Christmas 2009

A Message from Abbot Charles


Dear Friends of Prince of Peace Abbey,

Anticipation is a good description of what many of us feel in this season. In spite of the woes that the world is experiencing, there is still an underlying sense and hope that peace is possible— even if it is only for a day, for Christmas Day.

It seems that with modern technology we should have more leisure time to keep in contact with friends and loved ones but just the opposite seems true. We are chained to our computers, our cell phones and blackberries. However, in this blessed season we are reminded to temporarily put aside lesser tasks and turn to matters that go beyond the merely practical.

It can be a time to reminisce about what Christmas meant to us in the past and how we and our families celebrated that special season. For most of us, I suspect, snow played a very important part in our experience of the time.

Of course the meal was a major event of that day and the preparation for it took the better part of two days.

But what took the most time was planning to get the right gift for each one on our list. And most of the time the wrapping prompted us to hope that the gift was of great valuable. And it wasn’t. But that didn’t matter. Unlike today, it was the thought behind the gift that counted.

Christmas would have meant very little without Midnight Mass. The outburst of carols and pageantry caused hearts to sing and feelings to soar and peace to reign.

The sacrifices of Advent, like those of Lent, were essential in preparing for the feast and only enhanced the joy of the celebration.

Yes, remembering such details is important but we should never lose sight of the One whose birthday we celebrate. He, The Prince of Peace, is the only one who can give us deep and lasting peace. His birth was essential for our intimate union with the Father.

When Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, heaven and earth met and were inextricably united. Blessed is she among women. And blessed are we because the gift is of infinitely more value than any wrapping.

So let us not lose heart as the world relegates Christmas to a mere secular holiday or even worse, renames it. For us, it will always be the source of hope that peace is possible. And we certainly believe that peace must first be born in our hearts before it can be spread throughout the world.

“Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Holy and Peaceful Christmas!


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Twenty-One Oblates Make Final Promises


After over a year of classes and practicing Benedictine Spirituality in the home and the workplace, twenty-one oblate novices made their final promises as oblates of Prince of Peace Abbey on October 11, 2009.

This was the largest class that anyone can remember. Many persons are becoming more interested in their faith, and in seeking out ways that can help them in their daily search for God. It is refreshing to see their enthusiasm and zeal. Some of these folks have full time jobs and still manage to get in daily Mass where possible, and some, if not all of the Office of Hours.

May the good Lord reward them with perseverance. “It is love that impels them to pursue everlasting life; therefore, they are eager to take the narrow road of which the Lord says: Narrow is the road that leads to life (Matt 7:14).” (RB 5:10).


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From the Chronicles of Prince of Peace Abbey


January 5-12. The bishops of Region IX (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas) were made their annual retreat here at our monastery’s retreat house.

February 12. Abbot Charles flew to St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama, to attend the annual Abbots Workshop.

March 8. Archpriest George Morelli, Associate Pastor of St. George’s Antiochene Orthodox Church in San Diego, spoke to our oblates on the topic of sin according to Eastern Orthodox theology. Fr. George belongs to a grass roots group of persons who are exploring dialogue between Orthodox and Catholics.

March 23. Fr. Stephanos conducted a week’s retreat for the Father Kolbe Missionaries of the Immaculata.

April 17. Fr. Stephanos traveled to Rome to be a participant in a seminar on the “History of the Papacy”.

April 19. Brother Blaise Heuke celebrated his Fiftieth Anniversary of monastic profession.

April 26. Bernadine Carr from the San Diego Diocesan Institute was the main speaker at the Oblate meeting today. Her talk focused on the person of St. Paul.

May 5. Abbot Charles traveled to Oakland, California for the Installation of Bishop Salvatore Cordileone as Bishop of the Diocese of Oakland. Until his appointment to head the Oakland diocese, Bishop Cordileone was assistant bishop of San Diego.

May 31. Fr. Herbert Palmer celebrated his Seventieth Anniversary of Priesthood.

June 7. Abbot Charles was the main celebrant at Mass for the Eighth Grade Graduates of St. Joseph’s Academy, San Marcos.

June 14. Fr. Prior Sharbel attended the dedication of the new St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Fallbrook.

June 15. Brother Damien traveled to St. Benedict Abbey, Atchison, Kansas, to be a participant in the Benedictine Junior Monk Summer School Program.

August 6. Fr. Herbert Palmer celebrated his Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of Monastic Vows. Fr. Basil Mattingly celebrated his Sixty-Seventh Anniversary of Monastic Vows.

August 9. In honor of Fr. Herbert a concert and a surprise pictorial presentation of his life took place in our library.

August 22. Brothers Michel Pham and Paul Farrelly were ordained to the Diaconate in our monastery church by the Most Rev. Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego. Assisting the bishop were Fr. Earl Eggleston and Deacon Michael Partida from Resurrection parish in Escondido.

September 2. Abbot Charles invested Alfredo Chavez and Thomas Clark as candidates for our monastery.

September 12. Brother Daniel Sokol and Presbytera Joy Corona were guest speakers for the Society of St. John Chrysostom. Their topic was “Married Saints of East and West”.

October 1. Abbot Charles and Brother Benedict attended the funeral of the original benefactor of the monastery, Marcella Wright. Fr. Prior Sharbel and Br. Blaise attended her funeral visitation the previous day. In 1958, from January to October, the founding monks of our monastery lived in her mansion in Riverside, California, before acquiring and moving to our permanent location in Oceanside.

September 25-27. Abbot Charles and Brother Daniel conducted the retreat for the abbey’s Oblates.

October 1-14. Fr. Stephanos traveled to Europe attend the diaconal ordination of a cousin in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, and the priestly ordination of Fr. Aaron Brunner, O.S.B., at his home monastery of Einsiedeln, Switzerland.

October 11. Fr. John Odermann, O.S.B., of Assumption Abbey, North Dakota, was guest speaker for our oblates.

October 21. Abbot Charles received the final oblation of twenty-one individuals in the Abbey Retreat House Chapel.


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In Memoriam


Lord, grant them eternal rest! May perpetual light shine upon them!

Rosemary Dwyer
Michael Evans
Sammy McClellan
Marcella Wright,
Bishop Patrick Ziemann
Fortuna Quizon (Father of Bro. Mario)
Dean Abraham
Donald DiMario
Mai Thi Nguyen
Richard Caldwell
Sally Francis
Josephine Morin
Lua Pham (Mother of Bro. Michel)
Rick Pravenza
Danilo Rodriguez
John Waide
John Casey
Leo Crowley
Ted Mendoza
Mary Eileen Hanley
Sister JeanO’Donnell
Pat Cleary
Gerald Friske
Avna Dura Darang
Joseph Mulligan
Helen Urbanik
Irene Ernestus
Sam Marinello
Yolanda Trigo
Sister Patrick Zins
Scott Rytlewski

"Emmaus Road"

We are again offering artwork by Fr. Gabriel Chavez de la Mora, O.S.B., of Tepeyac Abbey, Mexico, who designed our church and its artwork.

The Last Supper


The Last Supper and other images are also available online.
The Prince of Peace
Detail from The Prince of Peace
Our Lady of Fatima
Our Crucified Lord
Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Lord Jesus and St. Joseph

The images are available as prints on canvas stretched and mounted in the same manner as fine oil paintings. They are also available for purchase online in various sizes and formats: unmounted and unframed canvas prints, framed canvas prints, stretched canvas prints, prints on various types of fine art paper, greetings cards. Click "princeofpeaceabbey.imagekind.com" to see our online sales gallery.

New Candidates

On September 2, 2009, the monastery invested two candidates who arrived to begin at least 18 months of preparation to make vows.

They are Alfredo Chavez of Porterville, Ca., and Thomas Clark of San Francisco, Ca.

The Ordination of Deacons

Brother Michel and Brother Paul received Diaconal Ordination today at the monastery from Bishop Robert Brom of San Diego.

The two monks will now begin their last year of theological study.

Bishop Robert has agreed to ordain them as priests next year in June here at the monastery.

For Men Thinking about Life in a Religious Order

Vocation Discernment Retreats at Prince of Peace Abbey

For unmarried adult Catholic men up to 45 years of age

July 13-17, 2009
or
August 31 to September 4, 2009

For more information, please call our Vocation Director, Brother Philip, at (760) 967-4200 extension 208.

Christmas 2008 and Epiphany 2009

FROM ABBOT CHARLES


Christmas Greetings from Prince of Peace Abbey!

Although the snow is not falling here, nor seldom does, I am certain that many of us recall the cold, white stuff that enhanced so many of our Christmas customs. The walking to Midnight Mass through the newly fallen snow and hearing it crunch under foot has been indelibly printed on my memory chip. Of course I was only a child then and didn’t realize all the difficulties and complexities of life but it did seem that living was so much simpler.

I guess the world was at peace then to the degree that it has never been since. Today the number of “hot spots” of armed conflict and terrorism continues to increase. However, violence is nothing new and has been used as a means to solve conflicts ever since Cain spilled the blood of his brother Abel.

