Daily Reflection: January 27, 2012
Memorial of Timothy and Titus
#520 2 Tim 1:1-8 or Ti 1:1-5; PS 96:1-2,2-3,7-8,10; Lk 10:11-9
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control (2 Tim 1:7). St. Paul appeals to the strong character that he knows to be in Timothy, a strength gained within family, from his mother and grandmother. He knew their joy and their faith. He loved Timothy, not in an abstract way, but in very concrete and personal terms. He encouraged Timothy to stir up the power and love and self-control that would make him a leader in the faith community. These are the virtues we want to direct our decisions and our relationships. We love the other for the good of the other, and we are guided by self-control, not sudden emotion or thoughtless word or arrogance or “knowing we are right.”
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The three-year campaign is a $3.2 million effort to replace more than 600 windows in the monastery and repair the 80-year-old building’s slate roof. “Our monastery is looking to the future with hope,” Abbot Barnabas Senecal said. “We currently have three new novices. Three other young men are in simple vows working toward the day when they will profess lifetime vows. At the same time, we have noble men who have served long and diligently and continue to serve our community in retirement. This campaign is a response to that hope, an effort to care for our home as we care for our community.” Start Roaring!
Now I want all the children here this morning to stand up. (And so, all the “little children do stand up.) Oops! Something is radically wrong here. I said I want all the children here to stand up. (And one by one, all the adults stand up, too) We have a story this morning from the First Book of Samuel about a child, a child of God, Samuel, who is called by God to be someone other than who he thinks he is. And we are all in that very same position. Let’s look at it from a different perspective: Once upon a time, a group of hunters killed a whole pride of lions, except for one small baby lion that survived. He stayed alone, trembling in fear until a herd of goats came by and adopted him. So, the lonely lion cub became a goat. He lived as goats lived, ate grass and had a rather quiet life. But he knew, somehow, that he was different from the rest of the goats because when he saw his reflection in the water, he didn’t look like the other goats. |
Capital Campaign PodcastThe Share Our Mission
capital campaign is officially underway. Abbot Barnabas Senecal
gathered with Prior James Albers, Matt Schoenfeld of Church Development,
and Abbey Director of Development Dan Madden to discuss the urgent need
to replace the monastery's windows and repair its roof. Listen now to the conversation on the latest St. Benedict's Abbey Podcast. Three Men Enter NovitiateSee the Photos | Their Postulancy
Last Updated (Tuesday, 13 December 2011 16:56) |




Homily for
Jeffrey Turner, Cameron McMillan, and Branson Stephens entered the
novitiate at Vespers in the Abbey Church Dec. 7. Upon their acceptance
into the community, the three men were given their monastic names by
Abbot Barnabas Senecal. Turner is now Brother Luke, McMillan is now
Brother Timothy, and Stephens is now Brother Victor. The men recently
completed postulancy, a trial period of living among the monks. They
then petitioned the Abbot and the community for permission to enter the
novitiate, a period of one year and a day. After novitiate they may ask
permission to make first vows, a period of three years before a monk
makes solemn, or final, vows.



