THE LORD JESUS IS COMING:

We are already now into the third week of Advent as we continue to look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas.  Advent is a season of anticipation, and also a season of waiting.  We spend a lot of time in our lives waiting for various things.  Perhaps one of the more joyful times of waiting is when parents are waiting for the birth of a child.  Mary too must have looked forward to that with great anticipation.  But, hopefully all of you are looking forward to the coming of our Saviour again on Christmas, 2011.  Obviously Jesus was born over 2000 years ago but he continues to come again and again into our hearts and into our lives.  Every time we turn away from sin we unite ourselves more closely to Jesus Christ.  In a way he is born again into our hearts and into our lives.

Here at Conception we have so far not put up any Christmas decorations, even though they have been up in some stores since Halloween.  We will decorate sometime next week, just days before the feast.  Advent is seen as a time to prepare, not to celebrate Christmas.  Come Christmas eve the monastery and basilica will be fully decorated.  

Although last week was a very cold week, this week seems to be much warmer but it has been cloudy and rainy on most days.  Many jobs continue to be done around here.  As you remember I talked about the bad hail storm we had in August.  Well, we are still busy repairing and replacing roofs.  In this whole area, including Maryville, most people had to replace their roofs.  Since the roofing companies have been so busy a company out of St. Joseph is still working trying to replace some of ours that were damaged.  Right now they are working to replace the copper on the roof of the Health Care Center.

Health Care Center roof being replaced.

They are also presently replacing the roof on the ambulatory -- the enclosed walkway that connects the monastery to St. Joseph Hall and the library.

Ambulatory roof being replaced with hot tar.

They have already repaired roofs on St. Raphael Guest Center, and St. Joseph Hall.  Next spring or summer roofs still have to be replaced on Marian Hall, St. Benedict Hall and the garages.  So you can see that the hail storm was very bad and did a lot of damage.

Work on the guest house is progressing.  Last week no brick work could be done due to the cold weather, but this week they are working and are coming close to finishing the brick work.

December 12, 2011, the front side and main
entrance of the new guest house.  The last
part of the building needing bricks.

Our monks who are away for school -- Brothers Guerric, Victor and Macario at St. Meinrad Archabbey came home last Wednesday, December 7, and Brother Paul who is at St. Vincent Archabbey arrives this evening.  Our own students leave this Friday for three weeks off for Christmas.

God bless you all.  

Thanksgiving, Advent and other things

Last week most of the monks who are assigned to parishes or as chaplains were home for the week.  We had our usual community meetings.  On Thanksgiving day itself we honor all those who celebrate jubilees during the year.  This year we honored and celebrated with:  Fr. Richard Cleary and Fr. Hugh Tasch: 60 years professed, Archbishop Jerome Hanus, 50 years professed, Fr. Francis Stuart and Fr. Rene Guesnier, 50 years ordained, Br. Jude Person, 25 years professed.  It was a delightful week and good to see our confreres.  Those who are away at school were not able to come back but they will be home for Christmas.  


Today, Sunday, November 27, and the first Sunday of Advent, we began using the New Roman Missal.  I had the Mass for the residents in the Health Care Center and all went well there.  Abbot Gregory was the principal celebrant for the Community Mass and I understand all went well there also. You do have to keep your eyes on the book but in time we will learn the words more from memory.  


The students left for Thanksgiving vacation last Tuesday. Today they will be returning and in just a few weeks will be leaving again for a longer Christmas break.  


JOSEPH GLAUS:  Some of you who are older alumni should remember this name.  Just a few days ago someone asked me about him.  I found the article written about him in the Tower Topics issue of December, 1955.  He had died in October of that year.  He left his home in Switzerland in 1913 and came to Conception.  He worked here then as a layman for 42 years.  In 1935 he was assigned as janitor in St. Maur Hall and continued in that work until his death.  As a janitor he endeared himself in the hearts of those for whom he toiled.  He was a very charitable person.  It seems his whole life was spent in serving others.  Just thought some alumni who were in school here in those year and remember "Joe" would like to hear a little about him.  Below is a picture of Joe Glaus, smoking a cigar.  Picture was taken from the 1955 Tower Topics.

