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Augustinian Monks of the Primitive Observance
Mother of the Good Shepherd Monastery
2075 Mercers Fernery Road
DeLand, FL 32720
www.augustinianmonks.com
email: monks@augustinianmonks.com
Solemnity of Mary Mother of the Good Shepherd
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Dear Friends and Family,
Praised be Jesus Christ!
It is with hearts filled with gratitude that we write to you today, the anniversary day of our foundation twenty years ago. At 6:00 PM in the Church of the Ascension in Worcester, Massachusetts, the first profession Mass was celebrated for our Father Seamus of Jesus, O.S.A.Prim. The Eucharistic sacrifice was offered by the late Bishop Timothy J. Harrington, D.D., the Bishop of Worcester, and concelebrated by the late Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan, D.D., Bishop Emeritus of Worcester, Bishop David E. Foley, D.D., now the Bishop Emeritus of Birmingham, Alabama, and 17 other priests, and was attended by 100 guests. The religious vows were accepted by Bishop Harrington and marked a historic day for our Monastery, since it is from that very day that we celebrate our foundation. Several months before, on July 7 of that year, Bishop Harrington bestowed the patron name of our Monastery, Mother of the Good Shepherd. In doing so, his Excellency proclaimed the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, as our patroness and as our special intercessor to assist us in both our monastic vocation and our dedication to pray for and serve the priests of the Church. Since our founding day in 1989, we have always kept October 13 as the day to honor our blessed Mother under the title of Mary Mother of the Good Shepherd.
As we give thanks to almighty God for the sacred privilege of our special consecration to Him in our monastic life, and as we turn to the Virgin Mary for her maternal love and protection, we wanted to also write to you, our beloved companions in this holy work of God. These past twenty years have been filled with so many blessings and graces from the Lord that we truly give thanks to God for asking us to be a part of such a tremendous work. The love of our heavenly Father has overflowed in bringing such wonderful people into our lives, priests, religious and lay men and women. We would not be celebrating our twentieth anniversary if not for the grace of God and good people like you.
These years also have brought many difficult challenges and crosses. Many and many a time we have felt as if we were walking backwards up a very steep hill, pulling a wagon full of very large and heavy bricks. If we were to list all the blessings and all the difficulties we have encountered, this newsletter would turn into quite a lengthy epistle!
The one tremendous struggle we still have is building a suitable chapel and monastery. As monks, our monastic vocation is to be totally lived out in the monastery for the glory of God, the salvation of the world, and for our own salvation. Added to the heart of the monastic vocation in the Church is our special call within the call to give our lives for the sanctification of the Lord’s priests and to serve them in any way we are humanly able. We were truly blessed to be able to buy the house and land where we have been living for almost six years here in DeLand, Florida, but because the house was built for a small family, not for a monastic community, our living quarters are cramped, and much of the original living space is given over to the makeshift chapel where we spend much of our time every day. We really need a true monastery with a chapel, built for the needs of a religious community, and more land around the monastery to enable us to live out our religious vocation more readily. Our plans also include a guest house so that we may again provide for retreatants as we did when we were on Peaks Island in Maine.
In the days leading up to this anniversary milestone in our lives, we were struck by the first reading at Mass on Friday, September 25, the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time (Year 1). The sacred words the holy prophet uttered centuries ago echo deep within our hearts today. They are words of encouragement, comfort and hope for us, and we pray they may be the same for you. The prophet Haggai (chapter 2:1-9) wrote:
In the second year of King Darius,
on the twenty-first day of the seventh month,
the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:
Tell this to the governor of Judah,
Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel,
and to the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak,
and to the remnant of the people:
Who is left among you
that saw this house in its former glory?
And how do you see it now?
Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes?
But now take courage, Zerubbabel, says the Lord,
and take courage, Joshua, high priest, son of Jehozadak,
And take courage, all you people of the land,
says the Lord, and work!
For I am with you, says the Lord of hosts.
This is the pact that I made with you
when you came out of Egypt,
And my spirit continues in your midst;
do not fear!
