Abbey Banner - Spring 2005

Monastic Memorials to Mary, page 4 “Have Cars—Will Travel,” says Damian Rogers, OSB, page 8 Saint John’s on the Mississippi in 1856, page 10 John Elton, Master Gardener, page 12 Ora et Labora: Motto or Mistake?, page 26 Gregorian Chant: Medieval Music in a Modern Monastery?, page 28

The Mabon Madonna at Saint John’s Abbey

Contents Pages 4-6

Cover Story Saint John’s Monastic Memorials to Mary

by David Klingeman, OSB

Features 7 The Girl from Nazareth

by Kilian McDonnell, OSB 8 “Have Cars—Will Travel,” says Damian Rogers, OSB, Saint John’s Garage Manager

by Alberic Culhane, OSB 12 John Elton, Saint John’s Master Gardener

by Daniel Durken, OSB

19 The Saint John’s Bible Premieres at MIA

by Mag Patridge

28 Gregorian Chant: Medieval Music in a Modern Monastery?

by Anthony Ruff, OSB

26 Ora et Labora: Motto or Mistake?

by Columba Stewart, OSB

29 Kevin Seasoltz, OSB, Receives Liturgy Award

27 “Mother Tongue, Fatherland” — A Documentary Film

by Daniel Durken, OSB

30 Saint John’s Honors Military Veterans

by Lee Hanley

´

Photos credits: Abbey Archives, Avoca Publishers, Monica Bokinski, Andrew Coval, OSB, Daniel Durken, OSB, Lee Hanley, Fran Hoefgen, OSB, David Manahan, OSB, Simon-Hoa Phan, OSB, Robin Pierzina, OSB, Damian Rogers, OSB, Placid Stuckenschneider, OSB, Hugh Witzmann, OSB, Steve Woit

Departments 3 From Editor and Abbot

16 The Abbey Chronicle

24 Obituaries

10 Sesquicentennial

20 Abbey Missions: Bahamas

31 Spiritual Life

14 Vocation News

22 Strengthening Foundations

32 The Tanka of Neal Henry Lawrence, OSB

NOTE: Please send your change of address to Ruth Athmann at rathmann@csbsju.edu or call 800-635-7303.

Editor: Daniel Durken, OSB Copy Editor and Proofreader: Dolores Schuh, CHM Designer: Pam Rolfes

The Abbey Banner Magazine of Saint John’s Abbey Volume 5, Issue 1 Spring 2005

The Abbey Banner is published three times annually by the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s Abbey for our relatives, friends and Oblates.

Circulation: Ruth Athmann, Cathy Wieme, Mary Gouge

The Abbey Banner is online at www.sja.osb.org/AbbeyBanner

Printer: Palmer Printing, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Saint John’s Abbey, Box 2015, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321.

Member Catholic Press Association

FROM EDITOR AND ABBOT

ALLELUIA!

by Daniel Durken, OSB

I

wonder how many Catholics missed the word ALLELUIA during Lent. A religious education director I know prevents this from happening by printing, during an Ash Wednesday program, ALLELUIA in embellished letters on a large cloth banner.

She then places the banner in a coffin-like box, ties it with a purple ribbon and puts the box in the sanctuary for everyone to notice this dead and buried ALLELUIA. One year during Lent a visiting speaker addressed the grade school children and happened to use the “A” word.

The students spontaneously gasped together in genuine alarm that someone dared to say that word out loud during this special time.

On Easter the box is ceremoniously opened. But alas!

There is only a note in the box. The note reads, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised” (Luke 24:5-6). Then from the back of the church the ALLELUIA banner is carried triumphantly into the sanctuary. What a sight for Lent-sore eyes is this wonder word of resurrection!

Every Christian community welcomes the risen Lord Jesus with the exuberant exclamation of ALLELUIA which means “Praise God!” A Hebrew term that the Church never felt the need to translate, ALLELUIA connects us with our Hebrew heritage. ALLELUIA is shouted (with an exclamation point!) at the beginning and end of praisepsalms 146-150. As the final word of the Book of Psalms, the echo of ALLELUIA is sustained for millennia on the lips of those who praise the Lord with shouts of joy.

Saint Benedict liberally sprinkled ALLELUIA among the psalms of the Divine Office. Chapter 15 of his Rule is titled “The Times for Saying ALLELUIA.” The prime time is “from the holy feast of Easter until Pentecost.” In the days when the Office was recited in Latin one set of psalms was introduced by repeating ALLELUIA no less than nine times!

But why stop at nine? Let the Easter ALLELUIA reside and resound in your head, your heart and on your lips throughout the fifty days of Easter and beyond. Praying ALLELUIA now prepares us for shouting and singing it with the angels and saints forever. +

The Gift of Fifty Days

by Abbot John Klassen, OSB

W

hen I encounter people in the days following Easter Sunday, I greet them with “Happy Easter!” The greeting is usually reciprocated but sometimes there is a puzzled expression as if to ask, “John, Easter Sunday was ten days ago. Why the greeting now?”

In our current Christian imagination we tend to limit Easter to one or a few days but this was not always so. The early Church extended the celebration of the Pascal events to a full fifty days.

Pentecost is a Greek word that means “the fiftieth day.”

Its original meaning was tied to a Jewish harvest festival (Leviticus 23:15-16) that extended over the seven weeks following Passover. In Acts 2:1-4 Luke describes the descending of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles in Jerusalem to observe the fiftieth day, Pentecost.

Late in the fourth century, however, the Church limited the celebration of Pentecost to this day. Likewise, in this late period the Ascension begins to be celebrated as a special feast. The emergence of these two feasts obscures a more fundamental symbolic time, the whole of the Great Fifty Days.

Initially Easter Sunday was not considered as more important than all the other days but as the first of Fifty Days of rejoicing in the resurrection, the ascension, the bestowal of the Spirit and the founding of the Church. (See “The Fifty Days and the Fiftieth Day” by Patrick Regan in Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year, Maxwell Johnson, ed. [Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2000] 223-246.)

These events were not understood as successive in linear time, but as part of the exaltation and triumph of Jesus as Lord.

The Scripture readings of this liturgical season assume the Holy Spirit already active in the disciples and in the Church. They describe the early missionary movement of the apostles to “the ends of the earth” and some of the crucial decisions that the early Church faced. During the Fifty Days there was no fasting nor did the faithful kneel at prayer. In addition, Alleluia was sung because it symbolized the unending day. Joyfully singing Alleluia symbolizes the place and time of our unending day. Simply said, our time needs Fifty Days of Easter! + The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 3

FEATURE The Stella Maris Chapel, first Marian shrine in the St. Cloud Diocese

Saint John’s Monastic Memorials to Mary

by David Klingeman, OSB (with special thanks to Thomas Wahl, OSB, author of “Devotion to Our Lady at Saint John’s” in the 1954 Scriptorium)

Ave, Maria, gratia plena!

O

n April 9, 1856, while five Benedictines made their way down the Ohio River on the steamboat Paul Anderson, Prior Demetrius de Marogna, OSB, wrote to Abbot Boniface Wimmer, OSB, at Saint Vincent’s Abbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, praying that the little band heading for Minnesota “might complete their journey under the protection of the Blessed Virgin and Saint Benedict.” Praying to and honoring the mother of Jesus has been a Benedictine practice of the monks of Saint John’s Abbey for almost 150 years.

Our Lady of Montserrat

page 4 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

In St. Cloud, the monks settled along the Mississippi River. Demetrius wanted to name the monastery “Morgenstern” (Morning Star) in honor of Mary. But Abbot Boniface insisted that it be called Saint Louis in honor of King Ludwig (Louis) I of Bavaria for his financial support. It was not until 1883 that the abbey, school and parish were officially named Saint John’s.

The first canonical prior of Saint John’s, Benedict Haindl, OSB, often found the difficulties of his job overwhelming and on December 8, 1865, he wrote: Blessed of God, Immaculate Virgin Mary! In proof that I place all my confidence in you and entrust the Order of Saint Benedict in Minnesota to your care, I, a miserable sinner, put this in writing. I beg and beseech you, accept this, my confidence and surrender. In the name of Jesus, through the merits of Saint Joseph and all the saints in heaven I beg this of you, that you guide and govern everything for me for the glory of God and your honor, and for the salvation of the souls entrusted to me, and for the glory of Saint Benedict and all the saints of his Order and of the saints in heaven.

This letter was discovered enclosed behind a picture of the Blessed

FEATURE Mother which hung in the office of Abbots Peter Engel, OSB, and Alcuin Deutsch, OSB. In January, 1866, the monks began clearing the forest from the original location at the old Collegeville railroad station to the present place. On May 28, Thaddaeus Hoermann, OSB, delivered the first wagonload of material to begin construction of what came to be called the Old Stonehouse.

Valentine Stimmler, OSB, reported that as the wagon drew near the site, the small group of monks chanted the Vespers antiphon Alma Redemptoris Mater (Loving Mother of the Redeemer).

The first shrine in the St. Cloud Diocese was built at Saint John’s in 1872—a chapel across Lake Sagatagan to honor Mary under the title of Stella Maris (“Star of the Sea”).

This serene and picturesque chapel, reached by a pilgrimage trail through the woods, has become a symbol of Marian devotion at Saint John’s.

