Advertise Your Business Or Website At HomewithGod.com

Be Joyful! Keep the Faith! Formation INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNITY Dear Friend, Thank you for your inquiry. We hope the following information will be of help to you. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have after reading this. WHO ARE WE? We are the Community of the Beloved Disciple. The Community is made up of two folds, the Mother Community of the Sisters of St. John the Beloved at the Monastery of Dewi Sant and the Confraternity of the servants of Jesus in Mary. The Confraternity is the lay associate group affiliated to the Mother Community. The Community is a koinonia. A koinonia is a "communion", a "sharing" in the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. It is to walk in the path of the Apostles, where many can become one in mind and spirit. THE MOTHER COMMUNITY The Sisters of St. John the Beloved at the Monastery of Dewi Sant. We are women living a life of the true faith, sustained by our Hope and aflame with love of God, in order to participate fully in the life Jesus desires to share with us. We are called by our Lord to give Him not just prayer, adoration and devotions but our whole life, our whole strength, our whole soul, that, He may give to us His own in return and we may begin, with His help, our eternal life. The Community under the patronage of St. John the Beloved Disciple, is dedicated to the adoration of the Most Holy and Precious Blood that flowed from our Saviour’s Heart. Our Apostolate is the restoration of the Precious Blood to Its rightful place upon the Altar. Our vocation is a monastic vocation, lived in tender devotion to our Mother Mary, Our Lady of Joy, in solitude and simplicity. Our way of life is a traditional way of prayer and work, in companionship with others as we seek, through our religious and ascetic life to sanctify our souls and thereby, call down God's grace upon the Church, and our world. Our main work is to offer the Divine Majesty a noble service in the essential simplicity of the monastic vocation. This we do by devoting ourselves to Divine Worship in a life that is hidden and regulated by the Holy Rule of St. Benedict. Our work is God's work, done for His glory. Br. Andrew puts it this way: "It depends entirely upon our weakness and helplessness in the face of need to allow God to work through us. Our life of prayer and silence gives way to meeting the deepest needs of others. Every member is entitled to share in this work, for this work is love. And it is love that we are looking for; it is love that brings men to life; it is love the world needs; it is love alone that can release mankind today from its deep divisions." We seek to reach out and touch our world with Christ’s love for us. We invite you to visit the official website of the Monastery at: Our Website We are joined in our work by members of the laity who seek union with Jesus in Mary. We call this communion of souls in Christ: THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE SERVANTS OF JESUS IN MARY. The Confraternity of the servants of Jesus in Mary is a ‘school of the Lord’s service’, a union of souls who live in the little way of transcendent love, guided by the Little Charter of the poor. A community of prayerful support along the way. The purpose of the Confraternity is the Christian perfection of its members. To gather together in fraternal charity lay men and women, religious and clerics whom the Holy Spirit has infused with love of Jesus in Mary and who have an appreciation of the Benedictine way. As members of a structured association they may strive together in mutual support to reach that Christian perfection which is holiness, whilst maintaining their duties and lives in the world. Our aim is to help members of the Confraternity, who are already striving for a life of Christian perfection, deepen their relationship and union with Christ Jesus, our Lord. United in the Blood of Christ, a community family of love, friendship and support surrounds us. THE WAY: The way is by union with Jesus, in, through and with Mary, our Mother, guided by the Little Charter of the poor members walk in the little way of transcendent love. Through the mystery of the Holy Trinity, we seek the sanctification of our lay brothers and sisters in Christ - the fulfillment of each individuals' response to the daily call of God to holiness by the little way of transcendent love. This way is guided by the spirit and values of the Holy Rule of St. Benedict and allows one to live a simple spiritual life, mindfully, reverently, in the Presence, wholly centered on God. It unites strangers in loving prayer; families, groups and communities are strengthened by their union in Christ. Everyone is consecrated to Mary and lives by the Holy Rule of St. Benedict, united in intention, in one prayer, one spirit in Christ Jesus, Our Lord. Through the establishment of local fraternities, our lay brothers and sisters become small communities of love and goodness living a life of prayer that overflows in divine charity in serving the poorest of the poor in their neighbourhood. In the words of Br. Andrew, "they become a movement where the spirit of God is at work in His world of people, coming into the world in smallness and meekness to bring His saving love and life just like the first Christmas." Perhaps you would like to help us in our work? You do not need any special qualifications, only to be human and willing to keep trying, wanting to love God and keep His Word as best you can. We know that of ourselves we can do nothing but with God all things are possible. Br. Andrew puts it like this: "You and I are inefficient, full of failures, pettiness and jealousies, divisions, mistakes of all kinds. We must not be afraid to confess this to ourselves. It is the truth. But if there is a fruitfulness coming out of our weakness, it is a clear sign that the work is God's and that He is present with us and that is where our hope and confidence lie. We can allow Him to go on working through us." We know that He will work through you too and we hope you will consider joining with us and working with us. Only have courage and faith, and God will do the rest. WHO MAY JOIN? Lay persons of generous loving hearts who have shown by their lives a willingness to strive to live out the Word of God; who have been faithful in their efforts to participate in the life of the Church and this community, whilst maintaining in their secular lives, the obligations and duties of the circumstances in which they find themselves in the world. Persons who are quite certain that God is calling them to go beyond their present personal experience of Himself and reach out in faith, trusting in Him