Work on the new guest house continues at a good pace.  It is now all enclosed so work can continue even in cold or wet weather.   They still have to lay brick on a big part of the front (south) side but they hope to get that done soon. The roof is all covered but the final roof will not be put on until next spring.  

West end of the building.

North or back side of the building

As we conclude this Thanksgiving week, I hope we all remembered to thank God for his love and goodness.  We all have much to be grateful for in our lives.  


God bless you.
Fr. Kenneth

What's Happening?

Looking back since my last entry in this blog which was dated November 1, I should first of all note that we were not able to have our usual procession to the cemetery on November 2.  The weather was rainy and cold.  


The weekend of November 5-6, I was at Cameron, MO where I celebrated all the Masses at St. Munchin Church and also at St. Aloysius Church at Maysville, MO.  


This past weekend November 12-13, I was not assigned to a parish assignment but on Sunday I went to Omaha, Nebraska, for a wake service.  A cousin of our family died there Thursday night, November 10.  So some of our family decided to drive up for the wake service on Sunday evening.  My sister in law, Vera, my nephew, Kenny, and my niece, Janet, and myself went up for this.  We returned on Sunday evening.  Kind of a tiring trip but I'm glad we went.  It was good to see many of the relatives again.  

Beatrice (Bea) Clavin in the chair with

my sister in law when they visited her in

September, 2011

This picture dates back to the late 1960's.  I had taken my Dad

and Mother and my Uncle Tony and Aunt Marguerite to Omaha

to see their nephews and niece.  Above in the picture are in the back

row:  my mother, Aunt Marguerite, Uncle Tony, Geraldine (a niece)

and my Dad.  In the front row are:  Richard, Fr. Kenneth, John, Herbert and Bill.

The boys in the front row are all nephews of my Dad (except for me) and

Aunt Marguerite.  Their sister Rose lived in Omaha and died of cancer

in 1947.

The weekend of November 19-21 was also the fall Encounter With God's Call.  Two of these are held each year -- one in the fall and one in the spring -- to allow young men in high school or college to experience seminary life for a few days.  About sixty attended this weekend.  

This weekend we also had our annual drama production.  This year they did the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.  It was a delightful production and well done by the students here in the seminary.  Brother Cyprian was the director.  

A picture of the guest house taken just this morning,

Tuesday, November 15, 2011.

SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS AND COMMEMORATION OF FAITHFUL DEPARTED

Today as I write this blog it is the Solemnity of all Saints.  Since it is a holyday of obligation, we do not have classes and our lay workers are given the day off as a holiday.  We follow the Sunday schedule with Mass at 10:30 AM.  I myself was out in a parish, St. Munchin Parish at Cameron, MO from Saturday afternoon until today late morning.  I had three Masses on Saturday evening and Sunday and then two for the feast of All Saints. I like to remember that today we are celebrating not only the feast of those saints who are officially canonized, but all of those who are now with God in the Kingdom of Heaven.  We pray and hope that includes many who we have known in this life -- parents, family members, confreres etc.

Tomorrow, November 2, is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.  So while today we celebrated those in heaven, tomorrow we will remember those still on the way to the fullness of the Heavenly Kingdom.  I think both days are important for those of us still here in this life as we remember those who have gone before us.

The weather has continued to be lovely for this time of the year.  Tomorrow (Wednesday) they are predicting some rain and even the possibility of a little snow.  We need the rain but most of us agree, the snow can hold off a while yet.

 Brick work on the north side of the new guest house is about done.

Work on the roof continues making progress.

On the left alumnus Fr. Ron Hart and a friend Fr. Damian
Visited here October 28-30, 2011.  Both are from
diocese of Joliet, IL  Fr. Hart was here in school
1962-65 

Alumni Fr. Jim Baird and Fr. Chris Renner, both alumni from
the Archdiocese of Denver.  Fr. Renner 1984-86 and Fr. Baird 1983-87.
Both were here on retreat.

God bless each and everyone of you.  

