Minster Abbey, Kent, England

January 9, 2011

Peace and Good,

This past week was spent in southern England giving a retreat at Minster Abbey. There were two postulants for the English/Irish delegation of our order, and I preached to them about the Gospel of John and the call to be the beloved disciple. (The reason that the beloved disciple is never named in the Gospel of John is that we are supposed to become beloved of the Lord.) Matthew is a former Anglican Franciscan who became Catholic a couple of years ago. He is a talented artist. Benedict is a young man from Nigeria who is joining the delegation. He would truly love for our friars to open a foundation in his homeland. We are talking about it, but the time is not yet right.

Minster Abbey dates back to 670. It was an abbey of Benedictine Sisters until the suppresion of the monasteries under King Henry VIII. It was for sale in the late 1930's, and the Benedictines were able to buy it and reestablish religious life on the site. The sisters who came there were from Nazi Germany, one of them being a converted Jew who was therefore in great danger. They came from the monastery of Eichstatt, which was founded by missionaries from the Minster Abbey long ago.

The sisters sing the entire divine office in Gregorian Chant (most in English, but evening Vespers in Latin). It is most beautiful and prayerful. Yet, I know that this is not how I could pray regularly. I very much like how the friars pray the divine office in community.

While I was passing through, I was able to visit the head of the Franciscan Institute in Canterbury. Just up the hill from the city, we have an international center for Franciscan studies. I have taught there a couple of times. I would love to go back and teach, but with my new responsibilities, the best I could ever do would be to give retreats or short courses every now and then.

The weather was miserable. England is so far north that the days are short. The whole week was cloudy and rainy. It was great to get back to sunny Italy where each day is in the high 50's.

I finished a couple of books. The first if Forests of the Night by James Hall. It is the story of a police woman who goes from Miami to North Carolina to investigate a plot against her husband's family. It involves the Cherokee community there and their traditions. The story is complicated by the fact that their daughter suffers from scitzophrenia. It was quite good.

The second book was The Carnevoir's Inquiry by Salana Murray. This was a truly strange book about a young woman who turns out to be a mass murderer and carnevoir. It made you question as to what was true and what was her own delusion. In this sense, it succeeded. Yet, it was very strange.

Hope you have a great week.
Shalom
fr. Jude