The Lourdes Grotto

Smaller shrines such as the one to “Our Lady of the Lilacs” on Pickerel Point were erected in the early 1900s.

The fiftieth anniversary of the 1858 apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes inspired the monks to construct a Lourdes Grotto. In 1910, young monks began clearing an area on the north shore of Lake Sagatagan to create the shrine. The student paper, The Record, reported: Record The Blessed Virgin statue is placed in a niche of rubble-stones, facing the lake. A beautiful fountain graces the lawn in front of the statue. . . . On September 8, 1912, the Feast of the Birth of Mary, the Grotto was solemnly blessed by Abbot Peter Engel, OSB. He expressed his wish that as the limpid waters emanate from the fountain, so God’s blessings may flow upon those who hold the heart of Mary in honor.

While visiting Europe in 1953, Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, OSB, ordered a replica of the famous statue of Our Lady of Montserrat in a Benedictine abbey in Spain. The statue, portraying the Virgin and Christ

Our Lady of the Lilacs Shrine

Child, is richly painted with hands and face of black. Dressed in golden robes and crown, the seated Virgin measures about forty inches in height.

The statue was blessed on November 1, 1954, and placed in the northeast corner of the old church. In 2000 the statue was restored and placed in the second floor foyer of the monastery.

In 1961 Mary and James Mabon presented the abbey with a twelfthcentury French Romanesque wood sculpture of Mary, Throne of Wisdom (Sedes Sedes Sapientiae).). Known Sapientiae as “The Mabon Madonna,” it was given in memory of James’ father. The image emphasizes the contemplative quality of the Virgin Mother, portrayed enthroned as a queen and acting in turn as a throne for her Son who sits on her lap. (continued)

The Mabon Madonna

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 5

FEATURE

A twelfth century wood carving, gift of the Mabon family

Our Lady of the Annunciation in bronze by Doris Caesar

Art historians have dated the statue to 1140-1150 from Burgundy, France.

The image, carved from a single piece of hollow walnut and measuring thirty-six inches in height, was dedicated on October 24, 1963, and enshrined in the Lady’s Chapel of the abbey church. In 1992 the statue was restored at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and re-installed on November 26. The Mabons also gave the abbey a second smaller, Romanesque, twelfthcentury, wooden reliquary statue of the Madonna.

designed by Catherine Smith in 1960, overlooks Lake Sagatagan on the way to the cemetery. Watching over

a small fish pond in the monastery garden is “Our Lady of the Annunciation,” a seventy-eight inch high bronze statue executed in 1961 by Doris Caesar who also sculptured the statue of Saint John the Baptist in the baptistery of the abbey church.

Over the years the monastic community has set times for specific Marian devotions which include novenas, May devotions, the Litany of Loretto, the Angelus and Masses celebrated at the Stella Maris Chapel. Recently optional Compline has been restored with the seasonal Marian antiphon chanted in Latin at the close of the office and the day. +

Other memorials of Mary include the Madonna of the Gospels, sculptured by Hugh Witzmann, OSB, in 1963. This bronze work measures twenty-six inches high and is displayed on the main floor of the Alcuin Library. A stained glass “Our Lady,”

David Klingeman, OSB, is the archivist of Saint John’s Abbey and University.

Our Lady in stained glass by Oblate Catherine Smith

page 6 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

Madonna of the Gospels by Hugh Witzmann, OSB

FEATURE A young shepherd girl in the Holy Land

The Girl from Nazareth

by Kilian McDonnell, OSB

Mary is as much a model for men as she is for women.

T

wo things seem clear when God chooses someone for a really important role. God usually chooses someone weak and insignificant and God chooses that person to die.

Mary would have already been betrothed at a very early age when the angel appeared to her. From the scriptures we know nothing of her age.

But from the Talmud, a collection of Jewish laws and tradition, we know the usual age of marriage: twelve or thirteen for girls, from fourteen to eighteen for boys. In our culture this would be almost indecent. But in the Middle East this has been the tradition for centuries before and after Mary.

Indeed, it continues in some places even today.

As a young girl Mary would not have been taught to read; young boys, yes, but not young girls. Ancient peasant cultures counted females, including wives, among a man’s possessions, along with slaves, oxen and donkeys.

The selection of Mary’s husband would be entirely her parents’ affair.

She could not refuse their choice.

As a female Mary was allowed to enter the synagogue, but was not allowed in the main part. She had to remain in the back or in the balcony, behind a grill. If perchance she had learned to read, she was not allowed to read the Torah in the synagogue services. God chooses the weak and insignificant to do God’s great work.

Mary was also chosen to die. There are many ways of dying. Mary did her dying in shame and pain, as a refugee. God calls Mary to the shame of an unwed mother. Until recently in our own culture an unwed mother was a matter of shame. Among first century peasants it meant ostracism.

It is hard for us to imagine how highly men valued virginity in their brides. Boys might be boys, but girls were not allowed to be girls. The double standard was vastly more pronounced. An unwed mother was a shame to her parents, her friends and her village and she was at great risk of being repudiated by her intended. All of this for a girl of twelve or thirteen years. And her deaths were just beginning. As a widow she would watch

her son die the painful death reserved for the scum of society.

Jesus’ early life was hidden. After his infancy we know only one incident before he was thirty. That hidden, unknown life is God’s secret; we should not pry. Mary had no role in Jesus’ public life. Hers was a hidden life, also God’s secret; we should not pry.

Mary, as God’s secret, became the most influential, celebrated woman in history: more books, paintings, sculptures, hymns and feasts celebrate Mary than any other woman. This secret, weak, unlettered Mother of God, who is our mother, is the wisdom of God, the power of God. + Kilian McDonnell, OSB, founder and president of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, preached this homily at the community Eucharist on January 1, 2005, the feast of the Solemnity of Mary.

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 7

FEATURE Damian gasses up vehicles at the garage.

“Have Cars— Will Travel,” says Damian Rogers, OSB, Saint John’s Garage Manager

by Alberic Culhane, OSB

L

ike a separate municipality, the greater Saint John’s must provide many services and amenities that allow largely standalone institutions to function smoothly, safely, independently. Those needs suggest why we have our own plumbers, electricians, power house personnel, life-safety officers, grounds crew and many other departmental staffs.

Brother Damian Rogers has dedicated thirty-eight of his forty years at the abbey to one large, complex task: manager of the garage for the corporation’s four divisions (abbey, university, prep school, Liturgical Press). An able fisherman and widely knowledgeable all-sports fan, Damian has also developed a diverting, wry humor and patience toward the foibles of human nature.

130 vehicles, 8,500 gallons of gas each month!

His response to questions is often peppered with kidding humor at first; then, after an expectant pause, comes his real response. Asked how he came to be at the abbey, he interjected “Interstate 35!” and then explained how his parish priest, a former Johnnie, knew of his interest in religious life and drove him to Collegeville.

Damian’s first assignment in l965 was to do odd jobs that familiarized him with campus service operations.

But soon he went to work as an assistant sacristan; that work lasted about

two years until the head of the nascent garage was reassigned to one of our New York parishes and Damian became his replacement.

He knew how to fix farm machinery from his youth, but he was not skilled in auto mechanics. In his early years that fact didn’t matter much; there was only a handful of tractors, trucks and cars, and all maintenance, even oil changes, was done at Krebsbach’s Garage in nearby St. Joseph.

Damian (baptized Donald) began life in l942 as the second youngest child in a family of six girls and six boys in Osage, Iowa. “You may have noticed that the new Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, the former governor of Nebraska, is also a graduate of Osage High School. I know the family,” he observed, straightening up and pushing out his chest.

Damian and Bennie Trettle, master mechanic

page 8 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

FEATURE But as American society grew garage operations that meant fully mobile, and later, when most maintenance—changing rail and bus service to the tires, shocks, mufflers, oil— Collegeville campus was could be done locally. discontinued, individual cars • Additional helpers, such for senior managers of as master mechanic corporate divisions Bennie Trettle for and for extern the past fifteen years, monks (pastors, work on vehicles to monks on study keep them in good and sabbatical running condition. leaves, for example) Each day several cars were furnished. Thus in the corporation’s fleet Damian came to inare specially serviced. stitute and supervise a • Early in Damian’s tenfast-growing operation. ure the practice was to sell Some notable develop“I caught this one with cars after about 50,000 ments: my bare hands!” miles of use. But cars • The number of cars began to be built better and with under his care ballooned from a few periodic maintenance they lasted to the present 130. Initial car costs longer, so he began to keep cars unwent from $6000-$8000 to the curtil they nearly wore out at 160,000+ rent $20,000-$21,000. Presently the miles. In recent years all new cars fleet uses about 8,500 gallons of gas and trucks are microchip regulated each month. vehicles requiring special servicing • The old four-stall garage attached to adjustments and regulating that Joe Hall quickly became too small. can be done only with expensive When Damian began work there, machines at auto dealer shops— the only piece of heavy equipment although our garage still does much was a chain hoist. After some years essential maintenance. of persistent agitating, a hydraulic While American cars are admirably lift was installed; more maintenance dependable, the diversity of monastic could be done, saving money. In the and other drivers—highly skilled and late ’70s a new service building for not—provide much local lore. Dathe corporate garage and groundsmian never reveals stories, but they keeping functions was built. For the become known through the monastic grapevine. Damian just accepts the unforeseen, improbable or inexplicable events that occur—like the person using the garage carwash who, when finished, backed through the garage door he had closed.

