Saint John's Abbey Vocations

“Just returned from the lake…”

Abbey — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:42:20 +0000

In Minnesota, (and Wisconsin for that matter!) this time of year you will often hear the words to the above title. Well, even though monks certainly do not have a personal lake cabin, we do as a community have a retreat in northern Minneosta for personal and group time away from Collegeville. Each year, as vocation director I take the candidates for a weekend retreat of personal prayer, communal prayer, Eucharist as well as good food, time on the lake and simply enjoying God’s creation in the northern lake country. Below is the parting shot we took this morning on the pontoon boat. The weather was beautiful – light breezes, numerous eagle and loon sightings, good food and good conversation. The candidates will be presented to the monastic chapter for acceptance next week. May God bless them!

Peace, bpv

SJU Student Makes Gift to Abbey Retirement Fund

Abbey — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:04:29 +0000

Jared Sherlock will be a senior at Saint John’s University this fall. He is a gifted young man and also a very talented stage magician. This past school year I had the pleasure of working with Jared and his fellow classmates as well as theatre staff from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University on “Night Games” a full length illusion show which featured juggling, dancing, comedy and of course Jared’s remarkable magical talent. The proceeds of the two performances, in Escher Auditorium (which seats over 1,000 and was sold out!) went to the retirement funds of both the sisters of Saint Benedict in Saint Joseph, MN and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey. Jared has enjoyed immensely his years as a student at Saint John’s and feels in particular that if it were not for the presence of the men and women religious on both campuses the wonderful opportunities that he has had as a student would never have been possible. His gift to each community is a thank you to past and present members. Below is a picture of Jared handing a check for over $7,000.oo to Abbot John for the monastery’s retirement fund. Thank you Jared!

More will be posted about Jared’s talents in stage magic in the near future…

Peace, bpv

Happy Feast of our Holy Father Benedict!

Abbey — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:54:18 +0000

Summer brings gardening…

Abbey — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:51:18 +0000

I have heard that there is something that can be very therapeutic about gardening. I think I have learned this first hand within the past month. This summer one of the monastic associates asked if he could reclaim one of the many gardens on the property that had been neglected. (Actually, the monk that had originally tended the garden had decided to let it go as it had gotten to be too much for him in his advanced years and then the same area became a staging ground for construction vehicles during a recent renovation project!) I told the associate that he should let me know when he began to “take back the wilderness” and that I might be available to help. Unfortuately, we did not take “before” pictures as that would have really made the point but suffice it to say it has gone well.

Number 3 of 6!

Abbey — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:43:30 +0000

Again had the pleasure of hosting 60 some youngsters for a tour of the Abbey Church as well as midday prayer.

Pictured are half the participants of the third session of Leadership Camp sponsored by Saint John’s Preparatory School.

A wonderful group of young people who are blessed to have excellent counselors and directors!

Peace, bpv

Monastic Bee Keepers…

Abbey — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:09:41 +0000

Two of the novices began keeping bees on campus again. Over the years the bee hives have “come and gone” and for a few years we were bottling honey for our own use. Two hives were begun again this spring with the novices being coached by monks who had kept them in the past. So far both colonies are doing very well.

The pictures are of the novices cleaning the wax from the supers from past years. The wax will be melted down, strained and made into candles.

Our weather has been beautiful this past week…perfect for an outdoor job such as this.

Peace, bpv

Prep Summer Leadership Camp II

Abbey — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:23:46 +0000

Br. John Hanson and I had the pleasure of taking the second summer Leadership campers on a tour of the Abbey Church today. Below is the picture of my group. We have so many guests for midday prayer that we had to put the campers in the lower stalls – thus the poor picture with the bright sunlight behind. Though these campers were in their mid teens they were very knowledgable about their faith and religion. It was a joy to have them join us for prayer as well.

Peace, bpv

Saint John’s Prep School Summer Leadership Camp begins!

Abbey — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:46:07 +0000

It was a pleasure to host the first week of Summer Leadership Camp as sponsored by Saint John’s Preparatory School. This week’s camp was for the ladies and they were a delightful group to have visit the Abbey Church for a tour wrapping up with midday prayer with the monks and other guests. They are the first of six groups that will be visiting this summer.

As is the custom on this blog I always ask the young people to give the viewers a true idea of their actual energy level- they were happy to oblige me!

Peace, bpv

YTM on campus again this summer!

Abbey — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:45:13 +0000

YTM (Youth in Theology and Ministry) is back on campus this summer. YTM is an excellent program for high school age young people and their counselors (who are in college or post grad) to allowing them to explore their Christian Catholic faith in a very deliberate and intense way. The program this summer is fashioned after the Catholic Church’s RCIA (Right of Christian Initiation for Adults). The participants have experienced a number of kinds of prayer including centering prayer, Lectio Divina, Taize prayer, the rosary as well as the Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharist. The students are sponsored by their home parishes and part of the program helps them develop projects to share in their parish as well as with others – particularly their age group – what they have learned at YTM.

Last evening I was invited to speak about the monastic way with a group of the participants as well as counselors. It was a high energy hour of questions and answers. Many thanks to these wonderful young Christians for bringing their energy and prayer to our campus!

At the end of the hour I asked if they would like to have their picture on the monk blog to which they eagerly said, “yes”! Here they are…

Peace, bpv

Three Chapels Devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Abbey — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:20:24 +0000

Here is a short photo tour of three out-of-the-way chapels in Minnesota that are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

GRASSHOPPER CHAPEL, COLD SPRING MN
(Dedicated to Mariä Himmelfahrt or the Assumption)

Last summer, while driving back from an afternoon birthday tea for my mother, the idea came to me to visit the Grasshopper Chapel at Cold Spring. Upon reaching Cold Spring and crossing over the Sauk River, I took a right off of Hwy 23 which quickly led me to Chapel Hill Street and to a wooded drive that winds its way up to the Grasshopper Chapel atop a hill overlooking Cold Spring. The abundance of shade trees and foliage permits only patches of direct sunlight to illumine the rough granite exterior and burnt red roofing of the chapel.

