Gaudium magnum! With great joy, on February 1, 2018, the Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the Monasteries of Our Lady and Saint Laurence welcomed His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH for his first Hierarchical Visitation to our monks and nuns. His Eminence was accompanied by His Grace Bishop JOHN, Vicar Bishop for the Western Rite.
Together with the monks and nuns, three members of the Board of Directors of the Benedictine Fellowship of Saint Laurence, the Not for Profit Corporation that owns the St. Laurence Campus, were present to welcome our Bishops, led by the Very Rev. John C. Connely, Obl.SB, President of the Board of Directors. We were also joined by several other clergy and friends, including the Very Rev. L. Michael Bundy, Obl.SB, first Oblate of our Monasteries, and the Very Rev. John A. Fenton, Assistant to the Vicar General, formerly Br. Lazarus’ pastor in California.
After a brief respite from the long trip from Denver, the Solemn Reception of the Metropolitan was held in the Oratory of St. Laurence, followed by the Office of Sext and an Epiphany-tide blessing of the campus’ buildings.
We then hosted a festive dinner in St. Herman’s Lodge, which was served in traditional monastic fashion, without talking while Subdeacon John Brainerd read from a commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict. During dessert and coffee, talking was allowed, so that His Eminence could ask questions and the various people present could become better acquainted.
In the afternoon, His Eminence met with the Monastic Chapter (Synaxis) to review changes to our Constitutions with regard to the relationship between the monks and nuns, who are now formally members of two distinct monasteries (sharing the common areas of the campus), to share with us some of his own experience as a young monastic in Lebanon and Europe, to give some guidance on how to proceed in the future, and to ask the consent of the monastics to bless and invest the Prior as Abbot of the two monasteries, and announce that he will be ordained to the Holy Priesthood at the Western-rite Conference this coming August.
During First Vespers of the Purification of the Virgin Mary (Entrance of Our Lord into the Temple), His Eminence tonsured a Reader for St. Mark’s Parish, Denver, formally blessed Novice Lazarus as a recognized iconographer (having previously issued a letter of recognition), and after blessing the Cross, Ring, and Staff of an Abbot, presented them to the new Abbot with a text prepared for the occasion:
As the Senior Monastic received the small Pectoral Cross from the Metropolitan and placed it around the Abbot’s neck, she exhorted him:
God forbid that you should glory, save in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
As the Metropolitan placed the Ring on the Abbot’s finger, Bishop John admonished him:
Receive this ring in confirmation of thy obedience to His Eminence and as a sign of thy authority to govern these monastic communities in accord with the traditions and statutes of our Holy Archdiocese, the Rule of St. Benedict, and the Constitutions of these Holy Monasteries.
As the junior monastic received the Staff from the Metropolitan and presented it to the Abbot, he asked of him:
Be thou unto us a wise and loving Father. By thy manner of life be unto us a model of faithfulness; in thy words speak unto us the truth; through the strength of thy love raise us up when we fall; and, by God’s grace, lay down thy life for us, thy spiritual sons and daughters.
Then, before receiving the Solemn Pontifical Blessing from His Eminence, the Abbot knelt and prayed:
Almighty and most Merciful God, Father of Light and giver of every good gift: Look graciously, we beseech thee, upon these communities, which have gathered in thy Name; by their prayers, grant unto me such knowledge of thy heavenly wisdom that I, unworthy, imperfect, and sinful as I am, may be to them a faithful shepherd and loving father, feeding them according to thy will and in the grace of thy love; that, active in prayer and prayerful in action,* we may be found acceptable unto thee; through that Great Shepherd of the sheep, even Jesus Christ, thine only Son, our Lord.
After the monastics exchanged the Kiss of Peace with the new Abbot, Vespers continued and then we bid a respectful and affectionate farewell to His Eminence and His Grace, as they left to continue their journeys to where others were awaiting their presence and ministries.
*Motto of the Monasteries