Category: Featured

The Completion of Christmas

January 13, 2025

A reflection by our Abbess, Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB, on the conclusion of the Christmas Season

The Outdoor Nativity Scene at the Abbey of St. Walburga

In the gospel reading at Mass on Saturday in Epiphanytide, we hear that “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven” (John 3:27).  So all of those heavenly gifts that have come upon us this Christmas, we should really think of today.  We should especially give thanks for the gift of Christ, the Bridegroom.  Further on in the gospel reading from John it says, “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom” (John 3:29).  That should stop us.  That says absolutely everything.  If we just had this one sentence for the rest of our life, it would be enough—Because He has us.  Nobody can take us from Him.  Relish the fact that we belong to Him. 

On Christmas, the Bridegroom came to earth, “leaping across the hills” as the Song of Songs says, running to meet us, and peering through the lattices to make sure we’re here.  The whole imagery of the Bridegroom coming is scattered throughout the scriptures, and it makes me think that Jesus must have loved weddings so much (His first miracle was performed at a wedding in Cana!) because it reminded Him of the joy of His role as the Bridegroom for His people.  Seeing the love of a groom for his bride reminds Him of His love for His brides, and for His Bride, the Church.  No matter what, Christ never stops loving His Church as a Bride.  And we should take great joy and comfort in that.  What everybody else thinks really is so small compared to what the Bridegroom thinks and feels.  May we never despair of thinking that He loves us any less than His beloved bride.  Keep this in mind, and you can’t have a bad day: The bride has the Bridegroom.

Our Chapel’s 25th Anniversary

November 23, 2024

A reflection by our Abbess, Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

The Dedication of our Abbey Church, November 7, 1999

Twenty-five years have slipped by since our Chapel was completed.  The most important parts of our lives take place in this sacred place.  It is here we begin by knocking on the door at our entrance, and here we say our final “good-bye” to our beloved Sisters.

Chapter 19 of the Rule of St. Benedict talks about how we should say the Divine Office: “We must always remember, therefore, what the Prophet says: Serve the Lord with fear (Ps 2:11), and again, Sing praise wisely (Ps 46[47]:8); and, In the presence of the angels I will sing to you (Ps 137[138]:1).  Let us consider, then, how we ought to behave in the presence of God and his angels, and let us stand to sing the psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony with our voices” (RB 19:3-5).  I love that.  We are assisting the angels!  And we have to work that our mind might be in harmony with our voices.  We know what a work of love that is.  There is no work to be preferred to this, and we should celebrate the Divine Office with joy and solemnity.  

“I rejoiced when I heard them say, ‘let us go to the house of the Lord’” (Ps 122:1).  We have access at all times to the Chapel.  So we have a reason to rejoice!  In this place, our souls come to rest in the very Presence of Jesus Christ Our Lord…And the Holy Spirit fills our hearts with the conversations…What a gift.

It is in this Chapel that we give the best of ourselves.  In Psalm 37 we hear, “Once I was young, and now I am old…” (Ps 37:25).  Our Chapel watches the passage of time.  Our bodies age, but our souls only get richer.  You can feel that.  There is a certain dignity that starts growing in you.  There is no fear in ageing, because there is something beautiful happening within us.

Our Chapel is dedicated to the Mother of God.  The tapestries, which hang along the walls, tell the story of the Blessed Mother’s life.  Her most important moments are in the Chapel as well, and are united with ours.  We have her motherly intercession and her powerful intercession.  Nothing goes unnoticed by her.  And the wonderful thing is that she cares.

So let us celebrate with heartfelt gratitude and joy this day.  Every day, we receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in this Chapel.  Who could want more?  Twenty-five years ago this Abbey Church was dedicated (and believe me, that altar received a ton of oil; I remember the Archbishop spreading the oil all over with great delight…all of the corners, Monsignor Newman and Deacon Bud, they went around to all of the crosses in the Church and put oil on them while we prayed).  May it bear our hearts and souls to the heights of the heavens.  Let us sing with our minds and hearts in harmony, that this day of great blessings will see a showering of graces that we pray shall never end.  This is God’s dwelling place, and He has made it holy.  We call on His name, for scripture says: There, you will find Him.

As you sing, sing very purposefully.  The measure you put in to it is the measure you are going to get out.  There is something special in the liturgy for each person, and it is a jewel ready to be found—Find it and take care of it, because it will be given to no one else but you.  May this bring us all to holiness. 

Archbishop Chaput anointing the altar with oil

St. Walburga’s Oil

October 21, 2021

Every year on October 12 the holy oil from Saint Walburga’s tomb in Germany begins to flow, and it continues until her Feast Day on February 25. Due to the testimonies of many people who have experienced God’s healing power after anointing themselves with the oil and asking Saint Walburga to pray for them, it seems that this quote from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux may also be applied to our patroness:

“I wish to spend my heaven in doing good upon the earth.”

