Contemplation of Things Divine

Now the perfection of the religious state consists in the contemplation of divine things. For Dionysius says (Eccl. Hier. vi) that they are "called servants of God by reason of their rendering pure service and subjection to God, and on account of the indivisible and singular life which unites them by holy reflections," i.e. contemplations, "on invisible things, to the Godlike unity and the perfection beloved of God."
                                                                                                                 Summa Theologica, Q 188, Art. 2, Obj. 1


The first and principal duty of all religious is to be the contemplation of things divine and constant union with God in prayer.
                                                                                                       Code of Canon Law, Bk 2.3, Canon 663 §1

    In one of our conferences this week, the novice master reminded us that the fundamental calling of religious is the contemplation of divine things, a calling that is prior to any institutional charism or apostolic work. Our focus all month has been receiving the gift of prayer, and this was another reminder that prayer is principally a gift from God that is initiated by Him, not me. It is also important for remembering that religious life is not dependent on nor defined by apostolic work. If a religious from an apostolic institute is incapacitated for any reason, they are still called to live their vocation to prayer.
     It is a matter of human habit to get wrapped up in having or doing and neglect the very fundamental state of being. In every spiritual life, the first call is to relationship with God and everything else follows upon that. Novitiate focuses on prayer for that reason; it is the beginning of religious life and the time of building a foundation on which every subsequent aspect of that life depends.

Saint John Chrysostom on Repentance

During the Office of Readings last Tuesday, there was a reading that caught my attention and I kept going back to it all week.
We have been reading about prayer for the past month and our focus last week was how people of different temperaments tend to embrace certain types of prayer and overlook others, but it may be very useful to approach prayer differently and change how one relates to God and perceives himself in relation to Him.
The similarity of how I approach repentance struck me. I have habitual modes of operation and infrequently if ever consider different paths, but it may be very beneficial to embrace a different approach to God and cast light on an aspect of myself that I am not ordinarily in touch with.

It has been very beneficial for me this week to consider both how I approach repentance and that I often forget that sin damages human interactions as well as relations with God. But just as one person's sins affect all, so a person's holiness becomes like a light for others (Saint Sharbel Makhloof).

I love St. John Chrysostom's writings because he is very clear and concise. His biblical interpretation is usually different from what strikes me first, but he preaches with great conviction and rouses action.


Second Reading
From a homily by Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop

Five paths of repentance

     Would you like me to list also the paths of repentance? They are numerous and quite varied, and all lead to heaven.
     A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: Be the first to admit your sins and you will be justified. For this reason, too, the prophet wrote: I said: I will accuse myself of my sins to the Lord, and you forgave the wickedness of my heart. Therefore, you too should condemn your own sins; that will be enough reason for the Lord to forgive you, for a man who condemns his own sins is slower to commit them again. Rouse your conscience to accuse you within your own house, lest it become your accuser before the judgment seat of the Lord.
     That, then, is one very good path of repentance. Another and no less valuable is to put out of our minds the harm done us by our enemies, in order to master our anger, and to forgive our fellow servants' sins against us. Then our own sins against the Lord will be forgiven us. Thus you have another way to atone for sin: For if you forgive your debtors, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
     Do you want to know of a third path? It consists of prayer that is fervent, careful and comes from the heart.
     If you want to hear of a fourth, I will mention almsgiving, whose power is great and far-reaching.
     If, moreover, a man lives a modest, humble life, that, no less than the other things I have mentioned, takes sins away. Proof of this is the tax-collector who had no god deeds to mention, but offered his humility instead and was relieved of a heavy burden of sins.
     Thus I have shown you five paths of repentance; condemnation of your own sins, forgiveness of our neighbor's sins against us, prayer, almsgiving, and humility. Do not be idle, then, but walk daily in all these paths; they are easy, and you cannot plead your poverty. For, though you live out your life amid great need, you can always set aside your wrath, be humble, pray diligently and condemn your own sins; poverty is no hindrance. Poverty is not an obstacle to our carrying out the Lord's bidding, even when it comes to that path of repentance which involves giving money (almsgiving, I mean). The widow proved that when she put her two mites into the box!
     Now that we have learned how to heal these wounds of ours, let us apply these cures. Then, when we have regained genuine health, we can approach the holy table with confidence, go gloriously to meet Christ, the king of glory, and attain the eternal blessings through the grace, mercy, and kindness of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Responsory Tobit 12:8-9; Luke 6:37-38

Prayer accompanied by fasting and giving to the poor is good; it is better to give to the poor than to store up gold,
- for giving to the poor expiates every sin.

