Easter – Abbey of St. Walburga

Veni, Sancte Spiritus

April 27, 2024

A reflection by our Abbess, Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB, as the Church prepares for the celebration of Pentecost and prays, “Veni, Sancte Spiritus” (Come, Holy Spirit)

Abbey of St. Walburga Easter Vigil Mass

After Christ’s Resurrection, we hear that wonderful story about how He prepares a meal for his disciples on the shore of the lake, and tells them, “Come, have breakfast” (cf. John 21). After this, he asks Peter three times if he loves Him, and instructs him, “Follow me.” You would think that this would be enough for Peter, but of course he takes his eyes off of the Lord and sees John nearby, and has to ask, “Lord, what about him?” It makes me smile how patient the Lord is with Peter, and how He simply responds, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”

There is such wisdom in considering this – that if we get so wrapped up in the lives of everybody else, we might just miss our own. Sometimes we get down with comparing ourselves with others, thinking, “He is more loved” or “She is more loved,” and we believe we’ve been left in the dust. Our love should be above that. What really matters is that we love. There is such happiness in doing that. What an incredible gift it is, and what a freedom. So rather than getting caught up with how much we are loved, perhaps we should change the question to ask how much we love? Others’ love for us may come and go, but our love doesn’t have to come and go. Our love can be stable. The best advice is to love God, and everything about Him. Peter was still turning around looking at everything else, but all he had to do was look at Jesus, and it would have been enough. Let us learn from Peter’s experience – sometimes the Scriptures are there to help us learn from others’ mistakes so we don’t have to make the same ones. So let us be at peace with whatever the Lord gives us in life, and be content knowing that we are beloved by God.

In this blessed time after Easter, as the Church receives another outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, I encourage everyone to pray a Novena (a prayer prayed for nine consecutive days) asking the Holy Spirit to pour His gifts into you in abundance, especially the gift of love – And believe that you’re going to get what you ask for. God is the “Creator Spirit,” and just as He is still creating new wonders in nature (have you heard about the new ocean being formed in Africa?!), He is still creating and re-creating you. I heard that Michelangelo would look at a block of marble and start chipping away, and only then see what was “in it.” The Holy Spirit is within us, and sees who we truly are, and chips away at everything that is not us – if we let Him. And the more He chips away, the more we become bearers of light. That is so key to the work of the Holy Spirit: Light. Light in every way. We can pray with Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (v. 12, 14). God is joy – let Him fill you completely with His joy. We can pray that every day: “Give me Your joy! Uphold me! Create me anew. Help me to follow You, that I may belong wholly to You.” This is the Benedictine vow of conversatio morum, our ongoing conversion. I pray this for everyone, that we might all be born anew each morning.

Evil wants to destroy life, but God wants to bring life – the world needs our witness to the power of re-creation today. And one of the most powerful gifts of the Holy Spirit is forgiveness. “[Jesus] said to the disciples, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:21-23). Every time we go to the sacrament of reconciliation, we receive this gift. Where there is unforgiveness, evil has an open door. If you want to experience the power of the Spirit, then forgive. Priests have the power to forgive us sacramentally, but we too get to participate in this healing power by forgiving another freely, mercifully, like Christ. It doesn’t mean that you will forget the wrongs done to you, or feel good when you think about the person, but forgiveness is an act of your will. Choose forgiveness, that you may release the captives in your own heart, and also be freed yourself.

We hear in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8), and I would add to that – “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God everywhere.” I hope that we are given new eyes to see God everywhere, and in everything, for that’s what it means to have a new heart. To be created anew is to see everything anew. Be new. God says in Revelation, “I will make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). Do you believe that? If you do, it will happen. As one of the saints said (I forgot where I read this), you will be like a house on fire. A soul afire with divine love is like a house on fire – when it is burning, everything inside is thrown out the windows. And so when a soul is consumed by the flame of divine love, it casts out all that is unnecessary, and concentrates on all that is eternal: only love.

I would like to leave you with these two Scripture verses:

“Thus says the Lord GOD: From the four winds come, O breath, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life.” (Ezekiel 37:9).

“The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily…and you shall be changed into another man” (1 Samuel 10:6)

Veni, Sancte Spiritus!

Come, Holy Ghost
send down those beams,
which sweetly flow in silent streams
from Thy bright throne above.

O come, Thou Father of the poor;
O come, Thou source of all our store,
come, fill our hearts with love.

O Thou, of comforters the best,
O Thou, the soul’s delightful guest,
the pilgrim’s sweet relief.

Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet
refreshment in the noonday heat;
and solace in our grief.

O blessed Light of life Thou art;
fill with Thy light the inmost heart
of those who hope in Thee.

Without Thy Godhead nothing can,
have any price or worth in man,
nothing can harmless be.

Lord, wash our sinful stains away,
refresh from heaven our barren clay,
our wounds and bruises heal.

To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow,
warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow,
our wandering feet recall.

Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord,
whose only hope is Thy sure word,
the sevenfold gifts of grace.

Grant us in life Thy grace that we,
in peace may die and ever be,
in joy before Thy face.
Amen. Alleluia.
Translation of the Traditional Latin Squence for Pentecost

2024 Easter Candles

March 31, 2024

Thanks to the hard work of our Sisters in the paschal candle department, all the pastors who ordered candles from us are now burning our hand-painted candles in their parishes. Three different designs were created by three of our solemnly professed Sisters this year, and these designs were painted on candles large and small by the eight candle artists in our community, including two of our postulants. Paschal candles are used during the Easter Vigil Mass to carry the flame from the Easter fire into the church, and from which every other candle in the church is lit, as a symbol of Christ the true Light enlightening the world and dispelling the darkness of evil.

A very blessed Easter season to all—He is Risen!

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
Upon those who lived in a land of gloom
a light has shone.
Isaiah 9:1

Easter Peace

April 29, 2023

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

I love how the first thing out of Jesus’ mouth to His Apostles after His resurrection is, “Peace be with you” (John 20:18). When I think of what “peace” means, I think it’s not so much about what’s going on outside as what’s going on inside. It’s the ultimate trust in God – believing that He is in control, and that no matter what happens, He has allowed it, and is taking care of it completely. I think that’s what gives God the greatest glory – when we truly trust Him to take care. Maybe it won’t be taken care of according to my timeline, but it’s His timeline that matters, not mine! I have to have confidence that it’s in His hands. I don’t have to worry about it. Sometimes we like to take back the things we’ve handed over to Him, saying, “Thanks for holding onto it, but now I’ll take care of it again!” But to place things in His hands and then really leave it there…That is truly a wonderful gift we can offer to God.

Easter is a time to give thanks, and praise Him for His power, and believe so confidently in that power. And then nothing can take your peace away. Nothing. The only thing that can take it away is if you give it away, in the sense that you allow somebody to take it, because you give somebody or something more power than your confidence in God. The peace of Christ in unshakeable, and I wish that Easter peace to everybody today.

May your peace be as unshakeable as this plant bursting through the asphalt this Easter

Lamentations Audio

April 4, 2023

Our community hold the tradition of anticipating Easter by praying Jeremiah’s Lamentations during the Divine Office on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday every year. Our custom is to appoint a different Sister to sing these in Latin during Matins. Beginning with the most junior nun assigned to sing, and ending with our Abbess, Mother Maria-Michael, this video highlights a short segment from each of the nine Lamentations passages we use.

Below is the full text of these moving scriptures:

Lamentations 1:1-5

How solitary sits the city,
once filled with people.
She who was great among the nations
is now like a widow.
Once a princess among the provinces,
now a toiling slave.

She weeps incessantly in the night,
her cheeks damp with tears.
She has no one to comfort her
from all her lovers;
Her friends have all betrayed her,
and become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile,
after oppression and harsh labor;
She dwells among the nations,
yet finds no rest:
All her pursuers overtake her
in the narrow straits.

The roads to Zion mourn,
empty of pilgrims to her feasts.
All her gateways are desolate,
her priests groan,
Her young women grieve;
her lot is bitter.

Her foes have come out on top,
her enemies are secure;
Because the LORD has afflicted her
for her many rebellions.
Her children have gone away,
captive before the foe.

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)

Lamentations 1:6-9

From daughter Zion has gone
all her glory:
Her princes have become like rams
that find no pasture.
They have gone off exhausted
before their pursuers.

Jerusalem remembers
in days of wretched homelessness,
All the precious things she once had
in days gone by.
But when her people fell into the hands of the foe,
and she had no help,
Her foes looked on and laughed
at her collapse.

Jerusalem has sinned grievously,
therefore she has become a mockery;
Those who honored her now demean her,
for they saw her nakedness;
She herself groans out loud,
and turns away.

Her uncleanness is on her skirt;
she has no thought of her future.
Her downfall is astonishing,
with no one to comfort her.
“Look, O LORD, at my misery;
how the enemy triumphs!”

