Br. Sixtus Roslevich, O.S.B.

Following two days of sub-zero temperatures that broke records throughout New England, including nearby Providence, oblates and friends of Portsmouth Abbey gathered for their first Day of Recollection of 2023 on February 5, the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time. It was planned as a pre-Lenten event and the morning and afternoon activities reflected and pointed the way towards Ash Wednesday, less than three weeks away. The day began with the monks’ Conventual Mass at 9:30 a. m. and was live-streamed, as always, to include the participation of home-bound oblates and friends, or for those who live some distance from the Abbey Church. Abbot Michael Brunner sent his greetings from Cullman, Alabama and said that he was offering his morning Mass there for a successful event. He attended the annual gathering of North American Abbots held this year at St. Bernard’s Abbey. Fr. Paschal Scotti, the principal celebrant at Portsmouth, offered his Mass for the repose of the souls of all the deceased oblates, while Abbot Matthew Stark’s intention was offered up for the living oblates. The Mass readings were proclaimed by Oblate Peter Simpson, New York City; Oblate Jeff Volkers, Goshen NH; with the Universal Prayers offered by Paul Zalonski, K. H. S., East Haven CT, an oblate of St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana. Following Mass, the oblates and their guests enjoyed breakfast in the Stillman Dining Hall, joined there by faculty families and several students who remained behind on campus, while most others had vacated over the extended Winter Weekend. The dining hall maintained an international atmosphere that day with the welcome presence of students from Indonesia, South Korea, China, Kenya, and elsewhere.

Leonor and Joe Soares

After the morning meal, the day’s conference was given by Br. Sixtus Roslevich, Director of Oblates at Portsmouth, who began with a welcome and with a prayer which stressed unity. He apologized for the “ponderous and verbose” title of his talk: A World View of Imitating Christ in the Context of the Way of the Cross. By way of explanation, he shared that Dr. Blake Billings, editor of the Oblate newsletter, The Current, was out-of-town for the weekend, is the only one entrusted with “editing my words down to a manageable length for clarity!” Br. Sixtus also explained some of his work in another role, as Director of Vocations at Portsmouth, sharing some stories about the national conference of FOCUS (The Fellowship of Catholic University Students). Scheduled for January 2-6, he dreamed that it would be held again in sunny Tucson AZ, or perhaps in Pasadena CA so he could have watched the Penn State Nittany Lions compete in the Rose Bowl. Abbot Michael told him, no, you’re going back to St. Louis. It was an opportunity to see many old friends and to share the story and history of Portsmouth Abbey with some of the 17,000 conference participants.

Oblates gather at the dining hall

The main focus of his own talk however, extended further afield than the American Midwest. He remarked that his entire life, from kindergarten to the present day in Rhode Island, has revolved around an academic schedule, allowing him time off in the summers but, more importantly during spring breaks which included travel during Lent, Holy Week, the Sacred Triduum and Paschaltide. This afforded him the “world view” of the talk’s title, whereby he participated in and photographed the Stations of the Cross as observed in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Zimbabwe and Santiago, Chile. Parishioners in churches in many European towns hold membership in penitential societies as having a social and charitable aspect. It is annually on Good Friday when their liturgical or devotional work is highlighted and brought to the forefront. Their long solemn processions take place through a town’s streets, often with a life-size statue of Christ laboring under his cross being carried on the shoulders of barefoot men (and in some societies women, as well) garbed in long robes with tall pointed hoods hiding their faces. The processions generally make their way somberly from one small church to the next, representing the stations, where the pastor or rector greets them at the front doors, prayers are said or intoned, and the group moves on, ending up finally inside a cathedral or large church.

Jack MacManus and Paul Zalonski

At Colegio San Benito in Santiago, one of four high schools operated by the Manquehue Apostolic Movement, a lay Benedictine group affiliated with the English Benedictine Congregation, students, faculty, staff and neighbors hold a procession no less somber than their European counterparts, which makes a circuit around an adjacent park. Br. Sixtus spoke of the fourteen low platforms erected along the route. Small groups of students are assigned to each station for which they are responsible for simple costumes and props (for instance, Pontius Pilate’s handwashing bowl and water) and signage of some sort indicating the station’s number and name. Led by a small covered pickup truck with la banda, or musicians, seated on the bed strumming their guitars, the procession passes from station to station with the students posing motionless, enacting through pantomime the scenes of Christ’s passion. In sub-Saharan Africa, Br. Sixtus noted, at the Monastery of Christ the Word, in Macheke, Zimbabwe, simple posters representing the stations were tacked to trees in one of the monastic garden areas. A grouping of large rocks nearby created an empty cave-like tomb suggesting the Resurrection. Br. Sixtus reminded the oblates that through the pain and tragedy of the Passion, “we are called to imitate Christ in his humility as at The Last Supper, in his example of love as the Good Shepherd, and by following his loving obedience to his father.” The presentation closed with an invitation to imitate Christ by praying together the Lord’s Prayer, which he himself gave to us.

The day continued with the Little Hour, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and extended fellowship shared among the oblates. It is expected that the next Day of Recollection will take place in the spring with several friends making their Promise of Oblation to Abbot Michael.