The Grace of Community Life

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael, Newe, OSB.

Today I was thinking a great deal about community life. St. Benedict is not surprised that it is going to entail suffering – just as family life also entails suffering. Remember what the Lord said to St. Paul when he was thrown from the horse, “Quit kicking against the goad.” The very thing he was fighting was the very thing that held his greatest joy. His greatest suffering and joy were complete in his love for the Church, his love for Christ. It did entail suffering. All you have to do is read our prayer board. How much suffering is held there! What makes anyone think they aren’t going to be a part of that human suffering, and yet I think sometimes we feel a little bit indignant that we have to suffer so much. And yet we don’t really. If we ever stood back and looked at our suffering maybe we’d realized we’re just kicking against the goad. Maybe we’re fighting the very thing that is going to give us life.
I read a beautiful quote from Community and Growth by Jean Vanier:

“Parker Palmer writes, ‘Community is finally a religious phenomenon. There is nothing capable of binding together willful, broken human selves except some transcendent power.’ And I would add that no reality can lead us into the heart of forgiveness and open us up to all people except a loving, forgiving God.” Henry Nouwen says that, “True solitude, far from being the opposite of community life is the place where we come to realize that we were together before we came together and that community life is not a creation of human will but an obedient response to the reality of our being united. Many people who have lived together for years and whose love for one another has been tested more than once know that the decisive experience in their life was not that they were able to hold together but that they were held together. That in fact we are community not because we like each other or have a common task or project but because we are called together by God. God seems pleased to call together in Christian communities people who are, humanly speaking, very different, who come from different cultures, classes, and countries. The most beautiful communities are created from just this diversity of people and temperaments. This means that each person must love the others with all their differences and work with them for the community. These people would never have chosen to live with each other. Humanly speaking, it seems an impossible challenge. But it is precisely because it is impossible that they believe that God has chosen them to live in this community. So then the impossible becomes possible. They no longer rely on their own human abilities or natural sympathies, but on their Father who has called them to live together. He will give them the new heart and spirit which will enable them all to become witnesses to love. In fact, the more impossible it is in human terms, the more of a sign it is that their love comes from God and that Jesus is living. ‘By this all men will know that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another.’”
Today is Friday, let us keep in mind and what a Friday in Lent is about. Let us remember that Christ walked the way of the Cross. He died for our sins on a Friday and it’s our desire to unite our sufferings to His, to be united in His sorrows, and in His joys. “This day you will be with Me in paradise” was said while He was dying on the Cross. Each one of us in a sense is that good thief, aren’t we? And so each one of us today in our own way can truly ponder the great gift we’ve been given, not because we deserve it, but because his mercies are everlasting.

Lent: Climb Down to Meet the Lord

A reflection given on Ash Wednesday to the nuns of the community of the Abbey of St. Walburga, by Mother Maria Michael Newe, OSB.

Ash Wednesday is one of the holiest days of the year because that’s the day when we openly acknowledge the fact that we need to be converted, that our lives need to change, and we do it as a Church. Ash Wednesday is the one day of the year when even non-Catholics go to Catholic churches to get ashes. There is a sense in mankind of needing, of yearning for some type of reconciliation.
Every Wednesday, we pray in the Divine Office Psalm 78, where it says, “… yet still they sinned against Him, they defied the Most High in the desert; in their heart they put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.” They put God to the test because they demanded the food they craved. They didn’t ask for the food they needed, instead they demanded what they thought they needed. And yet we know that it isn’t always true that we know what we need. Today is a day when we can remember that what God really wants is for us to have faith in Him and to trust Him. God longs to be in our life. The whole aim of our life, everything we do should be directed towards union with God.
We can ask ourselves: what are the things we demand of God rather than ask of God? And also, what are the things we demand of each other? Do we really think that brings about holiness? I read in an article that unity requires a turning back, but if we turn back we have to let go of something we’re hanging onto that doesn’t allow us to take hold of the whole. Those are the things I like to think of. What can I do for the whole to make it better? What can I do for my sisters? What in me can change, be made straight?
Did you ever hear your mother say, “Straighten up!”? Sin is crooked. Sin has bent us in the wrong way and it’s painful, when you’ve been bent one way for a long time, to stand up straight. Lent is going to hurt as we straighten up. Fr. Barron, says that adoration is the kiss of God because we are doing our best to straighten up to reach Him. It’s a reaching up and God bending down. How important is that to remember!
I was also remembering Zaccheus who climbed down to meet the Lord. He said, “If I’ve done anything wrong, I’ll pay it 4 times over back.” We have 40 days to do this. Let us climb down to meet the Lord. When you see the ashes, see all the things that need to change. But remember it’s in the sign of the Cross, it’s already recovered, we just have to ask for it.