“ These airplane controls are more complicated than those of a Taurus!”

eventually did) shut off the car lights by snipping through all the wires he found under the dashboard.

For relief from such happenstances, Damian enjoys noontime card games (skat); fishing (northern Minnesota, Alaska, Canada); travel visits to some of his sixty-seven nieces and nephews in, say, Germany, California (Rose Bowl) and Indiana (Notre Dame games). One wonders, with l60 great nieces and nephews now counted, where travel and sports might take him in the future. + Alberic Culhane, OSB, is the abbey’s stewardship officer and a faculty resident in student housing.

Or when the driver of Car “C” smashed into the retaining wall at the abbey garage “because the side mirrors were not properly adjusted.”

Damian and a very few of his many nieces and nephews in 1964

Or the monk who, finding a presumably faulty light switch, tried to (and

The former garage behind Joe Hall

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 9

SESQUICENTENNIAL Vincent Tegeder, OSB, and the historical plaque

Saint John’s on the Mississippi in 1856 Marking the spot of the original Saint John’s settlement

O

n June 6, 2002, the Minnesota Historical Society erected a plaque commemorating the arrival and settlement of Benedictine monks on the western bank of the Mississippi River. The site can be reached beside a walking track that begins at the riverbank below St. Cloud State University. The plaque is located just below the St. Cloud Children’s Home, 1726 7th Avenue South in St. Cloud. The plaque reads as follows: SAINT JOHN’S ON THE MISSISSIPPI Under the leadership of Father Demetrius di Marogna, O.S.B., from Saint Vincent Abbey in Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, five monks arrived in central Minnesota in May of 1856 and established a Benedictine monastery on this site on the western Demetrius diMarogna, OSB

page 10 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

bank of the Mississippi to provide for the spiritual and educational needs of German immigrants. As early as 1857 the territorial legislature of Minnesota granted a charter establishing Saint John’s Seminary for the education not only of priesthood students but also of secular students interested in “the elementary sciences.”

According to one monk reporter, “our monastery is very close to the city, only sixty feet from the river, from which we obtain drinking water.

There are many islands in the river which teem with wild ducks . . . .

The monastery is built in a rather odd style: seventy-two feet long, twelve feet wide, and one story high.

One part was constructed of stone and the other part of boards. It had three cells, a refectory, a small chapel and a guest room . . . . Three acres of land are fenced off near the buildings, and along the lowlands of the river are wild plums, hazelnuts and bushes . . . . Toward the west the land rises to a height of a hundred feet, and is densely wooded with oak, poplars, aspen and ash. On a higher level the prairie begins, level land,

heavy with grass . . . . Our property here consists of 320 acres . . .”

A school was opened on November 10, 1857, with five students and one profesCornelius Wittmann, sor, Father Cornelius Wittmann, OSB O.S.B. One of the first students was Anthony Edelbrock, later to figure in the annals of Saint John’s as its second abbot and president.

The litigation about the original land claims on which the monastery and school was located, an adverse legal decision, and the desire for a more sylvan and rural site led to the transfer in 1866 of the Saint John’s community to the present scenic Lake Sagatagan location at Collegeville.

Dedicated by Saint John’s Abbey, June 6, 2002, in cooperation with the City of Saint Cloud. +

Alexius (Anthony) Edelbrock, OSB, second abbot of Saint John’s

SESQUICENTENNIAL Remains of the original Saint John’s building on the Mississippi

Two Sesquicentennial Books

A

Journey of Life and Faith: Saint John’s, Collegeville, a book of texts and photos edited by Hilary Thimmesh, OSB, is scheduled for publication in March, 2006, to mark the beginning of 150 years of Benedictine life in Minnesota.

The book is a collection of essays on different facets of life at Saint John’s from the beginning to now.

The style will be personal, something like the two volumes of A Sense of Place still in print after nearly twenty years.

Topics will range from the pioneer Minnesota setting to the Arboretum

and from abbots to Oblates. Both the monastic and the academic sides of the Saint John’s community will be featured along with its extraordinary outreach in pioneer missions, international foundations and the liturgical movement.

Readers may well find some of the most charming pieces to be sidebars by well known alumni and friends talking about family connections, favorite profs, the idiosyncrasies of

crotchety monks. Photos will be a mix of archival plates and contemporary prints.

The book will be printed in full color and in both paperback and hardback editions. Further details will be announced in future issues of The Abbey Banner. +

AVA I L A B L E J U N E 2 0 0 5 A L A R G E - F O R M AT C L O T H B O U N D B O O K

COLLEGEVILLE a p h o t o e s s ay h i sto r y

•

•

All those with an affinity for Saint John’s and Collegeville will want a copy of this beautiful book that documents a remarkable spiritual community.

mike & michael sipe

h i l a r y t h i m m e s h O. S . B.

As Saint John’s Abbey prepares to celebrate its 150th anniversary, the harmony of the landscape, buildings, and people of Collegeville are captured in this book featuring the compelling photography of Mike and Michael Sipe.

The inspiring images honor the natural and constructed beauty of this special place and the avocations of its residents—from farmers and educators to sculptors and musicians.

AV AVAILABLE JUNE 2005

• The book includes a captivating history of Saint John’s Abbey, written by Hilary Thimmesh, O.S.B., who has taught at Saint John’s University since 1963 and served as its president from 1982 to 1991.

• With both color and black-andwhite images, this uncommon combination of formats depicts an uncommon place.

Mike Sipe has spent most of his life in the Collegeville area. His son Michael is a professional photographer in Burlington, Vermont. They are both graduates of Saint John’s Prep School and University.

BOOK SPECIFICATIONS SPECIFICA SIZE 11.5" X 12.5" 138 PAGES - INCLUDES 5 FOLD-OUT PAGES CLOTH BOUND HARD COVER EDITION SMYTHE SEWN w/FRENCH FOLD JACKET OVER 70 LARGE PHOTOGRAPHS PRICE $65.00

TO ORDER call toll free 1.800.420.4509 or order online at www.csbsju.edu/bookstore

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 11

FEATURE John Elton amid a bed of black-eyed Susans

John Elton, Saint John’s Master Gardener

by Daniel Durken, OSB

“What a person needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.” (Charles Dudley Warner)

T

his quotation gives us a clue why John Elton, championship wrestler and successful wrestling coach, was well qualified to accept the position of Saint John’s master gardener in the spring of 2003.

John indeed has a strong back and a lot more to be the 1980 National Catholic Wrestling Champion in the 150-pound class.

After graduating with honors from Saint John’s University in 1980 as a biology major with a secondary education minor, the following year John became the school’s head wrestling coach, assistant football and track coach and athletic trainer. When the position of landscape manager and master gardener was advertised twenty-three years later, John was hired and currently continues as assistant wrestling coach.

Inspired by the enthusiasm for plants and flowers of his biology professor, Nick Zaczkowski, John became serious about gardening and landscaping when he purchased a newly constructed home in St. Cloud. The lack of trees, grass and landscaping was a blank canvas on which he created his own garden paradise, a welcome diversion from the hectic schedule of coaching. John’s personal gardens have been featured on the Central page 12 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

Minnesota Arts Council’s “Tour of Gardens” and are regularly visited by several garden clubs.

John’s work proves that it takes more than a “cast-iron back, with a hinge in it” to be a successful gardener. John’s formula adds a lively imagination, careful planning, a vision for future development, patience, persistence and hard work. When asked what his vision of the Collegeville campus is, John replied, “To make Saint John’s the Munsinger Gardens West!—to have gardens impressive enough that visitors will come to Saint John’s just to tour them.”

Courtyard at the Great Hall entrance to the monastery. He will upgrade the quality of the rose garden and plant yellow and white peonies, dwarf dahlias, clematis and lilies to border the sidewalk, thereby presenting a collage of color, fragrance and texture.

Another area of his gardening efforts is spaces around Sexton Commons, a focus for student traffic. The planting of lilac bushes, juniper shrubs

The reference is to the Munsinger Flower Gardens and Clemens’ Rose Gardens which beautify part of the east bank of the Mississippi in St. Cloud. John continued, “Saint John’s already has the natural beauty of our inner campus along with our lakes, forest, Arboretum and wetlands to make us a major tourist attraction in Central Minnesota.” His garden designing goal is to have flowers blooming continually between graduation in early May through the first months of the academic year in the fall.

John’s 2005 spring and summer plans call for improving the Abbot’s

A patch of red zinnias

FEATURE

Red wave petunias at the intersection near the Palaestra

Tulips and daffodils behind a lavender PJM rhododendron

and flower gardens will protect grassy areas from the crisscrossing of “cow paths.” Additional plantings will be done at the entrances to Frank House, Liturgical Press and Emmaus Hall.

Last fall thirty azalea bushes and a cranberry bush hedge were planted between the monastery garden and Emmaus Hall.

One of John’s assignments is to restore a vineyard of the Alpha Grape that was hybridized over a century ago

by John Katzner, OSB, to withstand the rigors of the Minnesota winter. He has done cuttings of the remaining vines which will be planted this spring

Scarlet telstar in the front with a mix of orange marigolds, Russian sage, Asiatic and Oriental lilies and purple petunias

in a prepared plot near the abbey’s vegetable garden.

