Monastic: October 2006 Archives

My very dear Poor Clares at Bethlehem Monastery in Barhamsville, Virginia have inaugurated a splendid website and blog. Mother Abbess is the keeper of the blog and I hope that she will continue to let her light shine.

The vocation of the Poor Clares is to reflect as in a mirror the radiance of the Face of Christ, the Poor One, the Crucified, the Beauty of Heaven and of Earth. This they do by seeking Him ceaselessly in the Scriptures, in the adorable mystery of the Eucharist,
and in the communion of life together.

The Barhamsville Poor Clares have a profound love of the sacred liturgy. Lectio divina and daily adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist are integral to their life. They hold a very special place in my priesthood and in my heart.

Benedictine/Cistercian Oblates are layfolk (and also diocesan priests) living their particular vocations to the single life, Holy Matrimony, or Holy Orders in communion with a particular monastery or monastic congregation. The Statutes of the Oblates of the Congregation of the Benedictines of Jesus Crucified explain the Oblate's vocation and articulate its exigencies. I am happy to present them here for the readers of Vultus Christi. My own monastery of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome has an active Oblateship.

STATUTES OF THE OBLATES OF THE CONGREGATION
OF THE BENEDICTINES OF JESUS CRUCIFIED

CHAPTER I: THE OBLATE

1. The Benedictine tradition sees Oblation as an act intimately tied to the altar of the monastery and to the mystery of the Eucharist (cf. RB 58:20-21; 59: 1-2). Oblation is a free act of self-offering to God, patterned after the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim, from the altar of the Cross. “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1).

The Benedictine Oblate, drawn to the altar by the Holy Spirit, lives from the altar, in communion with a particular monastic community, for the sake of the whole Body of Christ, that is the Church.

The Church recognizes Oblation as a special bond expressing communion between individual Christians and a particular monastery or monastic Congregation (cf. CCL, can. 303; can. 677 §2).