Featured – Abbey of St. Walburga

Our Father

September 11, 2024

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

We know how important the Our Father is, and that we are to pray it. Saint Benedict specifically recommends that it be prayed in the Divine Office by the Abbot because of the thorns of dissension that may arise in a community. I think the more you pray it, the more one feels its power. We’re to pray “Thy Kingdom come.” Just think what would happen if everyone in the world said at the same moment, “Thy Kingdom come” and meant it. Would He come? I would hope so. And we pray, “Thy will be done.” Wouldn’t it be nice if what’s done on earth is done as it were in heaven? There wouldn’t be a problem anywhere. “Give us this day our daily bread.” All are offered the bread of life, if only they would desire to receive it. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” That’s telling us that no matter who you are, things are going to hurt you in life. We’re not going to get out of it, it’s just going to happen. Forgiveness is going to be needed. That’s where we unite ourselves the closest to God, when we forgive, because God is the only one who can truly forgive. We have the power to forgive by releasing it, not demanding that the evil that was done be put back on that person. Instead, we want good for them. By forgiving we release them. That is a very holy thing, to not will evil when evil has been done. It’s natural to think, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But what does that get us? We would all be blind and toothless, and we know that.

Then we pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The Church has what’s called, “deliverance prayers,” and people wonder what that means. God says it right here in the Our Father: deliver us from evil. That’s all it is. We all want to be delivered from evil, and deliverance prayers are so powerful for just that purpose.

At the end of the Our Father in Matthew, we hear Jesus say, “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you” (Matt. 6:14). What a carrot! He just hangs that out in front of us. Well, that’s a good reason to start forgiving others. Because we’re assured of forgiveness. Then He says, “But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:15). This warning is coming from a Father who loves us, so that we will know and do what will help us to be forgiven ourselves. This prayer has the best advice in the whole world, so try to pray the Our Father intentionally at least once a day. We should truly let those words penetrate us, because through doing so, we are intimately united with Christ, who gave these words to us. And when we pray, even when we get dragged off by distractions or whatever, return. Always return. Return and pray with great attention. Because have you ever talked to someone who is all over the place and not paying much attention to you? Do you really listen to them? But when somebody is actually staring at you and saying, “Can you do this for me?”, there’s something about their attention, their focus, that makes you want to do it for them. They really care. Let us try to pray like that.

Photo by André Escaleira, Jr. / Denver Catholic

A Chaplain for Our Community

August 19, 2024

Abbey of St. Walburga Chaplain Residence

The Abbey of St. Walburga is currently looking for a new resident chaplain. If you know of a priest who would be a good possible candidate, please send them the following information:

POSITION SUMMARY: The chaplain of the Abbey of St. Walburga provides spiritual care to the nuns through the administration of the sacraments, most notably the daily sacrifice of the Mass and weekly Reconciliation. Due to the nature of our vocation as contemplative nuns, the chaplain must be content with minimal social interaction with the nuns, and living in a rural environment 45 minutes away from the nearest towns. Food and housing is provided. Contact Mother Maria-Michael at 970-472-0612 with interest, and to inquire further about contract and salary.

QUALIFICATIONS/SKILLS:

Catholic Priest in good standing with the diocese
Understanding of the Benedictine contemplative vocation
Demonstrates honesty and prudence in all relationships

Abbey of St. Walburga Chapel

Called Forth by God + Video

August 14, 2024

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB, during the week leading up to the Solemn Monastic Profession of Sister Maria-Placida, OSB on July 11, 2024, the Solemnity of St. Benedict

What a glory it is to be called forth by God, and not merely by man. Our vocations are God-given, truly given by God, and that’s what makes them so great. It’s not something we can do without His call. During Sister Maria-Placida’s Solemn Profession, she will be called forth (literally, from the back of the chapel to the front, carrying her lighted profession candle!) by the bishop—and how beautiful that she responds to this call with a song. She will come forth singing with joy for being called by God to this vocation. So we look forward to this moment with rejoicing in our hearts, because it is such a great glory to be called by God.

Jesus has waited from all eternity for his particular relationship with you, and that place cannot be filled by any other. No one else’s relationship with Christ is the same as yours. Sit with that. Nothing can give you joy like belonging to Jesus fully.
Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

All photos courtesy of André Escaleira, Jr. / Denver Catholic

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