September 4, 2023 – Gethsemani was host to a group of travelling Buddhists.

Gethsemani welcomed a group of Tibetan Buddhists to the monastery. They have come from India and are travelling to various places in order to raise money for their monastery back home. They are staying in Lebanon at the moment and will be creating sand mandalas to be shown to the public.

They were accompanied by a group of friends, all of whom are pictured below. While they were here at Gethsemani, we took them on a tour of the monastery, then walked out to the hermitage where Br. Paul and Fr. Lawrence passed around some of the treats we make here. Everyone attended Sext and then had a picnic out on the front lawn of the monastery.

As most of those who visit our website know, Thomas Merton visited the Dalai Lama in India when he was travelling in the East. They spoke for two days. The Dalai Lama considers his encounter with Thomas Merton a significant event in his life and counts Merton as his friend. When Tibetan Buddhists visit here, they almost always stop at Merton’s grave and sing some hymns in his honor.

September 1st through the 3rd, 2023 – The community welcomed 11 men to our annual Labor Day “Come and See” weekend.

The men attending were here to see monastic life in the Cistercian tradition up close, as they explore what God is calling them to in life. They came from many different backgrounds and many parts of the country. While they were here, they sang in choir with the monks and followed a schedule during which they toured the monastery and had several monks speak to them about the monastic life here at Gethsemani.

One of the highlights of their visit Saturday afternoon, which they spent with those in formation and several other monks up at the hermitage. They shared their stories of conversion and spiritual searching with each other. They also tested some of the monastery’s products, the fudge and fruitcake!

On Sunday, they attended our regular community chapter meeting. The abbot gave a talk relating to God’s call to vocation and met with them afterward, and posed with them for a picture, which you will see below.

Of course it would be lovely if some of them returned to Gethsemani at some point in their lives, but even if they don’t, we hope that they carry some of the spirit of the place with them as they continue their discernment.

August 20, 2023 – Br. Alberic renewed his vows today to continue his Juniorate for a second year. He does this as the community celebrates the feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

Br. Alberic has completed his first year as a Junior Professed here at Gethsemani. When he entered the Juniorate, he took the vows of obedience, stability, and conversion of manner which are binding for one year. At the end of that year, he requested that he be permitted to renew these vows for another year. After feedback from the community, the abbey council approved his request.

Br. Alberic took one week of private retreat out at the hermitage before officially signing the renewal of his vows in the abbot’s office in the presence of the abbot and two witnesses.

August 3, 6 2023 – The Abbey of Gethsemani welcomed two postulants to the community a few days apart. Jésus Verdin arrived on August 1 and was officially received as a postulant on the 3rd. Angel San José arrived on August 4 and was officially received into the community on the 6th, which happened to be Transfiguration Sunday. Jésus and Angel will continue their Postulancy for one year, after which they will request entry into the Novitiate.

The Postulancy is a time of discernment, both for the postulants and for the community. Postulants learn about the history of monasticism, the teachings of the Church, and will work and pray with the community as community members. Most of all, they will learn about the monastic life by living it with their brothers, here at the abbey of Gethsemani, day by day. We hope that they are given the opportunity to grow in their love for God through the community by the practice of the monastic life.

We ask your prayers for Jésus and Angel as they work to discern their vocation through their postulancy.

June 30, 2023 – Fr. John Pawlikowski gives the community some conferences on Christian – Jewish relations

Fr. John Pawlikowski, OSM, visited our monastery and gave us two talks on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity since Vatican II. He pointed out that the Church has not always given the best teaching regarding our sister religion, but that the attitude of the Church has changed since Vatican II, becoming much more open to recognizing the inherent goodness of Judaism.

He spent some time discussing the New Testament texts regarding the Jewish people, noting that, of course, all the earliest Christians were Jewish and worked within the parameters of Jewish practice. Jesus was probably influenced by the Pharisees and their teaching, even if there was tension between some Pharisees and Jesus. There is evidence that Jewish and Christian communities cooperated up until the 5th century, at least in the East.

He ended with the Church’s plea that we do not repeat the over-simplified clichés about Judaism in the time of Jesus that preachers have indulged in in past centuries. He quoted John Paul II, “When we look deeply into the heart of Christianity, we find Judaism.”

Fr. John is a Servite priest and professor emeritus of Social Ethics at the Catholic Theological Union. He directed the Jewish Studies program in CTU’s Cardinal Bernardin Center. He has written extensively on the Holocaust and on Christian-Jewish relations, including Jesus and the Theology of Israel. Fr John has served four terms on the board of the United States Holocaust Memorial by presidential appointment. 