Last year John delighted community cooks when he planted a new herb garden that included parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, ornamental cabbage, dill, basil, oregano and lavender.

Move over, Mrs. Dash!

John is especially grateful for generous donations of trees, shrubs and plants from Bailey Nurseries, St. Paul, owned

by 1957 alumnus Gordon Bailey, and from Minnesota Green, a Twin Cities’ group that donates its leftovers to the Saint John’s Garden Club. He also appreciates the indispensable help of his student summer crew of his son Andrew, Becky Pflueger and Brian Gasser and the support of Mark Kelly, OSB, and the Grounds Crew.

Wholeheartedly devoted to the power of the flower, John Elton is proof positive of this additional comment of Charles Dudley Warner: To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch their renewal of life—this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a person can do. +

Stately yellow ligularia in the back, blue flax and lilies in the front

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 13

VOCATION NEWS L.to r., Herard Jean-Noel, OSB, Michael Patella, OSB and Kilian McDonnell, OSB

Three Monks Entered the Monastery and Stayed Because . . .

by Paul Vincent Niebauer, OSB

T

The Abbot asks the novice, “What do you seek?”

hree monks who have been professed members of Saint John’s Abbey from twelve years to almost six decades tell why they entered the monastery and are still here.

Herard Jean-Noel, OSB, 42, born in Anse-a-Foleur, Haiti, professed December 8, 1993: In the Haitian village where I grew up there was no nursing home to which to send our old folks. Therefore we all had to learn to accept one another, to love one another and to care for one another.

After I left my family I learned that one of the many blessings and beauties of being a member of the Saint John’s monastic community is the level of flexibility, understanding and patience that this community has shown to its members.

For example, at times when I found myself wandering too far from the spirit of the community, I would be left with a feeling of emptiness, loneliness and insecurity. In such a crucial moment, I could hear the comforting voice of the community just like the sweet sounding voice of my old folks gently whispering to me: “I am here.

You do not have to worry. I can feel page 14 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

and see your struggle. I will be there in a hurry when you call. I am here to catch you when you fall. Here are my shoulders; you can lean on me.”

Brother Herard teaches theology and coaches soccer at Saint John’s Preparatory School.

Michael Patella, OSB, 50, born in Rochester, New York, professed March 31, 1984: The dedication to education and beauty, as reflected in its schools and grounds, was a central factor that caught my first interest in Saint John’s. Another positive draw was the daily round of common prayer, work and recreation. Perhaps more than anything else were the contagious joy, warmth and enthusiasm that the community exuded toward its common life and ministry.

Why I came to Saint John’s, however, is not why I decided to remain in this monastery. As I grew into the community, I realized that the monks’ prayer and love of God maintained that good deal which I initially found so attractive in their monasticism and I decided to try to imitate them for the rest of my life.

Father Michael is associate professor of theology at Saint John’s University.

Kilian McDonnell, OSB, 83, born in Great Falls, Montana, professed August 24, 1946: I came to the monastery and stayed because: 1. I was hungry for God. 2. The bread I was eating did not satisfy.

3. I came upon a group of other hungry beggars who showed me where the banquet food was stored and how to celebrate.

Father Kilian is professor emeritus of theology at Saint John’s University.

Though these three monks hail from different backgrounds, each in his own way has said what Saint Benedict some 1500 years ago decreed should be said when a candidate enters the monastery. As the young man stands before the monastic community at Morning Prayer to begin his novitiate year, the abbot asks him, “What do you seek?” The novice responds, “The mercy of God and fellowship in this community.” + Paul Vincent Niebauer, OSB, is the vocation director of the abbey.

VOCATION NEWS

The Ordination of Matthew Luft, OSB “Be a man of prayer, love and surrender.” (Bishop Kinney)

D

eacon Matthew was ordained to the priesthood by Most Reverend John Kinney, Bishop of the Saint Cloud Diocese, on January 22, 2005, in the abbey church. A special feature of the celebration was the assistance at the altar of Matthew’s father, Deacon Dennis Luft, a permanent deacon of the Des Moines Diocese.

The involvement of his father and Sarah his mother in the ministries of their parish and diocese inspired Matthew to consider a vocation to the priesthood. After the ordination liturgy Sarah reminded her son, “This is something you have been thinking about and working towards since you were in the fifth grade.”

L. to r., Deacon Dennis Luft (father), Bishop Kinney, Matthew, OSB, Sarah Luft (mother), Jim Luft (brother), London and Alex Ball (niece and nephew), Abbot John Klassen, OSB, and Micelle Ball (sister) Bishop Kinney and priests pray over Matthew.

Matthew graduated from Saint John’s University in 1996 and began theology studies with a view to ordination as a priest of his diocese. Desiring to explore the priesthood in the context of monastic life, he entered the abbey as a novice in 2000 and professed his final, solemn vows in September 2004.

In his homily at the ordination Mass, Bishop Kinney urged Matthew to first be a man of prayer, “willing to stand in the center of life’s tensions, alone and with the people of God, in prayer.” Secondly, Matthew should be a man of love for Christ, the Church and the people he serves. Thirdly, Matthew should surrender his will to God every day “without reserve and with boundless confidence.”

Matthew celebrated the Mass of Thanksgiving at his home parish of Saint Augustin in Des Moines, Iowa, on January 30. He has been assigned to serve as associate pastor of Saint Boniface Church, Cold Spring, Minnesota. +

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THE ABBEY CHRONICLE “For see, the winter is past.

The flowers appear on the earth” (Song of Songs 2:11-12).

What’s Up? The Abbey Chronicle

by Daniel Durken, OSB

“No Winter lasts forever, no Spring skips its turn.” (Hal Borland)

W

inter at the abbey had a hard time getting started.

Lake Sagatagan froze over on December 13, three weeks later than usual. An inch of snow hardly qualified for a White Christmas.

January produced two seven-inch snowfalls and a six-day stretch of subzero temperatures with a low of -25˚.

February previewed Spring with three delicious days of highs in the low 50s.

An early April shower on February 13 brought a half-inch of rain before it turned to slippery slush. March has a chance to whip up one last bona fide blizzard.

November 2004 ■ In response to Abbot John’s invitation to relatives, Oblates, friends and benefactors to send the names of their deceased loved ones, the abbey received more than 1,300 All Souls Remembrance sheets. The sheets with a multitude of inscribed page 16 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

names were placed in baskets at the entrance to the choir stalls of the abbey church.

At each All Souls Remembrance sheets celebration of Morning, Noon, Evening Prayer and the Eucharist during November, monks picked up a sheet and prayed for those listed.

■ At a monastic community meeting on November 9, Abbot John introduced Donald Ottenhoff, the new executive director of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research. Ottenhoff, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church and former senior editor of The Christian Century, succeeds Patrick

Henry who retired as director after twenty years of service. Sister Dolores Schuh, CHM, executive associate of the Institute for the past thirty years, also retired and is replaced by Mary Beth Banken, former director of admissions for the School of Theology•Seminary.

Donald Ottenhoff

■ Twenty-four monks helped serve the annual Family Style Thanksgiving Dinner to 1,450 university and prep students on November 17.

This sit-down dinner counteracts the “eat and run” habit and gives students the experience of eating

THE ABBEY CHRONICLE together as a community. Students consumed 215 turkeys, 300 pounds of dressing, 75 gallons of gravy and 400 pounds of kernel corn.

■ On Thanksgiving Day a volunteer team of monastic cooks roasted a dozen turkeys on an outdoor grill.

The community enjoyed the meal that included the traditional trimmings with pumpkin pie for dessert.

L. to r., Confreres Mark Thamert, Michael Patella, Abbot John Klassen and Novice Andrew Coval grill Thanksgiving Day turkeys.

■ The drilling for a new 105-foot water well was completed on November 30.

After an abundant water supply was located near the abbey’s vegetable garden by the Kuebelbeck Underground The head of the Water Locating new well Service of St. Joseph, the drilling was done by Thein Well Company of Spicer, Minnesota. According to Tom Vogel, Saint John’s chief engineer, two wells supply all the water for the Collegeville campus except for lake water used to water lawns.

These wells pump an average of 238,630 gallons each day for a total of 87,100, 000 gallons yearly.

December 2004 ■ The September-December 2004 “Save Lids to Save Lives” program sponsored by Yoplait Yogurt collected 6,940 pink lids from the Saint John’s and Saint Benedict’s communities. With a ten-cent donation for each lid, the collection amounted to a $694.00 contribution to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. For four years the total contribution amounts to $1,990.70.

Almost 7,000 yogurt pink lids were collected.

■ To continue the abbey tradition of the Christmas Cookie Tree, confreres Dunstan Moorse, Xavier Schermerhorn and Michael Patella pooled their culinary creativity during Advent and baked quantities of cookies to decorate a small evergreen tree in the basement recreation room.

Xavier Schermerhorn, OSB (l.) and Dunstan Moorse, OSB, display some of their Christmas cookies.

■ A pre-Mass concert of Christmas carols by a string ensemble, the Abbey Schola and the Saint John’s Boys’ Choir put the congregation in a celebratory mood for The Christmas Cookie Tree the Midnight Mass. Abbot John’s homily considered the reality beneath the Nativity story of Luke’s Gospel: “In the midst of poverty and simplicity, our Savior is born.