Forgive and you shall be forgiven; give and it shall be given to you.
- For giving to the poor expiates every sin.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
- Prayer accompanied by fasting and giving to the poor is good; it is better to give to the poor than to store up gold, for giving to the poor expiates every sin.

Everyday Heroes

"Thank you for your sacrifice."

That is something that every seminarian and religious aspirant will hear at some point, probably from a well-meaning person who spends a lot of time praying for vocations to priesthood and religious life. But it emphasizes vocation as the individual's choice and there is a real danger that if you hear it too often you begin to believe it and think, "Yeah, I'm a really great person for doing this and making a huge sacrifice to become a priest/religious."

True vocation is a gift from God, and the gift is given to people for all states of life. Yes, religious life and priesthood involve sacrifice, but so do marriage and single life. Each state of life places many demands on a person; people are called to growth in holiness in each, and that growth means suffering, trials of faith, learning to serve others before one's self, and seeking God's will in all things. And for every state of life, the grace given to live it outweighs any sacrifice on our part.

To those of us who have a religious community, people who come to church alone every week and do not have a family that supports them in faith are heroes. To people called to celibate chastity, married people who learn to sacrifice their deepest desires for their spouse or give up everything freely for children's needs are heroes. To those of us who can devote our time to pray and study the faith every day, people who give their time to take night courses in theology or become catechists are heroes.

That is why I pray for people to respond to God's call for their vocation to any state in life, for people to follow Jesus as religious, or priests, or married persons seeking to grow in holiness the way God intends for them. That is why when I meet discerners who are seminarians or religious aspirants or people preparing for marriage I want to say,

"Thank you for responding to God's call."


*Reflections from a novitiate conference on prayer and discernment

Virtual Tour

Now that I've been able to move up to the novitiate floor and get settled in, I have some new pictures to share.

St. Clement's 

Just for variety, St. Clement's in the Winter after the snowstorm two years ago

The Shrine seen from the nave. There are very few pictures of the interior and I never want to take them so as not to disturb the adorers.

The large refectory is below the Church. It is used for meals when there are guests and receptions, dinners, etc.

Ven. Bruno Lanteri

The large refectory from the balcony. It is called the large refectory to distinguish it from....

the small refectory that is used for meals during the week.

The small refectory is complete with a coffee/tea bar and snack station, the most popular place in the house.

The class room above the refectory, where I will not have any classes this year but have had some of my classes during the previous two years.

The courtyard view from my old window. It is a favorite place to relax and read in nice weather, and is sometimes used for dinner during the Summer.

The postulant TV room next to the courtyard- the location of movie night on Saturdays, formation meetings when AV equipment is needed, and media class last Spring.

The household facilities are rounded out by a gym, laundry room, and barber shop for those brave enough to give a fellow seminarian a razor.

The pinnacle of the house (a 75-step climb above the refectory), our very own novitiate residence.

My novitiate room. Quite an upgrade from the old cell.

The novitiate floor was just completely renovated last year, so I'm the second occupant of this room, a pretty unheard of luxury.

Built-in wooden shelves, sturdy enough for all the books I can fit on them!

More closet space than I will ever need.

The view of Boylston St. from my window.

Adjoining private bathroom, European efficiency-style complete with a German dual flush toilet.

There is lots of space.

Huge bed

The novitiate conference room is right next door...

and the chapel is right across the corridor.

So, that's my new residence for this year. There's a lot I haven't unpacked yet and it still feels like I'm staying in a luxury hotel (that has a lot of stairs to climb), but I will be getting settled in this week. 