Fruitful Living

There is a verse in the Gospels that says, “For the harvest has come.” We have to bear fruit in our lives. None of us knows exactly what that fruit is and different fruits come – they ripen – at different times. When shall it be ready? We pray that when He comes it is ripe and beautiful because He awaits it just as much as we do.

I know what it was like when we planted fields in Boulder and we looked for the fruits. My goodness! We looked! I remember digging up corn seed to make sure it had been planted and was at least growing – and somebody saying to me, “would you quit digging it up?” I was so anxious to see it. I was so anxious to see the alfalfa bloom and to see the bees working with it. And then we had the garden – I was so anxious to see the fruit. Each of crops came at a little bit different time.

I think we have to be aware that Christ will come to each of us personally. People are so concerned now about the Second Coming, in the sense they are kind of preoccupied with it. It’s good to look for that, but also keep in mind the Second Coming has a lot to do with our own death. Everybody is going to experience a second coming. He has come to us in Baptism and the Eucharist ; and he’s going to come again. Let us be always attentive for we do not know the day or the hour. Let us be ready at all times. It does not matter if we are young or old. God never said when He would come. But we do have to be attentive together.

The Graces of a New Year

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB.

The New Year is a time to see where we have grown in life and where we can grow in life; and we shouldn’t take it lightly. We only have so much time in life and we don’t know when our day will come. When it’s our time we can’t say, “Wait a minute I have to finish a few things.” We should take care each day.

In the monastery, at noon time we have a little bit of time to reflect on the morning and in the also evening we have a little time to reflect on the afternoon before we go to bed. In that way if we’re very truthful, we can really asses our lives and grow. We don’t become holy in one moment,( unless we’re martyred!) Our life is a continual dying and rising; and the fruits of our life will give evidence of how that’s happening. It takes many days of a continual turning. We have to continue turning towards God and to desire virtue in our life.

Perhaps it would be good for you to ask yourself, “What virtue do I need to work on this year?” Take it seriously and hold onto it, asking yourself how you can live out the virtue. In that way you can be sure that you will grow.

O Wisdom, Come!

A reflection on the O Antiphon for December 17, by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB.

Today we have the first of the great ‘O Antiphons’. The O Antiphons are what prepare us for the King, as everyday they give you something of His attributes. What expectations were laid on Jesus! We see what was expected of Him, the Messiah, in the O Antiphons. In today’s O Antiphon it says, “O Wisdom, who didst come from the mouth of the most High, reaching from end to end, and disposing all things sweetly and mightily, come and teach us the way of prudence.”
We pray during Saturday Lauds from the book of Wisdom, “Give me the wisdom that sits by thy throne and do not reject me from among thy servants, for I am thy slave and the son of thy maidservant… for even if one is perfect among the sons of men, yet without the wisdom that comes from thee, he will be regarded as nothing… send her forth from your holy heavens and from the throne of your glory send her that she may be with me and toil…”(Wisdom 9:1ff) I like how it says, “and toil”. Why? Wisdom isn’t achieved by just sitting back and saying, “Give me wisdom”. No, we work at wisdom. We work at knowing what God wants from us.
St Benedict tells us to keep our eyes on eternity. That precept helps us gain wisdom for we realize that our decisions have eternal consequences. We can’t fool ourselves and say they don’t. It’s prudence to know why we do the things we do. And all we do must be done with love. If anything we do is without love, it is worth nothing. Every decision we make, somehow, if it is of God, is inspired with love. So as St. Benedict tells us, let us “run and do now what will profit us forever.”