NEW PARKING LOT, SOCCER & VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT AND OTHER NEWS

The weather outside is getting cooler and the days are getting shorter while the nights get longer. We are definitely well into fall and we can all look forward to winter.  Last weekend, October 7-9, we had a good oblate retreat.  About forty five oblates were present for the retreat.  We covered the last six degrees (or steps) of humility from St. Benedict's Rule.  I gave the conferences and then on Sunday the last conference was given by Paul Tarro.  He and his wife made their final oblation on Saturday.  He spoke on the book:  BAREFOOT DISCIPLE, Walking the Way of Passionate Humility, by Stephen Cherry.  The oblates appreciated his comments on the book and the approach to humility.  I hope all of you who are oblates and who have the use of a computer and e-mail were able to see the photos I sent to you from the weekend retreat.  

This weekend the Seminary Board of Regents were here for one of their twice a year meetings.  Yesterday, Friday, we had our commmunity Mass at 5:00 PM with Archbishop George Lucas, from Omaha, as celebrant.  Today Mass was at 7:30 AM with Bishop James Johnston, bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau as celebrant.  

This weekend is also the annual soccer and volleyball tournament for the seminary.  Seminarians from other seminaries in this part of the country come to take part in the day.  It is a tournament affair and the winner receives a trophy.

This fall we had a new parking lot built just to the south of the Health Care Center.  It is primarily for staff members who work in that building as well as guests who come to visit residents in the building.  Brother Placid and his helpers have been landscaping and it is looking very nice.  Most of the flowers we had in that area continue to bloom as you can see from the photo below.

Meanwhile work continues on the new guest house.  I was over this morning to take some more pictures.  I will only post one of those pictures here today.  If you are an oblate you can probably see all of the pictures since I have put them all on a Picassa album.  They have already begun laying bricks on the north (back) side of the building.

In the past week we had a couple of deaths of people who some of you might remember.  Mr. Raymond Schuster died over a week ago.  He was the brother of our Father Philip Schuster and was over 90 years old.  He worked most of his life in education and lived most of his adult life in the Conception and Maryville area.

Last Monday some of us attended the funeral of Mrs. Mary Lou Schieber.  For about fifteen years she was our nurse (RN) in our infirmary.  She had been ill for some time. 

Blessings on all of you readers of this blog.

Alumni Reunion, Family Weekend etc.

 

Bottom floor rooms begin to take shape

Taken on back side (northeast) of new guest house.

A couple of updated pictures of the new guest house.  We have had lovely weather so they are moving ahead at a good pace.  

A week ago on September 23-24 we had our alumni reunion,.  About 70 alumni were here for the occasion.  Abbot Gregory gave them a talk on the new revised Grail psalter.  Abbot Gregory was also celebrant for the Mass on Friday evening.  That was followed by a social hour and a banquet and more visiting and socializing that evening.  Two classes had were honored in a special way, the college class of 1966 and the college class of 1971.  On Saturday evening the class of 1971 had a cook out.  Since i had been their prefect I was invited to attend this reunion.  It was good to see so many old faces but it also serves to make me realize how old I am getting.  I remember well when they were here and now, those who did not go on for ordination, are talking about their grand children.  So time flies by.

This past weekend, October 1 and 2, we had our annual family weekend for the seminarians.  I was out in a parish for the weekend in St. Joseph, but I understand there was an overflow crowd here for the occasion.  

During the last year the old lake (Maria Laach) down the hill from the
the ball fields, was drained and then cleaned out.  It
is now refilling.

The grotto that is on the island at Maria Laach

COOLER WEATHER -- PROGRESS ON NEW GUEST HOUSE

Work continues on the new guest house.  I am putting some pictures on this blog to bring you up to date on how it is progressing.  They are still hoping to get it enclosed before the winter weather sets in.  The last week or so it has been much cooler.  In fact most days recently it has not gotten above the 50's and 60's.  Good sleeping weather for sure, but difficult to get out of bed in the mornings.  

Last weekend I helped at St. Andrew Parish in Gladstone, MO, a suburb of Kansas City north of the Missouri river.  It was a busy weekend with one Mass Saturday evening and three on Sunday.  The last Mass on Sunday was not until 6:30 PM so on Sunday afternoon my friends Benjamin and Alicia Darnell and their little son Isaac came out to see me.  They just recently moved back to the Kansas City area from Dayton, Ohio and Ben is now working as youth minister at Queen of the Holy Rosary parish at Bucyrus, KS.   It was good to see them again and it is good to know they are now much closer than they were.

