2021 November: Homilies & Reflection

Prior Michael Brunner O.S.B.
November 1, 2021

Today we are celebrating. Every Eucharist is a celebration but today is special. We welcome among us fellow Benedictines, especially Abbot Gregory of Saint Louis Abbey. We welcome our brother priests and religious, our members of the board of regents, our oblates and friends, and especially the many friends of Brother Benedict, all of whom have come to celebrate with us.

Today we celebrate All Saints. Saints are all those people who have attained the destiny for which God created all human beings. It is a destiny only we ourselves can prevent us from attaining. But the reason all these guests have joined us is today we are also celebrating one person’s taking a giant step forward in attaining that destiny, as Brother Benedict vows himself to a lifetime of prayer and work in pursuit of holiness. Our human experience of wholesome holiness is only possible through the mercy of God, mediated to us through Jesus Christ. So today we not only honor the Saints, but also our triune God who makes it possible for us, Brother Benedict and all the saints to actually become saints. The power and mercy of God are so inscrutable, but they never cease.  

How incredible it is that a young man from the opposite side of the world, the Andaman Islands in India, should then find his way from Philadelphia to this…one of the smallest monasteries in the US. How wonderful it is that this talented young man with a bright future in information technology, who could earn a high salary and amass all the stuff our society offer; how wonderful that he decided no, that is not for me. Most people today have an undue attraction to material reality and an aversion to spiritual reality. What but the call of the Holy Spirit would move Br. Benedict to vow to spend the rest of his life here with us.  
 
A saint is someone who, like Jesus carrying his cross, when they fall, gets up and keeps trying. One of the desert fathers was asked, “What do monks do all day?” He answered, “We fall and get up. We fall and get up.” But Brother Benedict, you have amazed and impressed us all because you don’t ever seem to fall. You get along with everyone, everyone who meets you likes you. You always smile; we’ve never seen you angry or upset or sad. You never oversleep. You never miss prayers.  You get A’s in all your courses. You never complain or grumble. You are so unlike me! All of that is a great gift and a sign of holiness. But please remember you are not invulnerable or perfect yet. You will be further challenged and you will inevitably fall.  And when you do, just get up and smile and keep moving forward. All the Saints had their weaknesses and struggles. It is an inevitable truth that holiness and goodness will be actively opposed by evil. So all of us, who were created good by God, do struggle through this life.

One way or the other, more or less, a human life is a time of distress, as the first reading this morning indicated. But today the Gospel tells us how we should all be in this life, how to become blessed and happy which means “saintly.”  Jesus tells us we can attain our destiny and this wholeness in our lifetime here. He tells us how to survive the time of great distress, by living the Beatitudes, a word which literally means ‘The Happinesses.”  They are not passive qualities. They are active in that they inform all our actions, and these actions make us the individuals we are. Poor in spirit means not chained to the money and stuff of this passing world. To mourn is to recognize the distress of this life, our fundamental separation from the true, the good and beautiful and the real pain it causes human beings. That is life as it is in our time. To be meek is to not be aggressive, self-assertive or self-righteous, but being unself-conscious and gentle with yourself and others. A hunger and thirst for righteousness is an interior passion to acquire all the moral virtues and to be passionate for justice for others. Mercy is the essential attribute of God, who throws our sins behind his back and ignores our brokenness when we turn to Him; so the merciful are Godlike and give and receive relief and forgiveness in abundance. Clean of heart: the clear of vision and heart are those who keep their hearts and eyes on the prize of God and eternity and are not corrupted by the glamour of evil. Peacemakers are restless and active, sowing all those things in St. Francis’ famous prayer, but above all sowing love and reconciliation. And those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness are those who willingly pay the price for doing the right things and living the truth in love. And in this world if you believe in God, no matter your religion, and if you truly love, you will be insulted and persecuted and you will suffer. And perhaps even more so if you give your life to Jesus Christ.  

All of these beatitudes, all these happinesses, are encompassed by the vows you will make today. So, rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven for if you stay faithful to them you too will be a saint. You are vowing obedience. You know that obedience means to listen and then act, to listen with the ear of your heart to the voice of the Holy Spirit mediated through another who is bound by the same vow. Obedience is a great freedom that liberates you from the tyranny of the self. It is countercultural to say the least, and a great sign, a very needed sign to our world which seems only to value and reward obedience to human voices and power, a world which seems to only value and reward love of, and commitment to, one’s own self and interests. This vow is a very needed sign to our world which, because of such selfishness and short-sightedness, so often seems devoid of happiness and hope. You are vowing stability in unstable culture and world. To be stable is to be an immovable and unshakeable pillar of this community and monastery, faithful for better, for worse, in sickness and in health as long as you live. And you are vowing conversatio morum, which is to live the monastic way of life, which means not only to be poor and chaste and celibate, but it means you are vowing to continue every day working at and growing in holiness. And not because you are so very good, not because you are very important, or are very talented (although you are).

It’s not because you are the best, but because God called you, because He loves you that much, that He has mercy on you and so you will do his works and not yours. You are vowing to work at being a saint. What can we say other than you have made a great start. There are many people here to witness you make these vows. There are many people here to pray for you, that you succeed, that you enrich this monastery, this school, the whole church with your vocation. This is a tribute to you and a prayer of hope for the future. We are sorry your parents and family cannot be here to witness you making these vows, because your vocation, your faith and faithfulness began in your family.  

So, we thank them for their gift of you to us. God is doing great things in you. May you cooperate with his gifts and his grace that you may lead others to God and take you own place among all the saints. Now you will make your vows. From the Fathers of the church on Holy Communion. The first, from St. Leo the Great, the pope in the fifth century, who said: “By Holy Communion we are changed into the flesh of Him who became our flesh.” And the second is from St. Ephraim the Syrian, a doctor of the church as is St. Leo, who said: “We feed on Thee, Lord, and drink Thee, not to consume Thee, but to live by Thee.”