Homily: Feast of St. Benedict

Feast of St. Benedict (Mt. 9:32-38) “To Work and to Pray”

I have been greatly influenced by Benedictines throughout my life. I spent six years at St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Indiana from the time I was a junior in college until I was ordained. This was a very formative period of my life. I have also been close to the sisters at St. Mary Monastery that is now located in Rock, Island. Before that the monastery was in Nauvoo, Illinois.

St. Benedict lived in the 5th and 6th century. He started what some would say is the oldest religious order in the church’s history. His order started during what some would label the dark ages. Italy had just seen the collapse of the Roman Empire so there was chaos on the European continent. The monasteries became islands of stability amid uncertainty. The Benedictine way of life has spread throughout the world. Without the monasteries much of Western Civilizations knowledge would have been lost. In the monasteries there were scientific discoveries and the arts flourished.

What did I learn from the Benedictines. I absorbed a sense of stability. St. Meinrad’s architecture looked like something out of the Middle Ages. The sandstone buildings were erected by the monks themselves in the late eighteen hundreds. The monks might be intellectuals, but they might just as well be craftsman. We had monks who were cobblers, tailors, carpenters, farmers and wine makers.

The motto of St. Benedict was “ora et labora.” This meant to pray and to work. All the resources of the monks were pooled together. The community owned everything. The monks would work hard, but they would stop several times a day to have common prayer known as liturgy of the hours.

It was inspiring to see how the monks would be working hard on a project and a bell would ring. They would drop everything to go to the church to pray. This kept everything in perspective. Everything that was done was done for the glory of God.

Reflection Questions:

1.    Do I have a balance in my life or does one thing dominate my life? What might that be?

2.   How often do I pray during the day? Does my prayer reflect on my life?

 Dear Parishioners,

           Suzie Budde, the parishes administrative assistant had surgery today. This was to repair a tear in her bladder and to stop some bleeding. I don’t want to go into more detail. The key thing is for all of us to pray for her. She has been struggling with these health issues for the past year. The original operation was last fall, and the recovery was supposed to take a few days. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

          Suzie has soldiered on with her duties here. Many days she did not feel the best, but she is dedicated to her work, and she felt she wanted to keep busy. Hopefully, she will be back to full strength soon.

          May our Lady Pray for all our sick parishioners,

          Fr. Mark