St Cecilia’s , Chronicle ______Advent/Christmas 2018 43 No. Advent/Christmas St Cecilia’s Abbey, RYDE, , PO33 1LH Registered Charity 1088086

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Sung Mass & the full Divine Office every day. Usual times of principal celebrations: MASS : 10.00 a.m. Sundays & Solemnities 9.30 a.m. Weekdays VESPERS: 5.00 p.m. COMPLINE: 8.00 p.m. CHRISTMAS 2018 Vigils: Christmas Eve 10.00 p.m. (please check) Midnight Mass: Just after midnight. Day Mass: 10.00 a.m. HOLY WEEK 2019 18th April, Maundy Thursday: Missa Vespertina: 5.00 p.m. 19th April, Good Friday: Actio Liturgica: 3.00 p.m. 20th April, Holy Saturday: Paschal Vigil: 10.45 p.m. (please check) 21st April, Easter Sunday Mass 10.00 a.m. 2019 Ascension Day: Thursday 30th May, Mass 10.00 a.m. Corpus Christi: Thursday 20th June, Mass 10.00 a.m. Feast of the Sacred Heart: Friday 28th June, Mass 10.00 a.m.

Cover: Icon of Christ the Saviour, by Sr Anne. St.Cecilias’s Abbey, Ryde Chronicle News and Notes for our friends and No. 43 Advent/Christmas 2018

From Mother

n the Creed we proclaim our faith in the Incarnation, namely Ithat Christ descended from the Father’s side for our salva- tion – propter nos – and in order to console those whose hearts and lives are broken by the abuse of men. is a rich concept; one of its aspects is that the sinless God-man stood in, so to speak, for sinful men before the Father. He bore our shame for us. He did not come to apportion blame; he took it.

There is something here for us to imitate in the present crisis in the Church. Since, unlike Christ, we have all fallen short of the glory of God in some way, it is fitting if we should have to bear some opprobrium on behalf of his Body, the Church. It has been said: ‘In the heart of the Church there is the small company whose numbers cannot look at the sufferings of the crucified God without humbly asking not to be totally excluded from them’ (Hans Urs von Balthasar, In the fullness of faith (San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1988)).

We desire as well to be witnesses to the essential beauty and holiness of the Church, despite the grievous frailty of some of her members. Christ, his Spirit, is the Church’s holiness. We are holy in so far as we have part in him, sinful to the degree that we separate ourselves from him. The Church is holy in her Head; holy in her Sacra- ments and liturgical life, especially the Holy Eucharist; holy in her one sinless mem- ber, the Mother of God; holy in her and her faithful ministers, even in the ordinary Christian who, having experienced the Church’s beauty, cannot desert her.

‘Love came down at Christmas’ goes the carol. Incarnate love takes away the sin and grief of the world and gives us a homeland in the Church, where, in the end, pu- rity and peace will always prevail.

Christmas blessings.