Jesus does not come where everything is all zipped up, organized, tidy. He comes into the real human situation that we all know all too well—it’s a mess. But he is our light who shines in the darkness.”

January 2005 ■ The theme of this year’s annual Abbey Workshop, January 3-5, was “Healthy Living in a Celibate Community.” The major presenter was Dr. Kathleen Galleher, therapist from Saint Luke’s Institute, Silver Spring, Maryland. Topics included aspects of the healthy community, managing conflict, establishing appropriate boundaries and specific guidelines for working with minors.

■ Abbot John gave his annual “State of the Abbey” report to the campus community on January 26. Topics discussed included the closing of the monastery in Nassau, Bahamas; plans for the Guest House; preparations for the Sesquicentennial Celebration; and the possibility of developing wind energy opportunities for Saint John’s. (continued)

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 17

THE ABBEY CHRONICLE February 2005 ■ Confreres celebrated Super Bowl XXXIX with bowls and bottles.

The bowls were filled with Hungarian bouja Prior Raymond Pedriprepared zetti, OSB, blesses the by gourfirst batch of Black met Mark Monk Ale. Thamert, OSB. The bottles were filled with authentic Black Monk Ale, newly brewed by Novice Andrew Coval, OSB. Blessed by Prior Raymond Pedrizetti, OSB, and labeled with the design of Joachim Rhoades, OSB, the beer has a dark color and a mellow taste. Beer is such a part of the Benedictine tradition that OSB can also mean “Order of Sacred Brewers.”

■ In his traditional Ash Wednesday conference to the monastic community, Abbot John suggested three areas of concentration: fidelity to the daily practice of lectio divina (the slow, reflective reading of Scripture), sensitivity to times and places of silence and the cleaning out of superfluous items in our monastic rooms.

■ A busload of monks joined our Benedictine good neighbors on February 13 at Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, for the annual celebration of the feast of Saint Scholastica. After praying, visiting and dining with their hostesses, the monks visited the Haehn Museum to explore the newly assembled exhibit, “The Living Culture of the Anishinabeg.” The exhibit takes viewers through three epochs of the Ojibwa/Chippewa Indians of the Red Lake, White Earth and Mille Lacs settlements, namely, their traditional culture, the suppression of that culture and its current revitalization.

■ A dozen monks participated in the World Day for Consecrated Life on February 20 at Sacred Heart Church, Sauk Rapids. Led by Bishop John Kinney, the prayer service was an expression of thanks for the service of women and men religious of the St. Cloud Diocese. Present were representatives from the Poor Clares, Crosiers, Franciscan Sisters and Benedictine women and men monastics.

Novice Andrew Coval, OSB, pours a bottle of Black Monk Ale.

page 18 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

■ The community of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota, elected Nancy Bauer, OSB, as its new prioress on February 27. Sister Nancy succeeds Sister Ephrem Hollermann, OSB, who has served as prioress the past ten years. Nancy will serve a six-year

Nancy Bauer, OSB

term as the fifteenth prioress of the monastery. She will be officially installed on Sunday, June 12.

Born in Miesville, Minnesota, fifty-one years ago, Nancy made her monastic profession in 1978.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree in theology from Saint John’s School of Theology, and the doctorate in Church law from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. For two decades she worked as photographer and reporter and eventually editor of The Saint Cloud Visitor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of St. Cloud. After completing her doctorate she served as the vice chancellor for the same diocese.

As the prioress of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, Nancy “is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery” ((Rule Rule of Saint Benedict Benedict).).

She attends to the overall leadership of the community and ensures that the 315 Sister members are living their mission—to listen and respond to the needs of the Church and the world through their ministry of prayer, work and community living. +

FEATURE Gospels and Acts Gospels and Acts is published in hardcover, 136 pages, $64.95.

The Saint John’s Bible Premieres at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

by Mag Patridge

T

he premiere of the national touring exhibition, Illuminating the Word: The Saint John’s Bible will occur at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) from April 10 through July 3. Donald Jackson, Scribe of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and his team of calligraphers have been working on this project since 2002. This is the only handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned since the advent of the printing press.

Benedictine monasticism has been an important source for the production and the preservation of books since the sixth century. It was through the monks’ painstaking efforts throughout the Middle Ages that great manuscripts, not only Bibles and prayer books but also great works of philosophy and science, were preserved for future generations.

Dr. Christopher de Hamel, manuscript historian and director of The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, England, comments on The Saint John’s Bible: “Five hundred years after the invention of printing a Benedictine community is commissioning a Bible on the scale and size that it would have been eight hundred years ago. This most remarkable project is taking the scribe and his collaborators a half-dozen years to complete. This is something on the scale of a huge building project in the Middle Ages. It is rare now to get any artistic endeavor that extends over this long a period.”

Illuminating the Word: The Making of The Saint John’s Bible is published in hardcover, 240 pages, $39.95.

Friends and benefactors of the abbey are invited to a reception in the

Wells Fargo Room of MIA on May 14 from 1 – 4 p.m. Eric Hollas, OSB, senior associate for Arts and Cultural Affairs, will give a presentation on the making of The Saint John’s Bible.

In conjunction with the launch of the national museum tour, Liturgical Press is distributing two new titles based on The Saint John’s Bible, namely, Gospels and Acts, the first in a seven-volume series of full-color trade reproductions, and Illuminating the Word: The Making of The Saint John’s Bible, which chronicles the process of creating this phenomenal manuscript.

High quality giclée prints of the pages and illuminations of The Saint John’s Bible are also available. These museum quality prints represent the artistic integrity of the original illuminations. Visit www.saintjohnsbible.org or call 1-800-654-0476 for ordering information. + Mag Patridge is the publicist of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library.

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 19

ABBEY MISSIONS This 1786 home of Governor Dunmore became The Priory, first headquarters of Benedictines in the Bahamas.

Bahamas Mission to Close — Highlights of Its History

by Daniel Durken, OSB

“We planted but God caused the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6)

O

n January 18, 2005, the Saint John’s monastic chapter voted to close Saint Augustine’s Monastery (SAM), Nassau, Bahamas, as a dependent priory and apostolate of the abbey, effective June 30, 2005, due to the lack of monastic personnel to adequately staff the monastery.

The monastic chapter also approved these related resolutions: 1. Transfer of the land, buildings and equipment of SAM to the Archdiocese of Nassau

2. Gift of $100,000 by SAM to Saint Martin’s Monastery of Benedictine women in Nassau for their health and retirement fund 3. Establishment of a trust fund for Saint Augustine’s College (SAC) scholarships and a matching grant of $100,000 to the school 4. Establishment of the Saint Augustine’s Quasi Endowment to support the education of Bahamian students attending Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict

Workshop and coffin of Gabriel Roerig, OSB, missionary of Andros Island for fifty-six years

114 Years of Service in the Bahamas, 1891 - 2005

A

t the opening of the Bahama Benedictine Centennial in January, 1991, Sir Henry Taylor, Acting Governor General of the Bahamas, paid tribute to the missionary monks of Saint John’s with these words: “The work of the Benedictines in the Bahamas is beyond anyone’s estimation.” Key dates in the history of Benedictine monks in the Bahamas include: February 2, 1891 Chrysostom Schreiner, OSB, arrives in Nassau and finds 65-70 Catholics at Saint Francis Xavier Church, built in 1885-86. page 20 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

Chrysostom Schreiner, OSB, Apostle of the Bahamas

April 4, 1892 Father Chrysostom is shipwrecked near San Salvador Island and vows to continue his work in the Bahamas if his life is spared. The ship’s passengers and crew are rescued.

June 23, 1893 Chrysostom purchases Dunmore

House (built in 1786) which, as “The Priory,” becomes the headquarters for Benedictines who begin to arrive.

December 29, 1921 Alcuin Deutsch, OSB, is elected fifth abbot of Saint John’s Abbey. He begins to aggressively support the Bahama missions with personnel and money.

January 3, 1928 Chrysostom dies on San Salvador Island where he had retired. He is buried overlooking a probable site of Columbus’ landing in 1492.

December 21, 1933 Bernard Kevenhoerster, OSB, is consecrated first Bishop of the Bahamas.

ABBEY MISSIONS 1963 Burton Bloms, OSB, is appointed headmaster of SAC and a new era of expanded facilities and increased enrollment begins.

Faculty and students of the 1945 first class of Saint Augustine’s College, Nassau

January 4, 1945 A school for thirty-five boys is started

by Frederic Frey, OSB, with classes held on the grounds of the Priory.

1967 SAM becomes an independent priory.

There is a gradual departure of community members.

Xavier College, a girls’ school operated by the Sisters of Charity, merges with SAC.

January 13, 1947 First classes are conducted at the newly constructed SAC in the Fox Hill section of Nassau.

October 19, 1950 Paul Leonard Hagarty, OSB, is consecrated Bishop of the Bahamas.

June 2, 1954 David Mather, OSB, is the first Bahamian to profess monastic vows at SAM. June 24, 1960 Boswell Davis, OSB, is the first Bahamian Benedictine to be ordained.

June 4, 1990 SAM relinquishes its status as an independent community and is again affiliated as a dependent community of Saint John’s.

