January 2020

1. Mary, Mother of God, solemnity Å Mass | 9:30 a.m. 4. St. Elizabeth Seton, opt. memorial

5. Epiphany of the Lord, solemnity (Abbot Richard) 6. Delbarton School classes resume Å Matins | 6:30 a.m. 10. Second Friday Adoration & Reconciliation Å Abbey Church | 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. 12. Baptism of the Lord, feast (Abbot Elias) 17. St. Anthony of Egypt, memorial

18. Christian Unity begins

19. II Sunday (Father Hilary) LECTIO DIVINA: Here are the readings for Sunday Å Oblate Sunday Masses in January... Å 1/5: Is 60: 1-6; Eph 3: 2-3a, 5-6; Mt 2: 1-12 20. Martin Luther King Day Å 1/12: Is 42: 1-4, 6-7; Acts 10: 34-38; Mt 3: 13-17 Å Matins | 7:30 a.m. Å 1/19: Is 49: 3, 5-6; 1Cor 1: 1-3; Jn 1: 29-34 Å 1/26: Is 8:23-9:3;1Cor1:10-13,17; Mt4:12-23 or 4:12-17 21. St. Agnes, memorial

24. St. , memorial PRAYER SCHEDULE: Feel free to join us! Let all guests be received as Christ (RB 53). 25. Conversion of St. Paul, feast Å Sunday: w Matins, 7:30 a.m. Å Come & See Discernment Retreat w Mass, 11:00 a.m. w Vespers, 5 p.m. 26. III Sunday (Prior Edward Seton) Å Monday-Friday 28. St. , memorial w Matins, 6:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m. non-schooldays) w Midday Prayer, 11:50 a.m. (Chapter Room) 31. St. John Bosco, memorial w Vespers with Mass, 5 p.m. w Compline, 6:45 p.m. (Chapter Room) This calendar follows the Order of Worship as approved by the Congregation for Å Saturday: Retreat Center News Divine Worship on 22 June 1972 in for the American-Cassinese December 2019 Congregation of Benedictine Monasteries. w Matins, 7:30 a.m., followed by Mass (ca. 8 a.m.)

w Midday Prayer, 11:50 a.m. (Chapter Room) The staff of St. Mary’s Abbey Retreat w Vespers, 5 p.m. w Compline, 6:45 p.m. (Chapter Room) Center wish everyone in the Abbey and Delbarton communities a Merry and Blessed Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year!

DECEMBER : St. Agnes of Rome was born DECEMBER COLLECTION: The December in 291 AD and raised in a Christian family. Agnes Sunday Mass collection was $4,140 and the Christmas was very beautiful and belonged to a wealthy family. collection was $8,648, for a total of $12,788. Thank Her hand in marriage was highly sought after, and she you for your generosity! had many high-ranking men chasing after her. However, Agnes made a promise to God never to WEBSITE: We invite you to visit these websites for stain her purity. Her love for the Lord was great and up-to-date news and information! she hated sin even more than death! Å Saint Mary’s Abbey | saintmarysabbey.org Å American-Cassinese Congregation | amcass.org According to legend, the young men she turned away Å Delbarton School | delbarton.org became so angry and insulted by her devotion to God and purity that they began to submit her name to Retreat Center News authorities as a Christian follower. January 2020

She died a - at the age of 12 or 13 on 21 As we begin a new year and a new decade,

January 304. the staff of St. Mary’s Abbey Retreat

Center prays that 2020 will be kind to you and your loved ones.

In January, the Retreat Center welcomes the following overnight retreat groups: Ø ’s Prep Ø Saint ’s Cranford Women’s Retreat Ongoing Offerings: v Spiritual Direction – Ø In the busyness of our everyday lives, it is often difficult to recognize the sacred story of our relationship with God. In our increasingly secular world, it is difficult to even talk about our faith with someone, much less discuss our Agnes was buried beside the Via Nomentana in struggles with it. Spiritual Direction gives us Rome. Her bones are currently conserved beneath the the opportunity to have such conversations on a high altar in the church of Sant'Angese fuori le mura regular basis with someone who is committed in Rome, which was built over the catacomb that held to our spiritual growth. her tomb. Her skull is preserved in the church of v Personal Retreats - Ø The Retreat Center also welcomes men and Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome's . women of all faiths for Private or Directed Retreats. In 1858, Father Rehrl, an Austrian missionary For more information on these programs or other founded the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes. Retreat Center questions, contact Paul Cocco at 973-538-3235 x 2100, (973) 409-3499 (Direct Line or St. Agnes is widely known as the of Text Messages) or via e-mail at [email protected]. young girls. She is also the patron saint of chastity, rape survivors and the Children of Mary. She is often Visit Our Web Page represented with a lamb, the symbol of her virgin https://www.saintmarysabbey.org/retreat innocence, and a palm branch, like other . She -center is shown as a young girl in robes holding a palm branch with the lamb either at her feet or in her arms. Like Us On Facebook Her feast day is celebrated on January 21. On her https://www.facebook.com/St-Marys- feast day, it is customary for two lambs to be brought Abbey-Retreat-Center-1529297930701260 in to be blessed by the . On Holy Thursday the lambs' wool is removed and woven into the Blessings & Peace… the pope gives to a newly consecrated as a sign of his power and union with the pope. —Excerpted from catholic.org