3 Mother Abbess’s Missus Est Conference

o not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.’ Mary is pleas- Ding to God. It is not yet clear that God’s plan is pleasing to Mary, for she is ‘greatly troubled at the saying.’ God’s presence and call are not necessarily a source of immediate consolation or enjoyment. We forget, however, that motherhood of the foretold Messiah was deemed the highest honour for any Jewish woman. I once saw a dramatization of the Annunciation in India. When the angel addressed Mary, she drew back with a graceful gesture, but not in apparent alarm. The main impression was one of gratitude and humility and willing acceptance. It was a striking emphasis, maybe a little foreign to a Western onlooker. Yes, God, His purpose for humanity and herself, was pleasing to Mary. She is, we recall, after all, of the lineage of David, who danced for sheer joy before the ark of the Lord. It was true that she was troubled; she had to ask what it meant and how it could be done, but, more profoundly, she could draw on her experiential knowledge of the Father, whose goodness she had tasted and savoured. Anything that came from His Hand was pleasing to her. And ‘she to whom God is pleasing is pleasing to God’ (St Augustine). Mary knew, but still in mystery. She hears a strange promise that she would be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and bear the Son of God, made flesh from her flesh. She consents because she loves and because she trusts whom she loves. To one who loves, the purposes of God are pleasing. We cannot consent to something hard or incomprehensible, however, unless the Spirit within warms our will, so that it burns to do His will. Sometimes we talk too easily about His will being difficult. It is true that it is often costly to nature, as in our vocation, but look what we receive in return: life in God. In Mary’s case, divine life incarnate. God does not give us unpleasant things; it is because we are fallen that we experience the business of giving up the self-will as unpleasant. What He gives or allows is always pleasing. Mary knew this and no one was ever asked more than she. But all occurs in mystery, reflected in the hiddenness and secret happiness of expectation, with its moments of illumination and exultant joy. Elizabeth, in the spirit of prophecy, confesses that Mary has received an unheard- of privilege. ‘Blessed are you among women … blessed is she who believed.’ Blessed is she who is pleased at this divine conception. The unborn John leaps before the new Ark, the Mother of God. Mary concurs with all her being. Such is the sense of her Magnificat: ‘My spirit magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.’ She enumerates ecstatically the attributes of God in which she delights, above all His mercy, the inner heart of God whose glory is soon to appear on earth as a tiny child. His eyes, sings Mary, behold the lowly and His power is used in their defence. He stoops to those who fear Him; He has compassion on the poor, the downtrodden, the hungry. He loves their humility, because it resembles His own. Yet He is just; those rich in self-esteem or who have not used their wealth for good find no recompense in Him; the mighty are scattered in their proud imaginings. Merciful, provident, above 4 all holy, this God keeps His promises and fulfils them; He has helped his servant Israel and remembered him with fidelity. This praise of God’s remembering looks forward to the Eucharist, the perpetual memorial of His Son’s sacrifice; where He gives Himself as food to the spiritually hungry, the poor in spirit, to those who fear God and under- stand that He is incomprehensibly Other, yet incomprehensibly near. The Magnificat, it seems superfluous to say, is praise, the expression of delight in God. Children, it has been noted, do not have to be told to praise what pleases them; it comes to them naturally, unlike gratitude. The Magnificat has this childlike quality, in spite of its formal structure. It expresses Mary’s spontaneous pleasure in God and what He was doing in her. Totally transparent, she can, in a certain sense, praise herself or, more accurately, God in her, for He finds no obstacle in her. The Christmas narratives prolong this praise. When the child is born in Beth- lehem, city of David, the night sky is filled with rejoicing angels. The glory of the Lord, says Luke, shone around the humble shepherds, a radiance which the eyes could see, yet which is a theophany of the inner being of God, of the love which becomes visible at the Incarna- tion. Their response to the manifest beauty of God is not only awe, but also the peace promised to men with whom God is pleased. In Is 32:17 we read: ‘The effect of right- eousness will be peace and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. And my people will dwell in the beauty of peace,’ in pulchritudine pacis (). Peace reflects God’s beauty and is a fruit of man’s trust, his pleasure in God. The shepherds ‘hasten to see this Word which has come to pass.’ Simeon the Pot- ter, a Syriac poet writing in the 6th century AD, says: ‘In joy the shepherds abandoned their flocks and came to worship Him who is the true Shepherd who came down from His Father.’ Their final response, notes the Evangelist, is praise and witness. Mary’s response is a pondering in the heart; her praise has become interior and contemplative. She has, after all, before her gaze of wonder the perfect image of the Father. The Magi, too, will come to adore. ‘The star speeded on its way to shine out amongst those in dark, summoning the Peoples to come and take pleasure in the great Light who had come down to earth’ (Dialogue poem, Syriac). Our Syriac poet, however, has them unable at first to enter the cave because of the Child’s radiance. ‘His mother came close and spoke with Him, “My Son, gather in the power of your radiance; let the Magi enter and offer You their gifts.”’ She is the one to enter most deeply into the paradox of God made man in the form of an infant. St Ephrem makes her say: ‘Your radiance rests on my knees, the throne of your majesty is held in my arms.’ It is not long before a minor chord is sounded by the prophet Simeon, at the Pres- entation in the Temple. It is for him the note of departure in peace, since the revelation of the Father’s love for Israel and humanity has appeared. He can see it and touch it. 5 Like Mary, he holds it in his arms and exults in quiet joy; yet the child and His Mother must prepare themselves for contradiction and the sword of sorrow. For them it is the note of the Passion. ‘And the Child grew and became strong and the favour of God was upon him’ (Lk 2:40). Pleasing to the Father, he is also pleasing to the Mother and, evidently, first of all in the natural way that young children are a source of endless enjoyment to their mothers. There is one episode, all the same, where Jesus does not, apparently, please his parents. ‘Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously’ (2:48). Even the sinless can suffer from anxiety. There is a moment’s misunderstanding due to the limitations in even the most perfect human nature. It is the anguish of any mother who finds her child safe and sound after the threat of danger, relief taking the form of rebuke. She questions; Jesus answers; she keeps His words in her heart. A model, no doubt, for our own experience of anxiety. Then, we are informed, the normal boundaries return to their place: ‘He went down and was obedient to them’ (2:51). She must have been aware of His moral beauty as He grew up under her watchful gaze; how He personified what He would later preach as the Beatitudes: His humility and compassion, thirst for the Father’s will and purity of heart; His hatred of hypocrisy and injustice. She saw His attractiveness to others, His capacity to know unerringly what was in their hearts, His unique power to heal broken bodies and minds. What they shared in dialogue with one another is not given us to know in the ; yet at the Marriage in Cana we perceive their intimacy, how Mary quietly overrides Jesus’ apparent objection to her implicit request: ‘They have no wine’. She knows Him and His divine power: ‘Do whatever He tells you.’ It has been remarked that it is probably no accident how she addresses her Son as if He were the host, the bridegroom, whose job it was to provide the wine for the feast. She acts as if she knows that He is the di- vine Bridegroom and that the sign He will perform is going to reveal His true identity. The miracle is, indeed, a signal for rejoicing to all who stand by and listen to His voice. It is, says St John, the first manifestation of His glory. This is the glory which He has with the Father, revealing here the compassionate Heart of God. It attracts, draws, gives joy, provides a banquet. It is a self-revelation, whereby He allows Himself to be recognised and praised by men, as His Mother already recognises and praises Him. Cana is a foreshadowing of Calvary. This is not the place to go into all the connec- tions, but to reflect that, at the hour of the Cross, Jesus fulfils his rôle as Bridegroom. Here He offers Himself for His Bride – humanity, the Church – loving her to the end by the pouring out of His Blood. At this supreme proof of His love, His glory and beauty are made most manifest, although most veiled to the external eye. It is wholly interior and can be discerned only by the eye of faith, practised in love. His words from the Cross, nonetheless, do reveal to those who believe the love which impels His sacrifice. The thief, the centurion and, above all, Mary and John recognise His inner beauty though ‘marred beyond human semblance.’ Mary and John are entrusted to 6 one another by His last desire. The authority of this crucified man at His weakest ebb is accepted without question. ‘From that hour John took Mary into his own home.’ Authority, because He is King and Lord and reigns from the Cross. It has been not- ed that, according to Jewish Scripture and tradition, it was customary for the Jewish Bridegroom to wear a crown on His wedding-day. ‘Wearing His crown of thorns, Jesus is not Bridegroom only on His wedding-day; He is to reign forever over the everlasting kingdom of God’ (Brant Pitre, Jesus the Bridegroom). ‘The Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David’ (Lk 1:32). The fifth glorious mystery is devoted to another coronation, that of Our Lady. Mother and Bride, she sits on the throne prepared for her from all ages, as depicted in Christian art. It is the graced outcome of the humble ’s fiat at the Annunciation. Not that she ever sought personal honour or favour. Her entire fulfilment is in the mutual enjoyment the Son and Mother have of one another for eternity.