Jesus came to show us the new way of humility and forgiveness and even furnished us with His power and His very life, so necessary in finding peace. However, even His blood was spilled for us. And after all these centuries we still walk the fine line between an uneasy peace and complete anarchy. But hopefully this season of peace may make a difference in a world that appears to be set on selfishness, vengeance, and violence, if not, complete self-destruction. It is incumbent on us to cooperate with God’s grace so as to be peacemakers rather than remain mere silent, regretful observers. If peace reigns in our hearts it will find its way to the surface and influence those with whom we come in contact. As evil is contagious, so is good. It is up to us to determine which one will be victorious in the end.

At this very moment in Jerusalem, where the Prince of Peace met His violent death, there is a Benedictine monastery— Dormition Abbey— which offers a neutral haven where many young Christians, Jews and Muslims meet together in prayer and fellowship. The peace-seeking youth of that part of the world understand too well that the present practice of vendetta and retaliation only escalates violence and can never bring peace.

We know that God’s grace is working at this monastery too. And as bleak as the future of the world appears, there is much hope because of the growing number good people who make their way here or are known to us. However, their names and photos will never be found in newspapers or on the nightly news. It they were, there would be far less despair in the world.

Let us all call upon Jesus, the Prince of Peace, to renew again in our hearts the love of God and of neighbor, without which, true peace can never be attained.

Blessed Christmas
and a Holy New Year!


Abbot Charles, O.S.B.


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IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME, THE FULLNESS OF DIVINITY APPEARED


[One of the readings for the “Divine Office of Readings,” or “Vigils,” during the Octave of Christmas— it is from an Epiphany sermon by St. Bernard of Clairvaux.]


The goodness and humanity of God our Savior have appeared in our midst. We thank God for the many consolations he has given us during this sad exile of our pilgrimage here on earth. Before the Son of God became man his goodness was hidden. For God’s mercy is eternal, but how could such goodness be recognized? It was promised, but it was not experienced, and as a result few believed in it. Often and in many ways the Lord used to speak through the prophets. Among other things, God said: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. But what did men respond, thinking thoughts of affliction and knowing nothing of peace? They said: Peace, peace, there is no peace. This response made the angels of peace weep bitterly, saying: Lord, who has believed our message? But now men believe because they see with their own eyes, and because God’s testimony has now become even more credible. He has gone so far as to pitch his tent in the sun so even the dimmest eyes see him.

Notice that peace is not promised but sent to us; it is no longer deferred, it is given; peace is not prophesied but achieved. It is as if God the Father sent upon the earth a purse full of his mercy. This purse was burst open during the Lord’s passion to pour forth its hidden contents— the price of our redemption. It was only a small purse, but it was very full. As the Scriptures tell us: A little child has been given to us, but in him dwells all the fullness of the divine nature. The fullness of time brought with it the fullness of divinity. God’s Son came in the flesh so that mortal men could see and recognize God’s kindness. When God reveals his humanity, his goodness cannot possibly remain hidden. To show his kindness what more could he do beyond taking my human form? My humanity, I say, not Adam’s— that is, not such as he had before his fall.

How could he have shown this mercy more clearly than by taking on himself our condition? For our sake the Word of God became as grass. What better proof could he have given of his love? Scripture says: Lord, what is man that you are mindful of him; why does your heart go out to him? The incarnation teaches us how much God cares for us, and what he thinks and feels about us. We should stop thinking of our own sufferings and remember what he has suffered. Let us think of all that the Lord has done for us, and then we shall realize how his goodness appears through his humanity. The lesser he became through his human nature the greater was his goodness; the more he lowered himself for me, the dearer he is to me. The goodness and humanity of God our Savior have appeared, says the Apostle.

Truly great and manifest are the goodness and humanity of God! He has given us a most wonderful proof of his goodness by adding humanity to his own divine nature.


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OUR LADY OF EINSIEDELN


The church at Prince of Peace Abbey is formally entitled “Our Lady of Einsiedeln Church.” Before reading anything more here about that title and its history, it would be helpful to know how to pronounce “Einsiedeln.” An English-language rhyme for it would be “píne-needle.” That’s not a perfect rhyme, but it may be as close as any other English words could come.

The name “Einsiedeln” comes from the German word for hermit, einsiedler. Einsiedeln is the name of a Swiss monastery and town that sprung up in a forested valley first colonized by hermit monks.

Just inside the main entrance of the monastery church of Einsiedeln, Switzerland, is a freestanding chapel enshrining a wooden, painted statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the Infant Lord Jesus. At Prince of Peace Abbey in Oceanside, Our Lady of Einsiedeln Church includes a side-chapel enshrining a hand-carved wooden copy of the Swiss statue. The original seems to have been made around A.D. 1440.

The statue’s sculpted hair is combed and lies close to the body. The carved dress is pleated, belted at the waist, and drapes in soft folds covering the Madonna’s feet. In her right hand she has a scepter signifying her queenship and goodwill. The Child she is carrying with her left arm has his right hand raised in blessing, and in his left hand he holds a bird. The bird reflects an ancient apocryphal legend that the Christ Child played with clay, shaped it into a bird, and miraculously brought it to life. The statue of Mother and Child was originally painted in flesh tones, but was blackened over time by the smoke of candles and oil lamps.

At Prince of Peace Abbey, the statue of Our Lady of Einsiedeln stands on a black stone pedestal bearing the Greek word Theotokos, “Godbearer,” and the Latin words Regina Monachorum, “Queen of Monks.” The Latin title plays on the idea of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a royal patroness for a hermit-monk, since einsiedler is the German for “hermit.”

Although the present statue in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, seems to have originated around A.D. 1440, existing historical documents reveal that massive pilgrimages to Our Lady of Einsiedeln were already long-standing custom before A.D. 1311. The Chapel of Our Lady of Einsiedeln in Switzerland seems to have first been called the “Chapel of Our Lady” after A.D. 1286. Before then, it had been called the Chapel of the Hermits, since it stood on the spot where the hermit, St. Meinrad (who died in A.D. 861), had built an altar, and hermits after him had built a chapel.

The Chapel of Our Lady of Einsiedeln, Switzerland, has a long history as a place of conversions and miraculous healings. It has known the visits of everyone from emperors to peasants. St. Nicholas of Flüe, St. Dorothy of Montau, St. Benedict Joseph Labré, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Peter Canisius, St. Joan Antide Thouret, and Pope St. Pius X have sought Our Lady’s intercession at Einsiedeln. She received the devout visit of Pope John Paul II in 1984.

Although largely unknown by Americans, the Chapel of Our Lady of Einsiedeln is the national shrine of Switzerland, and is a famous pilgrimage destination among Europeans. Due to its central location in Europe, other historic and famous pilgrim roads across Europe intersect in Einsiedeln; since the Middle Ages many pilgrims on the way to or returning from Santiago de Compostela, Rome and the Holy Land passed through Einsiedeln to visit Our Lady’s Chapel there. Even today more than half a million pilgrims visit Einsiedeln yearly.

The Solemnity of Our Lady of Einsiedeln is July 16.


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ABBEY COAT OF ARMS


The Solemnity of Christmas is the patronal nameday of Prince of Peace Abbey. The First Vespers of Christmas repeatedly invokes peace and refers to Christ as Rex Pacificus— meaning “King of Peace” or “Peaceful King.” Depicting a crown over the waves of the Pacific Ocean, the shield in our coat of arms is a pictorial play on the words “Prince of Peace”.

The Church Has Norms for Coats of Arms

A diocese has a right to a diocesan coat of arms that does not change as bishops succeed each other in the diocese. However, every bishop has a right to his own personal coat of arms distinct from the diocesan coat of arms; and an abbot may have a personal coat of arms distinct from his abbey’s coat of arms. There are items that belong in a diocesan coat of arms that are not permitted in a monastery’s coat of arms, and vice versa. Likewise the elements permitted in an abbot’s personal coat of arms are not the same as those of a bishop. Neither our first abbot, Abbot Claude, nor our second and present abbot, Abbot Charles, has a personal coat of arms.

When the Holy See elevated our monastery to an abbey in 1983, we assembled a coat of arms for our abbey, but without following Church norms.

Miter?

An abbey itself may include a white miter above the shield in the abbey’s coat of arms, but it is not required, and its inclusion is not common. However, an abbot himself is prohibited from including a miter in his personal coat of arms.

A Veiled Crozier

Interestingly, modern Church norms forbid the crozier in the personal arms of cardinals, archbishops, and bishops. Instead, those persons are to use a jeweled processional cross behind their individual shields. A bishop’s cross has one horizontal bar, while that of an archbishop has two. A cardinal’s cross has two bars if he was an archbishop at the time he was made a cardinal, and only one bar if he was a bishop at the time he was made a cardinal. An abbey’s coat of arms and an abbot’s personal coat of arms are not to have a processional cross, but are to have a golden, veiled crozier behind the shield. At one time in history, the actual crozier of an abbot had a veil hooked to its knob to distinguish the abbot from a bishop. The crozier in an abbatial coat of arms still must have a veil hooked to the knob of the crozier. Therefore our coat of arms as we have had it from the start has been wrong, since it includes an unveiled crozier. The veiled crozier is the essential sign that a coat of arms belongs to an abbey or an abbot. The bottom of a heraldic crozier is to be pointed, since that is historically how croziers were made.

Artistry?

