Bryan Sherwood

A Special Moment in the Mass

One of the first times I was at Mass at Gethsemani, I was struck by a particular part of the Mass.

All: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Priest: Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
All: For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.

This portion of the Mass occurs during the Communion Rite itself. As the Church moves closer to receiving the body and blood of Christ, we pray the words of the Lord's Prayer together. Then the priest prays this beautiful prayer:

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I love that prayer. It strikes close to home for me. It speaks to me every single time I hear it. It's a prayer worth wrestling with. I find it interesting that it asks the Lord to grant us peace and to protect us from all anxiety as we wait for Jesus to return. Let me tell you, when the priest utters that prayer, I pray it as hard as I can. I mouth those words. As I walk down front and receive the bread and wine, I'm reminded again that He is the one who brings healing. I take Him inside of me and pray that I may be able to rest in His peace.

Pax.

The World Is Their Cloister

Heather and I drove down to the Abbey of Gethsemani yesterday for my monthly LCG Meeting. It was fun having her along. I did all the usual stuff: attended our LCG group meeting, went to Mass and stayed for a potluck meal. Fr. Michael passed along a great little article to us called The World Is Their Cloister which was published in The Tablet. The article talks about the increasing numbers of lay people who are interested in connecting to monastic life. I'm not exactly surprised by that--people are looking for deep, time-tested ways of being formed and find a lot of good wisdom in the monastic tradition.

I hope monasteries like Gethsemani will continue to add new vocations. Yet, it's hard to ignore the exponential growth of lay groups like the LCG. I believe the Holy Spirit is spreading the charism of monastic life around. It'll be interesting to see how monastic life changes over the next several decades.

Pax.

Gethsemani Sundays at Joseph-Beth - Update

Hello all. I thought many of you may be interested in listening to the podcasts of the various monk talks taking placing at Joseph-Beth Bookstore here in Lexington. I didn't make it the first week but had the privilege of listening to Br. Paul share some of his poetry from his book, Monkswear. Really good stuff. I also snapped a few photos. Enjoy!

Pax.

A New Abbot

The Abbey of Gethsemani's abbot, Damien Thompson, has retired. I noticed that Abbot Damien was absent from choir this past Sunday and his crozier was also removed from the choir. I was saddened by that since the only abbot I've known there has been Abbot Damien. These Trappists will be electing themselves a new spiritual father at the end of the month (April 29?). Please keep them in your prayers during this important time.

I'll leave you with Benedict's words from The Rule:

In choosing an abbot, the guiding principle should always be that the man placed in office be the one selected either by the whole community acting unanimously in the fear of God, or by some part of the community, no matter how small, which possesses sound judgment. Goodness of life and wisdom in teaching must be the criteria for choosing the one to be made abbot, even if he is the last in community rank. . .

Let him recognize that his goal must be profit for the monks, not preeminence for himself. He ought therefore, to be learned in divine law, so that he has a treasury of knowledge from which he can bring out what is new and what is old (Matt 13:52). He must be chaste, temperate, and merciful. He should always let mercy triumph over judgment (Jas 2:13) so that he too may win mercy. He must hate faults but love the brothers. (Rule of St. Benedict 64:1-2, 7-11)

Pax.

Gethsemani Sundays at Joseph-Beth

If you have an interest in monasticism, stop by Joseph-Beth on Sunday afternoons this month and enjoy Revealing the Mystery. I hope to make it for a few of these lectures.

Things I Like . . .

Some things I like . . .

> Matt Maher's Music. Brandon tells me he has a new album coming out in a week or so. He's a young Catholic musician who I think is pretty talented and his music has depth. I think I originally discovered him on Brandon's blog a year or two ago. Thanks Brandon.

> Icons. Praying with icons has helped add a physical dimension to my prayer life. I like what Jim Forest writes in his book, Praying With Icons:

One of the odd things that has happened to prayer in much of western Christianity — in some churches with the Reformation, in others more recently — has been the drastic erosion of the physical dimension of spiritual life. Prayer has become mainly an activity of the head. Many of us have become like birds trying to fly with one wing. Icons can help us grow back the missing wing, the physical aspect of prayer.