April 17, 1997 Henry Neely, OSB, the last of the original Bahamian members of SAM, dies.

July 5, 1999 The Diocese of Nassau is elevated to the rank of Archdiocese.

June 27, 2003 Monsignor Patrick Pinder, graduate of SAC, is appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Nassau. On February 9, 2004, he is named Archbishop of the Nassau Archdiocese and Archbishop Burke becomes head of a Jamaica archdiocese.

August 7, 1947 Benedictine monks occupy the newly constructed SAM adjacent to the college.

December 9, 1949 Bishop Bernard dies. During his tenure new parishes were founded in Nassau and missions were established on the Family Islands of Andros, Long Island, Cat Island, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera and Bimini.

July 17, 1981 Bishop Paul Leonard, OSB, resigns and is succeeded by Lawrence Burke, SJ, of Jamaica. Bishop Leonard dies in 1984.

Newly elected Prior Bonaventure Dean, OSB, sits between Bishop Paul Leonard Hagarty, OSB, and Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, OSB, in this 1967 picture.

1972 Leviticus Adderly, the first Bahamian layman to teach at SAC, is appointed headmaster.

1981 Jerome Theisen, OSB, eighth abbot of Saint John’s Abbey, is named apostolic administrator of SAM and SAC. He sends five monks from Saint John’s to assist the core community.

March 31, 2004 The new Saint Francis Cathedral, costing six million dollars, with a seating capacity of 1300, is dedicated.

May 7, 2004 The Bahamian government approves the transfer of the governance of SAC to a lay board of directors.

June 30, 2005 The three remaining members of SAM begin to vacate the premises of the monastery. +

December 11, 1960 The Vicariate of the Bahamas is raised to the status of a diocese.

Saint Augustine’s Monastery today

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 21

STRENGTHENING FOUNDATIONS Jerome Tupa, OSB, visits with young guests on the steps of the Lourdes shrine.

Abbey to Honor Donors

by Geoffrey Fecht, OSB

Opportunities for monks to express their thanks

T

Wills and Estate Planning Saint John’s Abbey continues to encourage friends and supporters to consider leaving a planned gift to the abbey. Including the abbey in your estate planning allows you to continue sharing in the work we do for generations to come.

If you would like information on how to make a planned gift to the abbey, please let us know. If you have already included the abbey in your estate planning, let us know that as well. You should be included in our Abbey Legacy Circle and we would love to thank you now for including us in your planning.

Please contact Father Geoffrey Fecht, OSB, Abbey Development Director, Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321 [email: gfecht@csbsju.edu; phone: 320-363-3818] or Brother John Brudney, OSB, Abbey Development Coordinator, Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN 56321 [email: jbrudney@csbsju.edu; phone: 320-363-3556].

page 22 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

he Saint John’s Abbey Development Office has prepared two ways to show the monastic community’s appreciation for the ongoing support of our friends and benefactors.

Donor Appreciation Day On the evening of May 29 the abbey will celebrate its first annual Donor Appreciation Day. Donors and friends of the abbey who support us with their prayers and gifts will be invited to join the monks at Evening Prayer in the abbey church. This will be followed by an informal picnic on the monastery lawn behind the church.

The evening will give the monks the opportunity to thank friends and benefactors for their continued generous support. Please mark your calendar and plan to join us for this celebration.

Abbey Donor Recognition Circles To give proper recognition to those who so generously assist the abbey through regular contributions and planned giving, we are establishing several Donor Recognition Circles— groupings of donors who support the

abbey and its many works. Starting this year we will designate donors in the following categories: • Abbey Legacy Circle: those who have made a planned gift for the abbey through their wills, trusts, annuities and life insurance policies • Abbey Founders’ Circle: those who have made cumulative gifts to the abbey that add up to $50,000 or more • Abbot’s Circle: those who have made cumulative gifts to the abbey that add up to $25,000-$49,999 • Prior’s Circle: those who make an annual gift of $1,000 or more • Confreres’ Circle: those who make an annual gift of $1-$999 We are most grateful for the generosity of our friends at any level and we thank all who are members of our Abbey Donor Circles for their ongoing and much appreciated support.

Members of these donor circles share the abbey’s ministry and service to the Church, assisting us with everything from vocation promotions, spiritual life and social outreach programs to supporting our abbey health and retirement fund. Members of the Abbey Donor Circles are of course remembered in the daily prayers of the monks. + Geoffrey Fecht, OSB, is the abbey’s development director.

STRENGTHENING FOUNDATIONS Jackie Breher and her husband Bill Jackson

A Major Donor Tells Her Story

by Jackie Breher

“We look forward to the ground-breaking for the Abbey Guest House.”

Jackie Breher, a long-time friend of Saint John’s, made the following comments to the Board of Regents of Saint John’s University following the announcement of her planned gift of two million dollars for the maintenance of the proposed Abbey Guest House in honor of her deceased husband, Paul J. Breher.

M

y first acquaintance with Saint John’s was in September, 1947. At a mixer of the Colleges of St. Catherine and St. Thomas I met Paul John Breher. He was a Johnnie and a St. Paul native.

When he expressed an interest in a religious vocation, his parents enrolled him in Saint John’s Preparatory School.

After graduating Paul spent two years at the university. In the spring of 1946 he was preparing to enter the seminary but then chose to enlist in the Army instead. Upon his arrival at Fort Richardson, Alaska, he met another Johnnie and future Benedictine, Don LeMay. The two spent a great

year together, both coming home in the spring of 1947.

That fall Paul enrolled at St. Thomas just in time to attend that memorable mixer. We both graduated in June of 1950 and were married a week later. Father Don was in our wedding party although he had not yet entered the monastery. Through the years he has nurtured our friendship and love for Saint John’s.

Many happy years followed. We started a business and reared two children. However, shortly after our granddaughter’s birth, our son Greg died from cardiac arrhythmia. A year and a half later Paul died of cancer.

After two very lonely years the future looked brighter when I met William Jackson who is Irish, a Boston native and Red Sox fan and a solid Democrat—which balances off my political views. Father Don came to another wedding. Bill and I have been married thirteen years.

In 2001 we attended a reception at Archbishop Flynn’s residence in St. Paul where plans for an Abbey Guest House were revealed. My enthusiasm for the project was immediate so I completed the legal papers creating an endowment of two million dollars for the maintenance of the Guest House.

Over the past years we have occasionally stayed in one of the abbey guest rooms. They are comfortable yet Spartan. On the desk is a note of welcome from the guest master. In the morning we would be on our way with a loaf of Johnnie bread tucked under an arm. Hospitality is a cornerstone of the Benedictine Rule and it is practiced to the nth degree at Saint John’s.

With the entire Saint John’s family we look forward to ground-breaking day on May 12. +

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 23

OBITUARIES

Neal Henry Lawrence, OSB 1908 – 2004

F

ather Neal’s ninety-six years were filled with memorable accomplishments. Born in Clarksville, Tennessee, reared as a Methodist, he earned a degree in English at Harvard. For fifteen years he was an executive at Lever Brothers.

Commissioned by the United States Navy, Neal participated in the April, 1945, invasion of Okinawa. Witnessing the terrible destruction of war, he resolved to dedicate his life to the pursuit of peace.

Following retirement, Neal was received into the Catholic Church, eventually came to Collegeville, entered the monastic community, was ordained in 1960 and soon assigned to the abbey’s foundation of Saint Anselm’s Priory and Parish in Tokyo.

He taught courses at five Japanese universities, founded Saint Anselm’s International Friendship Association to deepen understanding among all people and was a leader of educational groups.

One of Neal’s lasting memorials is the publication of four books of tanka poetry, the English version of this oldest form of Japanese verse. Samples of his tanka poems are found on the back cover of this issue. He received Japan’s highest honor in 1993, the “Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Rosette.” But God’s gift of glory to this good and faithful servant outshines them all. May he rest in peace. +

After the war Neal began a career in the United States Foreign Service.

Assigned to the diplomatic section of General MacArthur’s headquarters in Tokyo, he was the first American diplomat to visit the devastated cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After teaching for several years he entered the abbey, made his profession of monastic vows and was ordained in 1946. He later earned Master’s degrees in psychology and botany.

Gunther was involved in a variety of academic assignments and accomplishments: founder of the counseling department, registrar and director of admissions, associate professor of biology, dean of the college, academic vice-president, member of the Board of Regents, co-founder of the Salzburg program of studies which expanded into additional study abroad programs, associate director of the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, builder of the Gemini Botany Reserve of some 450 species of flowering plants and advisor of the Saint John’s Arboretum.

For seventeen years Gunther served as pastor of Saint Catherine’s Church, Farming. He beautified the parish grounds with 147 species of wildflowers and trees. His tender, loving care of plants was matched by his kind, thoughtful and welcoming attention to students, faculty, parishioners and confreres. May he rest in peace. +

Gunther Robert Rolfson, OSB 1917 – 2004

F

Kieran Nolan, OSB, holds Neal’s “Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Rosette.”

page 24 The Abbey Banner Spring 2005

ather Gunther grew up on a farm near the little town of Brownsdale in southern Minnesota and received his early education in a one-room schoolhouse. Farm work took up more of his time and energy than school work until his mother’s sacrifices enabled him to attend St. Augustine’s High School in nearby Austin.

