It’s been nearly two weeks since our annual retreat
ended and perhaps these reflections are a bit late but I feel urged to say
something about what affected me. It was, indeed, an honor to have Abbot
Primate Gregory Polan with us. Several years ago when he was abbot of
Conception Abbey, he had agreed to give a retreat at St. Walburg Monastery.
Last year he was elected Abbot Primate, residing in Rome with lots of
responsibilities. Nevertheless, he came to us and gave a blessed retreat which
he called “Benedictines Living the Paschal Mystery.” Perhaps it is my age, but
the tangibles that I have experienced helped me immensely to enter enter into
and remember what Abbot Gregory opened to
us.
When
the retreat began, we received a paper with the topics of each of his talks
along with a number of Scripture references which would have a strong and
direct bearing on the message of each talk. Also each day Sr. Emmanuel Pieper,
our artist, would display a beautiful word or phrase near the chapel to remind
us of what Father had said or what we had read. The following are the topics of
the lectures with suggested readings.
Listening to God’s Questions
Gen.
3 Gen. 12:1-3 Job 38:1-3 Gen.
22: 1-3
Listening: the Heart of the Monastic Vocation
RB
Prologue 1 Kgs. 19:9-18 Is. 50: 4-5 Ps. 119:45
Holy Leisure: the Place to Listen
RB
48:22-23 Gen. 2:3 Lev. 23:1-3
The Paschal Mystery and the Grace of Failure
Jer.
20: 7-13 Phil. 3: 7-11 Prologue 50 Rule
72: 5 Ps. 147: 10-11
The Weight of Glory: Our Great Hope
Ex.
19 2Cor 3:12-18 Is. 60 RB Prologue 7 and 5:3
Forgiveness and Reconciliation: the Heart of the
Gospel
2
Cor 5;17-21 Is 6:5 Luke 5:8
Prayer and the Paschal Mystery
Mark
1:23-13 Matthew 4: 1-11 Luke 4:1-3 John 20:21-23 John 21:1-14
Living the Paschal Mystery with an All-Knowing God
Psalm
139 Gen. 28:10-16
I
found the readings above a great preparation for each presentation and the
basis of my recollection of what Abbot Gregory had said. The retreat ended
several weeks ago but this information and the notes I took help me to remember
a wonderful experiencing of listening, hear and taking to heart Living the
Paschal Mystery.
Sr. Andrea Collopy, OSB
Editor's Note: Sr. Andrea has decided that this will her last blog post. She will still be writing Chronicles in our newsletter LEAVEN. We thank her for all her past contributions to this blog and know that we and our readers will miss her voice here.
Thank you for sharing this information about the summer retreat. A great honor and responsibility for the blessed father to teach the holy sisters! RB must be Benedictine Rule. It is good to read it. Many of those ancient texts are very holy, as I found when I read Augustine's Confessions, discovering deeper meanings there. How important Africa was in the beginning of the Church. It will be good to read all the references and find the answers we need. I would like sisters to lead more retreats, reaching out to other sisters, even to other houses, and other worlds! God bless you dear sister and God bless OSB, amen.
ReplyDeleteWe will miss all of your insightful comments on the Blog, Sr. Andrea! Thank you and may God bless you for being such a blessing to all of your readers over the years!
ReplyDelete~~ Mary Margaret Cole
Thanks for this and all your past contributions to this blog, Sister Andrea! Besides taking very good notes, you made me curious to see if we might also view the artwork by Sr. Emmanuel!
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