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Abbot Cuthbert Brogan’s Homily at Sr Mechtilde Hansen’s Solemn Profession Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 8th June 2018

he Solemnity of the Sacred Heart is a feast of the Incarnation – of the mystery Tof Jesus Christ both God and man, and so it touches on every other feast of the year and is at the heart of the mystery of our salvation. The Incarnation is what Bl John Henry Newman held to be the main prin- ciple of theology of understanding God – and for Dom Guéranger it was prolonged in the mystery of the Church and in the liturgy. By focussing on the love of the Heart of Jesus we are moved by the fullness of his humanity – and drawn in by the fullness of his divinity, and the feast is an invita- Egan with Sr Mechtilde tion to us to participate in the divine life. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is much loved by our Bishop Philip – he consecrated this to the Sacred Heart early in his episcopate – and we know that it is his custom to sign his letters, pastoral circulars, ad clerums, and other such fatwas issued from Bishop’s House ‘in corde Jesu’ – in the Heart of Jesus. I am grateful that he has given place to me to preach at this Mass. It is also a feast of this house of St Cecilia’s – Pax cordis Jesu. Peace of the Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Sacred Heart was made popular, of course, by the French St Mar- garet Mary Alacoque in the 17th century, but this devotion has a strong monastic and Benedictine pedigree in the visions and writings of St Gertrude the Great and St Mechtilde in the thirteenth century and in the writings of Carthusian authors. For 7 Gertrude, her visions of the Sacred Heart turned a monastic life which was becoming limited and arid into a vocation which was vibrant and alive. ‘In a happy hour,’ she wrote, ‘at the beginning of twilight, thou O God of truth, more radiant than any light, yet deeper than any secret thing, determined to dissolve the obscurity of my darkness.’ The transforming experience was a vision and a profound personal sense of the love of the Heart of Jesus. Her biographer wrote that she ceased at this point to be a ‘gram- marian’ and began to be a ‘theologian’. In other words her experience of the personal love of Jesus for her so overwhelmed her that the theory and all the petty things and minor skirmishes which constituted monastic living paled into insignificance, or at least were given context. Theory became practice. This was a moment of monastic maturity for her, a moment when the rule was no longer restricting but liberating. Gertrude and Mechtilde became very great saints. For the rhythm, the measure, of their life, these saints looked to the Heart of Jesus. In one of her visions Gertrude saw St John the Evangelist and she asked him what the heartbeat of the Lord was like. St John had lain on our Lord’s breast at the last sup- per and heard closely the beating of our Lord’s Heart. He told her that it had been a ‘penetrating sweetness’. Being a good she was not going to be easily fobbed off with this answer. If it was such a penetrating sweetness, she asked, then why did you not mention it in your ?! St John explained that his work was to announce the Eternal Word of God – but the sweetness of the Heart of Jesus was a devotion to be kept secret, something that would bear fruit in latter times that the time-worn world, grown cold in the love of God, might be warmed up by hearing of such mysteries. So, Sr Mechtilde, – all this teaches you something about the monastic vocation to which you definitively attach yourself today. Hidden in the cloister you live this hid- den life – hidden in Christ whose rhythm is the steady beat of the Heart of Jesus. In a world which has indeed grown cold in love, you live that vocation which St Therese called ‘love in the heart of the Church’ and in the silence offered by the cloister you are able to live by a rhythm which is the heartbeat of Jesus. This is a long-term investment which gives autumn fruits, not spring fruits. In stability you make these stones of St Cecilia’s and the living stones of this monas- tic community an environment in which you can listen to the beat of our Lord’s Heart – where is that rhythm to be found? Well, in the daily round of chores, in the great machine of blessing which is constituted by the wheels and cogs of the daily, weekly, yearly cycle of the liturgy. In your yes, your fiat, to what God, what the community asks of you, you respond to the annunciation made to you in the prologue to the Holy Rule – to listen and to follow Christ to glory. In conversion of life – conversio, conversatio morum, you vow to reorient your life constantly towards God. You discipline your heart so that you build an interior cloister within you – a heart spiritually ordered so as to be a welcoming place for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. St Gertrude saw the Heart of Jesus in a thurible into which all our offerings and sacrifices are poured and become fragrant and unite with His. 8 In obedience you embrace the mystery of the Cross – you put to death in you all that does not lead to God. And you embrace the contradictions, the misunderstand- ings, the challenges of community life – developing a spirituality of the Cross which is personal to you and which arms and equips you for the challenges to come. The burning furnace of love which is the Heart of Jesus is a heart pierced with a lance. Just as our Benedictine Pax – peace – is inter spinas – amongst thorns – so the Heart of Jesus is crowned with thorns and pierced with the lance. Love demands sacrifice, self-giving, tremendous generosity. Our resurrectio and vita come through a putting to death, a mortification, day to day, of all that impedes Christ’s life from living in us. Our monastic desire to be plunged into the mystery of the Heart of Christ reminds us of that life that teemed from his wounded side. By living a liturgical life, close to the altar, we live close to the source of all life. And being close to the Word of God, the Creator of all things, we are close to all things. In a mysterious way you come closer to those from whom the walls of the separate you. Your communion with them is more profound when in Christo, in Christ. Jesus meek and humble of Heart make my heart like unto thine – so the prayer goes. The essence of the monastic enterprise is this integrity, this interior unity, this oneness which is signified by the very word ‘’. Our world today is very unfocussed. Jesus promised that when two or three are gathered in his name he would be present – but sometimes we are not entirely present even when on our own. We are broken and di- vided in ourselves. Our prayer for you, Sr Mechtilde, on this great day is that you may be one. This is your happy hour (maybe happy two hours would be more accurate!). Our prayer is that your heart will be undivided, that in your little life here you will play your part in putting the world back together and undoing the fragmentation which is so much part of modern life, that your closeness to the Heart of Jesus may be fruitful to the this community, the Benedictine family, this diocese, to the Church, to a world grown cold in love. May God who has begun this good work in you bring it to completion! And may the Sacred Heart of Jesus, fount of love and of graces and blessings, pour out every grace and blessing upon you today.