The rector of the house wanted to provide comfortable novitiate quarters because we are not able to have novitiate in a different house outside a city, which would be ideal. But because we are spending a lot more time in prayer and reading, we have our own space which, when there is no Red Sox game and the windows are closed up, is actually pretty quiet and peaceful. 

The Lanterian Charism of the OMV

The charism of a religious institute is something that can seem difficult to describe, partly because they all spring from the same source (the Church's apostolate) and also because many of their distinguishing characteristics are shared. But each religious institute is founded in response to a specific need tied to a place and time, so understanding the history of an institute and particularly the history and spirituality of its founder(s) is important to understanding its charism.

The founder of the Oblates, Ven. Bruno Lanteri, was a priest from Piedmont (now northern Italy) who lived from 1759 to 1830. During this period, Europe was in political turmoil due to revolutions and the Napoleonic Wars, and in spiritual turmoil due to widespread heresies, especially moral rigorism. Many governments, including the Piedmontese Republic in the early nineteenth century, were hostile toward the Church in general and religious orders in particular; governments viewed them as more difficult to control than the secular clergy and a third column in social engineering because of their pervasive presence in schools, hospitals, and other social institutions. Progressive thinkers expended much energy in attacking them and attempting to turn popular opinion against them. In the spiritual realm, there was widespread moral rigorism: the teaching that heaven is attained with great difficulty by the few who lead morally blameless lives and that the remaining masses of sinners should not expect God's mercy. It was not uncommon for penitents to be refused absolution until they had completed harsh penances and frequent reception of the Eucharist was unheard of.

This was also during the Jesuit suppression when members of the Society of Jesus were either in exile or working within dioceses. This is how Fr. Lanteri met Fr. Nikolaus von Diessbach, an Austrian Jesuit who worked in the Turin diocese during this time and became his friend an mentor. It was under the direction of Diessbach that Lanteri made the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and had a profound experience of God's mercy, something that he used widely in his ministry and later as a cornerstone of the Oblate congregation.

Lanteri became a member of Diessbach's friendship groups (amicizie), a new phenomenon that connected lay people and priests who were interested in spiritual formation and spreading wholesome literature. At that time, the printed word was the mass media and every bit as widely sought as internet access is today. Intellectual debates were conducted via printed tracts that people would disseminate in order to advance their ideas. Lanteri was involved throughout his life in arranging the writing, printing, and distribution of 'good books,' books that were both morally edifying and faithful to the teachings of the Church, to counteract the harm of modernists who attacked Christian faith and morals. 

Through his ministries of preaching popular missions and offering the Ignatian Exercises, spiritual direction and confession, circulating Catholic books, supporting associations of lay and priestly formation, and providing care for those in need, Fr. Lanteri became a well-known and well-loved priest in Turin. His mission was to guide people who were sincerely seeking holiness, always insisting that fidelity to the Church and her teaching and devotion to the Mother of God were the sure guides to Christian perfection. He became a champion of the moral theology of St. Alphonsus Liguori and became instrumental in translating his theology into French and disseminating it in France for the first time. 

In 1814, three young priests sought out Fr. Lanteri and asked him to guide them in forming a new priestly fraternity for preaching retreats and reviving spirituality in their region. He eventually agreed and entrusted the group to the Virgin Mary, whom he always called its foundress and teacher. Despite setbacks, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary were approved by Pope Leo XII on September 1, 1826, four years before Lanteri's death. The congregation spread throughout Italy despite antagonism from the local government in Piedmont and, although never numerous, missionary zeal has taken Oblates all over the world. 

The OMV charism can be described as working toward a rebirth of spirituality in the contemporary world 

1) in mercy (by preaching God's mercy to penitents and reconciling them), 

2) through Mary (the foundress and teacher of the congregation who never fails to bring seekers to her Son), 

3) with fidelity (remaining faithful to the Pope and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church), 

4) by discernment (using the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and spiritual direction),

5) for today's world (using the media to evangelize the culture, combatting whatever errors are current and making authentic Church teaching widely available).

