I received from Abbot Damian of Spencer a copy of his homily that he gave last week for the funeral Mass of Br. Meinrad.  He concluded his homily with the following: “I’ll let St. Therese and Fr. Thomas Keating have the final words.  Therese expressed her conviction in this way: ‘Even if I had on my conscience every conceivable sin, I would lose nothing of my confidence. My heart overflowing with love, I would throw myself into the arms of the Father, and I am certain that I would be warmly received.’ " 

For the solemnity of All Saints I referred to Thomas Merton who wrote: “to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore, the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and discovering my true self” (New Seeds of Contemplation, p.31).  It is interesting that Merton says it is a ‘problem’ to find our true selves!  Evidently, he is implying that the process of finding our true selves is difficult.  To expand more on this, how do we discover our true self?  This self-discovery is a life-time spiritual adventure.   As we discover more and more of our true self, how do we live from that self that is centered in Christ?  If we turn to Jesus, the ‘key’ to finding our true selves lies in this saying: ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake,…will save it’ (Mk 8:34-35).

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 27 The Abbot's Concern for the Excommunicated
Mass: Wis 11:22-12:2; Resp Ps 145; Th 1:11-2:2; Lk 19:1-10

With a first glance at the readings for this Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, I thought of the Prologue of the Holy Rule of St Benedict. My mind went to the Holy Rule with the words from the Book of Wisdom: "But you [Lord] have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people's sins that they may repent" (Wis 11:23). St Benedict writes this: "The Lord waits for us daily to translate into action, as we should, his holy teachings. Therefore our life span has been lengthened by way of truce, that we may amend our misdeeds. As the Apostle says:Do you not know that the patience of God is leading you to repent (Rm 2:4)? And indeed the Lord assures us in his love: I do not wish the death of a sinner, but that he turn back to me and live (Ezk 33:11). (Prol. 35-38).

“O God, keep us faithful to the gift which they received with such joy and handed on at such cost.” This is an excerpt from a prayer for the feast of the apostles Simon and Jude.  The gift they received was their ‘mission’, their mission of proclaiming the gospel, and this they handed on with the cost of their lives.  For the solemnity of ‘All Saints’ why am I beginning with these very moving words?  When I heard this prayer, I thought immediately that it expresses what saints do. They receive their call from God with joy, and they live it to the end, until the day when they hand it on to others, and with such cost.  

Today is the canonization of Cardinal John Henry Newman. He was a prolific writer, an intellectual whose heart very much balanced who he was, what he preached and what he wrote. I will share multiple quotes to support this statement!

To begin: “God has created me to do Him some definite service. God has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.”