Christmas at Silverstream
Merry Christmas
The Christmas season is like mountains that then becomes foothills before becoming a plain. The mountains are the 20 days of Christmas from Christmas day to today, January 13. But Christmas does not end tomorrow: Christmas continues in the sanctoral cycle for another 20 days until Candlemas, that is, the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady and the Presentation of the Lord. These are the “foothills” before reaching the plain.
Beginning with the great mountain of Christmas Day, we have joyously climbed eight mountains of various sizes, then rested in a little valley between Christmas and Epiphany. Next we ascended the massive mountain of Epiphany, and today, 13 January, on which the Church remembers the Baptism of the Lord in a special way, is our last mountain of the Christmas season proper. Christmas will not be over, but the mountain range will become foothills until we reach height of Candlemas, and after that the level ground.
It has been a particularly full time here at the monastery, and so for some weeks we have not had leisure to post. Yet the weeks of Advent and Christmas were times of grace for us. Here is some of what has been happening.
New Offices
On the First Sunday of Advent, our new offices took effect. It meant several monks moving cells and/or offices. Our Sub-Prior relinquished the role of Novice Master, which he had faithfully and fruitfully fulfilled since 2019. The Monastery welcomed a new Novice Master/Vocations Director.
Advent Vespers
Later that same day, the community made its way a small distance to the village Church of Stamullen where we sang Vespers — the first time we had sung it in the village!
Vespers were livestreamed.
(Unfortunately, the audio was a bit quiet the first week.)
Brothers on a Journey
It happens sometimes, our Father Saint Benedict says, that monks are sent on a journey. A monk never travels, never holidays, never merely goes out of the monastery, say to visit the chemist or for a medical appointment. A monk is always sent and that applies equally as much to home visits and doctor appointments as to pilgrimages and events where a monk represents the monastery. Saint Benedict provides for this, but cautions the monks who have been sent on a journey: “The established hours should not pass them by, but they should carry them out for themselves as they are able, and not neglect to render the weight of their service” (Rule, Chapter 50)
The first week of Advent, we saw this in action, as two monks were sent oversees for some days in the United States where they represented the monastery and met with various friends and benefactors. Thanks be to God, they returned safe and sound, and we were all able to be together again as we prepared for and celebrated Christmas.
Novice Retreats
At the end of that week, our two postulants went on retreat to prepare to receive the Holy Habit. During this time, they were excused from the community exercises and devoted themselves to prayer and rest, while the new Father Master gave them spiritual conferences. The date of their clothing was set for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Vespers for the Immaculate Conception
On the Second Sunday of Advent, the professed monks left for the second time to the village church of Saint Patrick, this time to sing First Vespers of the Immaculate Conception.
The postulants, still on retreat, stayed home at the monastery.
Once again Vespers were broadcast on the Parish’s livestream.
Days of Two Matins
At Silverstream, we have the custom of welcoming some of the greater solemnities by anticipating Matins. Matins is normally said before the sun arises in the morning. Having it the night before gives us the ability to chant more of it — when it is done in the morning, it is sung recto tono. Nighttime Matins not only provides us with the opportunity to have a more ornate and fitting Matins, but it can also sometimes seem somehow more intense, as if we are engaged in the warfare of what Saint Benedict calls the “fraternal battle array” (Rule, Chapter 1).
After returning from First Vespers at the Parish Church, we had Compline, some spiritual reading, a short supper, then it was back to the choir for Matins. Between Sunday Matins in the morning and the Matins of the Immaculate Conception in the evening, we spent nearly four hours chanting Matins on Sunday! (Of course, on Monday we were able to sleep in a little!)
Clothing the Novices
Monday Morning, the Immaculate Coneption, began with Lectio Divina, then Lauds and Prime. At the end of Prime, the two postulants stayed in the Oratory while the community went to the Chapter Room. It was announced that two men wanted to be clothed in the Holy Habit, and Father Subprior asked that they be brought in. After they stated their intent, Father Subprior gave them a sermon and the traditional exhortation, washed their feet, and then exchanged their secular clothing for the Holy Habit.
The Monastery now had two new novices!
A Trip to Knock
It was only a few days later that the Novitiate made their first outing together — the four of them travelling to Knock to commend themselves and the whole novitiate to Our Lady. There is a great sympathy between the spirit of the apparition of Knock and the vocation of our own monastery. At the most obvious level, all those at Knock are patrons of Our Lady of the Cenacle — Our Lady, of course, but also Saint Joseph, Saint John the Beloved, and Saint John the Baptist (the apparition occurred at the Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist). But the similarities go deeper than that. For instance, the Lamb of God appeared on the altar, surrounded by angels and attended by the Blessed Virgin and the Saints. We as Monks of Perpetual Adoration take our place throughout the day before the Lamb standing as if slain, attended by angels and archangels, thrones and dominions, and the whole host of heaven, and even more, by the great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy.
It looked at first like a head cold might interrupt the plans, but the novitiate was not easily deterred! The trip was, by all accounts, very blessed, and the novitiate was truly thankful for the generosity of the benefactors who provided transportation, food, and shelter! On Saturday night, the novices watched the documentary of Sister Clare Crockett for the first time.
But if the bravery of the novitiate was lavishly rewarded, it has to be admitted that the next week after returning was spent fighting the head cold!
Gaudete Sunday
On Gaudete Sunday, the community went out for the third time to the Parish Church to sing Advent Vespers. Once again, it was livestreamed.