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CD Review Tempus per annum: Gregorian Chant from the of Pluscarden Abbey The monks of Pluscarden offer to the public some 73 minutes of recording, consisting of 29 items, all of them drawn from chants sung dur- ing the Tempus per annum (or Ordinary time of the year). The result is a rich mine offering great 9 variety as to the choice of items, whether considered from the angle of their liturgical context, their spiritual “ambiance”, their modality or musical . Some are accom- panied on the discreet register of the monks’ Tickell organ, others are sung a cappella, enhanced by the rich acoustics of the medieval abbey church. The singing is of a high quality, the pitch excellent, the interpretation based on a painstaking and informed examination of the most authentic sources. The schola, or group of expert singers, includes some rich and sonorous voices, especially in the first half of the CD, and sings with splendid unison as well as sensitivity to the expressive requirements of the individual pieces. The diction is treated with care, resulting in an impressive clarity of enunciation. Particularly worthy of note are the troped Kyrie 2 with its elegant rhythm and neat diction, the Gradual Laetatus and Alleluia Confitemini, examples of fine singing, as well as the beautifully expressive In voluntate and Multitudo. The second half of the CD has a freshness and lightness about it which those of us familiar with the Pluscarden community immediately recognize as the familiar mark of its choir. The CD is accompanied by a plump set of notes, including a generous commentary on each piece. These explain, with a certain erudition, the historical background, the style and general context, as well as the musical and spiritual quality of the individual chants. The full Latin text is given along with a literal translation. Finally the monks should be congratulated on the sound engineering, photography and general presentation which is entirely theirs. May many come to discover, through this CD, new riches and depths in the Church’s perennial liturgy, which is a fathomless source of prayer for the faithful. Sr BernB ______

Spiritual Lexicon: Zeal

(Sr Mary David chose this subject and gathered some notes but left no text; we have put together the following from her commentaries on chapter 72 of the Rule, ‘On the good zeal that monks ought to have’, and from a talk on community life, which is the focus of RB72 - Sr MH.) eal, ‘good zeal’, is the word St Benedict uses in the penultimate chapter of the Rule for the way that leads to God. There is an evil zeal and a good zeal; bitterness or love, separation from God or going towards God, hell or eternal life – in the very opening of this chapter we are invited to choose. As it proceeds, we see that good zeal concerns the relationship of the brothers among themselves and with their , in a fervent love of God and Christ. This is the climax of St Benedict’s rule, and there is nothing like it in other rules.