Our coat of arms was originally drawn with direct copies of items from various sources. The crown came from a “Three Kings” cartoon in one of our Office books. The ravens came from another source, and the other items (shield, miter, crozier) from yet other sources. The result is a hodgepodge of styles. In terms of artistry, our original coat of arms is poorly done; in terms of Church heraldry, our original coat of arms is incorrect. Nonetheless, our shield (the essential element of any coat of arms) is within the norms of the Church.

Our shield is divided vertically down the center. The technical term for this is “partitioning the fields per pale.” A “pale” is a vertical line or post.

The right side as one views the front of a shield is called “sinister,” from the Latin for “left,” since that is the left side for a man holding his shield in battle. Conversely, the left side as one views the front of a shield is called “dexter,” from the Latin for “right.” Our shield has two ravens in sinister, symbolizing St. Meinrad Archabbey and Einsiedeln Abbey. Ravens figured in the lives of St. Benedict and St. Meinrad. On our shield, in dexter (the place of honor), the gold crown represents the Prince of Peace (Rex Pacificus, as in the First Vespers of Christmas), and the blue waves signify the Pacific Ocean that is within view from inside our abbey church.

In a corrected and new rendering of our coat of arms, the stylized wings of the ravens recall the deep sleeves of a monk whose arms are raised for singing the Suscipe (“Receive me, Lord”) at profession of vows. The ravens in the shield are looking towards the crown and the ocean, just as we monks face simultaneously the icon of the Prince of Peace and the Pacific Ocean as we sing the Suscipe when professing our monastic vows in our abbey church.


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FROM THE CHRONICLES OF PRINCE OF PEACE ABBEY


August 13. Brothers Noel and Gabriel attended the graduation ceremony of our Br. Paul who worked in a hospice program for his seminary project.

August 15. The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bro. Mario celebrates his patronal nameday.

August 23. Abbot Charles attended the St. Joseph’s Academy Eucharistic procession from St. Mark Catholic Church to the new location of the Academy.

August 28. Abbot Charles and Bro. Philip travel to Anaheim to run a booth for our monastery at a Catholic convention.

August 30. Bro. Michel returns to Mt. Angel Abbey Seminary to resume his studies.

September 6. Abbot Charles, Bros. Blaise and Joseph travel to Lakeside, California to attend the 60th Wedding Anniversary Mass for Gene and Irene Larson. Gene was the superintendant foreman on most of our building projects.

September 10. Fr. Abbot Charles travels to Rome for the Worldwide Congress of Benedictine Abbots.

September 14. Bro. Daniel holds the first Oblate meeting for the fall season. He will be instructing Oblate Novices.

September 17. The first anniversary of the death of Abbot Claude.

September 29. Brothers Raphael, Gabriel and Michel celebrated their patronal nameday.

October 1. We hosted a banquet for our Oblates in the continuing celebrations of our monastery’s fiftieth Anniversary.

October 11. Our benefactor and oblate, Mary Marsitto, passed away this afternoon. She and her husband provided nearly all the plants for our monastery during the first half of our history.

October 13. Wildfire at Camp Pendleton burns within two mile of our monastery.

October 25. Abbot Charles and Bro. Daniel attend the 25th Anniversary of the Brother Benno Center.

November 7. Bro. Philip participated in a Vocation Awareness day at the Norbertine High School in San Pedro.

November 9. Dr. Derry Donnell, president and founder of the John Paul the Great University in San Diego, gave a talk at our regular Oblate meeting. Fr. Johannes, O.S.B., from Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, also spoke. His monastery is founding an international Peace Academy on Mount Sion.

November 12. Our monastery celebrates the last event of its 50th Anniversary year. San Diego diocesan priests and deacons as well as the wives of the deacons were invited guests for Vespers and a banquet in our retreat house.


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THE EPIPHANY HOMILY OF ABBOT CHARLES


“We have seen His star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”

The now-famous star is just one more display of light associated with a theophany. The word theophany, meaning manifestation of God is similar to Epiphany, and that is, to make manifest to a magnified degree.

The concept of light has been most important from the first verse of the first book of the Old Testament. “Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep.”

God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light.

Another theophany came with light when Moses saw the bush burning brightly.

Yet another was the pillar of fire at night that guided God’s people through the desert.

After the light of the star guided the Magi to Jesus, who is the light of the world, (light manifesting light as it were), then the same light continued to shine through the Transfiguration and finally at the Resurrection.

The light did not stop there. To St. Paul (this is still the year of St. Paul) the revelation of which he speaks in the Letter to the Ephesians, was made known in a brilliant display of light.

But as all terms that deal with God, there is the reality of a level that goes deeper than human language can explain.

We speak of light, the light that comes to us from the sun, from electrical bulbs, etc., but the Light of the World shines not for our human eyes but for the eyes of our faith, the eyes of our hearts.

And light always dispels darkness. The darkness of doubt, the darkness of confusion, the darkness of sin.

These are strange terms for a people who only believe in what can be described in human language or proven by physical experimentation.

So we celebrate the Light of the World manifesting Himself to the WHOLE world, not merely to a chosen few. That reality is displayed by the Magi coming from nations other than Jewish. They recognize something – someone- of great importance and they believed.

Now, BELIEF is the only requirement. Although Jesus came to save the whole world (“This is my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for ALL– so that sins may be forgiven.”) His disciples did not completely comprehend that until Peter baptized Cornelius and his whole household without first making them Jews.

And Paul’s whole vocation was to go to the Gentiles – the non-Jews – to bring the light to them.

So we can look back (with 20/20 hindsight) to Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Jerusalem – Jerusalem, the symbol of the heavenly city. He says, “Jerusalem, Rise up in splendor, your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds the peoples, but upon you the Lord shines.” That is from the 60th chapter of Isaiah. Which is the full bloom of the many references to the anticipated salvation and how it is to be made known.

The prophet sees gifts that will be lavished upon God’s city, brought by caravans of camels, the best only way of transport then..

Basically, there would be a superfluity of wealth. Again the physical being used to describe the spiritual. Tangible gold, symbolizing the spiritual salvation, found in a renewed relationship with God. This salvation can only be described in other worldly terms, which make not sense to the unbeliever.

What other deeper truth or mystery can be found in the story of the Magi?

The one word GIFT.

And interesting study would be how the gift differs from the giver. Where does one stop and the other begin.

Obviously, we have just left the season of gift giving. The reason that we give gifts is because of today’s gospel passage. They brought gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold fit for a king. Incense only offered to a deity and myrrh to foretell his death and to be used on his own dead body.

When we love, when we appreciate, or when we wish to repay, we give gifts. When we look below the surface we see that a physical gift is primarily a symbol of giving of self. “I wish that I could give you myself but I can’t, so I give you a token of me.” There are signs and symbols – and we all use them and need them. The Eucharist overflows with symbols.

When you come to Oceanside, you see a sign that spells O-c-e-a-n-s-i-d-e. The sign in not Oceanside but merely and indication that you are entering a geographic location termed Oceanside. But yesterday we had some clouds appear in the west. The clouds were a sign of rain but they also caused the rain.

The Eucharist is a such sign of God’s presence among us, becauset it also causes His presence to be made manifest.

The bread and wine are gifts from God’s providence to us. We bring those gifts of bread and wine, that God gave us, and we offer them back to God. But God doesn’t take them. He Himself enters into them on a level deeper than the physical or tangible and offers them (Himself) back to us

That is where the gift IS the giver. And He is asking us to give ourselves back to him on the same level – to the same degree that He has given himself to us.

But here the gift and the giver are not only blended into one, the giver and the receiver are now one.

So proper reception is as vital as proper giving and proper generosity.

How would you feel if you gave someone a gift and they refused it or misused it or discarded it? To receive generously is as important as to give generously. To receive lovingly is to encourage the giver to be even more cooperative with God’s grace to be generous.

But is there even a deeper message to gift-giving today?

Benedict XVI, our present Holy Father, gave a masterful presentation on the first day of this year on this very topic. Gift-giving and generosity.

He begins by speaking of Christ’s indescribable generosity to us in the negative. Mind you, the Holy Father’s deep concern for the whole Church must transcend national boundaries and international boundaries and even ignore them when his children are on both sides of those man-made boundaries. His message for the Day of Peace is that peace can never be realized as long as there is poverty in the world.

In a stroke of genius he introduced a Christ-centered approach to eliminating poverty in terms that can be easily understood today. He asks us to fight poverty WITH poverty. One of the evangelical counsels is poverty. That is, the freely chosen simplicity that combats the desire in everyone to possess – and even possess more than is necessary.

He says there is a poverty that Jesus made noble by the way he was born, how he lived his whole life and even how he died. Jesus, not only wished to become man but to become poor. The poverty of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, besides an object of adoration for Christians, is also a school of life for man.

So there is voluntary poverty that offers dignity and there is a forced poverty that offends God and violates justice.

The Holy Father continues, “Misery cannot be efficaciously fought, if there is no attempt to make equality, reducing the unevenness between those who waste the superfluous, and those who don’t even have the necessary.”

Our responsorial psalm (72) “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.” Continues with, “For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out. He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor. The lives of the poor he shall save.”

We know that what is happening in this country (and is being felt around the world) IS a Direct result of the desire to over possess--run wild. Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves and us too.

