Whom Do You Seek?

       Mary of Magdala comes to the tomb early on Easter morning.  She looks in
the tomb and she believes someone has taken the body of Jesus from the
tomb. Later she would meet Jesus in the garden and thinks he is the gardener until He speaks to her.  "Mary".
       In reflecting on this Easter Gospel account, I place myself in the sandals of Mary of Magdala and experience doubt and fear when I see the empty tomb.  Where and who has taken the body of Jesus?  I run to tell the apostles that He
is gone!  I go back to the garden later and meet Jesus and do not recognize Him, believing He is the gardener.  When Jesus speaks, I recognize Him.
       There is a sense of overwhelming joy and excitement!
       In our day, we also go to the tomb on Easter morning. We know that Jesus is risen and we find an empty tomb. At Easter Eucharist we read the Gospel account of the Resurrection and we meet the risen Christ sacramentally in the Eucharist. We too experience joy and peace in His presence. He sends us forth at the end of Mass to experience His risen life in all who we meet.
      We are called to bring Christ to others and called to receive the risen Christ in those we meet.
       Yes!  Christ is truly risen and we rejoice and will one day experience Him fully in eternity. Happy Easter!

                    Sr. Barbara Woeste, OSB

The Verbs of Easter

Candles              The Candle          Music
    distribute        decorate                  tune

    hold                bless                       practice
    light                light                         chose
    share              incense                   reject
    illuminate        place                      download
    extinguish       revere                     remember
    store                store                      copy
                                                          rehearse
                                                          chant
                                                          sing
                                                          exult

Water               Night                      Bread        

   flow               rend                        raise
   pour               illuminate               knead
   bless              conquer                 shape
   circulate         banish                    rise
   symbolize      destroy                   bless
   sprinkle          sanctify                  break
   trickle             bless                      share
                                     

Word                 Voices                Movement    

   
    listen               lift                       direct
    speak              raise                   practice
    explain            soften                 explain
    practice           respond              question
    sing                 harmonize          facilitate
    chant               synchronize        bow
    pray                 whisper              cease
    interpret           exult                   rest
    absorb
    rehearse
    consecrate
    bless
            Sr. Christa Kreinbrink, OSB
 

Challenges and Grace of the Easter Season

Easter has been my favorite holiday since I was a child. Initially Easter was about the pretty dresses and Easter baskets. As I moved through high school and into adulthood it is not only Easter that I loved, but the whole journey of Holy Week. My emotions run the gamut including awe, sadness, anger, emptiness, excitement, gratitude and joy. In the days of Holy Week the paschal mystery unfolds in the washing of feet, the Passion, veneration of the cross, the stories we hear at the vigil of God’s continued love and patience with us throughout history, the people received into the Church and the Alleluias of Easter.   

As the paschal mystery unfolded these past few days I find myself challenged to respond with love, obedience and humility as Christ did. I am challenged to respond with faith, strength and hope.We are a people who live the paschal mystery.We experience both the agony of the cross and the joy of Easter.  Maybe this year more than most, I am aware of how closely agony and joy live with one another and in these holy days I have found solace and hope.I am grateful for both the challenge and the solace of these past few days.

     I pray that we each may be open to the graces and challenges of this Easter season. 

Sr. Kimberly Porter, OSB  

Holy Week

Sr. Mary Tewes

      Beginning with the procession into Chapel on Passion Sunday with our palms and hymn, we are lead to review our lives as disciples of the Christ we follow, especially this week.  Holy Mother Church gives us such powerful readings and rituals each day of this holiest of weeks carrying us through the Triduum to the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection, next Saturday Evening.

      In reviewing the year, I am grateful for the wonderful opportunity I had accompanying our Benedictine Oblates on the study of Chapter 7 of the Holy Rule, on “Humility,” using a book by Fr. Michael Casey, OSB “A Guide to Living in the Truth: Saint Benedict’s Teaching on Humility.” Beginning in November, this study has led us on through the Advent-Christmas Season, through Lent, and will go into the Easter Season. 