10 Prefer nothing to Christ, prefer the wishes of others to one’s own. What is dearest to St Benedict? Christ. Without Christ, nothing of what St Benedict has written makes sense. The rule, and this chapter in particular, shows what ‘to prefer nothing to Christ’ is like in practice. It is simply our response to Christ’s love for us. St Cyprian, in his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, uses this phrase, saying ‘Put nothing at all before Christ, because he has put nothing before us’. Elsewhere in the Rule, St Benedict speaks of this prevenient love. The Lord seeks His workman, He seeks us before we seek Him, He goes after the lost sheep. Preferring nothing to Christ is the response of someone who has met the Lord. This preferential love for Christ is closely linked with community. ‘The most profound formation is always mutual.’ Baldwin of Ford maintains that the cenobitic life is not only useful but essential for the formation of the indi- vidual and the of the image of God in us. It is through the common life, he says, that ‘those who are set upon earth can begin to be fashioned in the likeness of the angels of God’, and the cloister is therefore a true school of charity in which we are trained in the practice of patience and charity. For St Aelred, everyone accomplishes his return to God, and effects the restoration of the divine image in himself, within the community. The transitus is a community enterprise. In the land of unlikeness to God, the soul was alone and thought only of itself; returning to the family of God, it is restored to unity and becomes one in soul with all God’s children. In Cistercian writings the monastic community is seen as the milieu, at once necessary and effi cacious, for the restoration of the like- ness of God lost by sin, egoism, self-will and singularity. As the company with whom we journey through the desert, as the setting in which our return to God takes place, as a Church within the Church, the monastic community recalls the basic truth that we are the instruments for the sanctifi cation of each other, and that the unity of the children of God is realised in and through Christ. We have the opportunity to meet all the demands of fraternal charity and to fi ght against faults that are a constant obstacle to the full fl owering of charity. Our sharing in all things extends not only to the good that one is or has but also to the weakens and frailty of one another. The early Christian community was not entire- ly the idyllic reality portrayed in the famous summaries in Acts. There was the Ananias and Saphira incident, confl icts and tensions between the Hebrews and the Hellenists, between Paul and Barnabas. Yet in spite of all this a great spirit of union and charity and realism prevailed. ‘Bear one another’s burdens,’ says St Paul, ‘and so you will fulfi l the law of Christ’ (Gal 6:2). St Benedict says, ‘Bear with the greatest patience one an-

11 other’s infirmities of mind or body’ (RB 72). We cannot approach Christian commu- nity in an idealistic way, whether as demanders or as visionaries. That would mean not receiving it as a gift; that would mean coming to it with one’s own demands, agenda, laws, by which one judges the brethren and God accordingly. That would mean to see the community as some kind of social expression rather than as a community gathered together by Christ. ‘He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial’ (Dietrich Bonhoeffer,Life Together). The community life that we share is a real community made up of people who are not perfect, who may not always be agreeable or likeable. The Rule, quot- ing St Paul (Rom 12), says ‘Let them bear most patiently with one another’s infirmities’. St Benedict calls us to rec- ognize that weaknesses exist. Instead of being scandalized, real monks bear with the weaknesses that remain in their brothers; they do not complain, or campaign for their amendment, but remain steadfast in their affection for them. There is more than endur- ance here; there is wisdom and serenity which enable the monk to accept the painful consequences of another’s behaviour rather than abandon love. There can be a moment of disillusionment when we discover that the brethren are just like us: fragile, weak, sinful. Once a novice complained to his about this. The latter replied ‘I am delighted to hear that you no longer admire us. Now there is a chance you may come to love us’. Community and maturity mean accepting each other’s weaknesses and oddities, everything that is a trial to our patience, that produces factions, conflicts. But it means accepting these as Christ did, in a redemptive way, as a profound expression of the whole paschal mystery, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. There is an ‘ascetic commitment’ involved in community life, ‘necessary and irreplace- able for any liberation capable of transforming a group of people into a Christian fraternity’ (Congregavit nos). It is necessary to maintain fellowship with others not only as believers and sharers in the divine life, but also as sinners, ever in need of forgive- ness. Much of the challenge of patience is learning to live with our own weaknesses, limitations, without blaming self or others; indeed the Latin of the text from the Rule quoted above suggests that we are to bear our own weaknesses as well as those of others. We are all in this infirmity together. One solution is to be found in the realistic con- fidence in the providence of God who often leaves even serious faults in holy people. Further, to accept one’s own sinfulness is liberating, enabling us to put away the mask of untruthfulness. Once the mask is removed, we can be truly ourselves before God 12 and our brethren, created anew. This is the basis of our forgiveness of others. In com- munity, forgiveness is not only about accepting mistakes a sister makes, it is accepting the sister who makes the mistakes. We must see her not only as she is, but as she desires to be. That is why forgiveness can never be limited. ‘Look more at what they desire to be than at what they are; not dwelling upon those little faults which they themselves are the first to lament and atone for’ (Dom G. Morin,The life of the first Christians and the monastic ideal). Supernatural love of one’s cannot be merely an idealised love. It is false to think that this union among us in one Body of Christ involves some mysterious higher part of our being. We mustn’t expect our relationship to be purely supernatural. To expect everything from grace is to lack realism, and even God, for God is the author of our natures. Nature and grace are both gifts from God, and must be recognised as such in ourselves and in each other. In both cases we have a gift from God to manage. The Christian belongs to Christ with every fibre of his being, and every part of his desire. Grace doesn’t destroy nature; it presupposes it and builds on it, pushing it beyond its limitations. This need for a real concrete personal love also springs from the reality of the incarnation. God has entered the world body and soul, and has identified himself with the nature of man so that now all those who bear that nature are also bearers of the divinity. This means we can find God expressing himself in our sisters, and we can respond to God in responding to them. Again this takes place only in and through Christ. That is why Dietrich Bonhoeffer can say, ‘Christian brotherhood is not an ideal but a divine reality; and secondly, Christian brotherhood is a spiritual and not a psy- chic reality’ (Life Together). Not an ideal but rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we participate. ‘When love is intense,’ said St Francis de Sales, ‘it is called zeal. Zeal is simply love in earnest, or earnestness in love. Love is the measure of zeal; where love is God, zeal is God.’ ______