It is caused by greed. Greed is not against the law, in fact, the law is there to protect it and the greedy.

Just as lust is not against the law. The law protects it.

Avarice is not against the law, in fact every advertisement you see or hear is meant to enflame the desire to have what others have, to covert their possessions or whatever else they flaunt.

So today we are not only acknowledging the fact that God is made manifest, made one of us, (became man, so that we could be given divinity), we are also made aware of HOW he came and HOW he lived, so that His gift to us may be transformed into our gift to him. So that our lives may be Eucharistic.

Have we seen His star at its rising and have we come to do him homage?

September 2008

The Message of Abbot Charles for Our Monastery’s Fiftieth Anniversary



Can you believe we have been in California for fifty years already? And because I have been associated with the community since May of 1961 my mind is filled with memories of the many joys, sorrows, struggles and successes since then.

My overwhelming recollection is of the people; both the monks and the many friends.

In an attempt to discern my own vocation I had written to Fr. Rudolph, the founding prior, requesting a visit to the small community in Oceanside. Fr. Rudolph was assisting for a weekend in a parish in San Diego and set up an appointment. He was the first Benedictine I had ever met and I was impressed by his gentleness and generosity. He invited me to visit for a weekend in May of 1961. That I did. And later I made the decision to apply for admission hoping that the monks would accept me. I was then invited to spend the summer working with the community to further discern. In the meantime, Br. Joseph was in the process of being admitted and Fr. Claude had not yet arrived.

Although St. Charles Priory was then a very small community, I was impressed with the liturgy, especially the chant. And the attitude of the monks toward manual labor was also appealing and edifying.

Although it took a small army of monks and friends to make these last 50 years successful, there are three names that are most deeply inscribed in the annals of Prince of Peace Abbey.

Fr. Bernadine Shine, the first subprior, was a figure “larger than life.” His influence as Sacristan and Master of Ceremonies is responsible for the decorum and reverence with which we still observe the liturgy. No one could ever forget the dynamism and theological wealth that flowed from his homilies and conferences.

As with hundreds of others, I believe the most memorable monk of all was Brother Benno. No one, even he, could have imagined what his energy would eventually accomplish and how renowned he would become in Southern California. To say that Brother Benno was generous would be a gross understatement. His work of assisting those in need continues to multiply in the form of The Brother Benno Foundation, a separate corporation.

Without the guidance and direction of Father Abbot Claude, who was superior from 1965 until his resignation in 1994, much less would have been accomplished. I recall his inspiring life and monastic observance that reflected his discipline in prayer and daily spiritual reading. He almost had the Epistles of St. Paul memorized. His selfless and fatherly concern was evident to so many of us, including the dozens who sought him out as spiritual director, confidant and friend. His faithfulness was evident by his presence at all the common exercises until the hour he died on September 17, 2007. May his soul and the souls of all monks and other persons who helped us through these first fifty years rest in eternal peace!

So now we look forward to the next fifty and ask your continued prayers and friendship. And may The Lord, Jesus, lead us all into His kingdom. Amen!


From the Chronicle of Prince of Peace Abbey


January 7
The Bishops of Region IX (Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska) as well as the Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego, Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, are on retreat for the whole week. Their retreat master was the renowned Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap., Preacher to the Papal Household.

January 12
Brother Joseph suffered a stroke during the early morning hours and was taken by the paramedics to Tri-City Hospital. His speech was severely slurred and there was numbness on his right side— he could barely raise his right arm. By the end of the day he was raising his arm above his head and talking more clearly. He will be undergoing speech and physical therapy for the next few weeks.

January 20
Fr. Stephanos assisted St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Oceanside for their 7:30 a.m. Mass.

January 22
In union with the bishops of the U.S.A., the monastic community observed the twofold “Day of Penance” for violations of the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion and the “Day of Prayer” for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life.

January 24
Fr. Abbot Charles departed for the Abbots’ Workshop at St. Joseph Abbey in Louisiana.

January 29
Fr. Basil conducted a day of recollection for the Young Ladies Institute.

February 5
Bro. Gabriel undergoes some serious back surgery.

February 10
Oblate Sunday. Abbot Charles announced that he would be assuming the role of Oblate Director, with Brother Daniel as his assistant.
Fr. Abbot Charles and Fr. Prior Sharbel will be assisting Our Lady of Fatima Parish in San Clemente for one week.

March 11
Br. David was having difficulty speaking and breathing and was taken by the paramedics to Tri-City Hospital.
Bishop Eugene Gerber, the retired bishop from Wichita, Kansas, is on retreat this week in the cloister.

March 18
Fr. Prior Sharbel called to notify the community that his sister Sharon had passed away this morning. He will be returning to monastery for the Triduum and then return to Tucson to celebrate the Funeral Liturgy and then fly to Salina, Kansas to have the final funeral liturgy with his immediate family.

March 20
Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Cordileone will spend the Triduum with our community.

April 13
A large group of Korean altar servers from St. Columba parish in San Diego were guests of the Abbey for Mass and were given a tour of the monastery.
Brother Anselm celebrated his Fiftieth Anniversary of vows today.

April 19
Fr. Prior Sharbel traveled to the Pala Mission to baptize Marie Camille Martinez.

April 24
Fr. Abbot Charles was the main celebrant for the special Anniversary Mass of Thanksgiving for the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Vows of Fr. Stephanos and Br. Daniel.

May 5
Fr. Abbot Charles offered a Mass for the youth at St. Thomas More Church.
Fr. Prior Sharbel heard confessions of the candidates preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation at St. Mark Church in San Marcos.

May 10
Orthodox sister Mother Melania of Santa Barbara Monastery and our Brother Daniel presented conferences on “Monastic Spirituality in Everyday Life” at St. John Garabed Armenian Orthodox Church in San Diego.

May 17
Fr. Stephanos conducted a study program on Gregorian chant at St. Margaret Church in Oceanside.

May 18
Oblate Sunday. The guest speaker for the oblate meeting today was Fr. John Henry O.Praem., from the Praemonstatension or Norbertine abbey of St. Michael, Silverado, California. His talk was on the new Norbertine sisters’ monastery in Tehachapi, CA.
We heard the sad news of the passing of our dear friend, benefactor and neighbor for 50 years, Jack Cassan.

May 20
Twelve bulletin boards on the history of Abbey were set up in the Abbey Library for the viewing of the public.

May 21
Brother Aaron Brunner, O.S.B., from the Abbey of Einsiedeln in Switzerland (our grandmother house) will be a guest in the cloister for a few days. He will be here for our monastery’s Fiftieth Anniversary Mass.

May 24
The Abbey celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving on the occasion of its Fiftieth Anniversary. Among the guests were several Benedictine abbots and monks, a Norbertine abbot and canons, plus diocesan priests.

May 27
Fr. Abbot Charles conducts a day of recollections for the Knights of Columbus.
Fr. Stephanos traveled to Redlands to participate in the diaconal ordination of Bro. James Zakowicz, O.C.D.

May 29
Fr. Basil conducts a day of recollection for Nativity Church on the Liturgy of the Hours.

June 3
This week Fr. Abbot Charles and Fr. Prior Sharbel will assist the parish of Our Lady of Fatima in San Clemente with daily Masses.

June 8
Fr. Prior Sharbel celebrated Mass at St. Mark Church, San Marcos, for the eighth grade graduating class of Sierra Madre Academy.

June 13
The monastery’s “Fiftieth Anniversary Memorial Book” went on sale in our bookstore today.

June 17
Junior monks from various monasteries throughout the United States will be participants in the Juniorate Study Program for two weeks here. Fr. Joel Rippinger, O.S.B., from Marmion Abbey, and Bro. John Mark Falkenhain, O.S.B., from St. Meinrad Archabbey, will be conducting this program of study.

July 8
Brother Emmanuel’s brother, Fr. Joseph Tran, O.P., from Vatican Radio in Rome arrives at the monastery in preparation for Brother Emmanuel’s Solemn Profession of Vows.

July 11
On the Solemnity of St. Benedict, Brother Emmanuel Tran, O.S.B., professed his perpetual vows.

July 13
Seven new Oblates made their Final Promises in a ceremony in the retreathouse chapel. In addition, nine new oblate novices were enrolled.

July 16
A special Vespers in honor of Our Lady of Einsiedeln was the occasion to invite our donors to a special reception and banquet here. Over a 150 guests attended.

July 17
Fr. Abbot Charles and Brother Daniel departed early this morning to fly to St. Meinrad Archabbey as our delegates at the General Chapter of our Congregation.

July 18
Brother David was taken to Tri-City Hospital to undergo surgery to improve his blood circulation.

July 19
Brother Philip traveled to a Spanish-language Catholic radio studio in El Monte, California, to for an interview about St. Benedictine, the medal of St. Benedict, and the Benedictines.

July 28
A group of young Vietnamese Redemptorists from Texas is here this week on retreat preparing for their Perpetual Vows.

August 8-10
Over 40 Oblates and prospectives attended a retreat here conducted by Fr. Abbot, Fr. Stephanos and Br. Daniel. At the conclusion of the retreat the Oblates renewed their promises.

September 10
Abbot Charles flew to Rome to attend the international congress of Benedictine superiors.

