The 11th day of St. Hildedard
Thanks and praise to Benedictine predecessors 800 years ago! Sep.10, 2017 Sunday It has already been 11 years since Seoul priory had started Hildegard's day. It could come out hanks to Fr. Hong Jeong from Daegu diocese. He had received his degree and was impressed by the amazing life of St. Hildegard in the 12th century then come to visit Eibingen in Germany and introduced us her life as an impressed Benedictine pioneer. Sr. Emmanuela Seo from Daegu Priory had published the first opera of hers, 'Deogeokgwanggok', in Korean two years ago. In the morning participants attended a lecture on the opera created in the form of personification of virtue. In the opera the virtuous can sing but the evil that interferes with virtue, not. The harmony of the beautiful melody and the procedure of the endurance of the human weakness are beautifully woven. In the afternoon Sr. Edith Im from Seoul Priory gave a conference on the opera 'Deogeokgwanggok' and the virtues of human beings in the revelation of St. Hildegard. We had time to meditate and laid it up in our heart the virtues we have to practice. Palatable Bibimbap that was reminiscent of herbal medicine emphasized by St. Hildegard was served in a neat and pleasing way by Sangji retreat center. After the meal Choi Ji-yeon Yulianna, the head of the St. Paul Dance Company, led the time for the participants to pray in body at the Sangji garden in front of Our lady statue. It was an opportunity to praise God with all of our body in the traditional shock. Concluding Mass was celebrated in Seoul priory house chapel by Fr. Park Kyu-Heum, the head of the overseas missions department of the Seoul Diocese giving us a wonderful homily in connection with the month of the martyr that is September in Korean church and this day of Hildegard. Psychoanalysts interpret martyrs being "crazy" he said. What should we do for this ‘being crazy’ in martyrdom? We were grateful to the Father who has set the fire on our heart to be crazy in the practice of virtue with infinite longing for God. After morning Sunday mass in our regular schedule in Priory house, some Sisters came for the day and sang us the wonderful Gregorian chant at the Mass again which must have been practiced over and over. Also ‘the Caritas Abuntant’ sung by Trio -Sr. Grazia, Sr. Tobias, and Sr. Celina- was something that even St. Hildegard would have been amazed at. I was working as a coordinator and facilitator from start to end of all programs and I thank the lecturers, my sisters, and particularly Sr. Timothea who helped as the leader of Oblates group as well.
Visit of CIB to Seoul priory The CIB, a gathering of female Benedictine over the world visited Seoul priory completing the journey in Korea with the two week schedule of Sep 5 to 19, hosted by Daegu priory. They passed through Busan, Waegwan, Daegu, and Joseph's monastery and 3 days of brief visit at the Seoul priory and returned with the broad mind and heart of Benedictine in solidarity thanking all sisters. We are all grateful to the great support of Sr. Dolores Hong who officially accompanied with the group, three prioresses, and our sub-prioress Sr. Philippa, secretary Sr. Verona and many elders who were helping this biannual meeting of Benedictine for the success and special thanks to the sisters of Sangji retreat house that they backed up all the time the well-being of the visitors in the end.
Priory chapter
On Thursday, September 28th at 2pm there was a half day priory chapter for the announcements and gathering opinions on the news about space issues in Sanji retreat hall. We listened the way of development of the new issues from Sr. Rosemarie Hwang and the opinion of Sr. Venilda Choi who is the director of Pocheon Nursing Home. There will be a collective opinion of the priory house and out-stations.
Brief news * On September 9, Sr. Emmanuela Seo from Daegu Priory visited us to join the program of the day of St. Hildegard. * On September 29th, Sr. Imelda from Manila Priory has come to Seoul priory to work on re-publishing the office books of Manila priory by the publishing Company of Waegwan abbey. She stays until October 17th. * In this summer our garden was renovated with papaya bark earth cover. It was a pleasing gift not only for Benedictine Kindergarten children going up and down the hilly garden when they come and go, but also for the sister.
Korean Thanks giving
- On October 3~4 we celebrated the Chuseok, Korean thanks-giving day. All of us had a hearty and beautiful time together. It was time to thank God for the grace of sharing the good food, the nice smiles, and the gifts of this fabulous season making the Korean pies and preparing the traditional thanks-giving foods in festive mood.
Notice
Daniel Kim (46 years old), Kim Dohyeong, the younger bother of Sr. Eou-jin died in a heart attack at dawn on the 10th. 'As a young man who suddenly left us because of God's call. We gather our hearts that God will embrace the soul of her brother Daniel in HIS arms so that he may rest in peace, that HE may comforts his sisters (they are three siblings) having hard time..
Sharing
2017 CIB meeting in Korea. Sep. 17~19 in Seoul Sr. Dolores Hong
CIB stands for Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum Latin. It is a Benedictine female commission. The use of the Latin word ‘Communio’ means "sharing each other" and it is because Benedictine emphasizes the independence of each monasteries. There are 14,000 Benedictine women around the world. There was a gathering of Abbots but the birth of the women's meeting was largely thanks to the role of M. Edeltrud Weist and the Abbess from Hildegard monastery in Italy. The CIB meeting of 19 districts was formed about 20 years ago, and this is the first time meeting in Korea. The delegates always wanted to see the Benedictine life flourishing in Korea. Korea has more than 1,000 monks in Daegu, Busan and Seoul together. Finally, the 2017 CIB meeting was held at the Benedict spirituality center of Daegu priory in Korea which we found so good for international gatherings, having us experiencing the hospitality of Korean Benedictine spirituality. We shared the situation of each in order to prepare for the symposium to be held in Rome next year, made concrete resolutions for world peace on divided Korea in the extremely high tension and embodied our cooperation in the earthquake damage of 11 monasteries in umbria, a region of central Italy. It was a amazing time to strengthen our solidarity and bond with the world's difficult situations. In addition to the ten-day meeting, the liturgy of Tutzing Daegu priory was impressive with its grandeur at Holy mass and offices. In the Benedictine monastery of Waeawan, Abbot Placido Park gave a brief conference on the history of Benedictine in Korea for the visitors. Also we made a trip to the Maria Shrine of Daegu priory and Cemetery, Benn-in is a Cafiteria in the center district of the city and a pouplar place for young people to come together along the Samduk Cathedral nearby. Next stop was the convent of Olivetans in Busan and a nearby men’s monastery in Goseong. We praised God in the beautiful sea of Haeundae beach in Busan, most famous one in South Korea. Visiting Unmunsa Temple with student monks of Buddhist nuns and sharing conversions were also the role of Benedictine in leading dialogue among religions. Arriving in Seoul we visited Tae Sang St. Joseph Monastery and we prayed and commemorate the martyrdom at the pilgrim church Jeoldusan -meaning beheading- on the sacred mountain, and marveled at the wonders of Korean martyrs. We move to Seoul priory house which is called as an oasis in the apartment complex surrounded and visited the Myeongdong Cathedral of Seoul, the Catholic Cultural Center, the library of St. Paul de Chatres Seoul Province and toured the Keongbok- Palace and there had a chance to watch a governing board alternation which was restored in a way of conserving tradition for tour, was also impressive. It was a night for us to make the hearty solidarity of gathering all sisters in priory house and the CIB group together. Adyu! 乭