"Even if I should fall a thousand times a day, a thousand times I will get up again and say Nunc Coepi (Now I begin)."
-Ven. Lanteri

Farewell to My Old Cell

The first week back started out very busy. Three of us began novitiate Monday night, and Tuesday night was the Mass of First Profession for two of last year's novices. The new brothers had numerous family members and friends visiting for the occasion and there was a full house! But over the next couple of days they departed and now there are a couple of quiet weeks before the clerics return and the new postulants arrive.

Chris, Paul, and I were inducted as novices last Monday and Fr. Shawn had five novices for 24 hours.

  

Br. Rafael and Br. Paul, new members of the Oblate community in Boston.

I was hoping to post pictures of my new digs in the novitiate quarters, but many community members are displaced by Summer renovations and for the time being, I am still in my old postulant cell. It's rather disheveled because I am trying avoid unpacking before moving again, so here are some old pictures from two years ago. At that time we were waiting for new desks and bookshelves to arrive, but it gives you a good idea of where I have been living. It's been my retreat for rest, study, and prayer for the past two years, but I will be moving on this week.

I plan to put together a more thorough virtual tour to post next week with pictures of the rest of the house, the Shrine, and the neighborhood. 

Becoming Canonical

The novitiate, with which life in the Institute is begun, is arranged so that the novices can take better measure of the divine vocation, which is proper to the Institute, experience its style of life, and be formed in mind and heart according to its spirit.

OMV Constitutions, Article 57

This evening marks the beginning of my life as a religious. As a novice, I am now considered to be part of the religious institute although not yet a full member and I live the counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience although I have not yet taken public vows.

For many religious institutes, novitiate includes receiving a habit (generally a form distinct from that of professed members), but in the OMV tradition the habit is not invested until the profession of vows. (Although, FYI, a novice who dies before completing novitiate is accorded burial in a habit and the funeral rites of a religious).

Our novitiate begins with a simple ceremony during Compline that consists of a statement of intention and acceptance by the master of novices on behalf of the community.

-What do you ask of us?

Brothers, I wish to live your way of life, and I am willing to be tested. I am committed to following Jesus Christ wholeheartedly under the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary and this community, according to the Constitutions and Norms of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. In doing so, I trust that the Lord will reveal and accomplish in me his holy will. 

My God, fully aware of my weakness, I pray: confirm within me this holy resolve.

Mary, I place myself and this novitiate year into your hands, so that you may bring me to God.

Brothers, I ask for your assistance and prayers.

-May the Lord grant you his help

Reception of Novices for OMV Novitiate

The novitiate year is designated by canon law as a (minimally) 365-day period that must precede public vows in a religious institute. It is characterized by fuller participation in a religious community, prayer, growth in virtue, and the study of religious life and the charism proper to the institute.

As a novice, I continue to participate in the life of the community through designated times of community prayer, work, and recreation and by accepting more responsibilities within the congregation. I will also begin a life of poverty by giving up my personal financial resources and becoming fully dependent on others for sustenance.

Prayer is the crux of the novitiate year. Because of the institute's Ignatian charism, the Oblate novitiate is heavily imbued with Ignatian prayer. Silence and an "electronic media fast" broken only on Sundays are important components. Daily meditations on the Gospels using the disciplines of Ignatian meditation and contemplation, spiritual direction, periodic days of retreat and recollection, and the complete Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in the 30-day retreat are also universally employed. Personal prayers and devotions such as the general and particular Examen, meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Akathist hymns, etc. fill in the balance of my daily prayer.

Although it is not an academic year strictly speaking, there is spiritual reading assigned on a weekly basis and discussed in daily conferences and also reading and conferences for practical instruction on the religious life and the Constitutions and Norms of the Oblates. 

Work is a less emphasized yet integral part of novitiate. Assignments to household tasks, maintenance projects, and assistance in apostolic work are invaluable for learning to live as a religious in community.

I am very excited for tonight! I have been very confirmed in the call to religious life over the past two years and it is exciting to be taking the first step. I may not be able to post again before Sunday, but I'm sure there will be much to tell.