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)

Lamentations 1:10-14

The foe stretched out his hands
to all her precious things;
She has seen the nations
enter her sanctuary,
Those you forbade to come
into your assembly.

All her people groan,
searching for bread;
They give their precious things for food,
to retain the breath of life.
“Look, O LORD, and pay attention
to how I have been demeaned!

Come, all who pass by the way,
pay attention and see:
Is there any pain like my pain,
which has been ruthlessly inflicted upon me,
With which the LORD has tormented me
on the day of his blazing wrath?

From on high he hurled fire down
into my very bones;
He spread out a net for my feet,
and turned me back.
He has left me desolate,
in misery all day long.

The yoke of my rebellions is bound together,
fastened by his hand.
His yoke is upon my neck;
he has made my strength fail.
The Lord has delivered me into the grip
of those I cannot resist.

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)

Lamentations 2:8-11

The LORD was bent on destroying
the wall of daughter Zion:
He stretched out the measuring line;
did not hesitate to devour,
Brought grief on rampart and wall
till both succumbed.

Her gates sank into the ground;
he smashed her bars to bits.
Her king and her princes are among the nations;
instruction is wanting,
Even her prophets do not obtain
any vision from the LORD.

The elders of daughter Zion
sit silently on the ground;
They cast dust on their heads
and dress in sackcloth;
The young women of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground.

My eyes are spent with tears,
my stomach churns;
My bile is poured out on the ground
at the brokenness of the daughter of my people,
As children and infants collapse
in the streets of the town.

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)

Lamentations 2:12-15

They cry out to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
As they faint away like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
in their mothers’ arms.

To what can I compare you—to what can I liken you—
O daughter Jerusalem?
What example can I give in order to comfort you,
virgin daughter Zion?
For your breach is vast as the sea;
who could heal you?

Your prophets provided you visions
of whitewashed illusion;
They did not lay bare your guilt,
in order to restore your fortunes;
They saw for you only oracles
of empty deceit.

All who pass by on the road,
clap their hands at you;
They hiss and wag their heads
over daughter Jerusalem:
“Is this the city they used to call
perfect in beauty and joy of all the earth?”

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)

Lamentations 3:1-9

I am one who has known affliction
under the rod of God’s anger,
One whom he has driven and forced to walk
in darkness, not in light;
Against me alone he turns his hand—
again and again all day long.
He has worn away my flesh and my skin,
he has broken my bones;
He has besieged me all around
with poverty and hardship;
He has left me to dwell in dark places
like those long dead.
He has hemmed me in with no escape,
weighed me down with chains;
Even when I cry for help,
he stops my prayer;
He has hemmed in my ways with fitted stones,
and made my paths crooked.

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)

Lamentations 3:22-30

The LORD’s acts of mercy are not exhausted,
his compassion is not spent;
They are renewed each morning—
great is your faithfulness!
The LORD is my portion, I tell myself,
therefore I will hope in him.
The LORD is good to those who trust in him,
to the one that seeks him;
It is good to hope in silence
for the LORD’s deliverance.
It is good for a person, when young,
to bear the yoke,
To sit alone and in silence,
when its weight lies heavy,
To put one’s mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope—
To offer one’s cheek to be struck,
to be filled with disgrace.

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)

Lamentations 4:1-6

How the gold has lost its luster,
the noble metal changed;
Jewels lie scattered
at the corner of every street.

And Zion’s precious children,
worth their weight in gold—
How they are treated like clay jugs,
the work of any potter!

Even jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people is as cruel
as the ostrich in the wilderness.

The tongue of the infant cleaves
to the roof of its mouth in thirst;
Children beg for bread,
but no one gives them a piece.

Those who feasted on delicacies
are abandoned in the streets;
Those who reclined on crimson
now embrace dung heaps.

The punishment of the daughter of my people
surpassed the penalty of Sodom,
Which was overthrown in an instant
with no hand laid on it.