alone, to begin to work towards becoming a true Christian. WHAT ARE MEMBERS TO DO? Members are to do good as baptized Christians, to the best of their ability, according to their own natural talents and the Grace accorded to them. First, to themselves, by living a good Christian life unto the shadow of the Tabernacle, and then in service to others. This life is to be a life of prayer, obedience and generosity towards God, serving our Priests and all other people in all walks of life, in particular the children, the suffering and the poor of our society, lived always with Mary, in Mary and through Mary for Jesus Christ. Consecrated and devoted to Mary as their own Mother, they offer themselves to God in union with Christ Jesus in His great oblation of love to the Father. Faithful to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church, they serve and work in partnership with the Mother Community, in chaste brotherly love for the good of the Church and society, to the best of their ability according to their state in life and their level of commitment to the Community. OBLIGATIONS OF MEMBERS: There are no set obligations for new members. You are free to continue and maintain your current associations and commitments that are special to you in your spiritual life. We do hope though, that, as you progress in your new life, you will have the courage to let go of those things, which, whilst being good in themselves may well prove a hindrance to the little way of transcendent love. RECOMMENDED PRACTICES: We recommend the following practices to all members and friends of the community: Renew your consecration to Mary and your baptismal vows every morning upon waking, placing your whole life in her hands to offer with her Son, Jesus the Christ, in the supreme homage of adoration to the Most Holy Trinity. Ask Mary, to mother you, as she mothered Jesus at Nazareth. Remember that Mary’s whole purpose is to lead you immediately straight into her Son’s Sacred Heart. Draw inspiration from her life with Jesus and promote devotion to the Sacred Heart. Pray the psalms daily and if you are able, pray at least a part of the Divine Office each day. Make a perpetual novena to St. Benedict and live in the spirit and values of the Holy Rule every day. Commit yourself to the Mission of Holy Church and live your life according to the teachings of Holy Church. Attend Sunday Mass and whenever possible daily Mass. Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, at least monthly. Keep the Holy Days of Obligation and days of fasting. Spend 15-30 minutes daily, or as is possible, in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Read Holy Scripture for at least five minutes every day, treating the Bible with due reverence and the respect that is appropriate to sacred things. Learn to spend time in Lectio Divina. Attend meetings, retreats and the formation days of the Confraternity. HOW TO JOIN: You can become a member by request to the Mother Community. Membership is by application requesting to be enrolled in the Confraternity as a servant of Jesus in Mary or as a Friend of the Community. Benefactors are automatically registered as friends of the monastery with gratitude and thanksgiving to God for their generosity. NEW MEMBERS: The name of the new servant is written into the book of the Register. Members receive a simple certificate of enrollment and the quarterly newsletter. You are entitled to share in the spiritual goods of the community, to receive a formation for your spiritual advancement and are a valued co-worker who in various and different ways co-operates with the Mother Community and supports us. The Community prays for your welfare and good of soul in life and death. Masses are regularly celebrated for all our members. Names of new Friends of the Community are written into a Register; you receive a certificate of enrollment and thanksgiving and the quarterly Newsletter. The Community prays daily for you and your family, for your welfare and good of soul in life and death and you are entitled to share in the good works and merits of the Community. Masses are regularly celebrated for all. DONATIONS: The Community depends entirely upon God and the generosity of members and friends to maintain the on-going costs of running the out- reach programmes. These include: Sally-Anne's purse (our hospitality fund); the Mass stipend fund for the Lenten Novena of Masses for our Priests and in June, the Novena of Masses for the children leading up to the feast of the Sacred Heart; the Newsletter; formation and study materials; booklets on the spiritual life for all our members and the Explore your Faith courses; postage etc. Members voluntarily support the Community and are free to make donations at any time. All gifts are received with gratitude. Please note that we do not have credit card facilities. Cheques and money orders should be made payable to: The Community of the Beloved Disciple and sent to the community at P.O. Box 1116, Kalamunda, 6926, Western Australia. A receipt will be sent out by mail. THE NEWSLETTER: The quarterly newsletter is sent out by post to all members and friends of the Community. A voluntary donation of ten dollars Australian, at the beginning of each financial year, helps us to cover costs and postage. If you have any questions or would like more information, please write to us. Do you seek a closer union with God? Do you seek the support of others on your journey? Do you seek union with Christ through Mary, Our Lady of Joy, by the little way of transcendent love? If your answers to these questions is, ‘I do!’ Then, perhaps the Benedictine way may suit you. WELCOME! OUR ADDRESS FOR ALL MAIL IS: The Monastery of Dewi Sant, P.O. Box 1116, Kalamunda 6926, Western Australia Website A SPECIAL TIME OF GRACE. The time when one first comes to the monastery and becomes an enrolled member of the Confraternity – a servant of Jesus in Mary – is a time of grace and blessing. Sometimes these graces require some effort on our part to put in order matters that have lapsed unnoticed, eg. Confirmation, Reconciliation, the obligation of Sunday Mass or making peace with our brother or restitution for some unfortunate happening in our lives. Whatever it may be, the great charism of the Confraternity is one, we feel, comes directly from God through the intercession of the patron saint, St. John the Baptist. This charism is Conversion and it is a mighty tool that shows forth the power and strength of God as He pulls us out of the mire and into His Light through the greatness of His Love and Mercy for each one of us. It goes without saying really, that this is not always a time of sunshine and daisies, sitting on the lawn with a cup of tea enjoying new found peace. But it