Discovering Our New Monastery
Due to the entry of three new postulants in recent months, we must redouble our efforts for the restoration of our monastery: repair of roofs, gutters, plumbing, masonry work, etc. If we rarely undertake fundraising for the accomplishment of this work necessary for the life of the community, today we must resolve to do so:
WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
For without it there can be no religious life. Saint Paul expresses this need in one of his letters: May the God of peace himself make you entirely holy and keep you perfectly in mind, soul and body so that you may be blameless when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. . And, in the same sense, Gustave Thibon said “cum grano salis” (with a grain of salt): the earth does not need the rose, but the rose needs the earth.
Bank details in right column
VISIT TO THE MONASTERY OF ST CATHERINE OF SIENA
The first images clearly show the necessity
of undertaking some works on the roofing amongst other things
The remainder of the visit is happily more joyful
At last we enter the cloister
“What is important is to put above all and before all the strong cenobitic life according to the Rule, with the Opus Dei being the raison d’être of our vocation, with preference given to the cloistered life, with faithful attachment to autonomy and stability, with constant application to Scripture, Theology, Patrology, with the zeal of observance, above all with deep and sweet charity.”(The monastic doctrine of Dom Romain Banquet, p. 36, for the rest of the article: DM)
The holy patron saints of our conventual church welcome us in the cloister: the Very Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Her Immaculate Conception, saint Andrew Apostle and saint Francis of Assisi
Corridor along the conventual church where we assemble to prepare for holy Mass and Vespers
Our conventual church where we celebrate the anniversary of the dedication on 25th of November which the Capuchins have done before us since 1614
“The history of the monastery of St Catherine of Siena is a history of the faithfulness to the ancient traditional liturgy codified much later by saint Pius V, and which we celebrate exclusively both inside and outside the monastery.”
“The homage of praise is a social necessity. The whole reason to be in monastic life is the celebration of the work of God.”
Corridors of the cells, eastern and southern wings
“Saint Benedict made his monks sleep “in the same room” in dormitories. He didn’t want the brothers in arms to go their separate ways, even during sleeping hours. Currently the dormitory is divided into cells. This is a softening of the primitive austerity, but it is also a way to promote silence and contemplation. “(DM p. 118)
Prayer before study of the sacred texts
Our Father Saint Benedict established the readings in the intervals of the Office
“False liberalism, rationalism, naturalism, modernism, all these distortions of orthodoxy and the Christian spirit infiltrate everywhere. It’s like a universal and contagious vertigo… “
“Our Lord arouses and wants to create new monasteries for himself, not only to convey the idea of holiness, but as camps entrenched in pure orthodoxy and holy reason. If we are not geniuses, I want us to be Orthodox immaculates. “(DM)
At the Brothers tables the reading must not be omitted while they are eating
“In the oldest monasteries, the architecture of the refectory faithfully mimics the religious architecture of the church. What was the use of this architecture if it was only a question of taking from it the poor food of monastic austerity? Isn’t it because of the Word of God and the special prayers before and after meals? I believe that.”
The cloister gives access to all the parts of the monastery of which it is the centre, but it is also the place where the brothers can walk in silence in meditation. Its peaceful aspect gives call to flight to the eagerness that harms the spirit of continual prayer.