June 25, 2023 – Fr. Elias returns from a trip to Awhum

Fr. Elias gave us a slideshow illustrating his trip to Awhum, one of our Cistercian monasteries in Nigeria. He was there in the capacity of a designated visitor. Genesee, our daughter house in New York state, is the actual mother house of Awhum, but the superior there asked Fr. Elias to step in as a visitor.

Br. Evaristus, who has been staying with our community for some years now, counts the community of Awhum as his home monastery, and he is taking this opportunity for a stay there. He travelled with Fr. Elias on the journey to Nigeria.

Awhum was founded in 1970 and currently houses over 70 monks. The monks there are currently involved in a number of construction projects, the main one being their new church which is nearing completion. One of the photos below shows the painting in the interior of the cupola of the new church, depicting Mary holding her son and showing her heart. They have also completed a new refectory and are working on a large silo for corn.

They have several industries, including a poultry business, a palm and soybean oil production, and a few others.

The rainy season in Nigeria produces such torrential downpours that the monks have constructed covered walkways linking all their buildings. You can see some of those walkways in one of the photos below, painted blue and white, the same as their church.

The community is thriving, with quite a few in formation, and is remaking their physical appearance. We wish them all of God’s grace in their continued life of prayer and contemplation.

June 5-10, 2023 – Mother Giovanna visits us from Matutum to give us conferences on St. Bernard

Every year, the Abbey holds a special series of conferences meant to provide its main ongoing formation program for the year.

This year, we were pleased to welcome M. Giovanna from the Abbey of Matutum in the Philippines. She travelled half-way around the world to give us a series of six conferences on St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Her conferences contained many insights from the many years of her admiration for and deep reading of Bernard.

On Sunday evening, the community held a special Gaudeamus (“Let us rejoice”), a speaking supper which usually involves some pizza and ice cream, no exception in this case, to convey our gratitude for her teaching and her lively presence among us.

April 8, 2023 – Gethsemani Celebrates the Resurrection of Christ

After 40 days of Lent, and the stark austerity of the Triduum, we celebrated Easter Vigils, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

A blazing fire was lit on the walkway in front of the Retreat House, and the fire and the Easter candle were blessed. The community with the guests and retreatants then processed into the church where we all lit candles and processed to the front where the Easter candle found its home for the duration of the season.

Fr. Raphael was the candle-bearer and did a wonderful job singing the Exsultet. Fr. Lawrence gave the homily, and Fr. Elias presided. The bells were rung loud and strong for the Gloria, marking the end of three days without any bells at all.

We wish everyone a very happy and joyous Easter season.

March 31, 2023 – Br. Frederic celebrates his 100th birthday

Exactly one century ago, Br. Frederic opened his eyes to this world. Today, he celebrates one hundred years of life. He has spent 69 years of that life as a monk of Gethsemani.

At our chapter meeting on the Sunday before, Br. Frederic gave us a synopsis of his life. He entered the military after the U.S. declared war on Germany and Japan in 1941. He was assigned to office duties at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After the service, he trained as an accountant and worked in various firms before he entered Gethsemani in 1954. As a monk, he has held different jobs, but was given mostly business duties, due to his experience. He was instrumental in setting up Gethsemani’s mail order business, selling cheese and fruitcake, which is still the basis of our economy to this day. He spent some years at our foundation in Chile before returning to Gethsemani. He was also in charge of our charity budget for many years, and he made many friends among the residents of the area. He still works the front desk of the retreat house frequently, and is often the first face retreatants see when they come to the abbey.

For his birthday, Br. Frederic was given a seat at the abbot’s table in the refectory, and a special cake, which he graciously shared with the community, and a nice bottle of wine which he shared perhaps a little less graciously with the abbot and the prior. He was also given a t-shirt with Gethsemani’s 175th anniversary logo on one side, and his name with the number 100 emblazoned below it on the other.

Br. Frederic continues in good health, and we wish him many more joyous birthdays to come.

March 25, 2023 – The Feast of the Annunciation – Fr. Raphael renews his vows

Today the community celebrated the feast of the Annunciation. We also celebrated the renewal of Fr. Raphael’s vows.

Fr. Raphael is now in his second year of the Juniorate. Each year, he makes the monastic vows of obedience, stability, and fidelity to the monastic life (conversatio morum) in the presence of the abbot and two witnesses.

One photograph below shows Fr. Raphael a few years ago as a novice with his two fellow novices, Br. Alberic and Br. Godric. They are now all Juniors together.

We congratulate Fr. Raphael on the renewal of his vows and look forward to working and worshipping with him and beside him in the coming year.