The Medal of St. Benedict

This is the third part in a series here at Journeying with the Saints about what it means to be an oblate and the Benedictine way of life. Today, I am discussing one of the items I was given, the Medal of St. Benedict, when I was received as an oblate candidate and tomorrow, I will conclude with a discussion on the other item I was given, The Rule of St. Benedict itself.

So when I left you yesterday, I was entering the crypt underneath the chapel at Mount Saviour Monastery to be received as an oblate candidate. The crypt is where the monks gather each morning at 4:45 to start their day with the first prayer of the day. As I mentioned last post, I didn’t expect to be received as a candidate with all of the monks and a few other oblates who happened to be visiting there. When Fr. Martin first gave me the sheet earlier in the afternoon, I thought it was just going to be between me and him.

I knelt on a kneeler that was at the center of the room off to the side of the crypt where they pray. Fr. Martin was in front of me and began:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Everyone: Amen.

Fr. Martin: Our help is in the name of the Lord.

Everyone: Amen.

Fr. Martin: (My name), what do you seek?

Me: I seek to serve God through the Oblate Way of Life.

Fr. Martin: Let us pray: Ever-living God, we ask you to send your Spirit on (my name), who desires to associate himself with Mount Saviour. Strengthen his intention and bring it to perfection through holiness of life. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

It was at this point that Fr. Martin presented me with the Medal of St. Benedict.

Fr. Martin: Receive this medal with its cross of St. Benedict and be reminded of the need to take up your cross daily as a true follower of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Tomorrow, I will pick up with the ceremony from there, but for now, I want to break and share a little about the Medal of St. Benedict, from a pamphlet my wife found with an explanation of the two sides of the medal. The information that follows is from the pamphlet by Abbot Leo rom St. Benedict’s Abbey in Benet Lake, Wisconsin.

Front of Medal

The front side of the medal represents St. Benedict holding a cross in one hand and his Holy Rule in the other. In small lettering on either side of the figure of St. Benedict are the Latin words:

Crux S Patris Bendictus: The Cross of Holy Father Benedict

Ex S M Cassino, M D C C C C L X X X: From the Holy Mount of Cassino, 1880.

Ejus in obitu nostro presentia munjamur: May be we protected by his presence in the hour of our death.

Reverse side of the medal

The letters CSSML on the upright bar of the cross; NDSMD on the horizonal bar of the cross: Crus Sacra Sit Mihi Lux - Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux: May the Sacred Cross be my light — let not the devil be my guide.

The four large letters in the arms of the cross CSPB: Crux Sancta Patris Benedicti: The Cross of Holy Father Benedict. Pax: peace.

VRSNMV-SMLIVB around he margin, beginning at upper right:  Vade Retro Satana! Nunquam Suade Mihi Vana! Sunt Mala Quae Libas, Ipse Venena Bibas!: Begone, Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! Evil is the cup you offer. Drink the poison yourself!

The medal is a visible sign of a person’s desire to live a prayerful life and to be a faithful and loving Christian.

Use of the Medal

The practice of carrying a blessed Medal of St. Benedict on one’s person has nothing in common with the pagan practice of wearing amulets or good luck charms [emphasis mine]. The graces and favors bestowed are the fruit of faith in Christ Crucified, of the powerful intercession of St. Benedict and of the Blessings which Holy Church gives to the medal and those who wear it. The carrying of the medal is in itself an unspoken prayer, a plea for heavenly protection from all harm and a loving token of our attachment to God.

How I became an oblate candidate

This is the second part in a series here at Journeying with the Saints about what it means to be an oblate and the Benedictine way of life. Today, I will share my own experience, specifically how I got to the point of becoming an oblate candidate. Tomorrow, I will discuss one of the items I was given when I was received as an oblate candidate and on Friday, I will conclude with a discussion on The Rule of St. Benedict itself.

So how did I get to this point where on Wednesday, Aug. 6, The Feast of the Transfiguration, The Year of Our Lord 2008, I was received as an oblate candidate at Mount Saviour Monastery in Pine City, N.Y.?

It all began back in July 1995 when as a new Catholic, I had the opportunity to live with the monks there for six weeks. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but I believe I saw the item in our church bulletin and thought it would be…well…interesting. In the back of mind, I was considering the priesthood, but that wasn’t my primary motivation and I’m not sure what my primary motivation was. It’s a little bit like when I decided to “do” the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola last September. I saw an item in the bulletin and thought, “Why not?”

Of course, looking back at both incidents, it was more than that, and I believe was the Holy Spirit guiding me, whether I recognized His power or not. While after the experience I knew that I didn’t want to become a monk (not with getting up at 4:30 every morning, which as Brother James– now Father James, the prior there– can tell you I was not good at, at all), I knew that I could feel the Holy Spirit more powerfully on that mountain than in other places and it was somewhere to which I definitely wanted to return. I even talked with Brother James about becoming an oblate, but he told me to wait.