I agree. Check out his website for more great info. on icons.

> Spending time at the Abbey of Gethsemani. Since I first visited Gethsemani for a retreat in 2005, that place and the community of monks there have meant a great deal to me. Seeing men faithfully live out the Gospel is encouraging to me. I find that when things are the darkest for me, Gethsemani is a place of refuge. I never go there that I don't feel better about life. Somehow, in the quiet this place offers, the Spirit does His work.

> Photography. Since I was a kid I've always had an interest in photography and cameras. Anyone remember Kodak's "disc" camera? I had one of those. It was all the rage back in the 80s. It took crappy photos though. The negative was teeny tiny. Anyway, I do enjoy photography. I think my photos tend to be of a contemplative nature.

I guess that's enough for now. I could go on and on (I like . . . Mary, Prayer Books, the Liturgy, etc.). Maybe I'll tackle a few more in another post (or maybe not).

Pax.

First Impressions

My first few hours at St. Meinrad's have been very different from what I'm accustomed to as a retreatant at Gethsemani.  First, let me say Benedictines eat better or at the very least, their guests do!  I just had pork chops, roasted potatoes with cheese, corn, and dessert.  The food is remarkably better and I for one, have no problem with that! 

Vespers was a bit different than I'm used to as well but was very beautiful.  The chanting here is extraordinary.  The church is arranged in a much more inclusive and open way.  I enjoyed it very much.  It doesn't look as though they pray compline together which makes me a little sad.  I guess I'll be doing that in my room this evening.

Technology seems to be everywhere here.  Each guest room has a wired internet connection and there are computer stations in the guest house and library that are available for use as well.  Currently, I'm sitting in the guest house lobby typing this post.  It's probably good that I didn't bring my laptop--that would probably be distracting to me.

Each guest room is also stocked with a few books to read including a Bible and a book on The Rule of Saint Benedict.  Kind of a nice touch, I think.

The size of this campus is much larger than I'm used to at Gethsemani.  It's beautiful though and I'll enjoy roaming around here for the next several days.  If the weather forecast holds true, I should see four or more inches of SNOW while I'm here.  Nothing could make me happier!

Okay, I guess that's all that I have for now.  I'm going to take my coffee back to my room for some quiet reading.

Pax.

Words to Live By

The older I get, the more I realize that most things are none of my business. (A saying of a monk of Gethsemani).

Amen. Good words to live by.

Finding Renewal in God's Creation

Renew those who feel empty or anxious with the grace and beauty of your creation.
-- Lord, help your people.

That was part of a litany I prayed recently.  I immediately thought about the truth and relevance of this prayer.  Not surprisingly, it was penned by monks who speak from a wealth of history and experience.  However, this isn’t just their prayer.  It’s our prayer.    It’s my prayer.  I’ve prayed it before . . . not in so many words but often from a place of anxiety and sadness. 

This is a prayer I know to be true.  Somehow, some way, God renews me when I feel the saddest through the splendor of His creation.  One of the reasons I love to spend time at the Abbey of Gethsemani is because of its sheer beauty.  1800 acres of mostly undeveloped woods and fields to explore.  At the end of the day I may be physically tired but I’m always renewed.  That’s the power of God’s creation in my life.

Realistically, I can’t physically spend all of my time in the woods but I am learning to take moments through the day to gaze out the window in front of my cubicle and soon find myself walking along the trail, listening to the stream gurgle and the birds sing.

Peace.

Compline at Gethsemani

One of my favorite times of prayer at the Abbey of Gethsemani is compline. One of the most beautiful hours of the day, in my opinion. The church is dark. The monks have chanted Psalm 4 and 91 so many times, they know them by heart. A couple of years ago, I took my voice recorder along to capture one of those prayer times. The quality isn't great but it brings back a lot of good memories.

Download compline_at_gethsemani.mp3