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.

Photos from the 2027 calendar

The 2027 Abbey of St. Walburga wall calendar features quotes from the Book of Psalms to accompany the photographs of life at our monastery.

As Benedictines, the Psalms comprise the majority of the content of our communal liturgical prayers, as designated by St. Benedict in his Holy Rule for praying the “Opus Dei,” (“Work of God”), also known as the “Divine Office,” or “Liturgy of the Hours.” Although our particular version of the Divine Office is unique to our community, there are standard editions of it available to everyone.

The cost is $16 per calendar, not including shipping and handling.

To place an order, please send an email to aswgiftshop@gmail.com.

In the liturgy for the anniversary of the Dedication of a Church, we get to sing that lovely antiphon: “This is the house of God, the gate of heaven.”  We say this of our churches, but our souls are also like churches – truly, little houses of prayer and worship.  Each one of us should be a place where all can come and ask for prayer.  As Benedictines, we love our Church, we treasure our Church, we protect our Church – and we should protect the church within ourselves as well.  Think of the beautiful cathedral in Denver, or any of the stunning cathedrals around the world, and know that your soul far outruns them.  Your soul is far more beautiful than any one of them, and to keep it that way is important.

In the history of the Denver Cathedral, right before the dedication was to take place, a lightning bolt struck Preview (opens in a new tab)one of the towers and knocked it down; but they just built it right back up and got it ready!  I think that’s what we do, too, sometimes, when we get knocked flat, and one of our towers goes a little wimpy.  We call on the Lord, and He builds it right back up for us, so we can stand tall.  We have to have faith in this – that whatever happens to us, we are not going to be totally shattered.  God can rebuild anything. 

So when we see a beautiful cathedral, it is an image of our own soul.  That’s something to think about.  What does your cathedral look like?  Who are the Saints in it?  How big is the sanctuary lamp*?  Does everybody who sees you see the presence of Christ?  We should strive to be persons who always take Christ everywhere. 

I love the liturgy of the Dedication of a Church, because it talks so much about the Church as the Bride of Christ, and we know that we, too, are brides of Christ.  So we pray in a special way on these feasts for each other and for the Church, that her beauty may shine forth to all the world.

*A sanctuary lamp burns near the tabernacle in Catholic churches to signify the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament

The sanctuary lamp burning near the tabernacle in our Abbey Church

Titian, Assumption of the Virgin, 1518
Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice
Public Domain

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.

The Assumption is seen as a sign of hope for all Christians, demonstrating the ultimate destiny of those who are united with Christ: the glorious reunion of body and soul in heaven. It highlights the goodness and dignity of the human body, destined for eternal glory.

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. 

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