It was something Fr. Martin, who was then prior — and who now is director of oblates, switching roles with Fr. James– also told me both my wife and me when we later visited the monastery and both expressed interest. Of course, I didn’t think it would be 13 years later or that it might be without my wife (honest, hon).

Over the last six months, I’ve been considering joining a third order– which I’m not sure, but I don’t think an oblate is. I visited with a local Franciscan group a couple of times, but something didn’t feel right. So on Monday, Aug. 4, I called Mount Saviour and ended up talking to Fr. Martin. He asked me when would be a good time to visit. I told him anytime would be fine. “How about Wednesday?” he asked. “That’s our titular feast day.” I said, “Sure.” He said I could come up for lunch and then he said something that I hadn’t expected. It was something to the effect that he could show me the materials that afternoon and then I could be accepted in as an oblate that day. Before I knew it, I said, “Sure.”

So on Wednesday, I arrived at noon for midday prayer and stayed for lunch– of course, helping out the monks afterward with cleaning the dishes. (When I asked Fr. Martin after lunch, if we were going to meet, he told me, “Why don’t you help the monks with the dishes first?” That’s the Benedictine way.) Eventually I talked with Fr. Martin and he gave me the materials I would need for the ceremony (that I assumed would take place with just him) that would be after None, which normally is at 3 p.m. However, what Fr. Martin had forgotten was that it was the Feast of Transfiguration and the monastery’s titular feast day so they were on a holiday schedule. Being around 2, None already had passed at 1:15.

So he asked me if I could stay until after Vespers. I asked him what time that would be. He said Vespers was at 6 and then the ceremony would follow, about 6:25. Well, I thought, I’ve already waited 13 years. What’s another few hours? Plus what better place to wait than Mount Saviour?

For the next few hours, I wandered the grounds, read a little in the men’s retreat house library (took a nap too, to be honest) and talked with a few of the guests there, including a Protestant (Charismatic) minister from Ohio who gave me a copy of his book (a story for another time). Then Vespers came…and Fr. Martin announced to the monks that we’d all be meeting downstairs in the crypt for me– and he said my name– to be received as an oblate candidate.

Wait. I was going to be “received” with all the monks there? Again, the unexpected. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow of the Spirit and so I went down the stairs to the crypt.

Tomorrow: the story continues in the crypt, where I am received as an oblate candidate and given two items, the first of which I’ll discuss tomorrow and the second of which I’ll discuss Friday. Until then, may the peace of Christ be with you.

Run for the Prize

It is not that I have reached it yet or already have finished my course; but I am racing to grasp the prize if possible since I I have been grasped by Christ. Brothers, I do no think of myself as having reached the finish line. I give no thought to what lies behind, but push on to what is ahead, my entire attention is on the finish line as I run toward the prize to which God calls me — life on high in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are spiritually mature must have this attitude. If you see it another way, God will clarify the difficulty for you. It is important that we continue on course no matter what stages we have reached.

Philippians 3:12-16

Whenever I have thought of this Scripture in the past, I have thought of it not as a metaphor for the Christian walk or run, as the case may be here. Instead, I have thought of it literally in terms of running.

So we as runners are not to think we already have crossed the finish line or expended our energy, in other words. We are not to think either of past performances, but think of future performances.

Today, though, I am seeing this Scripture as a little bit of both. This morning, I didn’t want to get out of bed to run. My wife said to me that if I developed  a routine, it would become easier. “It is important that we continue on course no matter what stages we have reached.”

What is it toward which I”m running? To grasp the prize? Which is? That to which God me: life on high in Christ Jesus. Is Paul referring to death here or heaven or the afterlife? I don’t think so. I think he means life on high is attainable now.

So in my running it is that toward which I should be reaching: life on high. That runner’s high that doesn’t fade. If we are mature, we must have this attitude, Paul says, and if we see it another way, God will clarify the difficulty fo ryou. At first, I thought in his saying that, Paul was being a little humorous, as if to say, “If you see it another, God will beat you up side the head with a 2-by-4. However, I now think that the key word here is “clarify.” God will make us see the difficulty that arises from not keeping our eyes on our goal: life on high in Christ Jesus.

So also in terms of my running. I have a goal to reach the finish line of the Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect. Not to win it obviously, but to finish it, running (in this case, sometimes walking, sometimes hiking, sometimes crawling) toward the prize of the high of life.

So to bring it full circle, God has shown what happens if I don’t keep my eyes on the prize — the difficulty of not getting up mornings and developing a routine. I won’t reach that life on high physically, mentally and spiritually unless I keep my eyes on that goal, continuing on course no matter my physical, mental and spirtual maturity.

Lord, help me to have this attitude. Amen.

Note: Of course, after writing this, I now see a different translation on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops than the one I had from the Liturgy of the Hours (1970 translation):

It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ (Jesus). Brothers, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

Let us, then, who are “perfectly mature” adopt this attitude. And if you have a different attitude, this too God will reveal to you.Only, with regard to what we have attained, continue on the same course.

With this translation, I could write up another whole reflection. Regardless, we have to “Run for the Prize,” as sung by Petra: