Saints – Abbey of St. Walburga

Padre Pio’s Example

September 23, 2022

“You ought to ask the Lord for just one thing: to love Him.”
PADRE PIO

“Joy, with peace, is the sister of charity. Serve the Lord with laughter.”

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

St. Padre Pio is a favorite of many; you cannot but love him. His whole life was one of suffering, yet he was known to have a great sense of humor. He also had a righteous temper! Padre Pio knew what sin was, he knew exactly how it separated people from God, and he took offense at it.

The example of Padre Pio reminds me of what we read in the book of Haggai. Haggai 1:7 says: “Consider your ways/Reflect on your experience.” If we are serious about our lives, we will do just that. Monastic tradition dictates that we reflect on our lives particularly twice a day: at noon and in the evening at Compline.

“God’s spirit is a spirit of peace, and even when we have serious faults, he grants us a tranquil, humbled, confident pain which depends entirely on his mercy.”
PADRE PIO

We reflect on our day for the purpose of conversion. It’s not to take into account everybody else’s faults; it’s to account for our own reactions. I’m responsible for my reactions. Yes, people can push my buttons: they can be nasty, they can do all kinds of things, but that doesn’t mean that I have to react badly. The reason we are to consider our ways is so that we can change them. Beware of going through life saying “it’s everybody else’s fault.”

We also play a part in how we are to our [brothers and] sisters. Don’t push people’s buttons. If you know something hurts them, be aware of it. Go the extra mile to be kind in that area. Be aware of the weaknesses of one another. What we can do to help one another, we’re responsible for doing.

“Consider your ways” (Haggai 1:7). People are saying “Oh no… no-no… it’s not the time for that. It’s not the time to build the house within” (cf. Haggai 1:2). That’s what the world says, but God says it is the time. How are we supposed to do it? Read again in Haggai, “Go up into the hill country; bring timber, that I may be pleased with it, and that I may be glorified, says the Lord” (Haggai 1:8). Bring the Cross. Carry It. Follow Him.

Remember Who Christ is in your life. Keep Him before you daily. Every moment. Seek His Face every single moment.

The Cross of Believing
I will give up my idols of silver and gold
So that my hands may be free to embrace the bronze
Serpent, mounted on the pole,
That is Christ the Lord,
Crucified for the unworthy.
And I will carry this cross wherever I go —
This burden, both sweet and light,
Of believing that this God-man has loved
And given himself up for me,
Satisfying the Divine Justice with his boundless Mercy.
Life can never be the same.
Anonymous Nun

The Solemnity of All Saints

November 2, 2021

A reflection for the Solemnity by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

What made the saints? What unifies them is that they all strove to seek God’s will. That is the most important point that unites the saints – the will of God. It takes the grace of God to do His will. We are called to seek it at all times and to remember with confidence that God only wills good things for us, He wills the very best. We have the ability to choose His will or not. Can you surrender completely and hand something to God and say, “What do you want me to do? What is your will for me?” That is what the saints did, and not just once, they made it a lifelong practice.

Saint Benedict is so adamant about us giving up our wills, our pushiness, our desires, our way of doing things, our vision of who we are, so that we can know God’s vision of who we are. Self-will is so strong that if we don’t learn to recognize it and to intentionally do God’s will instead, we’ll always be fumbling, we’ll never be steady. God’s will is steady; God’s will is stable.

One way of discerning God’s will is that what we’re asked to do will require us to depend on Him. You need the grace to do God’s will. And that’s what the saints did so well. They depended on God for everything. They asked God for everything. The Saints were so confident in the help of God. They never tried to do it alone.

I recently read that in the process of canonizing a saint, the person is declared “Venerable” after the Vatican Congregation determines that the Servant of God lived a life of heroic virtue. Heroic virtue doesn’t mean a person was perfect or sinless, but that she worked aggressively to improve herself spiritually and never gave up trying to be better or grow in holiness. That means we’re all candidates! As Benedictines, we take a vow of conversion – no wonder there are so many Benedictine saints. It’s what we do every day. We get up and try again. We keep trying because we want to, we want to be holy, we want to belong to God, we want to sing His praises. We want to intercede for the world. We want to live for Him. We want to care for what He loves, and we want to live with Him forever. Those are the ingredients of a saint right there.