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)

Lamentations 5:1-11

Remember, LORD, what has happened to us,
pay attention, and see our disgrace:
Our heritage is turned over to strangers,
our homes, to foreigners.
We have become orphans, without fathers;
our mothers are like widows.
We pay money to drink our own water,
our own wood comes at a price.
With a yoke on our necks, we are driven;
we are worn out, but allowed no rest.
We extended a hand to Egypt and Assyria,
to satisfy our need of bread.
Our ancestors, who sinned, are no more;
but now we bear their guilt.
Servants rule over us,
with no one to tear us from their hands.
We risk our lives just to get bread,
exposed to the desert heat;
Our skin heats up like an oven,
from the searing blasts of famine.
Women are raped in Zion,
young women in the cities of Judah…

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)

Paschal Candles + Exsultet Audio

April 20, 2022

Thanks to the hard work of the Sisters in our paschal candle department, parishes across the state are now burning our hand-painted candles in their churches. Sister Fidelis’ beautiful scene of the tomb on Easter morning was replicated by each artist on candles large and small, depending on what each parish ordered. Paschal candles are used during the Easter Vigil Mass to carry the flame from the Easter fire into the church, and from which every other candle in the church is lit, as a symbol of Christ the true Light enlightening the world and dispelling the darkness of evil.

A very blessed Easter season to all—He is Risen!

Abbess Mother Maria-Michael sings the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil Mass. The final part of this age-old prayer is about the Easter candle, featured in the audio clip above.

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
Upon those who lived in a land of gloom
a light has shone.
Isaiah 9:1

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. This was the scripture passage he was reading:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
In (his) humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will tell of his posterity?
For his life is taken from the earth.”
Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, “I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him.
Acts 8:30-35

Walking with the Apostles

June 23, 2019

Excerpts from Mother Maria Michael’s daily reflections given to the community throughout this Easter season, highlighting the ways in which we can follow in the footsteps of the first disciples

Commenting on Acts 9, the first Mass reading from the third Friday of Easter:

We have much to learn from the reading about St. Paul’s conversion. He had the courage to ask God the question, “Who are you?”, and once he knew that it was Jesus, he made a 180 degree turn and followed Him, he who had up to that moment been persecuting Christians for the sake of God. His zeal was for God all along, only it was misguided. So he was open and ready to change his mind and his life once he had been enlightened by Jesus. It goes to show that when we truly want to know God and do His will, He will guide us. However, it may require a complete change of heart on our part, as was the case with St. Paul. Our sinful ways are never the end; Christ’s Resurrection has the final word, and so our sins can be the very things that lead us to God if we let them. Whenever we do our Lectio Divina, we should approach the Word in this way, open and ready to be surprised by God. The course of our day, the course of our lives, can be changed by the truth He reveals to us through our prayerful reading, meditation and listening.

Commenting on Acts 16, the first Mass reading from the fifth Saturday of Easter:

We hear that Paul and Timothy were prevented by the Holy Spirit from going to Asia to preach. I think this means that they knew how to listen well to the Spirit’s guidance in their lives; they must have cultivated that spirit of silent listening that is so important, that joyful silence which listens for the voice of God with the ears of the heart. In this way of being, you are even open to interruptions and failures because with God’s grace you learn to accept them as gifts from the hand of God. You may experience suffering or see suffering and not understand, but that is where faith comes in, trusting in God’s wisdom above one’s own, believing that He truly is working for the good. Yes, our ways are different than the world’s ways, because it the world tells us that we need to have an answer to everything. But as Christians we must try to accept the mysteries of life and not always need to explain them.

Commenting on Acts 22-23, the first Mass reading from the seventh Thursday of Easter:

It is good to have our motives questioned, as Paul’s were before the Sanhedrin, even when we feel that we are being accused unjustly. It is a great benefit for us to see criticism as a gift, because then no matter what, whether we are being flattered or persecuted, we can be grateful that God is giving us the opportunity to evaluate our intentions. He desires for us to stand before Him with a clear conscience, regardless of what anyone else thinks, so He allows us to be tested in this way in order that our motives may be purified. After asking ourselves whether or not an accusation about us is true, we can move forward with that self-knowledge and act accordingly, grateful for the gift of self-knowledge we have received through the experience. Through this process we will purified in our intention to do everything, no matter how small, for the glory and honor of the Father.

Reflection on Ascension Sunday:

It is hard to imagine how difficult it must have been for the apostles to go from living in community with Jesus to trying to function without Him after His Ascension. But we know that He did not leave them orphans. They had to learn, as we do now, how to recognize His presence within themselves and in each other. I imagine they had the grace to live in the way Brother Lawrence describes in his book The Practice of the Presence of God, where God is everywhere and in everyone and everything, we have only to ask for the eyes to see Him. Do we act and speak as if Christ were dwelling in the other? This is the great challenge and adventure of the Christian life, to always be on the lookout for God, joyfully anticipating finding Him in each person we meet, and yes, within our very selves.