For thus says the Lord of hosts:
One moment yet, a little while,
and I will shake the heavens and the earth,
the sea and the dry land.
I will shake all the nations,
and the treasures of all the nations will come in,
And I will fill this house with glory,
says the Lord of hosts.
Mine is the silver and mine the gold,
says the Lord of hosts.
Greater will be the future glory of this house
than the former, says the Lord of hosts;
And in this place I will give you peace,
says the Lord of hosts!
We are appealing to you, our dear friends, family and companions in this holy work of God, to join with us in standing on these sacred words as a solemn message of hope and encouragement to us. Our lives are to bring glory to God, and truly He is the only one that can aid us in this ministry. As the prophet says, His is the silver and His is the gold; in this place we will glorify the Lord, and the Lord will give us His peace.
We truly need your prayers to join with ours that our hope and dream will now become a reality for the glory of God and the service of His Church. We stepped out in faith when we left our 27-room Monastery and guest house on Peaks Island, and now we need all of you to help us take our next steps toward our new Monastery and chapel.
Many of you have already given to us most generously for the building fund, and we are truly touched by your generosity. If you are in a position to donate again, we ask you please to do so at this time because the completion of this task is an ongoing process. Whenever you designate a donation specifically for the building fund we use it exclusively for that project. Of course we also welcome warmly the donations you make for our daily needs and support.
We also need you to help us in making others aware of our temporal needs. Please tell others about us and invite them to visit our web site or our Monastery in DeLand. Perhaps this is an opportunity for them that they would not know about unless you tell them.
With deep gratitude for all the love and sacrificial gifts you have bestowed upon us these past twenty years, we renew our pledge of constantly interceding for you before our Eucharistic Lord, and we humbly ask that you remember us in your good prayers as well.
Our prayer for each one of you, based on the words of St. Germanus of Constantinople, is that Mary, Mother of the Good Shepherd and our Mother, who is renowned for obtaining all kinds of good things for her children, may always be your trust and your hope!
Faithfully in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Your Augustinian Brothers
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Augustinian Monks of the Primitive Observance
Mother of the Good Shepherd Monastery
2075 Mercers Fernery Road
DeLand FL 32720
www.augustinianmonks.com
Email: monks@augustinianmonks.com
Solemnity of Our Mother of Consolation
Friday 4 September 2009
Dear Friends and family,
Praised be Jesus Christ!
The deep bond of friendship and the love of family were hallmarks of our Holy Father St. Augustine’s life. His profound conversion to the Lord and His Church, and his call to the monastic vocation took place with his closest friend Alypius, and the first one to hear and share the good news was his beloved mother Monica. Last week we celebrated the feast of this most noble woman on Thursday and that very evening began the great solemnity of St. Augustine. Today, on the octave day of the Solemnity of Saint Augustine, we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Mother of Consolation, a title of special significance to all Augustinians. Like our Holy Father Augustine, as we begin this letter to you we thank God for the wonderful gift of our family and our friends. During these festive days our prayers and thoughts have been filled with gratitude for each and every one of you.
While many of our friends in the northeast have been having a very wet and fairly cool summer we have had a very hot and humid one. It seems we just get finished mowing our property and it’s time to start all over again.
Wonderful news
We wish to thank all of you for remembering our Father Seamus in your prayers. As you know, the doctors were a bit anxious about him due to some of their tests. In particular, a nodule was found on his right lung, and some of his hormone levels were off. We are giving thanks to our Divine Physician who truly healed and restored Father to full health. At his last check up all his hormone levels were back to normal, and when Father saw his pulmonologist he said, “Father I have wonderful news! The nodule is gone! Your breathing is completely normal. I very rarely say to a patient what I am going to say to you: You don’t need to see me again!” We are very certain the Lord has performed a mighty miracle for Father Seamus, and we are confident it is due to your wonderful prayers.
Construction work
We had so hoped to have our warehouse finished into our library and work rooms, but due to unforeseen circumstances our contractor had to move much more slowly than intended. We are asking St. Joseph to lend them a hand so the work can truly get finished; your prayers will be a wonderful help.