He was awarded a college scholarship to Saint John’s where he excelled in science and mathematics and was graduated cum laude in 1939.

Father Gunther and some of his eighty servers

OBITUARIES

Burkard Anthony Arnheiter, OSB 1907 – 2005

B

orn in Klingenberg, Bavaria, and educated in the gymnasium of Wurzburg, Germany, this last of the abbey’s German-born monks immigrated to Minnesota and entered the community in which his grand-uncle and his cousin were already members.

Except for a three-year stint of teaching Latin and German at St. Peter’s Abbey in Saskatchewan, Canada, Father Burkard’s priestly life was spent in pastoral ministry, first as associate pastor of churches in St. Paul and Richmond.

In 1959 Burkard began twentythree years of dedicated service at the small rural parish of St. Catherine in Farming. He was a stay-at-home pastor, always available to his people who came to appreciate his spiritual wisdom as well as his advice on ditch digging, mortgages and the purchase of property.

He supervised the building of a public school and personally taught all the children’s religion classes. He imple-

Father Burkard with his parents

mented the liturgical changes mandated by Vatican Council II, saw to the upkeep of the church buildings and property, lived frugally and returned much of his salary to the parish to help establish its financial security.

Benilde-St. Margaret High School in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. During his retirement he generously served as a driver for retired monks and was an avid fan of the university football team.

Upon his retirement to the abbey in 1982 Burkard translated German documents in the abbey’s archives and was faithful to the monastic schedule. On the Feast of the Epiphany he made the final gift of his life to the Lord who has given him the ultimate gift of life eternal. May he rest in peace +

On the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Patrick, who had been buried with Christ in baptism, was called to be raised with Jesus to glory. May he rest in peace. +

Patrick Thomas Sullivan, OSB 1921 – 2005

B

orn, reared and educated in the small town of Ivanhoe in southwestern Minnesota, Thomas joined the Army Air Force in the early days of World War II. He served for five years as a specialist in the maintenance and repair of aircraft gunnery turrets.

After the war he entered the abbey, received the name of Patrick to go with his red hair and Irish ancestry and made his first profession of vows in 1948. He worked in the butchering, blacksmithing, plumbing and electrical wiring departments. He also helped care for the abbey’s herd of sixty registered Holsteins.

For a dozen years Patrick served at San Antonio Abad monastery and school in Humacao, Puerto Rico. He then spent twelve years in the electrical and mechanical department of

Brother Patrick at an Air Force base in England

Remember our loved ones who have gone to their rest: Catherine Beach Marceline Davidson Bertha Eich Elizabeth Henry Benno Michels Wilbert Robling Clair Theisen Edwin Wander Thomas Weber Bring them and all the departed into the light of your presence, Lord

The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 25

FEATURE Saint Benedict holds his Rule on which are written OPUS and LABOR, both Latin words meaning WORK! This figure is part of a stone carving over the entrance to the Stephen B. Humphrey Auditorium.

Ora et Labora: Motto or Mistake?

by Columba Stewart, OSB

How faithful to Saint Benedict is this motto?

C

olman Barry, OSB, borrowed from a traditional Benedictine motto for the title of his magisterial history of Saint John’s Abbey, Worship and Work. How faithful to Benedict is this motto—Ora et Labora, Pray and Work—and what does it mean for us today?

refounders. Ora et Labora was an early precursor of today’s mission statements.

The late Godfrey Diekmann, OSB, once asked me to find the origins of that classic Benedictine sound bite, for Ora et Labora is not in the Rule. I discovered that most scholars associate the phrase with the nineteenth century monastic revival, especially with the German variety that was prone to pithy epigrams.

What about Ora et Labora in 2005?

Terrence Kardong, OSB, of Assumption Abbey, Richardton, North Dakota, suggests that we add a third plank to the Benedictine platform: lectio divina, the prayerful, private reading of Scripture and the Fathers. Even a cursory look at the Rule suggests that Father Terrence has a point. Benedict expected his monks to divide their day into three major tasks: first, the liturgical prayer of the Opus Dei, the “Work of God”; second, lectio divina; third, the work of the monastery.

Visitors to our monastic refectory observe the wall paintings done in the 1930s by Clement Frischauf, OSB, based on a style developed at the German monastery of Beuron in the late 1800s. Integral to the paintings are Latin mottos intended to remind us of our European roots and to inculcate values dear to the nineteenth century

The order of the three is significant.

Monastics have always struggled to balance the three, often without success. At times the liturgy has expanded beyond reasonable bounds and at other times pressing work such as serving the pastoral or educational needs of the people of God has skewed the balance toward work.

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Some Benedictines have taken refuge in another, non-monastic motto: Laborare est Orare, “To work is to pray.”

We even have a statue of Benedict bearing a book emblazoned with the words, opus and labor: “work and work”! Whether the artist intended to inscribe Opus Dei but ran out of room or was commenting on modern monastic priorities, we don’t know.

I like the crispness of the traditional motto, but adding lectio divina makes sense. I would also add some small print about sharing meals and recreation, taking time to listen to one another about important issues and being faithful to physical exercise. But then all of that is already in the Rule in one form or another. We speak a lot today about holistic lifestyles: perhaps Ora et Labora is a good place to start. + Columba Stewart, OSB, teaches monastic history and is the executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library.

FEATURE Simon-Hoa Phan, OSB

“Mother Tongue, Fatherland” — A Documentary Film

by Daniel Durken, OSB

The story of Vietnamese Amerasians

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or his Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, Simon-Hoà Phan, OSB, a monk of Saint John’s Abbey, produced an eighty-four minute documentary film titled “Mother Tongue, Fatherland” that describes the life and ordeals of Amerasians. They are the children born of Vietnamese young mothers and American soldiers during the Vietnam war.

Brother Simon-Hoà showed the documentary during the first Vietnamese International Film Festival at the University of California, Irvine, in November, 2003; at the December, 2004, CineFest Film Series sponsored by the Vietnamese Culture and Science Association at the University of Maryland, Rockville; and at the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon in Little Saigon, California, in An American soldier holds his Amerasian March, 2005. baby.

The film was screened at the Vietnamese Film Festival in Bloomington, Minnesota, in early April.

early twenties became prized individuals with a ticket to a new life of freedom, education and employment in America. The official number of such immigrants is 35,000 but an unofficial estimate is 90,000.

Simon-Hoà interviewed thirty Amerasians, five Vietnamese mothers and three military fathers living in the States. Most Amerasians were Life in the States, however, did not abandoned by their soldier fathers and solve all their problems. They still feel lived amid poverty, shame and prejuorphaned and out of place. Only four dice. The people of South Vietnam percent have located their American considered them chilfathers and only half of dren of wayward women that number have had a who fraternized with happy reunion. foreigners. The people of North Vietnam saw Despite their rejecthem as offspring of tion by the Vietnamese their enemy, the United and their being too long States. Americans ignored by Americans, counted them among these Amerasians have the casualties of war and proved to be very resilA Vietnamese mother holds ignored their plights. ient. Most of them have her Amerasian baby.

Denied educational and tried hard to become employment opportunisocially accepted. They ties, they were scorned as no better have forgiven their parents and in turn than the dust of the earth. have become loving parents themselves.

But that dust turned to gold with the United States’ Amerasian HomecomSimon-Hoà is working on the final ing Act of 1987 which gave this group version of the film with local musilegal status and financial assistance to cian and Saint John’s alumnus George settle in the States. Suddenly these Maurer. He hopes to finish the project young people in their late teens and this summer. + The Abbey Banner Spring 2005 page 27

FEATURE A page from the Latin Graduale with the Gregorian chant for the Introit of the Feast of the Ascension

Gregorian Chant: Medieval Music in a Modern Monastery?

by Anthony Ruff, OSB

Why do we still sing Gregorian chant?

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he public associates Gregorian chant with Benedictines since they revived chant in the nineteenth century. Saint John’s once offered summer chant courses through the Gregorian Institute of America (now better known as G.I.A. Publications). When Hollywood or the recording industry want that “medieval aura,” they turn to robed monks and Latin chant—although the CD “Chant” oddly features brown-robed Franciscans floating on clouds!

Visitors quickly notice that Saint John’s monks don’t live in the Middle Ages. We are not neo-Gothic in our architecture or publication fonts or liturgical style. So why do we sing this medieval music?

One could cite authority. The same Vatican II that called for vernacular and active participation also said, “Gregorian chant is to have pride of place,” and “Steps are to be taken so that the faithful may . . . sing in Latin the Mass Ordinary.” But our reasons for using chant are deeper and more spiritual.

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When the congregation sings the simple Agnus Dei from the early church, or when the schola sings an Introit from the eighth century, we are reminded that we are part of the communion of saints. In our “throwaway” society, perhaps we need such reminders of our debt to the past.

Chant connects us with the universal church extending across language barriers and political boundaries. Priestcomposer Michael Joncas speaks of “cross-cultural hospitality,” which happens when international assemblies sing simple Latin chants together.

Most chant texts are taken from the scriptures, especially the psalms. The proper Mass antiphons for each Sunday provide a rich yearly fare. The liturgy uses these psalm texts to proclaim Christ and the paschal mystery.

Some Gregorian chant is for trained singers rather than a congregation.