Let’s go inside for a look. In contrast to the rough stone exterior, one enters a dark interior of polished red granite. Inscribed in the east wall are the words of the ANGELUS, a series of verses and responses mainly from the gospel of St. Luke. Curiously, this engraving leaves out the words of the Angel Gabriel, “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:28 KJV).

The altar is positioned ad orientem (for prayer facing east), and is adorned with plastic flowers which retain their ever-immaculate state. High above the altar is a queenly Virgin bearing the Christ Child, in a state of Germanic elegance – one of the most beautiful I’ve seen of this style.

Of the stained glass windows, I chose this one (shown below) as my favorite. The dove represents the angel’s words to Mary in St. Luke 1:35ff, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee…” The Latin words in the window, “et exsultavit spiritus meus,” are, of course, from Mary’s canticle, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.” A harp is depicted in the window because the Magnificat is sung prayer.

The Grasshopper Chapel at Cold Spring is the outgrowth of a curious history. This part of central Minnesota endured grasshopper plagues in the 1870s which left crops devastated in their wake. The people of nearby Jacobs Prairie and St. Nicholas vowed to build a chapel on that hill and to pray for deliverance from the swarms of Rocky Mountain grasshoppers. According to the narrative provided by the St. Boniface Parish web site, those measures of devotion warded off the pestilence. http://www.stboniface.com/parish/assumption-chapel.htm

Though the farmers of central Minnesota survived the grasshopper menace, their little wooden chapel was wiped away by the 1894 tornado, which also destroyed much of our campus at St. John’s. I suppose that if Psalm 104:26 proclaims that God made monsters to play with, it may follow that God also made grasshoppers and tornados to play with. Yet, in 1951, under the direction of our confrere, Fr. Victor Ronellenfitsch, OSB, the present Grasshopper Chapel was built, and it hasn’t been bothered since by any grasshoppers, tornados, leviathans, or even an occasional wholly mammoth.

For historical accounts of a more scholarly perspective, consult Harvest of grief: grasshopper plagues and public assistance in Minnesota 1873-78 (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1984) by Annette Atkins of the CSB/SJU history department. Or click on the following article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/catholic_historical_review/v092/92.2gross.pdf

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MARIA CHAPEL, AITKIN COUNTY, MN

It would be interesting to discover and visit other out-of-the-way chapels dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Another such chapel that I have heard about, but have not yet visited, is the MARIA CHAPEL, on Diamond Lake, about 6 miles southeast of Aitkin MN. It is a log structure (now apparently covered with wood siding) which was built by Swedish Lutherans in 1899. When the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Maria Church merged with St. Pauli Church in Aitkin in the 1930s (now First Lutheran, ELCA), the log structure became “Maria Chapel.” The photo below is from the chapel’s website http://flc.charterinternet.com/mariaChapel.htm

Opening Prayer (Collect) for August 15 in the Lutheran Book of Worship:

Almighty God, you chose the virgin Mary to be the mother of your only Son. Grant that we, who have been redeemed by his blood, may share with her in the glory of your eternal kingdom; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

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STELLA MARIS CHAPEL, SAINT JOHN’S ABBEY

   It is all the more fortunate that we have, perhaps, the most idyllic Marian chapel in all of Minnesota, the Stella Maris Chapel which graces Lake Sagatagan. I wonder if the monks who built and named this chapel got its poetic name from the Vesper hymn “Ave, maris stella” (of 8^thor 9^th century origin). The name of this chapel, Stella Maris (Latin for star of the sea), has also caused me to wonder how Mary would have acquired that title and image.

    The imagery of the “morning star” (the sun) in reference to Christ finds expression in the prophecy of Zechariah (Luke 1:68ff.), “the dawn from on high will break upon us” (as sung in the morning canticle, the Benedictus). That image emerges again as a “prophetic message” in 1 Peter 1:19, “…be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” Of course, that theme goes straight to the heart whenever the Christmas chorale, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” (How brightly shines the morning star) resonates in the ears. Christians have considered the “morning star” to be of prophetic origin, relating it to the star of Jacob found in Numbers 24:17 (the 4^th oracle of Balaam).

   Well then, how does Mary figure as a star? If Christ has been likened to the day luminary (i.e., the day star, the sun, the morning star), it seems that Mary, in her femininity, has been aligned with the luminaries of the night. The most enduring example would be “a woman clothed with the sun [that is clothed with Christ], with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Revelation 12:1). Of course, that woman is us, the bride, the church, which Mary has come to personify through the ages. Like stars, we are Abraham’s descendants past counting (Gen. 15), of which Mary sang, “according to the promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham and his descendents forever” (Luke 1:55).

   When I go canoeing at night, my imagination looses itself amid the field of stars above. Kathleen Norris’ words from her poem, Vigil and Feast of the Assumption, find their way into my thoughts, “…it is full-to-bursting, as big as the starstuff of which we’re made. That is why the dragon waits…However, it ends, it begins with us, this feast by which we come to see how beautiful we are.” (Kathleen Norris, Little Girls in Church, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995).

“For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light.” (Ephesians 5:8).



If you know of any other out-of-the-way chapels dedicated to the Mother of Our Lord in Minnesota, please pass along that information in case it may lead to a pilgrimage and photo excursion.
Brother Paul Jasper