Religious Celebrations Archives

A Lenten Journey Through Grief

If there ever was a season designed to help us move through grief after a loved one’s death, that season would be Lent. Just like the stages of grief we all must go through, Lent involves a series of passages: from darkness to light, loss to gain, fear to trust, sorrow to joy, and ultimately, from death to life.

14Aug

Writing a Loving Obituary Ahead of Time

A few years ago, while they were still healthy and independent and a comfortable distance—it seemed to me—from dying, my parents asked me to write their obituaries. “I know it seems strange,” Dad said. “But we’d like to be sure that everything important gets mentioned.” After my initial discomfort with writing

04Apr

Reverence: The Image of God Respected

“The younger monks must respect their seniors, and the seniors must love their juniors.” —The Rule of St. Benedict, Ch. 63 The monastery cemetery is a place of order. Four quadrants of seven rows each; nice neat rows of markers, each bearing a name and two dates; and in the middle, overlooking everything with

07Feb

Dignity: The Image of God Acknowledged

“Care of the sick must rank above and before all else, so that they may truly be served as Christ …” —The Rule of St. Benedict, Ch. 36 Among the scenes painted on the east wall of the Chapter Room at Saint Meinrad Archabbey is one of a monk who is dying in his bed. Several other monks surround him, one of whom is

28Nov

Hope: The Confidence in Something Unseen

“Never lose hope in God’s mercy.” —The Rule of St. Benedict, Ch. 4 At one point in the ceremony in which a monk makes his final profession, he chants this verse from the Psalms: “Uphold me, O Lord, according to your promise and I shall live. And do not confound me in my expectation.” Then he lays face down on the

19Sep

Grief: The Loss of Something Good

“Day by day remind yourself that you are going to die.” —The Rule of St. Benedict, Ch. 4 Bell no. 5 tolls … One stroke for each year of profession … A monk has died. The toll of the bell is the way death is announced in the life of the monastery. The bell has scarcely finished tolling out the years before the

15Aug

Kindred Spirits

Excerpted from “Kindred Spirits,” written by Archabbot Justin DuVall, OSB Friends and guests who have taken part in the funeral of a monk at the abbey often walk away from the cemetery feeling at a loss for words. They have just peered down into an open grave where a plain poplar coffin marked with a

27Oct

All Saints Day and All Souls Day

Right after our children celebrate Halloween in all its candy-collecting glory, the Catholic community takes pause to celebrate a far more significant kind of glory – that recognized by the Church with All Saints Day and All Souls Day. All Saints Day has been celebrated on Nov. 1 for more than a thousand years. It

Religious Celebrations

A Lenten Journey Through Grief

Writing a Loving Obituary Ahead of Time

Reverence: The Image of God Respected

Dignity: The Image of God Acknowledged

Hope: The Confidence in Something Unseen

Grief: The Loss of Something Good

Kindred Spirits

All Saints Day and All Souls Day

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