is a time of grace and the peace we experience is a peace that only God can give. He does not necessarily relieve us of our burdens, all sorts of things may seem to be happening to us and around us but through it all, we have an awareness of stillness and peace deep within us, in our souls, in the centre of our being. We have at last found a sense of God, the Holy Trinity Indwelling within us giving us God’s peace - PAX; Benedictine peace. This first year or so, is a period in time when one becomes slowly acquainted with a new friend, a compassionate father, who loves you. And so St. Benedict says: “Ausculte” – “Listen, my son. Listen to a father who loves you”. He goes on to tell us that he is “establishing a school of the Lord’s service” and that beginners will find it hard at first and should “not to run away from this way of salvation” but with patience and perseverance, they will come to “run with sweetness in the ways of the Lord.” In Love. We need all the help we can get to live this life God has gifted to us, so, we recommend that everyone, without exception make a novena to St. Benedict. If you do not have a copy of a novena then just say a Glory Be to the Father. A novena is a prayer that is made each day for 9 days and we always add a tenth day of thanksgiving for all the graces received, even if we haven’t perceived them clearly just yet! St. Benedict has 2 feast days: 21st March (day of his death) and 11th July. We usually begin a Novena 10 days before. During this time, you try on “the new clothes”, so to speak, of the Benedictine life as lived in this monastery. You come to know of our customs and traditions and hopefully, you will come to us in love to share in the prayer of the community. Some of you may even grow to love us in a way that demands a deeper commitment to God from within the Community, either by entering the Novitiate of the Chapter of St. John the Baptist, with a view to becoming a lay contemplative of the community, or, perhaps God may call to you and you may discern a vocation of hiddenness and silent prayer lived in the hermitage. O how we would love to welcome you! CONSIDER how you can make good and profitable use of the formation available to you and also use it to discern your calling to our monastery? What does God want me to know; what does He want to tell me? How does this make me feel? God is holding out an invitation to me: What is it that I understand this invitation to be and how – in what way - is it challenging me in my life? Find three things that you can do to put into action an acceptance of God’s invitation to you. These things must be little, simple, practical, that is, of a nature that you can actually do them in your everyday life. Finally, thank God. Thank Him for your calling, for the grace He gives to you, for this word and its action in your life and for each other. The following units will consist of short study and meditation on the Holy Rule along with Lectio Divina. OUR WORK Our first work is to seek God by continual prayer and union with his will. Each day we offer the Divine Majesty a noble service in the essential simplicity of our monastic vocation by devoting ourselves to divine worship in a life that is hidden and silent. Dedicated to the veneration of the Precious Blood, everyone without exception is obliged to periods of adoration. And whether working in cell, the offices, kitchen or gardens, the whole community comes together for the celebration of the Eucharist and the Liturgical Hours at the time appointed. It is by the preaching of the Word in the name of Jesus through the very silence of our own secluded and hidden lives, that the living transmission of our being will gather the faithful into this community. The spirit of vocation is the very Spirit of the Word living in us as the source of our life and flows through us out into our world. We seek through our religious and ascetic life to sanctify our souls and thereby call down God’s grace upon the Church and our world. We have distanced ourselves from the world not to escape from the reality of human life in the world but to open the door that leads us into reality. We re-enter the world through the very humanity of Jesus sharing in all the social realities of tragedy, of suffering, of pain and also love, hopes and joys in our world. Praying the Liturgy of the Hours means that we are the Church at prayer and our world is clothed with the Light that transfigures in love – God’s love in, with and through Jesus Christ. The prayer of the Hours makes us present wherever in the world the Church is troubled, persecuted or afflicted. We enter into the existence of Man encompassing the joy, happiness and sadness of the poor, the sick, the depressed, mentally ill, lonely, the devastation’s of war, the dying, the dead, of all Men. With the Eucharistic Celebration, this prayer, the Opus Dei is our life’s blood and may be for someone the first loving touch of another human being, a touch that may set them on a path to discover God. It is the loving presence of the Holy Trinity touching our world, the Receptacle of their love. We serve God and we serve each other through our prayer in our lives of silence and solitude. Prayer is the essence of our life because we have only one purpose – to seek God and God alone. Let us bless God together. We must also give ourselves to manual work of some kind so that we shall be found busy and not idling the day away. Like St. Paul we must be able to say: We live among you labouring and weary, toiling night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you; not because we have no power to do otherwise but so as to give you, in your own selves, an example you might imitate. For the charge we gave you whilst we were with you was this: whosoever is not willing to work should not be allowed to eat either for we have heard that there are certain restless idlers among you. We charge people of this kind, and implore them in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they earn their own bread by silent toil. This is the way of holiness and goodness, see that you follow it. We follow therefore the traditional way of prayer and work in solitude, in companionship with others. Of necessity, the community must work to support itself and fill the basic needs of man. This work must be such that our life of prayer is maintained and the work itself not be a disruption to our lives. Our focus must remain constant on an unceasing life of prayer. Manual work, Lectio Divina, reading and writing all help focus a life in unceasing prayer. At the same time the fruit of this prayer must be charity. Working alone the members work beside each other, each dependent on the other. OUR MANUAL WORK From the running of the house