This fosters another manner of active participation sometimes undervalued: engaged prayerful listening. Chant brings together art and contemplation, performance and prayer.

Even the incomprehensible Latin language offers something valuable.

Of course we want to worship in our own language. No one in Collegeville is hankering for the old Latin Mass.

But as we worship in vernacular, it is good to be reminded that liturgy is not primarily about intellectual comprehension. It is about our surrender to a Mystery both revealed to us and beyond us.

Medieval monks sang Gregorian chant for very different reasons. For them chant wasn’t “traditional”; it was the music of the day. It wasn’t “mysterious” since they knew the Latin psalms by heart. They didn’t even call it “Gregorian chant,” since they didn’t have other music from which to distinguish it.

When we sing Gregorian chant today, we’re not going back to the Middle Ages. We’re finding something valuable for our twenty-first century worship. + Anthony Ruff, OSB, is an organist and the chant director at Saint John’s Abbey. He teaches theology and liturgical music at Saint John’s University and is the founder of the National Catholic Youth Choir.

FEATURE

Kevin Seasoltz, OSB, Receives Liturgy Award Editor, teacher, author, administrator, retreat leader, fellow monk

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ather Kevin, editor of Worship magazine and professor of liturgy and canon law at Saint John’s School of Theology•Seminary, received the prestigious Berakah* Award of the North American Academy of Liturgy at its January meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. The citation reads as follows: “The 2005 Berakah Award to Fr. R. Kevin Seasoltz, O.S.B., intrepid editor of Worship, wide-ranging teacher, wise

administrator, faithful pastor, Benedictine Anglophile. Listening with the ear of your heart you have for forty years and more, in speech and writing, illuminated liturgy and law, prayer and doctrine, art and architecture, spirituality and monastic life, living bread, saving cup, always with keen judgment and gentle wit, that in all things God may be glorified. For your life and work, we sing Deo Gratias!”

In his introduction to the award, Gordon Lathrop, professor emeritus of liturgy at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, recognized Kevin as “the brilliant and utterly indispensable editor, for more than eighteen years, of Worship, the premier academic journal of our discipline.” He expressed gratitude that Kevin carried on the tradition of Benedictines Virgil Michel, Godfrey Diekmann, Michael Marx, Aelred Tegels and Frank Kacmarcik. He has continued to strengthen the journal’s academic quality and broaden its ecumenical range.

Responding to the award, Kevin told

of his asking Cardinal Basil Hume when he was abbot of Ampleforth Abbey in England what qualities he looked for in a young man entering the monastery. The cardinal said there were three: humanity, humility and humor.

The recipient reflected that these same qualities might well be found in liturgical scholars and practitioners.

He said, “Humanity keeps us kind and gentle in our dealings with each other, tolerant, compassionate and understanding. Humility makes us grateful people, conscious that all our gifts are gifts from God. Humor prevents us from taking ourselves too seriously and reminds us that the world is not saved by our scholarship or our liturgical celebrations. God alone saves.”

Kevin was ordained in 1956 and in 1960 made his initial commitment to the Benedictine way of life as a member of Saint Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, D.C. He transferred to Saint John’s Abbey in 1987. + * Berakah is Hebrew for “blessing.”

A Worship cover: Rembrant’s “Christ Healing a Blind Man”

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FEATURE The World War I Service Roll

Saint John’s Honors Military Veterans

by Lee Hanley

To the Men of Saint John’s Who Have Served Their Country in Peace and War

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aint John’s Abbey and University have a long, proud tradition of honoring alumni and members of the monastic community who have served in the nation’s military services. The fall 2003 issue of The Abbey Banner reported that twenty-two Saint John’s monks served as military chaplains from 1918 to 1982 (“The Military Chaplains of Saint John’s”).

Perhaps the first tribute to our veterans was the stone-mounted brass plate located near the water tower on the crest of the original entrance road.

Installed following World War I, the 3’ x 5’ plaque titled “Service Roll” contains the names of 480 veterans,

seventeen of whom were killed in service. This plaque now hangs in the Alumni Lounge.

When Mary Hall was built in the late 1940s, it included the Gold Star Lounge (now the offices of Campus Ministry). Here the names of alumni who died for their country are presented calligraphically on a ceiling border.

An additional Honor Roll displaying the names of veterans hung along the north quadrangle hallway that was deservedly nicknamed the “cold corridor.” Over time this display became somewhat bedraggled and difficult to maintain with its hodgepodge of nameplates and calligraphic styles.

phrase: To the Men of St. John’s / Who Have Served / Their Country / in Peace and War.

More recently a square granite stone honoring Saint John’s veterans was placed on the grassy knoll located between Benet Hall and Guild Hall (Old Gym).

Carved around the four sides of the block is the

The most recent recognition is a series of fourteen engraved brass panels installed in the now-heated “cold corridor” to replace the older version.

Engraved on the panels are the names of approximately 5,200 alumni and members of the monastic community who served in our nation’s military services. +

The new “Wall of Honor” plaques in the corridor adjacent to the Great Hall

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This granite block honoring veterans is located near the entrance to the post office.

Lee Hanley is the director of abbey communications.

SPIRITUAL LIFE This Pentecost print by Nora Kelly depicts both men and women gathered in prayer in the upper room (Acts 1:14). This and other prints of creative biblical scenes such as the Last Supper are available from Avoca Publishers in Ireland. Visit their website at www.christianARTfromIreland.com.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit— Creation and Reconciliation

by Abbot John Klassen, OSB

The Holy Spirit and Creation

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ot some wispy, shadowy, faceless Star Wars’ “force,” the Holy Spirit who “proceeds from the Father and the Son” is nothing less than the mystery of God’s personal engagement with the world in its history of love and disaster. Without the Spirit there would be no creation.

This creative function relates the Spirit to the whole cosmos because all creatures receive existence as a gift from the Spirit who is the Lord and giver of life.

As we are increasingly aware, creation is not a one-time event, an explosive act that produces the world and then departs. If the Holy Spirit, continuously energizing and sustaining the world, were to withdraw, everything would go back to nothing. Each morning the Spirit awakes the dawn.

The Spirit initiates novelty, instigates change, transforms what is dead into new stretches of life. Fertility is intimately related to her creative power, as is the attractiveness of sex. It is the Spirit who is ultimately playful, fascinating, pure and wise, luring human

beings into the depths of love. As mover and encourager of what tends toward stasis, the Spirit inspires human creativity and joy in the struggle.

The Holy Spirit and Reconciliation

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he Preface of Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II prays: “In the midst of conflict and division, we know it is you who turn our minds to thoughts of peace. Your Spirit changes our hearts: enemies begin to speak to one another, those who were estranged join hands in friendship, and nations seek the way of peace together. Your Spirit is at work when understanding puts an end to strife, when hatred is quenched by mercy, and vengeance gives way to forgiveness.”

In the Sequence for the Mass of Pentecost, so timely in our post-Easter season, we ask the Holy Spirit to heal our every wound. Physicians and health professionals can diagnose our symptoms and point us to the path of

healing. But wherever the gift of healing and liberation, in however partial a manner, reaches winterized or damaged earth, or people crushed by war and injustice, or individual persons weary, harmed, sick or lost on life’s journey, there the new creation in the Spirit is happening. Only the Spirit of love can reach down to the broken places of our heart and soul.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem reflects on fire penetrating iron as a symbol of the Holy Spirit’s gentle warmth healing us from deep within our being. Fire makes iron glow so brightly that the iron itself seems to become fire.

If this is true with iron and fire, how much more can the Holy Spirit transform us with the love that only God can give! + For future dates and topics of Benedictine Day of Prayer go to www.saintjohnsabbey.org/slp and click on “Day of Prayer” or call 320-363-3929.

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The Tanka of Neal Henry Lawrence, OSB

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anka is defined as a Japanese poem consisting of thirty-one syllables in five lines with five syllables in the first and third lines and seven in the others, thus: 5-7-5-7-7. Father Neal began writing English tanka in 1975 and published four volumes of his poetry. The following tanka are taken from his fourth volume, Blossoms in Time, published in 2000 by Suemori Books, Tokyo (http://www.suemoribooks.co.jp).

The day was dreary But the first cherry blossoms Emerging bravely, Prelude to the glorious Alleluia of Easter.

Rows and rows and rows Of walls with names of the dead Prevent forgetting.

“No more wars” is now our prayer As we seek the names of confreres.

I want my ashes Scattered at sea to join all In peaceful oneness; To follow the ebb and flow Of tides for billions of years.

Through crystal windows, Beauty of cherry blossoms Filled my heart with joy, Yet when my eyes looked beneath, Fallen petals saddened me.

Every day watching Down sweep of willow branches For sign of spring green.

Now bare, waiting with the hope Of nature’s resurrection.

Monks walked back and forth In monastery garden, Autumn shadows sharp.

Green of leaves poised for changing, Hint of red and golden fire.

My spider friend stands On his head upon his web, Practicing yoga?

Each morning when I greet him, He makes no response at all.

The warming spring sun Penetrates the frozen earth, Once more awakens The strong inner urge for life Latent deep in roots and seeds.

From an olive tree Minute blossoms in the sun Falling like snow flakes – At night beneath such a tree Christ must have prayed, deep in pain.

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