Another visitor...

God has blessed me with a number of visitors since I arrived here. A good priest friend (Fr. David Carucci) arrived on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 29th and left yesterday morning (Sat, Jan 2). He came at the right time because on January 1st we have our annual Italian Feast and he helped prepare our festive lunch by making his now-famous and wildly popular [at St. Benedict's] Italian Wedding Soup. He had a good time and everyone enjoyed his visit.

Away in a Monastery...

It was my FIRST Christmas away from home in my 48 years of celebrating this great feast of our faith! And I can't say that it was easy. I missed my family, especially my mom (who is not doing so well physically - please keep her in your prayers). But it was a growing experience also. (God is so good to me!) And thank God for video chat!!!

In a homily during the Christmas Season, one of the priests here quoted a sister whom he knows who said, "Home is where God is".

That help to put things in the proper perspective.

Best Gifts...

THANK YOU to all of you who have kept me in your prayers - those are the BEST gifts I got this Christmas!!

But I got one outstanding material gift also (from my wonderful mother - who prays for me also): http://www.amazon.com/Auburn-Tigers-NCAA-Logo-Bag/dp/B0018OZZO8

Thanks all!!!

I'm SCREAMING of a White Christmas (Season)...

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we got about 10 inches of snow... it has remained cold and added about 5 inches since. It is beautiful and for the most part enjoyable (since I don't have to drive in it)... but shoveling it is still not much fun!!

Christmas at St. Benedict's

Someone asked - what is Christmas like in the Monastery?

Christmas is a very special time here (as you would expect). We are going to find and cut down a Christmas tree (from our property) this afternoon! We will decorate it tonight (Tues, Dec 22) during our community recreation (which we have every Tuesday night).

We will decorate the church on Thursday afternoon (Dec 24). And we will have our Christmas vigil Mass at 8:00 PM that night.

We will have a GREAT meal (dinner) on Christmas day in the monastery. It will be cooked by monks (to give the staff the day off)... and we have some very good cooks here! Lots of the monks who are in parishes will be home for the meal (which will be eaten in the evening to give everyone time to get home).

From December 17 until it is empty, there is a table just outside of the refectory (our dining room) which is affectionately called "The Gluttony Table" because it houses all the goodies given to us over the Christmas holidays. I have been somewhat tempered until now... but that dam could break at any time (as most of you know)... thankfully, there is no ice cream on that table!!

Those are some of the things we do. I am sure there are more which I will find out as we do them...

God bless you all and if I don't post again before the big day...

Have a very Mary Christ-Mass and a Blessed New Year!!

2 weeks into the Novitiate

I entered the Novitiate 2 weeks ago and have been asked - how it is going? I must say that it is going GREAT! The accommodations are good (little bigger room than in the postulancy and I have a sink in my room)... the Novice Master is a solid teacher of the monastic way of life and the Rule of St. Benedict.

It reminds me of my first year in the seminary - and I have the same sense of peace that I had then. There is some good time to pray, reflect and grow in the possibility of a monastic vocation. The classes (M-F, 8:00-10:00 AM) are educational and challenging (not hard to understand, but to put into practice). The work remains about the same - approximately 15 hours a week.

If it gets much better, they may have to pry me out of the Novitiate next December! (Just kidding, I think that I will be ready to get back to active priestly ministry by then!)

God bless you all,

FrJD

Pictures from Novitiate Ceremony

Check out the pictures: http://www.kansasmonks.org/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=category&id=7:novice&Itemid=77

And the Abbot's homily: http://www.kansasmonks.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92:novices&catid=49:news

If you have trouble with the links above, go to: www.kansasmonks.org and click on "photos" on the menu bar. The Novitiate Ceremony is the last entry.