So don’t grow slack. Seek God’s will. He seeks you and He desires only our good, only our good. Pray for the will of God for each other. Join your will with God’s and will it for another and you will be saying the best prayer you could say for anybody.

Thank you for being faithful to end, for persevering and for struggling when it was hard. Thank you for loving when it is hard to love, because that means that God is doing it for you. Let’s celebrate the Saints and ask them for help. Reach up and ask them. And then maybe 200 years for now, this feast of All Saints will be our feast too. I wish it for all of you.

“The Solemnity of All Saints is “our” celebration: not because we are good, but because the sanctity of God has touched our life. The Saints are not perfect models, but people through whom God has passed. We can compare them to the Church windows which allow light to enter in different shades of colour. The saints are our brothers and sisters who have welcomed the light of God in their heart and have passed it on to the world, each according to his or her own “hue”. But they were all transparent; they fought to remove the stains and the darkness of sin, so as to enable the gentle light of God to pass through. This is life’s purpose: to enable God’s light to pass through; it is the purpose of our life too.”
Pope Francis, Angelus Address for November 1, 2017

Artwork by our retired Abbess, Mother Maria-Thomas, OSB

On Gaining Heaven

November 30, 2020

This November, as the Church remembers in a special way all the departed, Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB, reflects on what it takes to inherit the heavenly kingdom

“Heaven is not a place where there is the mere vocal repetition of alleluias or the monotonous fingering of harps. Heaven is a place where we find the fullness of all the fine things we enjoy on this earth. Heaven is a place where we find, in their plenitude, those things which slake the thirst of hearts, satisfy the hunger of starving minds, and give rest to unrequited love. Heaven is the communion with perfect Life, perfect Truth, and perfect Love, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, to whom be all honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen

We have probably all experienced those “thin places” in life where God peeks through and seems to say, “I’m here!” We thank God for those moments, because they make us stop in our tracks and realize His presence. These “thin places” are little glimpses of heaven. I think that hell is more like a house of mirrors. Before Adam and Eve fell, there was something like a clear crystal between them and God, and they saw Him perfectly; but then after they sinned the crystal became a mirror, and they became totally self-centered. And that’s why we go to Confession frequently—to open up that mirror again. They say that heaven and hell have the same banquet, but the spoons are really long, so in hell everyone is trying to feed himself and misses his mouth, while those in heaven get to enjoy the feast because they are feeding each other.

When we die and stand before God to be judged, it won’t be scary if we already know ourselves and know Him. Do you remember those teachers in school who really tried to help you out before the exams by telling you what to watch out for? Didn’t you love those teachers? Well Jesus in the Gospels does the same thing for us (cf. Matthew 25:31-40). His teaching on our judgment is also outlined in the Catechism: [God will say on that day,] “I placed my poor little ones on earth for you. I, as their head, was seated in heaven at the right hand of my Father—but on earth my members were suffering, my members on earth were in need. If you have anything to my members, what you gave would reach their Head” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1039). This is a beautiful section of the Catechism because it tells us each what we need to do. We are appointed specifically to love the little ones in our midst. The little ones are each one of us, and we have to pay attention to what we place before and in each other, because ultimately it goes to God. So whatever we do to one another, we’ve done to Christ. Choose to do today what you want to do for all eternity. If you spend your life praising God, blessing others, and loving them, that is how you will spend all eternity.

Don’t think the Saints aren’t watching and fighting for you. It’s never too late to turn around; all of the Saints had to. Each Saint has been won by God, and not one of them didn’t have to struggle in life. I bet heaven goes crazy cheering over the ones who hell thought they had. Let God be victorious in you.