Make His praise glorious

Sunday, 22 April 2018

Sermon at Silverstream Priory
Third Sunday after Easter 2018

Last Sunday in the Introit, we heard for our joy and consolation, “The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord” (Psalm 32:5–5). Today in the Introit, the Church sings, “Jubilate unto God all the earth; sing ye a psalm unto His Name. Make His praise glorious” (Psalm 65:1–2). The mission of the Church is to summon all the earth into jubilation unto God. Wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, men are called to lift up their hearts in the praise of God: “Sing ye a psalm to His Name. Make His praise glorious”.

The earth and all it holds exists for the praise of God. The finality of all created things is the praise of God. Man falls short of that for which he was created when he forgets or neglects to worship God. New cities are always being constructed on the ruins of the old: these are skillfully planned in view of providing their citizens with every facility and

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An Abbot’s Prayer

Saturday, 21 April 2018

Saint Anselm’s Prayer by a Bishop or Abbot to the Patron Saint of his Church

St N, Holy N, Blessed N,
one of the glorious apostles of God,
one of the blessed friends of God,
this sinner, this needy one, this one of yours,
although unworthy, although incapable,
although so unsuitable a substitute,
again and again comes back to you,
doubtful, ignorant, anxious about your people,
your congregation, and about his own peril.

Obviously I am a useless person,
adorned with no good works,
but darkened by a profound ignorance,
deformed by countless vices, burdened by huge sins.
I, I say, whom God and you after God,
either ordered or permitted (I know not which)
to be called abbot of this church under your patronage,
under your leadership, constituted under your name;
anxious about myself and those committed to me,
I beg to consult you, I pray you to listen,
and I expect you through all to work on my behalf.

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Ut sit et fortes quod cupiant et infirmi non refugiant (LXIV:1)

Saturday, 21 April 2018

Let him so temper all things, that the strong may have something to strive after,
and the weak nothing at which to take alarm. (Chapter LXIV)

CHAPTER LXIV. Of the Appointment of the Abbot
21 Apr. 21 Aug. 21 Dec.
Let him that hath been appointed Abbot always bear in mind what a burden he hath received, and to Whom he will have to give an account of his stewardship; and let him know that it beseemeth him more to profit his brethren than to preside over them. He must, therefore, be learned in the Law of God, that he may know whence to bring forth new things and old: he must be chaste, sober, merciful, ever preferring mercy to justice, that he himself may obtain mercy. Let him hate sin, and love the brethren. And even in his corrections, let him act with prudence, and not go too far, lest while he seeketh too eagerly to scrape off the rust, the vessel be broken. Let him keep his own frailty ever before his eyes,

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Ex illa die non liceat egredi de monasterio (LVIII:1)

Friday, 20 April 2018

CHAPTER LVIII. Of the Discipline of receiving Brethren into Religion
Continued from 11 Apr.
And if he promise steadfastly to persevere, after the lapse of two months let this Rule be read through to him, with these words: “Behold the law, under which thou desirest to fight. If thou canst observe it, enter in; if thou canst not, freely depart.” If he still stand firm, let him be taken back to the aforesaid cell of the Novices, and again tried with all patience. And, after a space of six months, let the Rule be again read to him, that he may know unto what he cometh. Should he still persevere, after four months let the same Rule be read to him once more. And if, having well considered within himself, he promise to keep it in all things, and to observe everything that is commanded him, then let him be received into the community, knowing that he is now bound by the law of the Rule, so that from that day forward he cannot depart from the Monastery, nor shake

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Ad Deum (LVIII:1)

Thursday, 19 April 2018

CHAPTER LVIII. Of the Discipline of receiving Brethren into Religion
Continued from 11 Apr.
Let a senior, one who is skilled in gaining souls, be appointed over him to watch him with the utmost care, and to see whether he is truly seeking God, and is fervent in the Work of God, in obedience and in humiliations. Let all the hard and rugged paths by which we walk towards God be set before him.

Praedicentur ei omnia dura et aspera per quae itur ad Deum. “Let all the hard and rugged paths by which we go to God be told him in advance”. Ad Deum. The word God occurs three times in only two verses of Chapter LVIII. I do not think that this threefold repetition of God in verses 7 and 8 is inadvertent.

7 Et sollicitudo sit si revera Deum quaerit, si sollicitus est ad opus Dei, ad oboedientiam, ad opprobria. 8 Praedicentur ei omnia dura et aspera per quae itur ad Deum.

The monk truly seeks God; he assists at the Work of

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Support the monks of Silverstream Priory:

Situated amidst pasture land and forest in the eastern reaches of County Meath, Silverstream Priory was founded in 2012 at the invitation of the Most Reverend Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath, and canonically erected as an autonomous monastery of diocesan right on 25 February 2017. The property belonged, from the early 15th century, to the Preston family, premier Viscounts of Ireland and Lords of Gormanston. In 1843 Thomas Preston (1817-1903), son of Jenico Preston, the 12th Viscount (1775-1860), built what today is Silverstream Priory.

Silverstream Priory is a providential realisation of the cherished project of Abbot Celestino Maria Colombo, O.S.B. (1874–1935), who, following the impetus given by Catherine–Mectilde de Bar in the 17th century, sought to establish a house of Benedictine monks committed to ceaseless prayer before the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar in a spirit of reparation. The community of Silverstream Priory holding to the use of Latin and Gregorian Chant, celebrate the Divine Office in its traditional Benedictine form and Holy Mass in the “Usus Antiquior” of the Roman Rite. Praying and working in the enclosure of the monastery, the monks of Silverstream keep at heart the sanctification of priests labouring in the vineyard of the Lord. They undertake various works compatible with their monastic vocation, notably the development of the land and gardens, hospitality to the clergy in need of a spiritual respite, scholarly work, and publishing.

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