Readings: Job 38:1, 8-11; 2 Corinthians 5:14-17; Mark 4:35-41
The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching.
Fr. Robert will leave Sunday afternoon for Our Lady of the Angels, the monastery of our sisters at Crozet, Virginia. Between 21 June and 1 July, Abbot Robert will substitute as the sisters’ chaplain. Fr. Charles Cummings, their regular chaplain, is back in Utah for his community’s visitation; our Benedictine guest, Fr. Senan Furlong, has been filling in at Crozet this past week. We expect him to return here spoiled rotten by the sisters and no longer able to fit into the clothes he wore there.
Sunday is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year; after this Sunday, the daylight hours grow shorter. Fittingly, on Wednesday, 24 June, we celebrate the Nativity of St. John the Baptist; John said of himself in contrast to Jesus, He must increase and I must decrease–beautifully reflected in nature this time of year. We celebrate the Feast with a full sung Mass at 7:00 AM, Fr. Senan Furlong OSB, presiding. The birth of the cousin of Jesus is midway between last Christmas and the Christmas to come. In this hot, muggy summer of ripening hay and thunderstorms, it’s hard to recall last winter’s snow and cold–and all the colds and flu in circulation six months back. St. John the Baptist, out in the wilderness near the Dead Sea, is one of the great patrons of the monastic vocation. His ascetical life, his withdrawal from his society, his expectant watching for the Messiah, his prophetic insight and his recognition of the Lord both inspire and challenge us to deepen our commitment to our calling.
Charles Stevenson says
It’s great to see Abbot Robert so active – and in all this heat, no less! How is he doing?