Summer 2007 Edition

+ + + +


A MESSAGE FROM ABBOT CHARLES


Since my message in the Spring newsletter I have been globe trotting. The way it came about is that we had a Korean priest, Fr. Oh, stay with us for several months in 2005 and 2006. He is a Franciscan but has been given permission to work on a special apostolate. Fr. Oh has begun The Peace Village, not far from Busan (formerly Pusan) about a five-hour drive southeast from Seoul. It contains a large church and hall, a five-story convent for the 30+ sisters and a very large facility for mentally handicapped adults. The convent houses the Sisters of Peace Pentecost, founded by Fr. Oh.

When Fr. Oh invited me to visit Korea I said that I would consider it and for many months had not given it a second thought. Shortly after the first of this year I received a letter asking me to decide on travel dates so plans could be made. Mind you, up until that time I had never been west of Catalina Island. [An island off the coast of California.]

Before I knew it I was on my way to Seoul, South Korea. As I entered the cavernous terminal, Fr. Oh, Nancy Lee, who had actually made all the arrangements, Fr. Oh’s niece and the mother superior of the Sisters of Peace Pentecost with two of her sisters were waiting to greet me. I didn’t realize it at the time but the three sisters traveled five hours by car to be part of the welcoming committee. After a few photos were taken, they traveled all the way back home that night.

It was only the first of countless extraordinary marks of courtesy shown me by the generous Koreans.

After a couple of days of sightseeing in and around Seoul, we drove to Fr. Oh’s seventieth birthday celebration at The Peace Village. It was a most impressive function beginning with Mass in ending with a magnificent banquet in the hall. Luckily I have many photographs of that and the whole trip to share.

Once back in Seoul, we joined a small Korean tour group to Beijing, China.

Of course, all the usual tourist spots, including Tian’anmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, etc. were visited. However, I persuaded the reluctant Chinese tour guide to let me explore Beijing on my own for one whole day “off the beaten path”.

It was then that I got most of my favorite shots of people. The only sad note was that all of the young Chinese families had only one child because that is the law.

After the fourth day in Mainland China we headed to an airport quite a distance from Beijing and flew again for Incheon, South Korea, which is where the Seoul International Airport is located.

Japan was our next destination, where for four days we toured Tokyo, Yokohama, the mountain region near Mount Fuji, the beautiful lake region, hot springs and several religious shrines. The last full day there was the longest because of the eight hour drive to Niigata through stunning mountains and long valleys of neat rice paddies. From there back to Seoul.

The finale was a three day stay in Hong Kong with a long time friend of the monastery, Elaine Lo, who attended school there as a girl and has friends who showed me all the points of interest and even took me by boat to Macau, the former Portuguese colony.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for which I will be grateful for many years to come and anxious to elaborate on to any and all who will listen.


+ + + +


OBEDIENCE: GOD’S GIFT OR OBSTACLE?


The word “obedience” has, unfortunately, been given a negative connotation today. We often associate this word with having blind faith, thus compromising the use of our rational faculties. We also often understand being obedient to being like a soldier who simply follows orders to accomplish his mission regardless of the moral consequences. However, the true meaning of obedience does not entail a surrendering of our moral responsibilities. The word “obedience” comes from the Latin “obaudire,” which means “to listen well.”1 Obedience thus helps us attune ourselves to God, for “(f)rom its outset, human history attests to the wretchedness and oppression born of the human heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom.”2 Contrary to the examples mentioned above, our faith views obedience as a gift from God instead of an obstacle to be avoided.

God’s command toward Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, is an example of this. If we would be placed in Abraham’s position, our initial instinct would most likely be to reject God’s command. We would reply that God’s directive does not make sense, since God’s promise of continuing Abraham’s lineage will not be manifested if Isaac is killed. Abraham, nevertheless, is faithful in listening to God’s desire and is eventually stopped by an angel. Isaac is thus spared and Abraham rewarded for his fidelity.

The Virgin Mary’s fiat is also another example of how we should be good listeners to God’s word. Our Blessed Mother simply accepted God’s will with perfect love by proclaiming, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”3 (Luke 1:38). Did not the Virgin Mary, however, express some kind of incertitude when she had asked in Luke 1:34, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”4 No, this question is not one of doubt. Rather, while always having full confidence in God’s promise, she desired only to know in what manner God’s will was going to be carried out. Obedience is a gift that helps to strengthen us and increase our faith in God’s love for us; consequently, this helps to liberate us from the many harmful effects of sin such as despair or a belief in the meaninglessness of life.

The underlying principle of faith is obedience. We must always trust God despite facing circumstances that seem to contradict time or circumstances. We believe that in due time the course of events will develop for our benefit. This helps us in our journey to greater sanctity while God continues to bring glory upon Himself through out faithfulness. God cares for us, so He will not limit revealing Himself within the confines of our finite understanding in order to more fully embody His love for us. Nevertheless, due to concupiscence, we want to keep God in a box5. We are afraid of not being in complete control of everything that occurs around us, thus we hinder the benefits of grace in our lives. Obedience helps us to overcome this obstacle by walking in faith.

Therefore the fidelity of the Virgin Mary, as with Abraham does not only involve following directions properly but a spiritual dimension as well. This is what separates the Christian understanding of obedience from a secular one. In other words, a Christian desires to imitate Christ in all things. This helps the believer to transcend their misguided convictions. The believers always listens to how God is speaking to them through people and a variety of circumstances; God works this way, since God is Spirit and uses aspects of creation to manifest Himself to us. On the other hand, non-believers are more prone to think that everything they accomplish is due to their own efforts, so they greatly increase their risk of developing an egocentric pride.

Being obedient also should not make us indifferent to using our intellect. We should always engage our minds in determining the best course of action for any situation, even if we believe that our position will be rejected, since our intellect is a gift from God Who forms us in His own image. The rejection of our firmly held positions will allow us an opportunity to live humbly, and can serve as a reminder for us that God’s desire will always ultimately triumph despite whatever opposition we may encounter. We must remember, however, that the greatest obstacle is usually found in putting aside our pride instead of being submissive. With this we can better understand why God proclaims through Holy Scripture, “Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken better than the fat of rams.” (ISam l5:22)6. Consequently, whatever activity we may be involved in, the gift of obedience makes our efforts pleasing to the Lord, even if our efforts are only objectively mediocre. The manner in which we perform a task is important to God.

When we practice obedience, we become more of whom God intends us to be. We will attain true peace and freedom through a continual purgation by responding to opportunities to die to the effects of concupiscence on our lives. Indeed, from the story of Adam and Eve, we see that man has a desire to place his will above God’s will. Obedience thus helps us to overcome this sinful tendency. We become better enabled to live in the spirit of our Lord who prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; still not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42). The disobedience of our first parents at the Garden of Eden separated us from God, but through the perfect obedience of Christ Jesus to the Father (as well as the Virgin Mary); our Lord gave us the example to follow that would lead us to eternal life.


1 www.holymyrrbearers.com/obedienc__beyond__basics
2 CCC #1739
3 NAB
4 ibid
5 www.pbministries.org/articles/cook.
6NAB
7ibid.


+ + + +


BROTHER DAMIEN EVANGELISTA, O.S.B., MAKES HIS PROFESSION OF TEMPORARY VOWS


On April 21, 2007, the Feast of the Benedictine Bishop and Doctor of the Church St. Anselm, our Br. Damien Evangelista, O.S.B., made his first profession of vows. He had been here as a candiate for a half year, and than a novice for one year. During the ceremony he received the scapular with hood, and professed the three Benedictine vows of Stability, Conversion of Morals [to the Benedictine way of life] and Obedience. As a junior monk for a period of three years of continuing discernment, Br. Damien will continue his formation classes and in time be given more responsibilities.

Born in Zamboanga, Mindanao, Philippines, Br. Damien was the second of five children of Francisco and Glenda Evangelista. The family came to the USA in 1972 to New Jersey and he entered second grade there. The family them moved to Los Angeles where he continued his education, attended Los Angeles City College and served in the Military Reserve. Joining the US Air Force in 1987, he was stationed at Lackland AFB in Texas. From there he was sent to South Korea for two years. Returning to Los Angeles, he completed his associate’s degree in mathematics and transferred to UCLA where he earned a BA in Philosophy in 1998. For the next two years, Brother lived at home to assist his mother in raising her grandchildren. His father had died in 1990.

Hearing God’s call, Brother was encouraged by a friend to investigate the Augustinians in San Diego. Responding to this vocation, he joined the Augustinians. He completed his Postulancy and was sent to Racine, WI for the Novitiate. After the Novitiate he began studies in Washington, D.C. for two years after which the order sent him to Ojai, CA to teach religion. He had one year before making his final vows.
We are all called in one way or another to serve God according to each person’s particular vocation. Discernment and “fine-tuning” of this call, sometimes over a period of years, is necessary in order to determine specifically how God wants to use our gifts. By carefully paying attention to God’s will before entering final vows in the Augustinians, Br. Damien discerned a further calling to become more contemplative. This came about in several stages. Weary of being sent from one place to another, he realized that stability was very important to him and longed to be planted and bloom in one particular place. Next, he began to have a deeper appreciation of the importance of prayer in his life. As this hunger to spend more time in prayer with the Lord grew, he felt the need to seek out a more contemplative order. Then, he felt the need for doing some physical manual labor as part of the daily regime.

Br. Damien searched for the right place to serve out God’s call in his life. Remembering a friend’s recommendation to investigate Prince of Peace Abbey, he prayerfully considered it, then applied and was accepted in 2005.

Having completed the Candidacy and the Novitiate, Br. Damien has now professed temporary vows for three years, and eventually hopes to be able to profess final vows here at the monastery.
Please pray that God will grant him many graces, and while fulfilling this particular vocation in the Church as a monk at Prince of Peace Abbey, he will find the “peace that passes all understanding.”



+ + + +


WORKING TOWARDS HONESTY IN THE HEART
PART I


Introduction

In a time when truth is at best something that is relative and at worst a deception, it would be helpful to spend some time looking at the value of honesty and telling the truth to oneself and to others.

St. Irenaeus defines truth as the teaching of the Son of God. St. Gregory the Great speaks of good leaders as ones who pay “no regard to self-love,” and who are not persons who wish “to be loved more than the truth.”

Pope Benedict XVI writes in his latest Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, “The Lord Jesus, ‘the way, and the truth, and the life’ (Jn 14:6), speaks to our thirsting, pilgrim hearts, our hearts yearning for the source of life, our hearts longing for truth. Jesus Christ is the Truth in person, drawing the world to himself” (# 2).

The “man of truth”

The Psalmist speaks of the “man of truth” who rests on God’s holy mountain (which is an image of heaven), and wants to understand who will reside there. St. Benedict includes this reference to Sacred Scripture in the Prologue of his Holy Rule. “Who will dwell in your tent, Lord; who will find rest upon your holy mountain? (Ps 14[15]: 1)… One who walks without blemish, he says, and is just in all his dealings; who speaks the truth from his heart and has not practiced deceit with his tongue; who has not wronged a fellowman in any way, nor listened to slanders against his neighbor” (Ps 14[15]: 23) (RB Prol 25-27).

St. Benedict also has some good advice for anyone who wants to become a person of truth. “Hour by hour keep careful watch over all you do, aware that God’s gaze is upon you, wherever you may be. As soon as wrongful thoughts come into your heart, dash them against Christ and disclose them to your spiritual father. Guard your lips from harmful or deceptive speech” (RB 4:48-52).

What virtues are revealed in this short section from the Holy Rule? Several points may be made from just these few lines of the Rule quoted above.

+Vigilance is necessary because delay can be deadly to the soul. The words “careful watch” indicate something valuable, something to be protected, something of inestimable value, such as the soul. Gospel accounts and the fathers of the Church recommend vigilance over one’s heart and one’s tongue.

+Awareness is necessary to recognize that an evil thought has crossed one’s mind. We can become so busy or distracted, that we hardly notice the parade of unworthy thoughts that flow through the heart like a wandering river.

+Knowing that God sees all we do and all we say is a way of preventing ourselves from dishonoring our good God, and of harming our integrity when we refrain from speaking the fullness of truth.

+We acknowledge particular thoughts to be unworthy of the dignity of a true Christian, then we:

+Take decisive action: by “immediately” dashing them against Christ. Christ is the Rock Who will give the necessary graces to neutralize these thoughts before they have a chance to harden into sin.

+Disclosure to a Spiritual Father or at least an honest listener who will be wiling hear and discern your “thoughts” is a worthy practice. This takes a lot of courage!

+Posting a guard over deceptive speech is helpful to both ourselves and our neighbor in working towards honesty in the heart.

Manifestation of thoughts

St. Benedict, again using words of the psalmist says, “Confess to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy is forever (Ps 105[106]:1; Ps 117[118]:1). So too the Prophet: To you I have acknowledged my offense; my faults I have not concealed. I have said: Against myself I will report my faults to the Lord, and you have forgiven the wickedness of my heart” (Ps 31[32]:5) (RB 7: 46-48). He also says, “As soon as wrongful thoughts come into your heart, dash them against Christ and disclose them to your spiritual father” (RB 4:50). Honesty helps prepare us to make a proper sacrament of Reconciliation.

It is not an easy task to reveal your thoughts to another. It takes work. Disclosure, unlike confession, reveals all kinds of thoughts, distractions and desires. Confession discloses sin and faults to a priest and with proper penance and repentance, receives absolution. Radical self-disclosure, on the other hand is a process of discernment that allows the Holy Spirit to enter in and work through both parties. Manifestation of thoughts to another has a lot to do with honesty, humility, and obedience to the voice of conscience which is God’s “natural law” at work in us. Distillation of thoughts helps to sort out the good from the bad and the ugly, and it can become an excellent process working towards self-knowledge, and the recognition of God’s gift of the indelible imprint of His own true image and likeness on our soul. We also become more aware of God’s goodness towards man.

When we open our heart, we open it up to more than just the process of discernment and clarity, or as a preparation to the sacrament of Reconciliation. We open up to the power of God working in us through the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth and love. We recognize God’s goodness wanting to manifest Himself within us. Of course, this process requires truth in the heart.

Ways we can increase our growth in honesty

Many people recognize that something somewhere is not quite right, but they lack the necessary tools, energy or courage to do something about it. Here are some suggestions for approaching the process of self-disclosure and honesty of heart:

+Practice radical honesty before the Blessed Sacrament. Do not be afraid to seek the truth, but above all become more aware of God’s goodness and mercy.

+Pray for clarity of thought, distillation, and distinction of the good from the bad.

+Share the process of distillation of thoughts with a trusted friend.

+Face squarely our weaknesses and all of the circumstances surrounding a particular fault.

+Always tell the full, unvarnished truth, no matter what the cost. A tiny moment of embarrassment is certainly worth avoiding even the smallest sin.

+Keep free from too much busyness. It is good to contemplate the beauty of earth, the eternal joys of heaven, the wonders of our faith, etc.

“If you desire true and eternal life, keep your tongue free from vicious talk and your lips from all deceit; turn away from evil and do good; let peace be your quest and aim.”(Ps 33[34]:14 15) (RB Prol 17).


+ + + +


FROM THE CHRONICLES OF PRINCE OF PEACE ABBEY


March 3— Fr. Abbot Charles conducted a parish retreat at San Rafael Parish.

March 6— Fr. Alexis conducts a day of recollection for St. Vincent De Paul Parish.

March 7— Fr. Abbot Claude underwent some surgery on his leg to help with poor blood circulation.

March 8— Fr. Prior Sharbel conducted a day of recollection for St. Mark’s Parish of San Marcos and St. Nicholas’ Parish from Laguna Beach.

March 9— Fr. Abbot Charles traveled to El Cajon to be Lenten Guest Speaker for the parish of St. Kieran.

March 11— Fr. Abbot Charles offered Mass at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Parish, and Fr. Alexis offered their Spanish Mass at noon. Oblates of the Abbey met today for their regular monthly meeting.

March 13— Fr. Alexis conducted the day of recollection for parishioners of St. John’s Church from Encinitas. Fr. Abbot Charles hosted the RCIA group from St. Patrick’s Parish with Vespers, supper and a talk.

March 16— Abbot Charles conducted a day of recollection for the Stella Maris Prayer Group. The high school faculty of Sierra Madre Academy spent the day on retreat. Fr. Herbert celebrated his patronal name-day today.

March 17— A group from St. Ephrem Maronite Catholic Church, El Cajon, was here for a day of recollection.

March 19— Brother candidates Guy Fish and Michael Silk were invested as novices at Vespers.

March 20— Fr. Abbot Charles conducted a day of recollection for parishioners from Our Lady of Africa Catholic Church.

March 21— Feast of the Death of St. Benedict. Fr. Prior Sharbel and Fr. Alexis participated in the Lenten Penance Service at St. Peter’s in Fallbrook.

March 24—Fr. Prior Sharbel went to St. Patrick Parish in Carlsbad to offer the 8:00 a.m. Mass. Fr. Alexis offered the Spanish Sunday Vigil Mass at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea in Oceanside at 6:30 p.m.

March 29— Fr. Prior Sharbel conducted a day of recollection for the women of the La Jolla Deanery. Brothers Daniel, Emmanuel, Ignatius, Michael and Guy attended the Chrism Mass at Good Shepherd Church in San Diego.

April 2— Fr. Alexis assisted St. Mary’s Parish in Escondido with their Penance Service and Fr. Prior Sharbel assisted St. Mark’s parish in San Marcos with their Penance Service.

April 3— Fr. Prior Sharbel and Fr. Alexis assisted St. Francis Parish in Vista with their Penance Service.

April 7— Easter Vigil. Fr. Andrew Koch, O.S.B., from the monastery in Norcia, Italy sang the “Exultet”.

April 9— Brother Daniel flew to St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama to participate in the Formation Directors’ Workshop. Brother Paul left today to return to Mt. Angel Seminary to continue his studies.

April 15— Fr. Prior Sharbel left this morning to offer Mass at the San Antonio de Pala Mission and had to rush back to offer Mass of Divine Mercy at the Abbey. Fr. Alexis traveled to Poway to offer up their Spanish Mass at 2:00 p.m.

April 16— Fr. Abbot Charles will be assisting Our Lady of Fatima Church in San Clemente for the coming week while their pastor is away.

