Fr. Paul Mark on the coming summer celebrations: “The liturgical season of Easter concluded with the solemnity of Pentecost, AKA the nativity of the church. The day after Pentecost we celebrate Mary, Mother of the Church which inaugurates the return to Ordinary Time that began after the Baptism of the Lord but interrupted by the Lenten and Paschal seasons. Numerous solemnities, the Church’s major liturgical celebrations, follow in succession in the month of June: Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi Sunday, the Sacred Heart, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, and Saints Peter and Paul.
Our monastery’s liturgical calendar adds two additional solemnities. On July 2 we mark both the anniversary of the foundation of the monastery in 1955 and the dedication of our church in 2018. July 11 we celebrate the solemnity of our father, St. Benedict.
All these celebrations develop different aspects of the Gospel. Trinity Sunday celebrates the mystery of the communion within the Triune God. Corpus Christi celebrates the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ, God sustaining his people with the very life of God. The Sacred Heart celebrates the Heart of God which teaches us the love of God poured out for us. The Nativity of St. John the Baptist celebrates the encounter between John and Jesus and the proclamation of conversion that prepares us to meet the Lord. Saints Peter and Paul commemorate the preaching and witnessing of the Gospel and our own call to evangelize. The dedication of the monastery’s church celebrates both our monastic witness to the Gospel in this place of Vina since 1955 and what it means to be a faith community in the Cistercian school of charity. The solemnity of St. Benedict celebrates how we monks are called to live daily the gospel of Jesus Christ in the 1500-year-old Benedictine tradition.”
Wishing you Holy and Blessed celebrations of God’s Love,
Your brothers of New Clairvaux
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