Drawing
On the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary after our 8:00 AM Mass we had the drawing for our Omaha Steaks package. The first prize winners were Mr. and Mrs. Jean and Lucille Lacroix from Hudson, NH, and our second prize winner was Father Michael Camara from New Bedford, MA. Our sincere congratulations to our winners, and a deep thanks to all who participated in our raffle.
Holy souls
In just a little less than two months we will once again enter into the month of the Holy Souls. Our own beloved and our fellow believers who have gone before us take delight when we remember them in our prayers, sacrifices and alms-giving. There will be a special Mass on November 2nd for all the deceased relatives, friends and benefactors of our Monastery. We shall also have other Masses during the month for all our beloved departed ones, and they shall be in all our prayers before our Eucharistic Lord. We shall place all the names of those who have died near our altar during the month of November. Please feel free to send us the names of those you wish us to remember.
Year for priests
As many of you well know, our vocation in the Church is to live the monastic and contemplative life as originally established by our Holy Father St. Augustine in 386 A. D. We also have a second charism that is very dear to our hearts: to live our monastic vocation in prayer, sacrifice and service to all priests. In this year that commemorates the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Baptist Mary Vianney, the patron of all priests, Our Lord has gently reaffirmed us in our charism of praying for and serving priests. We humbly ask you, our good friends, to join with us especially in this year that Pope Benedict XVI has dedicated to priests, and to unite your prayers and sacrifices with ours that our priests will be conformed more closely to Jesus, the High Priest and Good Shepherd.
Anniversary
On our Solemnity of Mary Mother of the Good Shepherd, October 13, this year we will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of our foundation. Thank you for all your love and support of us in this holy work of God.
Christmas cards!
We are still bathing in the joy and beauty of Easter, yet believe it or not Christmas is just around the corner! Once again we are offering our special Christmas enrolment cards. This year the outside of the card highlights the adoration of the three Magi. This handsome enrolment card is gilded in gold, and the inside reads: May Christ come to you this Christmas with the gift of Love, the blessing of Hope, and the promise of Peace. If you would like to request cards, please let us know how many you need; we are asking a donation of $3.00 for each card. Those you enroll will be remembered at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Christmas Day and in all the Masses and prayers offered in our Monastery throughout the Christmas Season.
Blessings and Congratulations
On the Solemnity of our Holy Father St. Augustine this year, one of our priest Oblates and a good friend of our Monastery, Father Joseph Marie Arsenault, professed his vows in a new Augustinian emerging community called the Society of St. Augustine. The three priests who will comprise the new community professed their vows in the Bishop’s private chapel in Kansas City, Kansas. The community, unlike ours, will be an active community of friars working in the diocese of Kansas City, bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ through the witness of the consecrated life through the Augustinian charism. Father Arsenault longed for religious life, especially one whose spirit comes from the teaching and example of our Holy Father St. Augustine. Father always admired the Augustinian monastic and contemplative life but because he never felt himself called to be a monk he had become an Oblate here rather than a Choir Monk as we are. We are so happy that Father’s long desire has become a reality with the Society of St. Augustine.
May our Good and Gentle Shepherd, through the intercession of His beloved Mother Mary, bless you abundantly with His grace, healing and abiding peace.
Faithfully in our Holy Father St. Augustine,
Your Augustinian Brothers
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Brother Joachim Mary of the Eucharist, O.S.A.Prim.
