Editor's Note

- P.T.G.
  
  May 20, 2022
  
  With this issue, The Current completes another year of weekly publication and moves to monthly summer issues with, admittedly, a sense of relief. This springs perhaps from the general tenor of the past months, which have been fast-paced, relentless, challenging... and filled with grace and blessing. Perhaps it is the ever-so-slow emergence of new life and vitality, despite the acceleration of the dual seasons of spring and Easter. A recurring theme in recent student leadership speeches was shaping a return next year to “post-Covid normalcy” - which one cannot but notice echoes the concept of the “post-traumatic.” Maybe we can now begin to see the beginnings of “Post-Traumatic Growth” (PTG), which some psychologists see in the way people can find new meaning through traumatic experiences, so as to live in a different way than before that experience. The student speeches were filled with hope, with a sense that we can make things better, yet also with a recognition of the need for planning. There was, amidst the “youthful idealism,” an unmistakable dose of realism, shaped by the past years. Perhaps we at The Current can learn a lesson from the young here: regroup, refresh, reframe, re-everything... This resonates, one could argue, with Benedict’s Rule and its driving themes of repentance, reform, return. May you find these summer months slower, and find in them an opportunity to catch your breath! May you have a refreshing and re-everything summer!
  
  Peace Through Grace,
  
  Blake Billings
- Benedictine Ritual, Christian Faith
  
  May 11, 2022
  
  The past weeks have included a remarkable series of events here at Portsmouth related to Benedictine life. These have accentuated what is particular to monasticism. We have witnessed the Simple Profession made by Brother Basil Piette, in which he promised obedience, conversatio morum, and stability for the next three years. We have celebrated the Blessing of Abbot Michael Brunner, in which the local ordinary as well as an array of visiting abbots and other clergy and religious gathered to recognize the significance of this role, and to offer prayers. Yet, what continued to make a deeper mark on me was that while each moment highlighted what is specific to the Benedictine life, rooted in the Rule of St. Benedict and directly connected to its 1600-years of tradition, these Benedictine-specific moments all contained something more fundamental. If one did not notice this in all the monastic pomp and ritual, it was difficult to miss once we then made our segue to the Sacrament of Confirmation, the day after the abbatial blessing. It was difficult to miss if one paid attention to the gospel readings on these occasions, and throughout these weeks. For one heard without interruption the expression of faith in the Word of God, the action of the Holy Spirit, the voice of the Good Shepherd. One could hear the drumbeat, the pulse, of a life dedicated to Christ, a life that is called, as first was done at Antioch, Christian. This provided for me the common denominator, the divisor, through which all of the Benedictine paraphernalia gain their meaning. This was on display when the Simple Profession looked to the future and asked that through monastic observance the candidate may, “run along the way of your commandments in a sweetness of love that is beyond words.” It was visible when the Blessing of the Abbot looked to the roots, reminding the abbot “to be what he is called” and asked for “the gifts of the Spirit.” It was echoed in the homilies of the bishops, who both reminded us that our faith is summarized for us in every glance at a crucifix. And all of these moments, it cannot be overlooked, were seamlessly connected to the Eucharist, “source and summit.” We are indeed blessed.
  
  Pax,
  
  Blake Billings
- The Busy Season
  
  May 6, 2022
  
  The week has been tremendously full here at Portsmouth Abbey. One experiences this pace through the School: spring term events, AP exams, prom, sports and activities, board meetings, Confirmation preparation, etc.: May accelerates toward the end of the academic year at lightning speed. One experiences this pace also through the important monastic events on our calendar: Br. Basil making his simple profession; Abbot Michael to receive the Abbatial Blessing; guests arriving; the Confirmation class receiving the sacrament this weekend. The Bishop is coming, the Bishop is coming! (actually, literally – twice: two days, two bishops! Abbatial Blessing and Confirmation; Bishops Tobin and Evans). One finds a confluence of preparation and prayer, and a fair amount of liturgical and practical logistics. One finds the culmination of yearlong programs, the planning of future projects, the transition from old to new. Perhaps in search of theological context and consolation, I find myself relating this to the mood of the faithful post-resurrection. There seems to have been a fair amount of running and diving and gathering in those initial forty days. Great signs were seen in the community of believers. All of this frenetic energy may well be seasonally, liturgically appropriate. A momentousness, fulfillments and beginnings. And I notice threads joining these various pieces of the fabric of our lives, most notably linking Br. Basil’s simple profession near the beginning of his monastic journey and Abbot Michael’s blessing as the community’s superior: a call to perseverance, a need for God’s grace, and great gratitude. Please keep us in prayer, when you get a moment!
  
  Pax,
  
  Blake Billings
- The Blessing
  
  April 30, 2022
  
  The project Leonard Sargent had in mind a century ago, in trying to create a Benedictine community at Portsmouth, is truly remarkable. His attraction to the simple, schematic, supple, and ancient vision of the Rule of St. Benedict; that Northstar illuminating his engagement in a fragmented and partisan church; that Rule’s rudimentary and insistent reliance on what is most basic in the gospel message - these characteristics provide touch points to discern the profile of the community Portsmouth still seeks to be, it seems to me. This crosses my mind as the community moves into its second century, with the blessing of its fourth abbot. In this blessing, the extended Abbey community witnesses a new commencement. We hear a call to again rethink community, to engage in forward thinking and imagine that community’s future, to rededicate ourselves to prayer, and also to discern and seek out our own place in that Christian community - that family, as Sargent conceived it - now being blessed in the person of its superior. For whether vowed with obedience and the permanence of stability, promised as an oblate, stationed temporarily for work or study, or residing as an overnight guest, this Blessing carries a meaning and a message for you. It seems wise to keep it in mind, and in prayer.
  
  Paz,
  
  Blake Billings
About
- Blake Billings '77, Ph.D. is a graduate and current faculty member of Portsmouth Abbey School. He received his undergraduate education at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, then joining the Jesuit Volunteer Corps to assist in an inner-city parish in Oakland, California. From Oakland, he went to Leuven, Belgium, receiving degrees in theology and philosophy. He returned to the Abbey in 1987, teaching for three years before getting married and returning to Leuven to pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy, which he was awarded in 1995. Having taught in higher education at various schools, including St. John's University, Farifield University, and Sacred Heart University, he decided his calling was at the secondary level, gratefully returning to Portsmouth in 1996, where he has resided ever since. He became an oblate of the Portsmouth community ten years ago. His four children were all raised on campus and graduated from the school, the youngest in 2020.