and garden, the everyday duties of every household, our work extends out into the local community as is the call in any good neighbourhood. To be silent, To be just. To listen; to pray; To be for others what I would have God be for me. To seek justice for the orphan and widow; To clothe the hungry with the good food of the spiritual life being the Resurrection. To seek only the good of others and Never to satisfy my own willful self. To be gracious to all who come to my door And to seek revenge in God, in eternity, For his justice is righteous, good and pure. To seek holiness in truth and life And never to abandon my vows. Maximus V, Patriarch LISTEN The Holy Charter that guides our religious life here in the monastery is strongly based in the Holy Rule of St. Benedict and the teaching of Br. Andrew. Servants of Jesus in Mary live in the little Way of Transcendent Love guided by the Little Charter of the Poor. The basic spirit and values that colour how we will live come from the Rule of St. Benedict. They give us a common viewpoint, a mentality of how we see our world and how we will behave in relation to others. Jesus came to show us how we are to live with God and with each other. St. Benedict uses the Gospel teaching and sums up the vital essence of life together in community in his Rule. This Rule was so good and so efficient in its application that the whole Catholic Church lived by the Holy Rule for 1500 years, right up until the Vatican II Council. Living with the Rule is like a marriage for it obliges us to act. To behave in certain ways and brings as a consequence certain limitations (ascesis) into our lives. As servants of Jesus in Mary, you are NOT obliged to live out the Rule in your life, but we do hope that you will try hard to incarnate the spirit and values of the Rule into your everyday existence. We are called to prefer nothing whatever to Christ; to prefer God’s Will for us to our own will. One way of doing this is to stop and reconsider how we now live and behave. Look at the problem areas and consider how being obedient to the Gospel values that God speaks to us daily through the Holy Rule of St. Benedict could change it. In this way, you will give glory to God. What can be difficult for us today is trying to relate some of the word of the Rule to our own daily lives. For instance: St. Benedict tells us, not to go to bed and sleep with our knives on. In our day, we do not wear a knife as everyday apparel! So, how can we understand this today? We could interpret it as meaning not to go to bed with the knives of our anger or condemnation still directed towards others or ourselves. We must forgive others as God forgives us. We could say that a sharp knife could not only injure but kill us, if we rolled over onto it during our sleep time or perhaps it simply means to take care of our bodies and not to put them in situations that could knowingly harm us in some way. After all, the body we now have is the same one that will rise glorious in the Lord one day. We are obliged to take care of our bodies and protect human life for it is a special gift of God to us. It is necessary then for us to take time and listen to the word and try to hear what was the reasoning behind the word when St. Benedict sat down and penned his Holy Rule. What was it that he wanted to tell us and have us come to understand so that we could be sure of a happy death and a sure welcome to eternity? Let us start at the beginning. The first word of the Rule is “Listen”. Listen to the words of a Father who loves you. Listen, to hear deeply with your heart, in such a way that action will follow as the natural consequence of the word’s presence in the heart, transforming your life. This word spoken by a Father to the child whom he loves. The Rule then is a work of love. An action springing from St. Benedict’s deep union with God in Love and in, through and with this Love reaching out to love others as a father loves his own children. This is Charity or Caritas, the unconditional love by which we are loved by our Heavenly Father. This charity to one’s neighbour means that if they follow this recommended and well-trodden and well-proven path of the Holy Rule, they too, will have their joy fulfilled in Heaven. CONSIDER where in your own life experience have you touched this unconditional love of God for you, revealed perhaps through another human being? What does God want to tell you through these experiences of Love? Do you not have a duty to love God in return for such great favour? Find 3 ways that you can begin today to return love to God, by prayer, by thought and by deed in action. How can you carry this unconditional love out into your world? Find something simple and easy that you can and actually will do in your everyday life. ST. BENEDICT, A MAN OF PEACE St. Benedict and his twin sister Scholastica were born of noble parents around 480AD at Norcia in Italy. The Roman Empire had come to an end. St. Benedict was sent to Rome to complete his education when he was about 17 years old. Seeing the worldliness of his confreres, he turned and fled in concern for his eternal salvation. Wanting nothing more than to seek God he arrived at Subiaco, some thirty miles east of Rome. Here he lived in a cave, in silence and prayer. For three following years, a monk, Romanus provided him with a monastic habit and brought him food from time to time, lowering it in a basket with a rope that reached down to the cave. Local shepherds and neighbouring monks heard of this holy youth and sought to have him become their Abbot. Reluctantly, Benedict agreed but his disciplined way clashed with the laxity of these monks and soon they poisoned his wine. It is said that making the sign of the cross over the challis, it split apart thus saving him from drinking his death. Eventually St. Benedict founded 12 monasteries in the Subiaco area, each had twelve monks and an Abbot. He met with much opposition and in the end left with St. Maur and St. Placid around 527. At this time he would have been around 48 yrs old. Establishing a new monastery at Monte Cassino, St. Benedict ruled as Abbot for the rest of his life. His sister, Scholastica lived as a holy nun in a nearby monastery. The new monastery at Monte Cassino became in time the centre for the Order of St. Benedict but we ought to realise that at the time Benedict lived, not only were ‘Orders’ unknown but that he certainly would have had no intention of founding ‘an Order’. What then were his reasons for creating a monastic community? St. Benedict had only one purpose in life – to seek union with God. His concern then, was to establish a community of monks who would live together in charity and the peace of Christ “under a rule and an abbot” with the Gospel