Ad Deum

Thursday, 19 April 2018

CHAPTER LVIII. Of the Discipline of receiving Brethren into Religion
11 Apr. 11 Aug. 11 Dec.
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

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Omnia dura et aspera per quae itur ad Deum

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

CHAPTER LVIII. Of the Discipline of receiving Brethren into Religion
11 Apr. 11 Aug. 11 Dec.
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.

Saint Benedict would have the Master of Novices forewarn his novice that the monastic journey to God will take him along hard and rugged paths. Praedicentur ei omnia dura et aspera per quae itur ad Deum. The monastic life is not a spiritual pleasure cruise. Omnia dura et aspera. According to Lewis and Short, dura refers to things that are hard, severe, toilsome, troublesome, burdensome, disagreeable, and adverse. Asper, acccording to some authors, derives from the Greek ἀσπαίρω, which means to struggle in agony against death. Others make asper derive from the Latin ab spe, which is the opposite of prosper

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Ad oboedientiam, ad opprobria

Tuesday, 17 April 2018

CHAPTER LVIII. Of the Discipline of receiving Brethren into Religion
11 Apr. 11 Aug. 11 Dec.
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.

We come today to the ultimate criterion by which the Master of Novices can measure a man’s suitability for the monastic life. After having verified that the novice is truly seeking God, that he is faithful and unstinting in the Work of God, and that he is sollicitus, — attentive, eager, passionate — with regard to obedience, Saint Benedict comes to the last and, in some way, determining criterion, and it has to do with humility. Si sollicitus est ad opus Dei, ad oboedientiam, ad opprobria.

In defining opprobrium, Lewis and Short refer to reproach, scandal, disgrace, and dishonor. Abbot Hunter–Blair,

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Dialogue of a Sick Man and Christ the Comforter

Tuesday, 17 April 2018

The Abbé Henri Perreyve (1831–1865) was a sensitive and gifted young priest, a friend of Frédéric Ozanam and of Père Lacordaire. He joined the Oratory of Paris, but was obliged to withdraw when he fell ill of tuberculosis in 1863. He died at the age of 34 in Paris on 26 June 1865, after having found meaning in his suffering and given hope to many. The following dialogue between a sick man and Christ the Consoler is taken from the Abbé Perreyve’s little book, “Counsels to the Sick”, translated by Kathleen O’Meara, London, 1881.

The sick man:
Lord, the day wears on and the sun already begins to decline : Thy words and Thy grace have sustained me until this hour, but fresh trials come with mid-day, and, as it were, fuller floods of suffering. I see the business of life going on all around me, I hear far-off sounds which speak to me of the diligent and useful labours of my fellow creatures. Suffering and weakness compel me to live a selfish life, just as pleasure causes selfishness

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Si sollicitus est ad opus Dei, ad oboedientiam, ad opprobria

Monday, 16 April 2018

CHAPTER LVIII. Of the Discipline of receiving Brethren into Religion
11 Apr. 11 Aug. 11 Dec.
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.

We continue today our meditation of Chapter LVIII. Saint Benedict would have the senior appointed to watch over the novice take the utmost care in verifying, first of all, if the novice is sollicitus, that is, faithful and unstinting in the Work of God. Then, Saint Benedict, would have the senior verify if the novice is also sollicitus, — attentive, eager, passionate — about obedience. By placing the three criteria of a monastic vocation in this order: the Opus Dei (Divine Office) first, then obedience, and finally humiliations; and by qualifying all three by the one adjective sollicitus, Saint Benedict sets forth a complete

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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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