April 21— Bro. Anselm, the Abbey cook, celebrated his patronal name-day today.

April 22— Fr. Prior Sharbel and Fr. Alexis went to St. Francis Parish (Vista) and St. Timothy’s Parish (Escondido) to celebrate Mass.

April 26— Fr. Basil offered Mass at St. Margaret’s Parish in Oceanside and Fr. Prior Sharbel offered Mass at St. Timothy’s Parish in Escondido.

April 29— Fr. Prior Sharbel traveled to Huntington Beach to offer the Anniversary Mass for good friends, Pat and Arlene Adams, who were celebrating their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary. The Mass was at St. Vincent De Paul Church.

May 1— Brother Joseph celebrates his patronal name-day on the Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker. Brother Raphael was rushed to Tri-City Hospital with severe pain. It was found out that he was suffering from an inflamed gall bladder. Fr. Stephanos returns from a three-year period of working at St. Therese Church in San Diego.

May 2— Brothers Benedict, Blaise, Peter, Meinrad, Gabriel, Mario and Daniel spent the day on an outing.

May 4— Fr. Abbot Charles and Fr. Stephanos conducted a retreat for St. Gabriel’s Knights of Columbus from Poway.

May 7— Fr. Abbot Charles left today to begin a three week sojourn to Korea, China and Japan. Fr. Stephanos was a confessor for the confirmandi at St. Mark Catholic Church.

May 12— A group of young people from St. George Catholic Church in Fontana were here to prepare for their Confirmation on May 29.

May 14— Bishop Salvatore Cordileone and Fr. Kassis were concelebrants with the community at our Conventual Mass today.

May 16— We received a telephone call from Fr. Abbot Charles, who is currently in Korea.

May 19— Brother Michel returned early from Mt. Angel Abbey to be with his family and his mother, who recently suffered a stroke that has left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak normally.

May 21— Brother Paul returned from his studies at Mt. Angel Seminary in Oregon.

May 23— Brother Paul returned to his Alma Mater High School (Servite High) to speak to the students.

May 24— Four Dominicans, Fraters Jerome Cudden, Michael Hurley, John Thomas Mellon and Vincent Kelber, from St. Albert Priory in Northern California will spend the coming week here on a retreat in preparation for for their priestly ordination.

May 26— Fr. Joseph Fayd from a Trappist monastery in Lebanon showed up for a visit before Vespers to solicit funds for his own monastery and for a monastery of Trappist nuns that are having financial difficulties due to the terrorism and conflict that is evident in their area.

March 27, 2007 Edition

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A MESSAGE FROM ABBOT CHARLES


In February I was fortunate enough to visit Muir Woods, the grove of Coast Redwoods, just north of San Francisco. A brochure that was given out at the entrance shows the total area of these giants before we started to harvest them. They now cover a very small and diminishing fraction of their former domain and they are still being cut down.

Their awesome size reminded me again of the magnificence of God’s creation. And when we look to the skies, we realize that we are incapable of fathoming the immensity of the universe within that creation.

Yet, what is even more astounding is that the creator of the universe, with its astronomic and microscopic complexities, loves us, so much, that He would send His only Son to become one with us in our humanity so that we might be one with Him in His divinity. To live in eternity long after the universe passes away sounds good but for most of us, the thought of an afterlife doesn’t seem to diminish the fear of dying to this present life. Yet we will all do so, sooner or later.

It would seem to me that the more one realizes what God promises and offers to those who love Him in return, the less we should fear loosing this life, and what it promises and offers. However, we are confronted with the perennial and puzzling questions of suffering and death. Yet, our faith invites us to embrace these two constant companions in order to transform us. Yes, life would be easier if we were not faced with our own pains and mortality. But Jesus walked that same path, which no one seeks, yet no one escapes. And He transformed it into a glorious new life.

Easter reveals God’s love for us more than all creation or any other celebration. By it, Our Lord became victorious over death and thus we too, being part and parcel of His Body, are raised. That is the major tenet of our faith. Yet, the Resurrection must be more than a mere doctrine for us. It has to be an attitude that pervades every level of our being. It is the labor of a lifetime and our hope of eternity. It is the assurance that we are never alone, especially when we take our last breath and are born to eternal life.

Yes, creation invites us to stand in awe of the Creator, but the Resurrection calls us to a deeper awareness of what that Creator has done for us out of love. We now know Him as more that a creator. He is a loving Father. That will continue to be the most awesome mystery of all creation. And His Son is His chosen means by which this mystery is revealed.


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ABBEY CHRONICLES
June 29, 2006, to February 29, 2007.


June 29. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Brothers Peter and Paul celebrated their nameday at the Abbey. Norbertine seminarians Charbel, John Henry, Xavier, and Andrew came to our Abbey for retreat in preparation for their ordination to the priesthood.

July 1. Fr. Prior Sharbel left today to attend the Monastic Institute at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

July 9. Bishop Robert Brom of San Diego, our diocese, joined the monks for Vespers and a barbecued meal.

July 14. Fr. Alexis offered a children’s Mass at St. Timothy Catholic Church in Escondido.

July 16. A group of young people from Oregon known as Los Baja Adoremus stayed in our guesthouse overnight before continuing to their final destination in Mexico.

July 24. Fr. Prior Sharbel celebrated his patronal nameday today.

August 6. Fr. Abbot Claude, Fr. Herbert and Fr. Basil celebrated today respectively 76 years, 72 years and 64 years of monastic profession of vows. That’s 212 years of monastic life for 3 monks! Fr. Andrew Koch, O.S.B., of the Benedictine monastery in Norcia, Italy, was a guest in our cloister.

August 14. Michael Silk from San Marcos and Guy Fish from Los Angeles were invested as postulants for our monastery at First Vespers of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother.

August 18. Fr. Abbot Charles was the main celebrant at the Funeral Mass for a good friend and benefactor, James Roohan.

August 20. Frs. Alexis and Prior Sharbel offered Masses at Catholic churches in San Marcos and Poway respectively.

August 26. Brothers Michel Pham and Paul Farrelly returned to Mt. Angel Abbey to begin their first year of theological study.

August 28. Brother Benedict was admitted to Tri-City Hospital to undergo bypass surgery. Brother Gabriel returned from a three-month stay with the Trappist monks of St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, where he learned to tailor monastic habits.

September 5. Fr. Abbot Charles attended the wake service of Barbara Dillard, mother of ex-candidate Gene Dillard.

September 6. Fr. Abbot Charles and Brother Blaise attended the Funeral Liturgy for our good benefactor and friend, Thomas O’Keefe at Mission San Louis Rey.

September 7. Fr. Columba Kelly, O.S.B., of St. Meinrad Archabbey is to be with the community for the next three weeks for instruction on Gregorian Chant. Fr. Abbot Claude received the Final Oblation of Oblates Joseph and Tessa Kanjanapone in our retreathouse chapel.

September 11. Fr. Prior Sharbel attended the Funeral Liturgy of the local diocesan priest, Fr. Peter Nguyen at St. Francis Church in Vista.

September 21. Fr. Prior Sharbel celebrated his Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Monastic Vows. He renewed his vows at the Mass.

September 23. The Knights of Columbus from Orange County were here for the day for a conference from Brother Daniel and to do manual work in the afternoon with the postulants and novice.

September 29. Fr. Abbot Charles left for Colorado to conduct a week’s retreat for the Benedictine nuns at St. Walburga Abbey, to visit relatives in Colorado, and then to conduct another week’s retreat for Carmelite nuns in Minnesota. Our Confreres Raphael, Michel, Gabriel and Michael celebrated their patronal nameday today, the Feast of the Archangels.

October 6. Fr. Alexis began a Church History course in Spanish at San Luis Rey Mission.

October 8. Fr. Charles Aboody of the Melkite Catholic Church gave a lecture about the Eastern Churches to our oblates.

October 11. Brother Philip celebrated his patronal nameday today.

October 13. Fr. Prior Sharbel attended the Funeral Liturgy of Zylpha Jones, friend and benefactor.

October 19. Brother Noel celebrated his patronal nameday today.

October 21. The Abbey celebrated the solemnity of the anniversary of the Dedication of the Abbey Church. It was dedicated in 1987.

October 23. Fr. Abbot Charles returned from Colorado and Minnesota

November 1. Brother Gabriel celebrated his fifth anniversary of profession of monastic vows. He also received news of the death of his sister, Glenda Close.

November 3. Fr. Abbot Charles and Brother Philip traveled to St. Andrew Abbey in Valyermo. Brother Philip will be on retreat there for a few days.

November 3. Fr. Herbert celebrated his ninety-second birthday today.

November 11. Fr. Alexis gave a talk about the Psalms to the Carlsbad Book Study Club.

November 16. Fr. Abbot Claude celebrated his ninety-eighth birthday today.

November 17. Fr. Abbot Charles traveled to Oregon to attend the dedication ceremony for a new theology building at the seminary run by the monks of Mt. Angel Abbey. Fr. Albert Schmidt, O.S.B., of Engelberg, Switzerland will be our guest for a few days.

November 18. A crew from KOCT television in Oceanside were here today to film a segment on retreats. Brother Daniel hosted the Society of St. John Chrysostom in the Abbey guesthouse.