On Monday Ben's parents Rick and Sandy Darnell came to see me here at Conception, spending Monday night.  They live in Phoenix, Arizona but had been in Missouri for some days on vacation.  

Tomorrow on Saturday I go to Trenton, MO.  Tomorrow afternoon I will preside at the wedding of a cousin of mine, Marie Gladbach.  Her Dad and my mother were brother and sister.  Her Dad is now deceased but her mother is still living and is 96 years old.  She plans to be at the wedding.  

They have also poured the concrete for the Health Care Center parking lot.   Parking in this lot will be only for staff members and guests of the residents in the Health Care Center.  We are not able to park on the area yet but will be soon, as the concrete cures more.

Oblates of Conception Abbey:  Don't forget to register for the oblate retreat October 7-9, 2011.  Register by contacting the guest department:  e-mail = guests@conception.edu or phone 660-944-2809. 

God bless all of you.  Let us pray for one another.

Novices, Hail & Wind storm, Birthday

On Sunday, August 14, two men entered the novitiate for Conception Abbey. Novice Daniel is originally for Alton, Illinois. Novice James is originally from Clarence, MO.

Novice Daniel Friedel receives a copy of the Rule of St. Benedict
from Abbot Gregory

Novice James Chinn recives his copy of the Rule from
Abbot Gregory

Birthday cake for Father Anthony's 90th birthday
August 21, 2011

Father Anthony at his birthday party

Damage to windows, roofs and trees from a very intense
wind and hail storm on the evening of August 18

More damage

Window damage at the Printery House

On the evening of August 18, toward the end of Compline we began to get a tremendous storm. The electricity went out. As we left compline it was starting to rain and soon the hail came with it. The winds reached up to 90-100 mph and the hail lasted for a good twenty minutes or so. We received quite a bit of damage, the Sisters at Clyde received even more damage. All the crops in this area were ruined -- especially the corn and soybeans. We were without electricity until Saturday morning, August 20.

Photos of storm damage courtesy of Brother Maximilian, OSB

LEISURE AND VACATION

Last Tuesday, August 2, I returned from about 9-10 days of vacation and time for visiting relatives and friends. I really enjoyed these days even though the temperature was up to about 100 degrees each day. I got to see many of my relatives who live in the Brunswick, MO area, as well as my brother Harold and his wife Dee in Kansas City. Also, I got to see many old friends who I had known or worked with years ago.

I did not do anything unusual except eat more than I usually do. So many want you to come to eat a meal or they want to take you out to a meal. But, I got lots of rest, went down to the parish church and celebrated Mass either concelebrating with the new pastor, Father Rob Fields, or celebrating the Mass myself when Father Rob was gone.

I came back relaxed and felt like I had a number of leisurely days. My roots certainly go back to this little river town in North Central Missouri. I was born in a farm house there, went to church regularly at the Catholic church there, was baptized there, confirmed there, served many Masses in that church etc., as well as celebrated my first Mass there in 1959.

It seems to me that when we are younger we like to be on the go a lot -- taking trips, going to see things etc. As a result we frequently come back more tired than we were when we left. It seems only as I have gotten older have I learned to relax and to enjoy leisure. Sometimes I just enjoy being alone.

At any rate I am back at work again now. As usual when you are gone for a few days, there is work waiting for you when you return. But, I have gradually gotten caught up.

One of the things I enjoyed when in Brunswick was the "friendship wheel" lunch at the St. Boniface Church Hall. This is a once a month activity. The five churches in Brunswick take turns hosting it on the fourth Wednesday of each month -- skipping December and January. In July it was hosted by the Catholic church. Anyone comes who wishes, each person is asked to leave a $3.00 donation for the meal, although most seem to leave more than that. The Baptist minister and Lutheran pastor were there for this dinner and of course the Catholic pastor. It brings the people together from the different religions. The churches that take part in this are the St. Boniface Catholic church, the Methodists, the Lutherans, the Christians and the Baptists. I enjoyed it very much.