What is Christmas like at the Abbey? Part 3: Christmas Eve

Today you shall know that the Lord will come, and he will save us: and in the morning you shall see his glory. The pent-up expectation of the week of the O Antiphons reaches its climax. The chants of the day’s liturgy address every possible actor in the drama of salvation: Judah and Jerusalem, do not be afraid: tomorrow you shall go forth, and the Lord will be with you; Bethlehem, you shall not be the least, for from you shall come forth the Leader who is to rule my people Israel. All man- kind can take heart: Tomorrow the iniquity of the world will be blotted out. Tomorrow! Every day in the monastery we listen to the Martyrology, the announcement of the 13 names and dates of the saints who will be celebrated the next day. The Martyrology for Christmas Eve, however, requires special solemnity. At the end of Prime all stand in silence while the First Chantress, flanked by two novices with lighted candles, car- ries the illuminated text to the eagle in the middle of choir. In a long involved melody the Chantress sings of the coming of Christ. At the first mention of the name of Jesus, all drop to their knees, and at the final line,The birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ accord- ing to the flesh, all bow in awe and wonder. Then come Lectio, Mass and then work. Everywhere there is last-minute cleaning and polishing. Round every corner are more decorations. From the kitchen come wonderful smells of baking. Somehow the or- dinary meals of the day (still plain Advent fare) are produced while the cooks are also preparing the turkey and Christmas pudding and other delights. Those with special items to sing at the forthcoming Vigil try to find a moment in church to rehearse, negotiating with the organists who want to practise their pieces and the sacristans who are trying to clean. Thanks to our wonderful friends, exciting parcels still keep arriving at the front door. After dinner everyone gathers in St Gabriel’s (community room) for ‘Christmas Wishes’, where M Prioress makes a speech reviewing the year and thanking Mother Abbess. She then kisses Mother and wishes her a happy Christmas; M Sub-Prioress follows, kissing Mother and M Prioress, and so it continues, until everyone has gone round the circle and kissed and wished everyone else. Then it is back to work. Newcomers may be puzzled to see Sisters start preparing tables in St Gabriel’s ‘for Christmas shopping’. All will be revealed tomorrow. It seems that secrets and surprises are everywhere. At last it is Vespers, and we process into a church now full of flowers and beauty, the figures ready in the crib (apart from Our Lord himself), and we sing of the Rex Pacificus, the King, the Peacemaker, whose face the whole world longs to see. The first hint of feasting is a satsuma at supper but everyone eats hurriedly because we go to bed immediately afterwards. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, and do not delay. Sr EL (Next instalment: Christmas Vigil and Midnight Mass.) ______

selections from Hymn on the Glory of Paradise St Peter Damian (d.1072)

Ad perennis vitæ fontem mens sitivit arida, For the fount of everlasting life, the parched soul thirsts Gliscit, ambit, eluctatur exsul frui patria, Aspiring, striving, the exile struggles to be free so as to delight in its homeland, Nam quis promat, summæ pacis quanta sit lætitia For who can express how great is the joy of such perfect peace Ubi vivis margaritis surgunt ædificia? Where buildings rise with living pearls? 14 Agnus est felicis urbis lumen inocciduum. The Lamb is the never-setting light of the blessed city Nox et tempus desunt ei, diem fert continuum. Night and time it lacks, unending day it possesses. Nam et sancti quoque velut sol præclarus rutilant, Yes, and the saints, too, shine like the brilliant sun. Pace multa perfruentes, scandala non perferant: Enjoying much peace, they suffer no temptation: Mutabilibus exuti, repetunt originem, Stripped of what is inconstant, they recover their origin, Et præsentem veritatis contemplantur speciem, And they contemplate the manifest beauty of truth. Unum volunt, unum nolunt, unitas est mentium; They will as one, they reject as one, there is unity of minds; Charitas hæc suum facit, quod amat in altero; This charity makes its own what it loves in the other; Proprium sic singulorum commune fi t omnium. Thus what is particular to each becomes common to all. Novas semper harmonias vox meloda concrepat A melodious voice ever rings with new harmonies Et in iubilum prolata mulcent aures organa; And with joyful sounds streams of music soothe the ears; Digna per quem sunt victores regi dant præconia. They give worthy praises to the king through whom they are the victors. Christe palma bellatorum hoc in municipium O Christ, palm of warriors, into this city Introduc me post solutum militare cingulum; bring me after my term of military service ends; Fac consortem donativi beatorum civium. Make me a sharer of the bounty of the blessed citizens.