Losing Your Life for Christ

On November 14, 2011, we celebrated the feast of All Benedictine Souls. Below is a reflection on the Gospel reading for that feast (Mt 16: 24-28), given to the nuns of the Abbey, by Mother Maria- Michael Newe, OSB.


In the Gospel today when we heard “He who loses his life for my sake will find it,” I thought, “Well, how do you lose your life?” I know when I lose something, it’s basically because I’m not paying attention to it. I’m not keeping my focus on it-- something else has caught my focus. Something greater has caught my attention.

Christ must be greater. He must catch our attention, to the point where, we’re not worried about ourselves. I’m not looking for my glory; I’m looking for his. Even my faults give Him glory because of His mercy. His mercy is His greatest attribute. He owes us nothing, absolutely nothing. And we owe him everything; we are his subjects. What a gift from the King: He will take care of all things if we are focused on him.

I was wondering as I mentally went through the list of the sisters who are now buried in our cemetery: what would be the advice of each one of them? What would they want to tell me before I join them? What would they say, in order to bring to perfection this monastic life? I think it would be, “Lose yourself. Immerse yourself in the life of God—in the light of God. His life will become your life.” That’s the key. When you’re married, you’re one, and if you really live as one you will love what that person loves, and do all things for the good of the other person. And in return, the other person does it for you. But in our life: everything for Christ, for His glory. Thus, we have nothing to worry about... but that takes trust.

I will finish here with a quote from The Words of Life by Bl. Columba Marmion:

“ He who gives himself to God renounces everything. He comes to God with all that he has, all that he is. “Behold, I come.” And he offers all this to God, keeping nothing back. This is what it means to be a living sacrifice, to offer a holocaust. This tradition we make of everything in the joyful simplicity of our love, is extremely pleasing to God, because it has the true character of a holocaust which, according to St Thomas, consists in offering to God all that we have. By this immolation we acknowledge that God is the first principle of all things. We lay down at His feet all that we have received from Him. We offer ourselves up entirely in order that all that we are and all that we have may return to Him.
Oh God, infinite being, who art very beatitude, what an immense and inestimable grace thou dost give to thy poor creatures in calling them to be, with the Son of thy love, acceptable sacrifices, holy consecrated to the glory of thy majesty... This is the perfection of the virtue of the poverty of life. It is perfect hope to have lost all created joy and to lean on God alone. Let us try to love our dear savior with all our heart, for all is in that. The days, months, and years succeed one another, and nothing remains but God, and what we do for Him.”

Learning How to Pray from the Rosary

A meditation on the Holy Rosary by Mother Maria- Michael Newe, OSB.

We learn from the rosary that we all have mysteries in our lives and we have to pray through them. The rosary is a longer prayer-- it’s one that we have to meditate on and it has repetition. Our own lives have repetition as well. And like with the rosary we have to meditate on the mysteries of our lives, pray through them and live them in order to somehow come to light with them.

I was thinking this morning of the joyful mysteries of Mary—they’re joyful until Christ comes! Then she has to have a whole new way of looking at everything. By bearing Christ she has united her life with Him; and with Him she bears sorrow, but joyfully. When you think of the Holy Spirit, what do you think of? Isn’t it light, happiness, insight, energy, all those things that speak of God? That’s what Mary was full of—full of grace, full of life. That’s the only way to approach life because the Spirit lifts us up and enables us to carry what God asks of us. Thus we discover that the mysteries of suffering in our own lives really are joyful mysteries.

I’m not sure Mary would have called the mystery on the 'Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple' joyful while she was living on earth, and yet it became joyful, when she looked at it from a different level. When she searched for Jesus with Joseph she wasn’t happy, thinking of wonderful things. The first thing out of her mouth when she finds Him is: “What have you done? Your father and I have been looking for you!” She didn’t say, “Oh, it’s okay.” It was a question: “How could you do this? You know what it cost us.” Jesus was pretty calm about it: “Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?” Then we hear that Mary took all of these things and pondered them in her heart. That’s what we’re called to do as well: there is a joyful side and it’s our duty to find it and to live it!

Jesus Teaches Us Lectio

A reflection for the Gospel reading for Saturday, September 10, 2011 (Luke 6:43-49) by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB.