Here at Conception work is proceeding on the new guest house. With the weather so hot the workers have been coming to work as early as 6:00 or 6:30 AM and quitting then about 2:30 PM. That makes sense to me in hot weather.

Our new students start arriving on August 17 so that is not far off.

Some photos: Many of you remember the quaruplets that were born to
one of my grandnephews and his wife in 2009. One
of the boys died a couple days after birth. The other
three are pictured about and seem to be doing well.
They were two years old on July 7

Work proceeds on the new guest house.

While work progresses on the new guest house, windows
are being replaced on the north side of the library

HOT, HOT, HOT AND YES, ALSO HUMID

As I am sure many of you have read or heard the mid-section of the country is in an extreme heat wave. Of course you have probably also heard, or seen news, about the flooding Missouri river. A number of the roads along the Missouri river, including Interstate 29, which goes from Kansas City to Omaha and beyond, is closed due to the flooding. Evidently they had an unusual amount of snow up north in Montana this winter and then some heavy rains in the spring. So they are having to let a lot of water out of the dams up north. That is what is causing the river to flood.

And then for the past week or more we have had day after day of very hot and humid weather. With all the water around that only makes it more humid. So they are telling people to take it easy, take a lot of breaks if you work outdoors and drink a lot of water.

They have now started to work on the new guest house. As you can see from the above picture they have been grading and preparing the area for building. It is expected to take a full year to complete the building. J.E. Dunn is the construction manager but of course there are many sub-contractors. (click on picture above to enlarge it)

During the month of July we are having our LCCIP program for International Priests who are working or preparing to work in the United States. The letters stand for: Language, Culture, Church for International Priests. It is a three week program held every summer here at Conception to help these priests acclimate to the culture and language in this country. With the shortage of priests in this country many dioceses are going outside the United States to try to find priests who are willing to come to this country for priestly ministry.

Click on picture to enlarge it.

The picture above is of an alumnus and good friend of mine who just recently graduated from the Wichita Police Academy. Pictured is Randy Gorges, along with his wife Vera, and his son Isaac. I have come to really appreciate and admire the police. They render a real service to our communities and in so many ways risk their life to help us. After the shooting we had here in 2002, I realized they are really our friends and not out to try to catch us doing something wrong.

Toward the end of this week I will be going to my little home town of Brunswick, Missouri to spend about ten days relaxing and visiting family and friends.

My prayers are with all of you everyday.

God bless you.

GROUND BREAKING FOR NEW GUEST HOUSE

The J.E. Dunn construction trailer was moved
in this week.

Breaking ground for the new guest facility.

The blessing began in the St. Raphael Hospitality Center.
Pictured are Abbot Gregory, Mr. Bill Dunn and Father Benedict.
Brother Paul is just behind the Abbot.

Monday, June 20, we had the blessing and the ground breaking for the new guest house to be built just to the north of St. Joseph Hall. Most of the monks, many employees and construction people and architects were on hand for the ground breaking. This week they began to relocate some of the underground structure such as the water line, gas line etc. Soon then they will begin digging preparing the area for the new building.

Pictured above are Steve and Christy Arnold and their family who visited me last week. I had presided at the wedding of Steve and Christy in August, 1999. They now have five beautiful children and it was good to visit with them again.

Tomorrow I am going to Brookfield, MO to celebrate a funeral Mass. Evidently the priests of the diocese are all on retreat and they could not find a priest to have the funeral. So they called the Prior and I am going down to do this on Friday. I just helped at this parish this past Holy Week so I know a number of the parishioners.

Most of you have read of all the flooding on the Missouri river. Fortunately we are far away from that but we all assure these people of our thoughts and prayers at what they are going through. Unfortunately it sounds as though it will last through most of the summer because of the heavy snow up north last winter and the heavy rains this spring.

To read the new oblate blog click here. and then click on "oblates" on the left side of your screen.

Summer seems to have arrived

St. Raphael Church at Indian Grove, MO is today
celebrating it's 125th anniversary. This is the
church where my Dad and Mother were married
in 1921. It is still open today--a country church
at the little village of Indian Grove. Bishop Gaydos
will be there for Mass today.