December 3. Fr. Archabbot Lambert Reilly of St. Meinrad Archabbey arrived this evening to conduct our own annual monastic retreat for the next several days.

December 16. Brothers Paul and Michel returned for a Christmas break from their theological studies at Mt. Angel Seminary in Oregon.

December 26. The Feast of St. Stephen, and the patronal nameday of Fr. Stephanos.

December 29. Fr. Abbot Charles and Fr. Prior Sharbel attended the funeral liturgy for friend and benefactor, Mary Calcagno, at San Luis Rey Mission.

December 31. The Monks brought in the New Year with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the Abbey Church.

January 4. The Bishops of Region IX began their week’s retreat in our retreat center.

January 10. Fr. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B., superior, at the Benedictine monastery in Norcia, Italy, will be our guest for the next few days.

January 18. Fr. Anselm Fister, O.S.B., one of our own monks who has been working for years in Oregon, spent a few days with us.. He is in the process of leaving monastic life permanently to become a diocesan priest in Portland.

January 19. We received as a donation a fifteenth-century Italian chest and candelabra from Friedl Opacity.

January 21. Brother Meinrad celebrated his patronal nameday, and Fr. Basil celebrated his eighty-sixth birthday.

January 27. The monks-in-formation attended the attended the Institute for Religious Life in San Pedro, CA.

January 30. Frs. Prior Sharbel and Basil, and Bros. Blaise, Peter, Gabriel, Joseph, and Mario attended the funeral liturgy of our dear friend and Oblate Carl Marsitto at St. Francis Church. Fr. Abbot Charles traveled to Burlingame, California, to attend the Benedictine Men and Women Superiors Convocation.

February 9. Our founding archabbot, Fr. Archabbot Bonaventure Knaebel, O.S.B., of St. Meinrad Archabbey, will be our guest for the next few weeks.

February 16. Fr. Prior Sharbel attended the Funeral Liturgy for Fr. Ken Keifer, O.F.M., who worked in the diocese for the past few years.

February 23. Fr. Prior Sharbel and Brothers Blaise, Benedict, Joseph and Philip attended the funeral liturgy for Oblate Frank Pinachio at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Lakeside, California. Frank was one of the original construction workers for the abbey church and library.

February 26. Fr. Johannes Orzvecz, O.S.B., from Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem is a guest. He will be presenting a talk to the monks and oblates on the peace project, which Dormition Abbey has undertaken. Dormition Abbey seeks to establish a center to provide for spiritual. cultural, educational conditions for lasting peace. Their website is www.dormitio.net.


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Homily of Abbot Claude Ehringer, O.S.B., on the Occasion of His Seventy-Second Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood.


Abbot Claude is our retired abbot.


About 2,000 years ago God gave us the greatest gift that He could give us! That is, Himself, and in a manner that could leave no doubt of His infinite love. This act of love continues to this very day, right here at this altar. We are exempted from the vivid experience of His Blessed Mother and his faithful followers at the foot of the cross, but the Divine act and the total self-giving are identical.

There is something very, very special and personal in our participation. Although Christ gave His Life for all His children, He shed His life’s blood for each of us individually and He is attentive to the beating of the heart of each one of us. We are not just one of a crowd, God loved you and gave His life for you, or rather say, “God loved me and gave His life for me— and still does! Each Holy Mass is an outpouring of His love for you and each one of us!

The mystery of God’s Holy Providence is not ours to solve, but we do recognize God’s dealing with us. He has foreseen from all eternity our faults and failures; He has been eternally prepared to deal with this, as we can observe in the fall of Adam and Eve that brought us such a wonderful redeemer. He presents Himself on our altars with all the power of His Redeeming work.

How blessed and amazed we should see ourselves to be: to have God Himself come among us, not as a spectator but as a sharer in our life’s blood, our very selves, not only as a guest but as an eager friend, hoping to find a close personal relationship and exchange of hearts.

We would expect to find the Holy Eucharist only as one of the sacraments to perform its function. In fact, it does that exceedingly well; but what is so unique is that it is God Himself, and we are received with a very precious personal embrace. He longs for the visit more than we do!

The Holy Eucharist is a great mystery but the eagerness of God to have this time in our heart is a great one! “With desire I have desired to eat this Pasch with you,” He said.


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LIFE LIVES ETERNAL


By Bro. Daniel Sokol, O.S.B.


Life is the Shadow of death,
Where death is the glory of the cross,
And the cross is the Throne of Life.

The seat of the Resurrection
Is the glory of God on high,
Where Life’s light reigns supreme,
Conquering all shadows, all death.

Life lives supreme, eternal
Today, tomorrow, and ever.
Forever! And ever! Forever!


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IS THAT REALLY ART?
What Exactly Is Art?


By Brother Novice Guy Fish


In our current culture, the word “art” defines many things. We have phrases like the “culinary arts”, and books with titles like, “The Art of Making Money”, and “The Art of Aging”. Some people consider films, video games and even extreme sports a form of art. In our common vernacular, the word “art” describes almost anything performed with a significant degree of aplomb and accomplishment. While there is nothing wrong with looking for the art in all that we do, is everything really art?

Traditionally, when speaking of art, we mean the Fine Arts and the Performing Arts, such as music, theater, dance, literature, or the visual arts. However, even in these more formal categories there is disagreement about whether something is really art or not. For example, someone who prefers Classical music may find Abstract Art offensive, not to mention things like Hip Hop or Reality TV. Yet the latter have yearly awards ceremonies, while the former are under funded and undervalued in our culture. Does art really come down to personal taste and relevance to contemporary society, or to put it another way, is art really just about what makes money in the here and now?

The key question is what really makes art Art? One of the ways to evaluate the artistic validity of something is to have it undergo the test of time. Artwork that has true value typically retains its importance over a span of centuries or longer. This is because the longer the artwork remains important in our eyes, the more likely it is to have a seed of truth in it. It continues to bring meaning to mankind and that meaning grows richer century after century. I wonder how much the art and media produced in the last few decades will have meaning or relevance in the next one hundred years. How many of those pieces will be around in the next millennium?

The Church and Sacred Art

Another way to understand the value of an artwork is to consult some of the text written for Holy Mother Church like the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Compendium to the Catechism, Sacrosanctum Concilium, and the likes of such greats as Pope Pius XII. These compendiums, books and articles contain an abundance of resources about all aspects of our faith, including such diverse and rich topics as religious and sacred art. Following are a few excerpts from the aforementioned sources that will shed a little light on what makes a work of art meaningful and valuable.

God is the original great artist. He created the world and all it contains. He even created us in his image. If you have ever walked through the woods on a damp misty morning, or watched a lightning storm, or witnessed your body heal, then you have touched some of God’s masterpieces. Read the book of Genesis, the Psalms, or the Gospels and remind yourself of God’s powerful artistic hand.

The Catechism teaches us that true art comes out of truth and love and bears a resemblance to God himself. “Art is a distinctively human form of expression; beyond the search for the necessities of life, which is common to all living creatures, art is a freely given superabundance of the human being’s inner riches. To the extent that it is inspired by truth and love of beings, art bears a certain likeness to God’s activities in what he has created.” (CCC 2501).

Of all art forms, religious art and sacred art are the highest forms and expressions of artistic practice for they elevate us towards God, our ultimate end. While art is not an end in and of itself, in its highest expression it is like prayer - a way to God. “Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God.” (CCC 2502).

“The fine arts are rightly classed among the noblest activities of man’s genius; this is especially true of religious art and of its highest manifestation, sacred art. Of their nature the arts are directed toward expressing in some way the infinite beauty of God in works made by human hands. Their dedication to the increase of God’s praise and of his glory is more complete, the more exclusively they are devoted to turning men’s minds devoutly toward God.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 122-27).

But a Two-Year Old Could Paint That!

What draws me to God may not draw you. Part of the masterpiece God made in each of us is that while we are all similar we are also all different, all made with his individual stamp that makes us uniquely His. So it would stand to reason, certain types of art will be more edifying for one than for another. “While the Church has been a long supporter and patron of the arts, she has not adopted any particular style of art as her own. She has admitted styles from every period, in keeping with the natural characteristics and conditions of peoples and the needs of various rites.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 122-27).

Garcia M. Colomba, O.S.B., a renowned Benedictine scholar, in speaking about what literature edifies an individual, states, “what leaves one person indifferent and cold will perhaps touch the heart and elevate the soul of another to God. Sensibilities are so diverse.” (Reading God, p. 121). To put it another way, “In the Church, not everyone marches along the same path, yet all are called to sanctity and have obtained an equal privilege of faith through the justice of God” (CCCC 876, 2Pt 1:1). While certain criteria can certainly be established in helping to define what sacred art is and what it is not, it is important to allow for how intimately and individually God speaks to each of his children.

A Final Thought on Artistic Freedom

We are ultimately the happiest and the most free when our free will is unified with God’s will. This includes our creative artistic freedoms. As Pope Pius XII said, “Since the freedom of the artist is not a blind instinct to act in accordance with his own whim or some desire for novelty, it is in no way restricted or destroyed but actually ennobled and perfected, when it is made subject to the divine law.” (Musicae Sacrae, December 25, 1955).