In With the Ordinary...

Blake Billings '77, Ph.D.
Each new year, a noticeable visual transition happens in the sanctuary, with the removal of Ade Bethune’s dominating Theotokos banner. The empty space left by the absence of this extraordinary work signals our move from Advent and Christmas back into Ordinary Time. Alvaro Gazmuri, a member of the Manquehue Apostolic Movement who has spent several years with us, recently sent us a note about a little known “tradition” associated with the banner, inaugurated by Brother Francis Crowley. When the Christmas season was drawing to a close, Alvaro writes, “Brother Francis would ask the Chileans ‘for help’ taking down the Bethune banner. The first time he asked me, he told me after Sunday vespers: ‘I need your help tonight for something important, can you and the other Chileans help me?’ We felt important. ‘He needs our help,’ we thought, ‘what is he going to ask us?’” The “beautiful ritual” would begin after Compline: the changing of the liturgical elements and the taking down of the huge Theotokos banner, which the group called “Our Lady of Advent.” Alvaro reports how, in his unique and inimitable manner, Brother Francis would give the Chilean crew, “very specific instructions with very specific details on how to accomplish our mission. We would follow them very carefully, step by step, and wait until that magic word is pronounced: TERRIFIC! WE ARE DONE!" Alvaro reflects that they discovered in this distinctive ritual something much more significant than the actual work that was done: “the mission could easily have been accomplished by two people, instead of six or eight that we usually were.” The group would return to their house “with a smile and a bigger sense of community.” This sense was gained not because they had been so indispensable in the task, but because, “we knew Br. Francis was making us feel part of the house,” demonstrating for them “in a very Benedictine manner... hospitality.” We offer thanks to Alvaro for sharing this distinctive memory with us.