Summer seems to have arrived. In the last couple of weeks we have had a lot of hot and humid weather. The weekend of May 28-29 and again on the weekend of June 4-5, I went to Kansas City to celebrate the Masses at St. Andrew Parish in the north part of Kansas City. The first weekend it was chilly when I left Conception so I wore a sweater. By the time I got to Kansas City it was hot so I did not even have to take the sweater out of the car. Both weekends I celebrated four Masses, one on Saturday evening and three on Sunday. I spent the nights with my brother and his wife, Harold and Dee Reichert who live very close to this church.

We have had enough rain so that everything is green and the flowers are blooming. It's a beautiful time of the year except for the heat and humidity. We do not have air-conditioning in the monastery except for a few rooms but most of us do have fans. We hope to eventually renovate the monastery and we will probably air condition then, but I don't know whether I will still be around by that time. Who knows? This summer we are planning to begin work on our new guest house. It will be toward the north part of the campus and will have 32 rooms as well as some meeting rooms. At the present time they are moving some gas lines in order to get ready to start building. I believe the ground breaking is scheduled for June 20.

I have been working on a little project, trying to write some of my memories down and make them available to my nephews and nieces, and other family members. It is kind of fun to do this and I enjoy such projects. I have, in the process, put together a number of older family pictures. A lot has changed in my life time for sure. We did not even have electricity on the farm until I was in the fifth grade.

Many of the monks are coming and going during the summer. Each final professed monk is allowed two weeks for a home visit or vacation each year. The latter part of July I plan to go to Brunswick and spend some time on the farm, just relaxing and visiting relatives. Sometimes during the summer we really get low on numbers, especially on weekends when many priests have to go out to parishes to help out.

Monsignor Louis McCorkle, a priest of the diocese
of Jefferson City and an alumnus of Conception, who
is in residence in our Health Care Center celebrated
his 90th birthday on May 28

Father Anthony Shidler, O.S.B. and Monsignor
McCorkle shake hands. Father Anthony will
celebrate his 90th birthday in August, 2011

Community retreat -- Ordination to diaconate

Conception Seminary College
The graduating class of 2011

The school year ended on the weekend of May 14-15 with graduation on Saturday afternoon, May 14 and a solemn Mass of thanksgiving on Sunday morning, May 15. The students were then free to leave for the summer. The graduating class was one of our larger classes for many years so hopefully that is a good sign for the Church in general.

The day after graduation on May 16, the monastic community began it's annual retreat. It began Monday evening and concluded on Friday morning, May 20. The retreat director was Bishop Joseph Charron, C.PP.S., bishop emeritus of the diocese of Des Moines. He was very good and gave us some excellent conferences. He is a very pastoral person and kind and charitable.

On the last evening of the retreat Brother Guerric Letter, O.S.B., was ordained to the diaconate. Bishop Charron was the ordaining bishop since he was already here.

For the summer Brother Guerric will serve as deacon in the parish at Maryville. Father Martin, one of our monks, is pastor there and will be his mentor. In August he will return to St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana to complete his last year of theology in preparation for ordination to the priesthood.

After the retreat a number of monks had to leave already for other assignments, including some leaving for home visits and vacations. Most of the monks on mission were here for the retreat and it is always good to see them.

Last weekend; that is, graduation weekend, I had to go to St. James Parish in St. Joseph for the weekend Masses. On Sunday afternoon I returned and then left for Des Moines to meet with the oblates there on Sunday evening. After spending the night in Des Moines at the St. John Basilica rectory where our friend, Father Aquinas is pastor, I returned to Conception by noon on Monday.

Our summer will be a little quieter around here but there will still be many activities to keep us busy. I don't plan to go for my home visit and vacation until the latter part of July.

I pray you all have a wonderful and blessed summer.

Easter continues

I hope you had a blessed Easter and that you continue to know the joy and peace of this blessed Easter season. We spent forty days in Lent preparing for the Easter feast, and now we spend fifty days celebrating. The Easter season will not end until Pentecost which this year is June 12.

The Triduum for me was a real blessing. As you know from my last blog entry I was sent to the parish at Brookfield, MO. It was a blessing to be able to celebrate each of these days as the celebrant. I have not had that chance very often. Since I was master of ceremonies here at Conception for so many years and then Prior for fourteen year, I had to be here most of the time because of my jobs. Of course I always enjoyed being here. Conception knows how to celebrate these days for sure. But, I also enjoyed the chance to be celebrant.

