A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB, in honor of the Solemnity of All Saints, November 1
I was thinking of how we pray in the Our Father, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Wouldn’t that make things so much easier? Wouldn’t life be so much better if we simply did and acted on earth as we would in heaven? That’s what the saints teach us.
We should have friends in heaven. They help to teach us what is right, and then we always have someone as a friend whom we can look up to, and whose prayers we can count on. The saints do not show us anything other than God and the ways to go to God.
Choose a saint, such as one that you already have in your name, or someone who keeps popping up in your mind or reading. Connect with the saints, and ask them about what did they did that made them so holy. I’ve grown to love Elijah and Elisha. They don’t care what people think of them. They simply wake up and say “God, what would you like me to do today? What’s the agenda today? How would you like me to act?” That was really their life. Elisha had a relic from Elijah; he had his cloak. He could take his cloak, hit the water, and it all separated. Relics are powerful, and we should use them as powerful tools for prayer. Never dismiss the power of the saints in heaven. We need their intercession. We need their help to live the way God chooses for us and not the way we choose. You know, you’ll grow a little happier if you can just let go of those other things.
Also, if we really live in the friendship of the saints in heaven, we’ll treat others in a way that’s freeing. We’ll give them more room to grow in the holiness God is calling them to. I tell you, that’s the only thing that really matters. No one knows the day of our death. Nobody known who’s going to be next. But are you ready? I have to think of that every day. Am I ready? Am I living in a manner so that I’m ready to actually die? Because how you live here is how you’re going to live beyond. So think of that today. Pray to those saints. Look at their lives and imitate what is holy. Don’t let holiness pass you by. You don’t want to wish that you had done so when you are dying. Instead, you want to die, saying, “Oh thank you God, I’m coming to you.”
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.