inevitably lead to questions about why the students and/or their parents chose a Catholic, Benedictine education; what drew them here? And more often then not, the same questions are offered back to us of why did we choose to enter the monastery? Twenty years ago (October 7, Feast of the Holy Rosary), I would have answered this question differently, yet God worked through whatever answer I gave back then in my own conversion journey. Today, my answers, though different, still contribute to that conversion. So, why do I choose to continue this journey at St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, Kan., and what has kept me on this path? The first logical answer to the question of “Why?” is this journey of conversion, my own path (hopefully) toward eternal life. But when I consider this it is easy to see how one-dimensional an answer it is. There has to be more there sustaining me on this path. The “Why?” question leads us to think outside of ourselves, to the broader community, the broader Church, to our personal and communal relationship with Christ. If it is solely about me, then I could come up with plenty of reasons why I could choose another path. But it is not about me, it is about my relationship with Christ and his Body, the Church. Ultimately, I believe our journeys from the personal to the communal make real the presence of Christ to ourselves and to others. It is the journey from the personal call – which Jesus makes to each of us – to the Eucharistic Communion in which he asks us to live. It is our personal relationship with Christ that should lead us into the communal relationship with him. So, why am I here at St. Benedict’s Abbey, and why has God helped me to continue to say, “yes” to that call? It is my personal redemption, yet also the opportunity to participate in the salvation of my confreres in the monastery, and the salvation of the friends, family, and students/alumni who call this place “home” in some way, and in the end to participate in the salvation of the Church and the world. The communal journey helps me in my own individual journey to grow closer to Christ, and vice versa. Recently reading comments following an internet article written on God’s presence in the world, I was struck by the need among some to prove or disprove God’s existence, and to convince others they were correct. One comment asked that “Why?” question; Why do you believe in God, what proof do you have? The recipient of the question simply responded, “That’s faith.” Eventually all of our research, all of our digging for the perfect answer to the “Why?” question will always lead us back to the same answer. It will always be an act of faith to follow God wherever he is calling us. Ask yourself “Why?” and please ask each of us at the Abbey why we have chosen to respond to God’s call to seek Christ in the monastic life. As we each share the stories of our conversion journeys, we will be participating in each other’s path toward Christ, and finally, our redemption. In the spirit of Saint Benedict, Abbot James R. Albers, OSB