teachings of Christ as their guide. Out of a father’s love for his sons, Benedict, Abbot, father of his monastic family wrote down 72 short chapters on how life was to be lived in the monastery. This is known as the holy Rule of St. Benedict. So full of wisdom and reasonableness was his rule that the whole Catholic Church lived by its wisdom for 1500 years until the Council of Vatican II. Western Monasticism in general was reorganized and attained such high levels of spirituality that many other monastic rules were abandoned and replaced by the Rule of St. Benedict. St. Benedict thus became known as the Patriarch of Western Monasticism. Pope St. Gregory the Great wrote of St. Benedict’s life in his Dialogs II. He tells us of extraordinary events, miraculous cures, visions, prophecies, exorcisms even the raising of a boy to life. Many sick and disturbed people were cured by him and the poor came to him for alms. His feast days are 21st March, the day of his death in 547AD and July 11th when he is honoured in the Roman Calender as the chief and heavenly Patron and Protector of Europe. St. Benedict is best known by his Rule and to know more about him, one should read his Rule for this reveals to us the man he was and who he calls us to be today. ST. BENEDICT AND HIS RULE In the Little Charter of the poor, you will have read how we all live by the Holy Rule of St. Benedict, incarnating the spirit and values into our daily lives. The spirit and values of the Holy Rule of St. Benedict is the touchstone for all you will do and how you will respond in the future. We need to spend some time together and look at what St. Benedict meant when he wrote his rule and how we must understand the Holy Rule in today’s world. We hope this series of lesson units will help do just that. The numbers at left, number the lines on each page. This helps you specify a position in the text if you have a query. (Eg. The question: What does it mean to ‘incarnate’ something? would have the reference of Formation 1;Unit 1; page i, line 4 or F1; U1; i:4) The Rule was written 1500 years ago for a group of monks who were for the most part unlettered and lived in times of great savagery. Immediately, we can think that perhaps our time is not really that much different from the days of St. Benedict although covered by a thick layer of sophistry. Underneath it all lies Man. Man in all his humanness and this is where we must begin, with the acknowledgement of who I am as a human being and who I have become through Baptism. We find a great gap between the two. Who I am and what I ought to be can often be at odds with each other. Our job now is to try and bring harmony and peace to our souls, and thus into our world, by reconciling our whole being with God’s Being and come to union with Christ, and in Him and through Him reconcile to Our Father. The Holy Rule provides us with a ladder, a scaffolding up through which we slowly, often painfully, stagger and climb. Sometimes we fall off the ladder but the scaffolding is there to catch us and set us straight, back onto our path to heaven. Prayer is at the centre of our being because we have one purpose only – to seek union with God. Therefore pray. If you feel you cannot or do not know how to, then seek God by desiring Him, desire to be able to pray. Let the desire itself be your prayer. St. Benedict wants us to “prefer nothing to God” - to work at being obedient to God’s Will, “to toil faithfully in the enclosure of the monastery and the stability of the community”; “Nothing is to be preferred to the work of God “ (ie. the Opus Dei or the Liturgical Hours of Prayer.) “to pray continuously” “to make time for Lectio Divina each day” (Holy Reading) “the brothers are to serve one another” “Not to be idle” “to welcome guests as Christ”. And to help us in all of our life, the holy father also supplies us with a list of 74 good works, the last of which is: “And finally, never lose hope in God’s mercy”. Last but not least for this last command is the greatest work of Hope you can do. Knowing who you are as a human being, yet trusting in God that, in His loving mercy, He will indeed save you means you will accomplish a great feat and win for yourself a crown in heaven. Never give up hoping no matter how bleak or bad things look to you. Let God be your judge. CONSIDER how, in your own daily life, you can begin to incarnate these things into your schedule. In what areas of my life do I hope beyond all reasonable hope for God’s saving mercy to me? What can I do to improve my prayer life? Make a simple easy-to-follow schedule for yourself. As a servant of Jesus in Mary, how am I experiencing the union with the monastic community through prayer, especially in celebrating the Mass and praying the Liturgical Hours of the Church? List a few opportunities that occur regularly in your daily life where you can practice Benedictine hospitality and welcome others as Christ. What talents, gifts or abilities do I have that I could share with my monastery and in my parish? THE JUBILEE MEDAL OF ST.BENEDICT One of the special forms of devotion to St. Benedict is the wearing of this medal. The earliest medals date back to 1647. Since then, many forms have been struck but the most widely accepted one today if the Jubilee Medal of St. Benedict which was designed and minted by the monks of Monte Cassino in 1880 to commemorate the 14th centenary of his birth. Its origins are believed to date back to St. Benedict himself. It is known that in his frequent combats with the devil he made great use of the sign of the Cross and wrought many miracles by it. He also taught his disciples to use this sign against the assaults of Satan and in other dangers too. St. Maurus and Placid are known to have wrought their many miracles through the power of the cross and in the name and by the merits of their holy father. A youth Bruno, was bitten by a venomous reptile and was seriously ill. Reduced to a skeleton, suffering loss of speech and recovery all but abandoned, one day, he beheld a ladder that reached Heaven. An old man wearing the habit of a monk descended, in his hand was a radiant cross with which he touched the swollen face of the youth and instantly cured him. St. Benedict then disappeared but Bruno, now healed entered the Order of St. benedict and later became Pope St. Leo IX, renown throughout the church for his sanctity. Through this pope the medal was endowed with riches and special blessings and its veneration spread. The solemn approval and recommendation to the faithful of the medal was made in 1742 by Pope St. Benedict XIV. The Church provides a special blessing for the medal. The first prayer is an exorcism to void the evil influence with a devout and earnest petition that the Medal be for the welfare of the body and soul of the wearer. The second is a fervent petition beseeching God’s mercy on the wearer. The third is a detailed and solemn commemoration of the Lord’s Passion. This blessing will be lost if the medal is sold. Description: On one side the medal has a cross, the sign of our redemption.In the angles are the letters C.S.P.B. which stand for Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti or (The cross of our holy Father Benedict.) On the vertical bar are the letters C.S.S.M.L. and on the horizontal: N.D.S.M.D. Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux; Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux. (May the Holy Cross be my Light; Let not the dragon be my guide.) Around the margin beginning at the top right are the letters: V.R.S.N.S. – S.M.Q.L.I.V.B. Vade Retro, Satana! Nunquam Suade Mihi Vana. Sunt Mala Quae Libas; Ipse Venena Bibas. (Begone Satan! Suggest not to me thy vain things. The cup thou offerest is poison, drink thou thine own poison.) On the reverse of the medal is an image of St. Benedict holding the Cross in his right hand and his holy Rule in his left. Around the margin is the inscription: Eius in orbitu nostra praesentia muniamur (May his presence protect us in the hour of our death). Extraordinary favours, miracles and wonderful cures have been obtained by the devout and pious wearing of the medal, said to ward off all dangers to body and soul. The wearing of the medal is a silent prayer. It can be placed on wounds, in houses or buried in fields to call down God’s blessing. Plenary indulgences are grated on no less than 20 feast days and the day of our death under the usual conditions. On All Souls Day, a plenary indulgence of Toties Quoties is granted for the souls in purgatory between the hours of twelve midday on All Saints Day and midnight on All Souls Day. For thirty-six hours you may gain as many plenary indulgences as you make visits. ON THE CHRISTIAN MEANING OF HUMAN SUFFERING Salvifici Doloris The Apostolic Letter of John Paul II You are advised to read this apostolic letter in its fullness. It will be available from any good Catholic bookshop. This precis of an excerpt is listed here to help members understand their sufferings and those of people close to them. III page 12 – The quest for an answer to the question of the meaning of suffering. 9.Within each form of suffering endured by man and at the same time, at the basis of the whole world of suffering, there inevitably arises the question: WHY? It is a question about the cause, the reason, and equally, about the purpose of suffering, and its meaning, but it seems even to determine its human content, what makes suffering precisely human suffering. It is obvious that pain, especially physical pain, is widespread in the animal world. But only the suffering human being knows that he is suffering and wonders why; and he suffers in a humanly speaking still deeper way if he does not find a satisfactory answer. This is a difficult question, just as is a question closely akin to it, the question of evil. Why does evil exist? Why is there evil in the world? When we put the question in this way, we are always, at least to a certain extent, asking a question about suffering too. Both questions are difficult, when an individual puts them to another individual, when people put them to other people, as also when man puts them to God. For man does not put this question to the world, even though it is from the world that suffering often comes to him, but he puts it to God as the Creator and Lord of the world. And it is well known that concerning this question there not only arise many frustrations and conflicts in the relations of man with God but it also happens that people reach the point of actually denying God. For, whereas the existence of the world opens as it were the eyes of the human soul to the existence of God, to his wisdom, power and greatness, evil and suffering seem to obscure this image, sometimes in a radical way, especially in the daily drama of so many cases of undeserved suffering and of so many faults without proper punishment. So this circumstance shows, - perhaps more than any other – the importance of the question of the meaning of suffering; it also shows how much care must be taken both in dealing with the question itself and with all possible answers to it. 10.Man can put this question to God with all the emotion of his heart and with his mind full of dismay and anxiety; and God expects the question and listens to it, as we see in the revelation of the Old Testament, in the book of Job. The story of this just man, who without any fault of his own is tried by innumerable sufferings, is well known. He loses his possessions, his sons and daughters, and finally he himself is afflicted by grave illness. In this horrible situation three old acquaintances come to his house, and each one in his own way tries to convince him that, since he has been struck down by such varies and terrible sufferings he must have done something seriously wrong. For suffering – they say- always strikes a man as punishment for a crime; it is sent by the absolutely just God and finds its reason in the order of justice. It can be said that Job’s old friends wish not only to convince him of the moral justice of the evil, but in a certain sense they attempt to justify to themselves the moral meaning of suffering. In their eyes suffering can have meaning only as a punishment for sin; therefore, only on the level of the justice of God, who repays good for good and evil with evil. The point of reference in this case is the doctrine expressed in other OT writings which show suffering as punishment inflicted by God for human sins. The God of revelation is the Lawgiver and Judge to a degree that no temporal authority can be. For the God of revelation is first of all The Creator, from whom comes, together with existence, the essential good of all creation. Therefore, the conscious and free violation of this good by man is not only a transgression of the law but at the same time an offense against the Creator, who is the first Lawgiver. Such a transgression has the character of sin, according to the exact meaning of the word, namely the biblical and theological one. Corresponding to the moral evil of sin is punishment, which guarantees the moral order in the same transcendent sense in which this order is laid down by the will of the Creator and Supreme Lawgiver. From this there also derives one of the fundamental truths of religious faith, equally based upon Revelation, namely that God is a just judge who rewards good and punishes evil: “For you are just in all that you have done to us, and all your works are true and your ways are right, and