Solemn Profession
November 13, 2007
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| The signing of the vow book. |
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| being interrogated before professing his vows. |
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| Joachim is prostrated under the funeral pall during the litany of the saints. |
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| Brother during the prayer of monastic consecration. |
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Augustinian Monks of the primitive Observance
Mother of the Good Shepherd Monastery
2075 Mercers Fernery road
DeLand, FL 32720
Tel: (386) 736-4321
Email monks@augustinianmonks.com
www.augustinianmonks.com
Wednesday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Tim
November 14, 2007
Dear Family and Friends of our Monastery,
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Yesterday was a blessed day in our Monastery—in fact, this week has been quite an eventful one. Last evening Brother Joachim Mary of the Eucharist, O.S.A.Prim., professed his solemn vows. We were honored to have several priests join us for the concelebrated Mass including two of our own priest oblates and some from our Diocese of Orlando. The Carmelites from Korona in the Diocese of St. Augustine, about an hour’s drive from our Monastery, were represented by Brother Anthony Gemmato, O.C.D. We were also pleased that so many friends from other states and even other countries were able to travel long distances in order to join our numerous local friends and neighbors in celebrating this solemn occasion. Guests arrived not only from as far away as Pennsylvania, Maine, and Illinois, but also from Canada and the Azores. Since our small chapel isn’t big enough for the approximately 125 guests in attendance, the 4:30 p.m. Mass of religious profession took place in our Monastery’s garden. As Brother Joachim prostrated himself under the funeral pall, while our bell of St. Augustine tolled, it was a reminder to us and our guests that embracing the monastic life calls us each day to die to our old life and rise anew with the Lord Jesus. The solemn profession of a monk or a nun is a special time for the other solemnly professed to recall their own self-giving, a time to renew that sacred moment in their life. After the ceremony we enjoyed a lovely outdoor supper with our friends.
On Monday, the day before the solemn profession, Father Joseph Marie Arsenault, Ob. O.S.A.Prim. made his oblation, confirming his vocation to live our Augustinian monastic spirituality. Father Joseph Marie is a native of Nova Scotia. He is a priest of the Diocese of St. John’s, New Brunswick, where he has served as pastor of St. Rose’s Church and as the Vicar General and Chancellor of the Diocese. Father now has been asked to serve on the National Canadian Tribunal and resides in Ottawa. Father Joseph Marie, like our other priest oblate, Father Robert Thomas Lariviere, has a strong spiritual and fraternal bond with us but lives our Augustinian monastic charism in the world.
One sad event occurred last month in our monastery. In many a monastery, just as in many families, especially in America and Europe, pets play a vital part, and our Monastery is no exception. In fact, those who know us well understand that we have a special bond with our animals. One of our special dogs, Oliver, died suddenly on October 22nd from lung cancer. Oliver was truly a remarkable German Shepherd. Originally trained as a guide dog at the Seeing Eye in Morristown, New Jersey, Oliver decided on a change of vocation and became a dog-monk in our Monastery! He kept all of us on schedule, and particularly kept his watchful and loving gaze on his good friend and master, Brother Nicholas. Oliver Kieran now rests in our monastic pet cemetery, facing the monastery as if still watching over his beloved brothers. God’s beautiful creatures teach us so much of unconditional love and remind us that we all are called to be devoted and self-giving to the good God who has given us these wonderful creatures.
Christmas Card Enrollment. Once again our Monastery is offering our Christmas card Enrollment. This year’s card depicts a maternal and tender image of the Madonna and Child as the newborn baby sleeps on his mother’s lap. All those who receive this card from you will be remembered at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Christmas Day and in all the Masses and prayers here in the Monastery throughout the Christmas season. The offering for each card is $3.00. Since it will be Christmas almost before we know it, we ask you please to send your order in right away so that we may get the cards to you as soon as possible.
As we now quickly prepare for the beautiful solemnity of Christ the King, and the sacred and wonderful season of Advent, please be assured of our prayers for each and every one of you.
May the Virgin Mary, who carried the King of kings in her arms, always be near you and may she always intercede for every one of your needs.
Fraternally in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Your Augustinian Brothers
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SENSE OF PLACE Wire and beads. A stamped piece of metal or two. Nothing more than that, really.
Yet, a rosary is much, much more than the sum of its parts. The common chain of prayer beads can be a sacred object. It can help bring man closer to God.
Millions will use these objects of prayer and meditation this weekend in chapels, churches and cathedrals across the Americas and around the Earth. Easter Sunday is one of the Christian year's holiest days and rosaries are at the heart of much of that world.
