Mother’s Reflections – Page 10 – Abbey of St. Walburga

No Greater Service

June 25, 2015

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

It seems to me that people who pursue God faithfully have their priorities straight. Consider St. Paul: his priorities are quite straight. For him, it is always Christ. He does everything to serve the people.

Now being wayward people we are always fluctuating. We will have some days when we are more fervent than others. We will have times during which we may not be as Christian as we want to be. But God always sends someone our way to encourage us; He believes in us. There is nothing God wants more than to encourage us in the ways that we will fulfill, most perfectly, the image of Christ within us. We should strive for that at all times, but don’t be surprised when things don’t go perfectly. That is the lot of man.

In our constant pursuit of this image of Christ within, we will always be rearranging our priorities to keep God in the first place. Prayer, too, must have its priority in our life. All the rest will settle like the dust.

We carry responsibilities in community in the name of God. That means when we pursue our responsibilities we also pursue God. When we embrace what has been given to us to serve the community, whatever it may be – sweeping the hall, doing the dishes, serving the guests, feeding the cattle, pulling weeds – we do it in the name of God. Only God knows the value of each one. It has nothing to do with the work itself but everything to do with the intention. Everything done well and for the glory of God has the highest value. Our responsibilities may change over time but we must always be growing in the way in which we do them: from the heart. When we fulfill our responsibilities for the love of God we will be filled with peace and joy.

At the end of his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul says, “Because I do not love you? God knows, I do.” What a wonderful way to end everything! “God knows, I do.” Carry this with you in whatever you do. Do it for love. There is no greater service. If we do everything out of love, we will shine with the glory of God and our priorities will be straight.

Console the Heart of Christ

June 17, 2015

A reflection for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB.
06_Cristo e la Vergine

The Collect for the Feast of the Sacred Heart reads:

O God, who in the Heart of Your Son wounded by our sins, bestow on us in mercy the boundless treasure of Your Love. Grant, we pray, that in paying Him the homage of our devotion, we may also offer worthy reparation.

You do not hear that word very often – reparation. Yet it is a necessary word. We do have to make reparation for sin. The best reparation we can possibly do, in life, is simply to be truly sorry for our sins, to decide I am not going to do that anymore, then to do some small means of penance. It doesn’t have to be grand. The real secret to reparation is love. To do a small thing with great love is huge. To do a great thing without love means absolutely nothing.

The most we can possibly do is to do all things with love. To prefer nothing to the love of Christ (RB 4:21). To respond with love. If our thoughts are of love, then our actions will be of love. It is no small thing to be devoted to the Sacred Heart of Christ. We as brides of Christ have an even greater duty to love Him more. To be willing to do more, to suffer more, to be willing to give the very best of ourselves with love, and not to count the cost. That’s heroic.

Christ deserves our love. We should do all that we can to console the Heart of Christ. He mourns today for His Church and yet He rejoices in His Church. There is a victory already begun and it begins with each one of us. It begins with love, it ends with love, and it goes into eternity with love. Love one another; that He may be one in us and we in Him. To talk about it is really nothing; to live it is everything. Live it… and we shall do it together.

Wisdom: Seeing Through the Eyes of God

June 10, 2015

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe.

The gift of Wisdom is the highest of all gifts. We hear in the first reading from the Second letter to the Corinthians, “If what was going to fade was glorious, how much more will what endures be glorious?” Whatendures. Wisdom is the aspect of seeing all things through the eyes of God, through the eyes of eternity. It gives value to those things that endure. All things are seen through the eyes of eternity. What are the ramifications that will last? I found in the dictionary of Biblical Theology the definition of True Wisdom:

The revelation of true wisdom is made in a paradoxical manner. It is not to the wise and prudent that it is accorded but to the little ones. In order to confound the proud sages, God chose what was foolish in the eyes of the world.
It goes further to say:

In order to make it wise according to God. For Christian wisdom is not acquired by human effort at all, but through the Father’s revelation. In itself, it is a Divine thing, mysterious and hidden, impossible for human intelligence to fathom. Though made manifest by the historical accomplishments of salvation, it cannot be communicated except by the Spirit of God, to those who are docile to him.

The one way to acquire wisdom is to have a listening heart. If we want wisdom, we have to simply take time to ask God. “Father, what should I do with this? What will make it good for the whole? What are the things I need in order to acquire the blessings of eternity? What are the ramifications of these actions and will they resound with a blessing? Will it go further than myself?”

Wisdom is, truly, seeing things through the eyes of God. That is the only way Christ could have faced the Cross. Seeing the ramification for eternity and the salvationnecessary for all. Otherwise you couldn’t do it. That’s true even for our life here at the Abbey. If we don’t see it in the eyes of eternity, how could we live it? If we only saw it in the value for the world – it would mean nothing. But through the eyes of God and through the eyes of what will happen for eternity, makes it perfectly sound. And perfectly desirable. It puts a turn on everything and children get it! It is only when we get older and we start grasping the things of the world that we lose our childlike wisdom. It is through the eyes of innocence and docility that we can best grasp wisdom. So take a hold of it, pray for it, and live it.

Praying as the Bride of Christ

May 19, 2015

A reflection by Mother Maria Michael Newe, OSB.

As Benedictines, our lives are hidden with Christ in God and, truly, we take on the heart of Christ in prayer. And that is our life – we are called to pray with the heart of Christ. We hear in the Rule of St. Benedict how we should pray the Divine Office:

We believe that the Divine Presence is everywhere and that the eyes of the Lord behold the good and the evil in every place. Especially, however, do we without any doubt believe this to be true when we are assisting at the work of God.

It says “assisting at the work of God”. We are not alone when we pray.

Therefore, let us always be mindful of what the prophet says, ‘Serve the Lord with fear’ and again, ‘sing wisely’ and ‘in the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to you’.

So who are we assisting at praise? In the sight of the Angels, I will sing praise to you.

Therefore, let us consider how we ought to conduct ourselves in the presence of God and his angels and to assist at the Divine Office that our mind may be in harmony with our voice.

What we sing we must believe. What we believe we must live out. We must live out the prayers we pray.

We are the bride of Christ. We have been born from his side. It is said that, at the end of time, hearts will grow cold. Let it not be said of us. We are not called just to pray with the mind. If Christ found no consolers, let he at least find consolers among us. And thank him for what he’s done.

Let us be guardians of the heart of Christ. Let us bear his heart within. That we may be truly one with him in mind and heart so that when we die, we have died with the heart of Christ. So too shall we rise with his heart.