tr. Sr MBR & Sr CW

15 House Chronicle Advent 2017 – Advent 2018

In the light of St Peter Damian’s poem, while a monastery is not para- dise as such, we recall that, for all Christians, ‘our commonwealth is in heav- en’, and our Solesmian tradition likes to be aware that ‘eternal life starts now’... Charitas hæc suum facit, quod amat in altero; Proprium sic singulorum commune fit omnium. This charity makes its own what it loves in the other; Thus what is particular to each becomes common to all. Among the visitors and speakers who shared their company and knowledge with us, in Advent Fr Richard Conrad OP gave us an excellent triduum on St John’s Gospel, beginning with the remark that he liked to think of John as the ‘straightforward historical Gospel’, in contrast to the other three ‘theological’ Gospels. One interesting perspective offered here was the highlighting of the connections of locality and even kinship among several apostles and the Lord’s family - the early Church as something of a ‘family affair’. Fr Dominic Allain was our celebrant for both Christmas and Easter this year; as ever, we greatly appreciated his preaching and singing. In May, Fr Becket Soule OP from the USA gave a series of talks on medieval history at Quarr, and one in our parlour: ‘The Last Word’, an entertaining and erudite exploration of colophons in medieval manuscripts. Dr Mary Coghill shared her experiences of Russian Orthodox worship. Our retreat was preached in July by Abbot Erik Varden OCSO of . His theme was Christian remembrance as encountered in six biblical injunctions, beginning with ‘Remember you are dust.’ Fr Abbot Erik’s gripping and wide-ranging conferences challenged us to live the Christian vocation more deeply and authentically. Happily, readers can also benefit from this material in his new book,The Shattering of Loneliness. In August, Neville Kyrke-Smith of Aid to the Church in Need updated us on the situation of our persecuted brethren around the world, and ACN’s wonderful work of material and spiritual help. Fr Guy Nicholls Cong.Orat. told us about his work in promotion of Gregorian Chant, especially through the recently-published first vol- ume of the Graduale Parvum. Just before Francis visited Dublin, Fr Bernard Healy of Kerry diocese spoke to us about the life of the Church in Ireland. We were delighted to see our old friend Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB of Aberdeen in the parlour after he had preached Quarr’s retreat in October. Mr David Ross, Sr Margaret’s father, gave us a lively illustrated talk about maps, and our and devoted helper Ger- aldine Plynton spoke to us about her recent pilgrimage on the camino to Santiago. Two sisters from a young Brazilian community spent time with us from October to January, joined at Christmas by a third after a brief visit from their Madre Maria da Cruz. We enjoyed learning about Brazil’s history and culture, and sharing our own traditions. We were happy to see Mother Winsome SBVM when she visited for Sr Mechtilde’s profession; then in September Mother Nirmala of Shanti Nilayam in

16 India gave us the pleasure of a fortnight’s visit. In the other direction, Mother Abbess and Mother Prioress joined our sisters at Wisques in France for the abbatial blessing of Mère Anne-Laetitia Derreumaux on 8th September. Mother Pri- oress attended the monastic bursars’ meeting at Belmont Abbey. Mother Subprioress travelled to for a meeting on the new document Cor Orans, and on re- turning gave a short talk to pass on what she had learned. A number of groups of various ages and interests have visited the abbey, including First Communicants, Confi rma- tion candidates, and chant groups. Our prayer is always for Mother Nirmala the whole Church and world, but all who wished were united with Catholics around the country in a special way for April’s Rosary on the Coast (our church is only a few hundred yards from ) and October’s Rosary Under the Cross. Præbe vires inexhausto laboranti prælio. Grant strength to the one who la- bours in endless battle. Renovation of charges took place in January. Notable charges to change hands included the Infi rmary, now in Sr Marie-Thérèse’s care; the vege- table garden and orchard, entrusted to Sr Mechtilde; the printery, to Sr Anne; the kitchen, confi rming a change made a few months earlier, to Sr Mary Antonia. Lat- er in the year, Sr Madeleine replaced Sr Mary Antonia as Mistress of Ceremonies. Hiems horrens, æstas torrens illic nunquam sæviunt. Dreadful winter, scorch- ing summer, there never strike - quite unlike Britain in 2017-2018. The summer’s heatwave required creative exercises in water recycling to keep the vegetable garden watered. The bees however thoroughly enjoyed it, and have made enough hon- ey to sell in our shop. Our handmade soap is now also sold at shop and has proved popular; Sr Margaret plans to expand the range in the coming year. Solis gemmis pretiosis hæc structura nectitur. This building is bound together only with precious jewels... The ’s quarters shine at least with fresh paint after note- worthy renovations. The community were invited to admire the results at an ‘open day’, and enjoyed the creative sig- nage provided for the occasion. The no- vitiate’s newest resident is our Karina de Paula, whom we welcomed in July. Quo cum angelis et sanctis recreantur animæ... Where with the angels and saints, souls are recreated.... The novitiate diverted us at Epiphany with an amusing presentation of the novitiate chronicles of 1978-1982: nostalgia for some, a history lesson for others. For Mother Abbess’s abbatial blessing

