The Church around the world, but especially in the United States, is seeking to renew the understanding and desire for the Eucharist, our true Sabbath rest. This is especially urgent today as Bishop Robert Barron notes that only 25% of Catholics attend Sunday Mass. Certainly, our witness in the Church is crucial, not simply to attend Mass daily but most especially to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist with one heart, one mind, and one voice. Sunday is our Sabbath Rest. Our Constitutions say: “Sunday is dedicated to the mystery of the Resurrection. It is a day of joy and freedom from work so that the brothers may come together to share the Eucharist more fully and intensely, and zealously apply themselves to lectio divina and prayer.” Sunday is the moment to return to the essentials of our life – meeting the Lord Jesus in community, sitting at his feet, welcoming his word, and receiving his gift of communion.
However, our witness to the Sunday rest is a paradox. Rest could suggest a certain carefreeness. But in the context of monastic life, we know that we are engaged in spiritual combat, so to speak. We are the watchmen in the watch tower. Our rest includes joy and communal celebration, but also spiritual readiness, as it says in the Song of Songs, “I slept, but my heart was awake.” While rejoicing in the fulfillment of the Sabbath rest – which Our Lord Jesus accomplished by his Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension – we also guard ourselves and the Church by our deeper immersion in Our Lord’s rest, where, paradoxically, he is always working along with this Father.
On Sundays we ponder in our hearts the unfathomable reality of the Resurrection, that is, the Father’s gift of an unconquerable life to his Son after he endured the cross; the fulfillment of creation’s original purpose – immortal life for human beings; the foreshadowing of the last day when we will all be caught up with the Lord. Our whole faith is based on the reality of the Resurrection. Sunday is the moment to rekindle our love and thanksgiving for Jesus’ Resurrection, made present to the entire community in the Sunday Eucharist.
Our joy at the Resurrection is meant to
permeate the community like the incense in church. This joy is perhaps the most
effective witness we can provide to the Church and the world. “By the Eucharist
the spiritual character of our community is made evident, strengthening and
increasing both the inner sense of our monastic vocation and our communion
among ourselves.”
Photograph by Brother Guerric. Yesterday's Chapter Talk by Dom Vincent.