In today's Gospel, I noticed the invitation to lectio divina in Jesus' teaching on building on solid rock. He says, "I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them." This coming, listening, and acting on His words is the whole process of lectio.

You come to Him of your own free will, it's a choice. Now, you can stand there with Him, but if you don't listen to Him it's not going to help a whole lot. You have to have your heart open to listen. Listen to His words, for those are what give life. They will challenge you and cause you to dig deep. Finally, if you don't act on what you hear, you've buried your treasure. You have to invest His word in you and act on it.

In that way, you will have dug deeply for a foundation on rock. That rock is Christ and His Church. There will be no good fruit without a good foundation and without a deep setting in of the roots.

Transfiguration: Union With God's Will

A reflection on the Feast of the Transfiguration by Mother Maria -Michael Newe, OSB.

Today, on the feast of the Transfiguration, I was thinking of Jesus’ prayer in the Gospel of John: “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.” (John 17: 3-4) That glorification through the accomplishment of the Father’s works is what happens on the Transfiguration. Jesus is given the will of the Father through Moses and Elijah. He is given how He is to fulfill the Prophecies and the Law, the Law of Love. “Now glorify me Father with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17:5) You see a glimpse of that glory in the Transfiguration. I think that the perfect glory is to be in perfect union with God. That is heaven. It’s very difficult; but the one thing that transfigures us the most is giving up our own will. That is transfiguring because it crucifies us. And yet it places us in the very heart of God, because then we are most like His Son—who layed down everything in order to glorify His Father.

The only thing that really hinders our union with God is our self will. That is the one thing St. Benedict tells us to root out, to get rid of. Have a good sense, through self-knowledge when self-will creeps in and turns you away from the right way. In order to be one with Christ, we must be one with His will. Our ‘yes’ to Christ must be pure and it will transfigure us if we persevere. Christ too had to persevere. He had to say at the end, while He was on the Cross, “It is accomplished.” I hope those are the words that ring out when we die, “It is accomplished,” and then we shall be fully transfigured.

Forgiven in the Father's Arms

A reflection on the first Mass reading (Gen 46: 1-7, 28-30) for Friday, July 8, 2011 by Mother Maria Micael New, OSB.

Every Friday, the Liturgy reminds us of our call to conversion. We begin with Matins praying Psalm 106: “They [the Israelites] scorned the land of promise, they had no faith in His word, they complained inside their tents, and would not listen to the voice of the Lord…. They worshipped the idols of the nations and these became a snare to entrap them, they even offered their own sons and daughters in sacrifice to demons…” That’s getting pretty low! Listen to how God responds in the Psalm: “Time after time He rescued them… He paid heed to their distress so often as He heard their cry.” What a God! That is unbelievable that He would continually pay heed to their distress inspite of all they continued to do. In Lauds, we pray the canticle of Isaiah which says, “Turn to Me and be safe all you ends of the earth for I am God, there is no other.” (Is 45:22) Why can He act such? Because He is God. A little later in Lauds, we pray the antiphon that reads, “I have come to call sinners.” (cf Mt 9:13)

How perfectly the first Mass reading goes with this message of conversion, where we hear, “As soon as Joseph saw his father, he flung himself on his neck and wept a long time in his arms.” Isn’t that the perfect image of prayer—the son in his father’s arms? When speaking of prayer, St. Benedict has in his Rule: “If someone chooses to pray privately, he may simply go in and pray, not in a loud voice, but with tears and heartfelt devotion.”(RB 52) Doesn’t that match the image of Joseph in his father’s arms? With tears and heartfelt devotion. That should be our prayer, especially on a Friday. The Church has never stopped teaching that we should often reflect on the suffering and death of Christ for our sins. Every Friday should have a penitential aspect to it. We should take to heart what a Friday means. The sacrifices we make should come from our appreciation for the death of Christ. Give a little something to Christ during the day.

Time after time He’s rescued each one of us. None of us is innocent. I’m sorry if you think you are because then you don’t get to be in the Father’s arms the way we see that Joseph is. Rather, be grateful that you are in a position of being forgiven. And in your turn, forgive others. If we can live that way, we shall be in perfect peace the rest of our lives.