The Current

On October 4, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis presented the third encyclical of his papacy, Fratelli Tutti. This third major document makes a wide-ranging social statement, presenting a critique of our modern day and sketching out a vision for our world as it moves more deeply into the 21st century. The scriptural center of the document is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It holds out for us the hope that Christians, and their brethren in other religions, will work together on the many serious issues confronting the world now. Particularly, we face grave and growing conflict, displacement of people and cultures, deep-seated issues of poverty, profound divisions and animosity – and all this despite, or in part because of, a world of ever accelerating communication and developing technology. The Holy Father encourages us, exhorts us, to seize this moment as an opportunity for positive transformation. The Vatican has provided in English both a short summary and a long summary, and media outlets have begun to dissect the contents of the encyclical more fully. The Portsmouth Institute will offer a panel discussion looking closely at the arguments, assumptions and implications contained in Fratelli Tutti. (Information and Registration for the Portsmouth Institute's Panel Discussion). We offer, in our monthly Church column, simply some lightly annotated excerpts from the document, to provide a window into its content.

The monastery website provides several pages offering insight into various elements and stages in discerning a monastic vocation. “The Benedictine vocation consists in a participation in the way of life traced out by St. Benedict, the charism and grace he received among God's people. It is a call to seek intimate union with God.” Discernment marks the overall vocational search, “a process leading to a decision for life – for God.” The site outlines some of the guiding principles in discernment, all of which center on the call to “listen with the ear of the heart,” as the Prologue of Benedict’s Rule directs. The discerner is also directed to the Mass, to remaining before the Blessed Sacrament, to prayerful reading of Scripture, to quiet time in silent prayer. The stages of monastic formation are also outlined here: postulants are those beginning candidacy, with an indefinite time duration before moving into a more formal relationship. Candidates then move through the novitiate, to become a junior with a three-year commitment, before taking solemn vows to fully enter the community. The vows that a Benedictine makes are distinctive: stability, obedience, and conversatio morem – and the site illuminates some of their meaning. These all shape the “cenobitic” life, the life of the monastery, situating each individual within, “the workshop where we are to toil faithfully at all these tasks: the enclosure of the monastery and stability in the community.” (Rule, chapter 4). While the website provides some important introductory information, direct and personal contact with the community is essential to truly consider a vocation, and instructions on making a visit are also provided. The extended community regularly prays for vocations, particularly at First Friday Divine Adoration.

You are cordially invited to join the monks of Portsmouth Abbey virtually for a Mass of Remembrance, to be held on All Souls' Day, Monday, November 2, 2020, at 7:20 a.m. in the Church of St. Gregory the Great. This occasion provides us with an opportunity to remember our deceased alumni, relatives, and friends. In remembering our loved ones in prayer, we affirm our belief that we will someday be reunited with them.

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed on November 2nd, known as All Souls' Day, was first celebrated in the eleventh century by Saint Odilo, Abbot of the great Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, in Burgundy. From there it spread throughout the Church. In keeping with this widespread custom of remembering the dead in November, the monks of Portsmouth especially remember individual deceased family members, friends, and benefactors in their prayers and in the Masses on All Souls' Day. In addition, during the entire month of November, beginning on All Souls' Day, the Monastery keeps a silver box on the high altar containing the names of those faithful departed whose names are sent to the Monastery for prayer remembrance, and Masses are offered during the month for these souls.

If you would like to have your loved ones remembered in prayer by the monks of Portsmouth, please submit their names directly to the monastery's webpage to request prayers for souls. They will be added to the silver box on the altar. You may also contact Stefanie Polgar in the Development Office at (401) 643.1269 for additional information.

Please do not send an offering, as this is the Abbey's offering for you.