all your judgments are truth. You have executed true judgements in all that you have brought upon us…for in truth and justice you have brought all this upon us because of our sins”. This opinion expressed by Job’s friends manifests a conviction also found in the moral conscience of humanity: the objective moral order demands punishment for transgressions, sin and crime. From this point of view, suffering appears as a ‘justified evil’. The conviction of those who explain suffering as a punishment for sin finds support in the order of justice, and this corresponds to the conviction expressed by one of Job’s friends:” As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” 11.Job however challenges the truth of the principle that identifies suffering with punishment for sin. And he does this on the basis of his own opinion. For he is aware that he has not deserved such punishment, and in fact he speaks of the good that he has done during his life. In the end, God Himself reproves Job’s friends for their accusations and recognizes that Job is not guilty. His suffering is the suffering of someone who is innocent; it must be accepted as a mystery, which the individual is unable to penetrate completely by his own intelligence. The book of Job does not violate the foundations of the transcendent moral order, based upon justice, as they are set forth by the whole of Revelation, in both the Old and New Covenants. At the same time, however, this book shows with all firmness that the principles of this order cannot be applied in an exclusive and superficial way. While it is true that suffering has a meaning as punishment when it is connected to a fault. IT IS NOT TRUE THAT ALL SUFFERING IS A CONSEQUENCE OF A FAULT AND HAS THE NATURE OF PUNISHMENT The figure of the just man Job is a special proof of this in the OT. Revelation, which is the word of God Himself, with complete frankness, presents the problem of the suffering of an innocent man: suffering without guilt. Job has not been punished, there was no reason for inflicting a punishment on him, even if he has been subjected to a grievous trial. From the introduction of the book it is apparent that God permitted this testing as a result of Satan’s provocation. For Satan has challenged before the Lord the righteousness of Job: “Does Job fear God for naught?…You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And if the Lord consents to test Job with suffering, He does it to demonstrate the latter’s righteousness. THE SUFFERING HAS THE NATURE OF A TEST In the book of Job is not the last word on this subject in Revelation. In a certain way it is a foretelling of the passion of Christ. But already in itself it is sufficient argument why an answer to the question about the meaning of suffering is not to be unreservedly linked to the moral order, based on justice alone. While such an answer has a fundamental and transcendent reason and validity, at the same time it is seen to be not only unsatisfactory in cases similar to the suffering of the just man Job, but it even seems to trivialize and impoverish the concept of justice which we encounter in Revelation. 12.The book of Job poses in an extremely acute way the question of the “why” of suffering; it also shows that suffering strikes the innocent, but it does not yet give the solution to the problem. Already in the OT we note an orientation that begins to go beyond the concept according to which suffering has meaning only as a punishment for sin, insofar as it emphasizes at the same time the educational value of suffering as a punishment. Thus in the sufferings inflicted by God upon the Chosen people there is included an invitation to His Mercy, which corrects in order to lead to conversion: ”these punishments were designed not to destroy but to discipline our people”. Thus the personal dimension of punishment is affirmed. According to this dimension, punishment has meaning not only because it serves to repay the objective evil of the transgression with another evil, but also first and foremost because it creates the possibility of rebuilding goodness in the subject who suffers. This is an extremely important aspect of suffering. It is profoundly rooted in the entire revelation of the Old and New Covenant. SUFFERING MUST SERVE FOR CONVERSION FOR THE REBUILDING OF GOODNESS IN THE ONE WHO SUFFERS. The subject who can recognize the divine mercy in this call to repentance. The purpose of penance is to overcome evil which under different forms lies dormant in man. Its purpose is to strengthen goodness both in man himself and in his relationships with others and especially with God. 13.But in order to perceive the true answer to the “why” of suffering, we must look to the revelation of divine love, the ultimate source of the meaning of everything that exists. Love is also the richest source of the meaning of suffering, which always remains a mystery: we are conscious of the insufficiency and inadequacy of our explanations. Christ causes us to enter into the mystery and to discover the “why” of suffering, as far as we are capable of grasping the sublimity of divine love. In order to discover the profound meaning of suffering, following the revealed Word of God, we must open ourselves wide to the human subject in his manifold potentiality. We must above all accept the light of revelation not only insofar as it expresses the transcendent order of justice but insofar as it illuminates this order with Love, as the definitive source of everything that exists. Love is the fullest source of the answer to this question of the meaning of suffering. This answer has been given by God to man in the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ – Suffering conquered by Love. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. These words spoken by Jesus to Nicodemus introduce us to the heart of God’s salvific work and the theology of salvation. Salvation means liberation from evil, and for this reason it is also closely bound up with the problem of suffering. This liberation must be achieved by the only-begotten Son through his own suffering, and in this, love is manifested, the infinite love both of the only-begotten Son and the Father who for this reason gives His Son. This is love for man, love for the “world”: It is salvific love. We share in the sufferings and this love of Christ for us and as St. Paul says: We ourselves boast of you for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be made worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. Thus to share in the sufferings of Christ is, at the same time, to suffer for the Kingdom of God. In the eyes of the just God, before his judgement, those who share in the suffering of Christ become worthy of his Kingdom. Through