      Oblate Dottie Due lead the first session with a prayer she compiled from various sources on humility.  I asked Dottie if I could share her prayer which we used opening other sessions as well. Key to her prayer was Jesus telling us, 

               “Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29)

Benedictine Oblate Dottie Due

Prayer:  “Gracious God, in Jesus we witness your humility, and in your Spirit we know ourselves to be called to humble service.  Break our pride, remove our fear, and heal us in our blindness.  Grant to each of us the grace of humility, so that we might realize the truth of our being and the glory of your majesty.  As we gather to discuss the book we have been reading, may your Spirit fill us with the wisdom that might lead us down a path of understanding the humility that St. Benedict calls us to embrace in our lives.

God you are present at every moment of our lives.  You see us for what we are, blessed and limited, gifted and in need of healing.  Keep us close to the earth.  Empower us to bless you for our weaknesses and our strengths.  May we say yes to your creation and to how we are made.  Reveal to us your love and mercy that we might come to understand our true identity.  Gift us with humility, the virtue of authentic self-knowledge. Then in our lowliness, we will ascend to you.

Gentle Jesus, by accepting the plan of redemption and by giving up your life for us, you have taught us humility.  Strengthen us so that we can follow in your way.  Make us true disciples of the cross.  May our humility overflow into joy, the delight of sharing our entire lives with you.

May what we reflect on and discuss together, become a part of our lives so we can become more like you, Jesus, meek and humble of heart.  Amen.” 

      I see now that the work/study we did together was a perfect preparation for celebrating the Paschal Mystery this week. And on Saturday we will get to add our “Alleluia”!

         Sr. Mary Tewes

“Do This In Remembrance of Me”

Easter is the greatest feast in our Liturgical calendar.

The Easter Season will officially end on Pentecost Sunday or will it? Easter really continues in our memory

all year long!

At each Mass that we attend, we remember Jesus’ death and resurrection and each Mass makes Easter present to us again.

The Greek word for remembering is “anamnesis”.  This remembering is not just a passive process but one by which we actually enter into the Paschal Mystery (the life, death, resurrection and ascension

of Jesus).

I like to think this way about the Mass. We know that God is beyond time and space.  What Jesus did in the past is present to God in our present. Our Mass makes Jesus’ life, death and resurrection present

to us now.

Through the Mass, we make Jesus’ saving deeds present to us today.  We are sent forth from each Mass to continue to make Christ present in our lives and in the lives of all the people we meet.

           Sr. Barbara Woeste, OSB

Lent Is Over. Now What?

      Alleluia!  Christ is risen! Lent is over. Now what? True. The celebration of the day of Easter is over, but the season of Easter has 50 more days or seven weeks to go! How will we celebrate another 50 days ending with the feast of Pentecost?

      St. Benedict mentions in the 49^th chapter of his Rule that the life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent; however, few have the strength for this. I got the idea that I could let my life be a continuous Lent in a small way by simply choosing one practice that I would like to become part of my ongoing life style. It is a way of attempting to make each Lent transformative, and I believe it does. 

     I came across a website suggesting ways to celebrate the Easter season not just on the Sundays and special feasts during the season but ways to be aware of the Easter season every day throughout the 50 days. The suggestions excited me and I hope to keep the season in mind daily until Pentecost. Below are some of the ideas that I thought would work for me.

·        Use a special candle at meals or during private prayer to recall the light of the

                     Risen Christ.

·        Add an Alleluia to your meal prayers or other prayers.

·        Keep fresh flowers around.

·        Use a special container for the newly blessed water from Church.

·        Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit every day in anticipation of Pentecost.

·        If you live with one or more people, exchange the old Easter greeting and response: “Christ is risen!—He is risen indeed.”

·        Be creative and come up with other ideas.

Have a joyous and grace-filled Easter Season.

Sr. Victoria Eisenman, OSB