Photo of Saint Walburga’s crypt at the Abtei St. Walburg in Eichstätt, taken by one of our Sisters who travelled to Germany for the Abbatial Blessing of Mother Hildegard, OSB. The images on the walls are memorial plaques depicting miracles attributed to Saint Walburga, donated by patrons in gratitude for her intercession.

The Glorious Assumption of Mary

August 29, 2019

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated every year on August 15

The meaning of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary is that of culmination and a new beginning.  With Our Lady’s assumption into heaven, the promises of the Lord were fulfilled for her and as always, beyond all expectation.  I would have loved to have seen Mary’s face at her arrival into heaven.  She saw her Son under the horror of the Cross; and I’m sure that never left her heart.  But now she gets to see the glory of her Son and she shares in that.  Remember that as she came to heaven, she was body and soul—she had an expression on her face.  And that expression has never left her.  The beauty of her Son seated on His throne…     

The word “assumption” comes from the Latin word “assumere,” meaning, “to take to oneself.”  Our Lord Jesus Christ took Mary home to Himself where He is.  Now, on Mary’s part, it was the work of a lifetime of being watchful and ready to preserve the deifying light in her soul.  In the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict, we hear, “Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God.”  Mary never took her eyes off of the light that comes from God, her Son.  Further on in the Rule it says, “Run while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death may not overtake you.”  Well we could say that Mary ran the marathon of life and outran sin!  She never stood around long enough for sin to “attach” itself to her.  There was no selfishness in Mary for sin to cling to.  And isn’t most sin about selfishness?  And while we also remember that Mary is the sorrowful Mother, her sorrow was never about herself.  Mary’s sorrows have only to do with anything that separates us from the love and life of Christ.  It would be good for us to imitate Mary in knowing true sorrow instead of selfish sorrow. 

There is a story, that perhaps you have heard, of a very holy woman who would serve God’s people during the day without ceasing to pray.  She would go to bed late at night but would get up early every morning to continue to serve.  And when she would get up in the morning, as soon as her feet hit the floor, hell shook and said, “Oh no, she’s up!”  I pray that could be said for every one of us.  But for that to happen, we have to live like Mary—attentive to the body of Christ, attentive to one another, attentive to everything that separates anybody from the love of Christ and His life.

Mary’s assumption did not mark the end of her service. On the contrary, her service could now assume its universal work.  We read in Lumen Gentium that “taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside this saving role, but by her manifold acts of intercession continues to win for us gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, Mary cares for the brethren of her Son who still journey on…”  And Mary cares for us.  Let us do nothing that would grieve the immaculate heart of Mary.  Let us live in her presence.

As we celebrate the Assumption let us make our house a place where Mary wants to dwell.  That takes work and it takes love.  Mary suffered, but she loved more than she suffered.  Like Mary, we too have to pay more attention to what we love than to what we suffer. 

“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians 4:17-18

Embracing the Cross

May 3, 2019

A reflection on the triumph of Love by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

I was thinking about the incredible words we sing during the Divine Office on the Feast of St. Andrew: “Seeing the cross [of his own martyrdom], Andrew cried out with joy, ‘O precious cross! Truly I have always loved you, and I have desired to embrace you.’”

This is a disciple who ran away in the garden of Gethsemane—he didn’t stand by Jesus on the cross—so the greatest gift that could be given to him was another chance to stand by the cross. What did he do with it? He embraced it. He longed for that moment to tell Christ, “I love you, and I want to be with you, wherever that leads.” This is the power of the triumph of the cross. Love is the triumph of the cross. When we love enough that we no longer fear the crosses in our lives but we embrace them and we long for them because they unite us with him who has loved us beyond all love, that is the triumph of the cross. So today we celebrate that we no longer fear the cross; it is truly the exaltation. Of course we cannot do this of ourselves. St. Andrew, St. Peter, none of them, could have embraced the cross on their own, but with divine strength they could embrace and kiss it. And their suffering turned into gratitude. Yes, when we can thank God for the crosses in our life, God has triumphed. When we can see that it is Love that has given us once again the chance to prove our love, we will rejoice and say, “Amen!” and run toward it, because we have a chance to prove our love. Let us pray today that the cross may triumph in our own lives, because it will not happen on our own. It is completely divine strength.

May this Easter season bring you much joy in the resurrection of Our Lord, who suffered his cross for the love of us, that we might have a sense of the depths of his love and desire to return our love for his.

Artwork by Sr. Ancilla Armijo, OSB