Benedictine Monks Holy Cross Monastery
119 Kilbroney Road
Rostrevor Co. Down BT34 3BN Northern Ireland Tel: 028 4173 9979 Fax: 028 4173 9978 [email protected] www.benedictinemonks.co.uk
Lent 2014 (Letter n°44) “Having been made perfect, Jesus became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Heb 5:9)
We suggest you might reflect on a passage by David G Benner, a professor of psychology and spirituality in the USA.
(Desiring God’s Will, IVP Books, 2005, p. 98-102) On Sunday 1st December, we began the period of Advent in the Anglican church of Rostrevor. From 3-6 December, Fr Mark-Ephrem was on a visit to the Benedictine Sisters of Kylemore Abbey (Ireland). On 11 December, Janet Rutherford made her profession as a secular oblate. Janet is the wife of our oblate Rev Peter Rutherford, an Anglican priest in the diocese of Meath and Kildare (Ireland). On 14 December, we learned of the death of Gerry Coleman (aged 73). Gerry had long been a friend of our community. On 21 December, Fr Mark-Ephrem preached at his funeral, which was held in the parish church of Rostrevor. From 31 December to 9 March, Rev Ethan Uios, a Presbyterian minister from South Korea, was on a visit to our community. From 13-16 January, Br Thierry was visiting the Passionist Fathers of Crossgar. From 16-19 January, we received a visit from Dom Anselm Atkinson, the Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Pluscarden (Scotland). During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity : on Sunday 19 January, the preacher was Archbishop Alan Harper, the former Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of the Church of Ireland; on 23 January, Fr Mark-Ephrem was at the Anglican cathedral of Armagh, where he occupies a Canon’s stall, the preacher at this ecumenical service was the Apostolic Nuncio of Ireland, Bishop Charles Brown; on 25 January, for the feast of the Conversion of St Paul, the preacher was Rev Mervyn Ewing, a Methodist minister in Belfast. From 28-30 January, Fr Mark-Ephrem was on a visit to the Benedictine Sisters of Kylemore (Ireland). From 3-7 February, Fr Mark-Ephrem preached to a retreat of the Sisters of the Community of Grandchamp (Switzerland). On 11 February, Fr Mark-Ephrem represented the community at the funeral of Dom Aengus Dunphy (aged 92), the former Abbot of the Cistercian Abbey of Portglenone from 1958 to 1977. On 12 February, the community went to Crossgar, to spend the evening with the Passionist community of Tobar Mhuire. On 21 February, we received a visit from Sr Brigeen, the Prioress of the Carmelite Nuns of Kilmacud (Dublin). On 23 February, it was the turn of Br Brian Berkley, from the Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont (Ireland), to pay us a visit. On 26 February, Br Thierry was in Belfast, for a meeting with young adults from a non- denominational Church, the Christian Fellowship Church. On 3 March, Fr Mark-Ephrem was invited to Stormont (the Northern Ireland Parliament) for the launch of Flourish, an initiative drawing together the Christian Churches in a campaign to prevent suicide. On 4 March, we received a visit from the noviciate of the Contemplative Dominican Sisters of Drogheda (Ireland), accompanied by Sr Breda, their prioress. On 9 March, Br Joshua was in the Anglican cathedral of Downpatrick for a concert of Celtic harps and the classical guitar. Our brother was not present as a spectator, but played a piece with his guitar teacher, our oblate Gerry O’Gorman. From 9-12 March, Bishop David Chillingworth, the Bishop of St Andrews and Primate of the Anglican Church in Scotland, was on retreat in the monastery. From 11-15 March, Fr Mark-Ephrem preached a retreat to the Carmelite Nuns of Kilmacud (Dublin). On 17 March, for the feast of St Patrick, Fr Mark-Ephrem took part in an ecumenical service at St Patrick’s Anglican cathedral in Dublin, in the course of which he delivered the sermon. On 22 March, at Drumalis (Northern Ireland), Fr Mark-Ephrem preached a day retreat for a group of Christians who have followed a diploma course as facilitators of Lectio Divina groups. On 29 March, in a non-denominational Church in Lurgan, Emmanuel Church (a town to the north of our diocese), Br Thierry and a Protestant psychologist led a seminar on the theme: ‘Forgiveness: Spirituality and Psychology’. From 8-11 April, in preparation for celebrating Holy Week, the community was on retreat, under the guidance of Fr Paul Francis Spencer, a Scottish Passionist.
We believe that in assuming the weight of evil, Christ conquered evil. That he conquered sin and death. That he grafted onto the rot of suffering the power of the redemption and the light of hope. That is what he shares with everyone... to all those who suffer, from moral or physical evil, he never ceases to offer this graft of redemption, which comes from his cross and resurrection. It is difficult to measure the evil which is our lot on this earth. It is a mystery greater than man, deeper than his heart. Gethsemane and Calvary speak of it, and at the same time bear witness that in the history of man, in his heart, another mystery is at work, that of the Redemption, which will work to the end to uproot evil. And in this mystery, a “new heaven and a new earth” are ripening, where... “God himself will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore.”
Bl. John Paul II