17 anniversary on the Ascension, refectory decorations featured images from the Voyage of St Brendan, including a shipful of Celtic following their leader to the land of promise. The novitiate’s pens adorned the refectory on Mother’s feastday with St Peter Damian’s hymn on Paradise, translated by Sr Mary Benedict under Sr Claire’s tute- lage. The community offered entertainment in a play, St Bede’s Ecclesiastical Mystery, in which St Bede solved a local crime with a little help from St Gregory’s Dialogues. In ‘post-prandial’ talks during the year, Mother Prioress continued the story of Appley House’s former inhabitants; Sr Bede spoke on calligraphy and shared her memories of wartime evacuation to America; Sr Gertrude read from her father Brian Quayle’s delightful memoirs of a plumber’s life in 1950s Canada. Digna per quem sunt victores regi dant præconia. They give worthy praises to the king through whom they are the victors. Our patronal feast of the Sacred Heart brought the special joy of Sr Mechtilde Hansen’s Solemn Profession, presided by Bishop Philip Egan. Abbot Cuthbert Brogan of Farnborough preached, and Sr Mechtilde made her commitment in the presence of a large group of family and friends from Poland, Scot- land and beyond, who later joined us in the parlour for an exuberant recreation. Sr Mechtilde’s emblem is the sun, and her motto is Resurrectio et Vita; her cell window became a ‘stained glass’ sunrise for a few days, thanks to tissue paper and the novitiate. Uno pane vivunt cives utriusque patriæ. The citizens of both homelands live by one bread. Benedictine oblates were recently described by Abbot Gregory Po- lan as ‘truly our best friends’, and the Rule of St Benedict guides nuns and oblates alike in living the Gospel. Tony Liveing made his oblation on 7th April and became Br Gabriel. Karen Bowden made her affiliation on 1st September. An oblate day was held on 26th May, with talks on chant (Sr Bernadette) and illuminated manu- scripts (Sr Bede). An oblate weekend on 27th-28th October was the biggest gathering to date, with some twenty attendees for Sr Scholastica’s talks on the Desert Fathers. Oblates and many others have been able to make retreats at our retreat house, the Garth. 9th July 2018, feast of Our Lady of Providence, marked the 25th anni- versary of its opening. We thank God for the graces received through this ministry. Caro facta spiritualis. The flesh made spiritual... While we look forward to the resurrection of the body, relics of the saints are a tangible link to their pres- ence with God and with us. This year our relic collection was enriched with a relic ex ossibus of Blessed Karl of Austria, kindly sent by Prince Lorenz of Austria- Este (who promotes Bl Karl’s Prayer League) at the request of Sr Constance, who looks after our relics. Bl Karl visited this house while the exiled nuns of Ste-Cécile of Solesmes (with whom his future bride Zita had stayed) were in residence here. Fac consortem donativi beatorum civium. Make me a sharer of the bounty of the blessed citizens. We share already in the graces God gave to our monastic forebears, and this year our Solesmian inheritance was especially marked on 15th August, the 150th

18 anniversary of the Profession of the first seven nuns of Ste-Cécile. Three of them are buried in our cemetery, and after Mass we processed out to sing suitable antiphons by their decorated graves. Mère Abbesse Claire de Sazilly of Solesmes had kindly sent the text of a letter by Dom Alphonse Guépin of Solesmes describing the 1868 Profes- sion in glorious detail, which we heard in the refectory in M. Prioress’s translation. It concluded: ‘It only remains at this time to bless God for the great things he has done in the midst of us, and to march together towards the eternal nuptials where Brothers and Sisters will be reunited together around the table of the Bridegroom.’ Et præsentem veritatis contem- plantur speciem. And they contem- plate the manifest beauty of truth. Sr Anselma Scollard’s book Art, Truth and Time: Essays in Art, including images of Sr Anselma’s own work in wood, is due out soon from Luath Press (c. £12.00; www.luath.co.uk), and will also be available in our shop. Sr Laetitia Payne’s translation of The Radiance of Her Face: A triptych in honor of Mary Immaculate by Abbot Xavier Perrin of Quarr (Angelico Press), appeared last year, and has been well received. Sr Laetitia is still in Canada, helping our sisters of Ste-Marie-des-Deux-Montagnes. Sr Bede was asked for an ‘email interview’ on calligraphy and illumination by a student at University, and was happy to pass on her knowledge. Our dear Mother continues to present us with the beauty of truth in her weekly conferences, notably this year with series on Br Lawrence of the Resurrection and St Peter Damian. Fr Abbot Xavier has given us valuable monthly conferences, including a series on the Psalms. Novas semper harmonias vox meloda concrepat. A melodious voice rings ever with new harmonies. We look forward with great joy to Sr Anne’s Solemn Profes- sion, to take place on 9th February in a Votive Mass of the Immaculate Concep- tion. Please keep our dear sister in your prayers as this happy day approaches. Agnus est felicis urbis lumen inocciduum. The Lamb is the never-setting light of the blessed city. The Lord has called various family members and friends to Himself this year, including: Sr Constance’s mother Elizabeth Neame, Sr Catherine’s sister Teresa Lambert, Sr Mechtilde’s grandfather Stefan Zebrowski,˙ Philip Prince, Sr Am- buja of Shanti Nilayam, Br Francis Verry of Quarr, Sr Rosemary Walker SBVM. May they and all the dead be brought swiftly to the full light of heaven, and may we at last with them, and all our readers, friends and benefactors, be united in God’s praise in the day of eternity. ______

19 Wishing you peace and joy at this holy season and assuring you of our prayers