In a small monastery near DeLand, white-robed monks work silently to create one rosary at a time, one bead at a time, one twist of metal at a time. Brother Joachim leads the rosary work at Mother of the Good Shepherd Monastery. Brother Alypius is learning.
They use small jeweler's pliers in hundreds of repetitious movements, slipping beads onto the wire, bending the wire just so, slipping beads, bending wire, again and again and again. Great care is taken to bend the wire perfectly so beads are snug and precisely placed.
"If you are not careful, the bead could be loose," said Joachim, a soft-spoken native of the Philippines. "If a bead is loose, the rosary can be crooked. It needs a lot of patience."
Patience. And prayer. The simple, repetitious work doesn't require quick, complex thought, so Brother Joachim often meditates and prays as he creates rosaries.
"A rosary is basically a prayer counter, so when I am making it, I am already using it," he said, showing me a particular bead. "Now, for example, I am on the second mystery, the sixth Hail Mary, because I am putting on the sixth bead of the second decade. Since today is Holy Monday of the Holy Week, I could meditate on the second sorrowful mystery, which is the scourging of our Lord at the pillar."
I am momentarily lost. The phrases are unfamiliar to me, spoken by a man from behind an iron grate that marks his cloistered life in a community of holy brotherhood.
"This is the kind of balance of work and prayer that monks do, making our day holy, making our time holy. That is why we call our prayer the divine office," said Joachim. "It's not just prayer. It's an office. It's our work."
They pray, chant, sing liturgical songs, canticles and psalms seven times a day, from 5:15 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. A solitary bell tolls the beginning and the end of each day of prayer. They toil endlessly, praying for people near and far, around the world, as they work and eat and walk, often with rosary beads moving through their fingers.
If prayers were visible, the sky above this low hill of oaks and wildflowers would be filled with soaring words on their way to heaven. It seems appropriate that creation of prayer beads helps support the monastery.
Prayer moves mountains, it is said, but monks sworn to poverty need hard currency to pay the electric bill and other costs of 21st-century life. Outside the monastery's chapel is a small shop where religious items, including handmade rosaries, are sold. Rosaries are repaired, too, and custom rosaries made.
The brothers also receive donations of many kinds, including donations for special prayers. People offer donations for fresh, brown eggs from a small flock of noisy, brown chickens that nest in the barn behind the monastery.
Prayer beads have a long history among pious humans in many of the world's religions. The most common in this country is the Dominican rosary of 59 beads, a medal and a crucifix, used primarily by Catholics. Despite their deep meaning among devotees, rosaries are mere tools used to count repetitious prayers and meditations.
Rosaries can be simple knots in a rope or made of field pebbles. Stories say this is how they began almost 1,000 years ago. They can be made of fine gold or silver or precious stones. But, more often than not, rosaries -- even blessed and sacred rosaries -- are made of base metal and beads of glass or plastic.
"No matter how expensive your rosary is, you are praying to the same God," Joachim said. It is the quality of the prayer, not the rosary, that matters.
Joachim doesn't always pray when making rosaries. After all, he's human, and, as he works, he thinks about his next task or what he'll cook for dinner and, sometimes, he wonders who will use this particular rosary.
It might be for a child after First Communion, or a birthday present or for a long-lost friend or dying parent. It might be a rosary passed from generation to generation.
"We might be making some legacy. We don't know," said Joachim.
Besides the small income, making rosaries is another way to spread devotion and foster meditative prayer. Joachim said this aspect rewards him for the concentrated care taken in creating chains of prayer.
"The most enjoyable part when I am making a rosary ... is knowing someone will use it for a tool of prayer, of meditation, of relaxation and of deepening the relationship of man to God."
Which is, after all, the ultimate purpose of life on this hallowed hill.
ronald.williamson@news-jrnl.com Daytona Beach News
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Augustinian Monks of the Primitive Observance
2075 Mercers Fernery Road
Deland, Florida 32720
United States of America
Telephone: 386-736-4321
Fax: 386-736-8148 Email: monks@augustinianmonks.com
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