A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB, delivered to our community on the vigil of the Novice Investiture of Sister Moira
We have Saint Gregory the great, a Benedictine saint, for Moira’s clothing day! Pope Saint Gregory the Great was born in 540 and died on March 12, 604. He was the 64th Bishop of Rome, and is venerated as one of the four Latin Fathers of the Church alongside St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and St. Jerome. His papacy is considered foundational to the medieval papacy because of his spiritual leadership and legislative reform. Gregory was educated in law and administration and became the prefect of Rome at age 30. However, inspired by the call to poverty he resigned his position, founded a monastery, and became a Benedictine monk in the year 575. He didn’t stay too long as a prefect, and like St. Benedict, St. Gregory must have had a feeling that the typical Roman life wasn’t good for his soul. And, in a way, isn’t that also true of why we come to the monastery? We have a feeling it would be much better for our souls, and we are called to a holiness that we sense we won’t reach outside. We want to live a life surrounded by God — not the world — like St. Gregory.
Moira, just as St. Gregory received the habit of a Benedictine, and wore it with love and purpose, so too shall you. It says in Chapter 58 of the Holy Rule of St. Benedict, “At once therefore, in the oratory, let him be divested of his own clothes which he is wearing and dressed in the clothes of the monastery.” That happened even then, as it happens today. So, Moira, tomorrow you are going to receive the habit of our beloved community. In the rite of the blessing of the religious habit it says, “We ask you, bless this religious habit, by which your handmaid who will wear it desires to express her readiness to serve You with undivided devotion.” For the blessing of the religious belt we pray, “O God, You allowed your Son to be bound by the hands of the unjust in order to save the slave. We ask You to bless this belt. Grant to Your handmaid who will wear it the grace to always keep in mind the chains of Your Son, Who was obedient unto death in order to set us free.” For the blessing of the religious scapular, “We beg You, bless this scapular which Your handmaid will wear as a sign of her conversion, so that she may truly follow in Your footsteps as Your disciple.” And finally for the religious veil, “Almighty God, we beg You, in Your kindness, to bless this veil, which Your handmaid desires to wear upon her head as a sign of her religious state, so that she may be blessed, spotless, and holy, and be recognized as consecrated to You.”
You are receiving the Benedictine habit of our Abbey, Moira. It carries with it the tradition of so many holy souls who have gone before us — saints, beloved of God. You are receiving clothing; you must fill it with life: With the life of a Benedictine, with holiness, with charity, with the praise of God. You must fill it. It is the life in which we honor God. We honor him as one who belongs to him and prefers nothing to the love of Christ. That’s what it says when you wear the habit. In a sense, we are entrusting you with ourselves — the beauty and dignity of the life we live. We are offering the habit to you because we trust you. We trust you to give the image of who we are. So when I give it to you, I am giving you our trust. May it be a joy for God and of us to see you wearing it and to stand among us. May God bless you now and forevermore.