Sister Donna, a Franciscan Sister, is the pastoral administrator of the parish and usually the priest at Marceline, MO comes as the sacramental minister. However, since he is not able to be both places at the same time it is difficult to work out a schedule to celebrate these days two places. On Holy Thursday at 7:30 PM I celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper. I washed six people's feet and Sister washed six. We had a nice procession after Mass to the altar of repose.

On Good Friday we had the liturgy of Good Friday also at 7:30 PM. It is a more sober celebration but went very well with the reading of the Passion and adoration of the Cross and Communion.

The Easter Vigil we celebrated at 8:30 PM on Saturday evening to make sure it was truly dark when we started. It was such a wonderful experience to celebrate this. I baptized five people, and had two make their profession of faith and confirmed three on this night. Sister had set up a rather large container for the water and we baptized by immersion. It was the first time I had done that. She is going to send me some pictures so I will post them when they arrive.


It looks like now that summer is almost here. The temperature is supposed to be up in the 80's today and we haven't had any rain now for a week or more so the farmers are very busy in the fields.

Two or three years ago I was able to visit Pella, Iowa,
about this time of year and the tulips were
beautiful. A nice place to visit in early May or so.

Our students returned last Sunday and now this week are finishing up the school year. The last day of classes will be Thursday, May 12, with graduation on Saturday, May 14, and then they will leave after a Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, May 15. Then it will quiet around here although we do have a lot of things going on during the summer and continue to have a lot of retreatants on weekends.

On Easter Sunday I got to go to Brunswick (where I was born and raised) to have Easter dinner with my sister in law, Vera, and her family. This is a picture taken as we were preparing to eat. As you can see it is quite a large group and one of her sons and his family were not able to be there. Her husband, my brother Jim, died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 73. It was great to be able to see them all again and of course we had a delicious meal.

For any of the oblates who read this please note that I will be in Des Moines on Sunday, May 15, for an oblate meeting at St. John Basilica. Hope to see you there.

HOLY WEEK AND SACRED TRIDUUM

About 38-40 oblates attended the oblate
retreat the weekend of April 8-10, 2011

It was directed by Brother Cyptian Langlois, O.S.B.
Click on picture to enlarge it.

Today is Palm Sunday. At 10:15 AM the monks, seminarians and guests assembled on the plaza area in front of St. Michael hall for the blessing of palms, the reading of the Gospel and then the procession to the Basilica for Mass. We also had many guests present, m0stly members of RCIA classes from a number of parishes in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.

To give you an idea of the monastic schedule during the Triduum, on Holy Thursday we have a communal penance service at 11:00 AM for the monks, students and guests. Then on Thursday evening we have the Evening Mass of the Lord's supper, during which the Abbot washes the feet of twelve people. After Mass the Blessed Sacrament is placed at the altar of repose and adoration continues until midnight. However, at 7:00 PM we have a special meal something like a Seder meal for everyone who attends the Mass.

From Holy Thursday afternoon until after the Easter Vigil on Sunday we try to observe silence and encourage our guests to also keep silence, especially on Good Friday.

On Good Friday we have prayer at 7:50 AM which lasts about an hour. The seminarians and the guests join the monastic community for this. At 11:45 AM we have daytime prayer, at 3:00 PM we gather for solemn liturgical service with the reading of the passion, solemn prayers, adoration of the cross, and communion. At 7:15 PM we have compline.

On Holy Saturday we again have morning prayer at 7:50 AM, Daytime prayer at 11:45 AM and vespers or evening prayer at 5:35 PM.

On Easter Sunday we rise early for the Easter Vigil to begin at 4:30 AM. It is usually after 7:00 AM when it concludes. Daytime prayer is at 11:45 AM and Vespers at 5:00 PM.

The seminarians leave soon after the Easter Vigil and are gone for one week, returning on Sunday, May 1. This year with Easter so late in April they only two weeks of school after they return before the end of the school year.

God bless you and I wish each of you a very Blessed Triduum and Easter.