The Super Missus Est
Ember Wednesday saw once again a beloved Benedictine tradition. The monks attended Prime in cucullae and cloaks. Several of the brothers disappeared discretely towards the end of Prime, and as we processed to the Chapter Room, we saw them dressed in albs and lighting candles. Father Subprior donned a cope, and priest and ministers processed in to wafting clouds of incense. After incensing the book, Father Subprior chanted the Gospel of Ember Wednesday, the Gospel of the Annunciation. Then he gave the traditional Super Missus Est, a sermon upon the Gospel of the Annunciation. Throughout Benedictine history, this has long been one of the primary sermons of the year, and an event looked forward to and long remembered.
Ember Saturday
Embertide is always a time of housecleaning, inventory, renewal of permissions, and so forth. The high point of the Ember Week is Ember Saturday, with its six readings. It is always a break from business-as-usual, if for no other reason than the length of the Mass! It is also a day of fasting, which sets it apart. For us who exist in order to make reparation for the sins of priests and unite ourselves to all the priests of the Catholic Church in our adoration, Embertide has a special meaning. Ember Saturday was historically the day of ordinations, and so Saturday especially put us in mind of the great need the Church has for priests.
Vespers of the Fourth Sunday
On Rorate Sunday, the community had its fourth and last Vespers at the Parish Church, which was also livestreamed.
Christmas Decoration
Monasteries are among the only places in the Western World where Christmas carols are not heard until Christmas. Advent is celebrated right up to Christmas Eve. In order to facilitate this, we do not put up our Christmas decoration until right before Christmas. On Monday the monks saw a Christmas tree leaning against the building outside. It wasn’t put up into our common room until Tuesday, though! This tree could hardly be called a Cast-Off Christmas Tree!
Tuesday was spent decorating, but Father Master found some time at the end on the day to give a conference of the O Antiphons, a great liturgical high-point. Decoration was finished Christmas Eve, just in time for Vespers.
Christmas Night
Of course monks are used to going to bed early and waking up early, and after years of following this schedule, bodies that could once stay up till the wee hours become otherwise inclined. Perhaps this is why the monastic tradition considers vigils as true penitential practices!
Of course few liturgies of the year are more beautiful and solemn than those of Christmas night. Beginning after nine, the monks chanted almost the entirety of Matins, and the first Mass of Christmas, the Mass in the middle of the night, began just before midnight. After Mass, we enjoyed an early morning collation together (after singing to the child in the manger), before getting into bed at 2 AM–an unusual time for monks!
Christmas
Lauds, Prime, and Mass at Dawn preceded breakfast for many of the monks, then there was a short period to stretch our legs, and the High Mass during the day. Puer natus est nobis! Some of the monks cooked a bountiful meal: Christmas turkey and ham. Later, after Vespers, Benediction, and supper, we had a festive evening recreation. At Silverstream, the monks sing Christmas carols together at the end of recreation during Christmastide. In singing carols we experience tangibly the way in which Christmas has brought us together as a family in Christ.
Saint John’s Wine
On the Feast of Saint John, the Roman Ritual gives a blessing for wine. In the Rule of Saint Benedict, wine is permitted on the monastic table. We were able to put whatever wine we had in a basket and bring it into the oratory after Mass. Since then, each bottle of wine has had a little label: Drink in Honour of Saint John.
Holy Innocents
On the the feast of the Holy Innocents, one of the novices had the opportunity to be “Prior for the day” as a way to celebrate the feast. He sat in the Prior’s chair and gave the chapter talk for the day.
New Year’s
The New Year was ushered in, after chanting Matins, by singing the Miserere together, and then, at midnight, consecrating ourselves and the monastery once again to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The brothers then enjoyed a small celebration in the kitchen.
Saint Charles of Mount Argus
Christmas afforded a bit of spiritual relaxation for some of the monks. While some went to Knock, the novitiate travelled down to Dublin on 5 January, the feast of Saint Charles of Mount Argus, whose major relics are in Dublin.
Epiphany
The Solemnity of the Epiphany is identified by Mother Mectilde as one of the most important days of adoration during the year. On the Vigil of the Feast, before Vespers, we had already celebrated the solemn blessing of Epiphany water, in honour of Our Lord’s sanctification of the waters of the Jordan in His Baptism. Later that evening, we had a very solemn celebration of Matins, culminating in the Gospel of the Epiphany, during which all genuflected in adoration at the words: procidentes adoraverunt eum, “falling down, they adored Him.”
A particularly moving moment of the principal Mass of the day is the announcement of the moveable feasts of the year: of Septuagesima Sunday, of Ash Wednesday, of Easter, and so forth. It is the first time in the year that we hear the wondrous and ancient melody made famous by the Exultet of the Paschal Vigil. Already in the midst of the Christmas season, the Church turns our hearts to the Death and Resurrection of our Lord.
After Holy Mass, chalk was blessed in honour of the three Magi. An old custom that prevails in many parts of the Catholic world would have us entrust our dwelling places to the three Magi on the feast of Epiphany. We did this in the monastery in the traditional way, by writing the year and the initials of the three Magi, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, over the doors of the Monastery: 20+C+M+B+26.
Christmas Greetings from the Monastery
As we leave behind the feasts of Christmas of the temporal cycle, we feel consoled by the knowledge that the Christmas season remains with us for another 20 days through the sanctoral cycle. In many places, some of the Christmas decorations remain until 2 February, and we try to maintain this custom as much as possible, for instance by leaving the creche in place.
Our prayers for you are that you would experience the continued joy of the Birth of our Saviour. We wish you a happy Christmas, both today, and in the weeks ahead!