their sufferings, in a certain sense they repay the infinite price of the passion and death of Christ, which became the price of our Redemption: at this price the Kingdom of God has been consolidated anew in human history, becoming the definitive prospect of man’s earthly existence. Christ has led us into this kingdom through His suffering, and also through suffering those surrounded by the mystery of Christ’s redemption became mature enough to enter this kingdom. To suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ. In Him God has confirmed his desire to act especially through suffering, which is man’s weakness and emptying of self, and he wishes to make his power known precisely in this weakness and emptying of self. This also explains the exhortation of St. Peter: Yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God. That in all things God may be glorified. The Will of God – The Work of Christ Based on the writings of the Blessed Abbot C. Marmion OSB O Christ Jesus, pray often for us all this prayer: Father, keep those whom you have given to me from evil so that they may have my joy and have it in its fullness. So that they may share in my glory and may also be one in US! There is no mention here of our own cross, our own glory but only of Christ’s. This little prayer is full of God and filled with his fullness. Christ was established as Supreme, High Priest of the human race from the moment of his incarnation. Throughout his life he offered up prayer and supplication to the Father. He learned obedience by the things he suffered and being consummated became to all of us who obey him the source and cause of our eternal salvation. At the moment of coming into this world, Jesus offered himself to the will of God fulfilled in the immolation of Calvary. In this Will, we too are sanctified by the oblation of the Body of Jesus Christ. Thus every grace, whatsoever, flows to us from the Cross, all having been bought by the Blood of Jesus, the Love of God for us. The priesthood of Christ makes Jesus our one and only Mediator, a Priest who is always heard by the Father; a Father who gave us his only Son and in Him all things. In this we are made rich and there is no grace that can be wanting to us. We should be filled with an absolute and unshakable confidence in the Lord by this revelation of his love for us. His priesthood is eternal, today still Christ fulfills his office as mediator and continues in His Sacrifice for our salvation. In Heaven this mystery is ineffable. We see glimpses of the mysteries through the Gospels, especially of John and the letters of St. Paul. Jesus the Christ, has entered once and for all into the Holy of Holies, the sanctuary made not by human hands but Divinity. Here, he consummates in glory his office of Mediator. No longer able to merit graces, for all was merited in fullness at his last breath upon the Cross, Jesus now “applies’, distributes his merits to us in aeternum. Our Lord stands before the Throne, before the face of his Father and ever intercedes for us. He offers to his Father unceasingly, his sacrifice accomplished once and for all upon Calvary. Having willed to keep the marks of his wounds, he shows them to the Father and in the name of Holy Church of which he is the Head, he unites our adoration, homage, prayers, supplications, thanksgivings and sufferings to his own oblation Unceasingly he brings his own merits, satisfactions and sacrifice to be for our sanctification. Thus, in heaven there is and will be until the end of time, a sacrifice celebrated for us in perpetual continuity with his immolation upon the Cross. St. Paul exhorts us to confess Christ. “Having therefore a great High priest who has passed into Heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.” What confession? The confession of our faith in the infinite value of His merits, faith in the boundless extent of his divine power with the Father that lets us go in confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. What grace could be refused to us by a High Priest who knows so well our frailty, whose compassion on us in our weakness, infirmity and sufferings comes from having experienced them all himself? What graces of forgiveness, of perfection, of holiness may not be hoped for by a soul that truly seeks God and to remain united to Him forever in faith, confidence and love? Is he not able to do all things more abundantly than we can ever understand? This is why the Church who knows her bridegroom better than anyone, addresses no prayer to the Heavenly Father, asks no grace, without marking her request with the sign of the Cross, without invoking Jesus Christ, our Saviour and High Priest. This formula in the Church’s Liturgy is repeated daily, hourly; it is the ceaseless proclamation of Christ’s universal mediation; but it is also the most solemn and explicit declaration of his Divinity. The Incarnate Word bequeathed to the earth the legacy of a sacrifice. This sacrifice is the Holy Mass, which both recalls and reproduces, in mystical manner, the immolation of Golgotha. The sacrifice is one and the same; it suffices for all but our Lord willed that it should be renewed in order to apply the fruit of it to souls. Christ perpetuates his priesthood through the Bishops to men called and chosen to be ordained. Consecrated to God, Christ’s mediation is prolonged here on earth by the ministry of priests. In the name of the faithful, the priest offers to God the Eucharistic Sacrifice upon the Altar; from the Altar he brings to the people, the Bread of Life, the Holy Victim and with him, every grace and blessing. This is the work of Jesus Christ today, Christ saves us by His Sacrifice in order to associate us with his glory. We dispose ourselves to participate in it and make its fruit our own by mediating and contemplating on the Lord’s sufferings and passionate Love, by uniting ourselves, in our joys, tears and sufferings, in our whole life, to His Oblation, uniting ourselves by Holy Communion to the Divine Victim immolated for us upon the Altar. You have to let God save you and give you life. Let us praise the Lord; Thanks be to God! Amen!! The Sisters of St. John the Beloved Who we are Our House, our calling The daily Horarium Our work Fraternal Charity The Community is a koinonia The Confraternity The Little Charter of the poor The restoration of the Precious Blood Pray with us About Saint David Formation Rosary of the 7 Dolors The Chapter of St. John the Baptist Tydewi Binderie Tydewi Binderie All things come from Him; To Him are all things. The Monastery of Dewi Sant, Western Australia. @Copy Right, the Monastery of Dewi Sant, Australia. This Page was created specifically for the Monastery of Dewi Sant, Australia, By Cath Art Creations