Our Order’s annual Chapter gathering took place in South Africa for the first time, here at Volmoed in the first two weeks of June. While not all of our North American Brothers were able to come over, more than half did (we were able to include the remaining Brothers in the formal discussions and decisions by having hybrid meetings with online access). For most of the visiting Brothers, it was their first time in South Africa.
This morning’s gospel reading is a fascinating drama with many entry points for our imaginations, beginning with the first line. I wonder what it would have been like for the disciples to get back into the boat and cross over the sea again with Jesus, after their experience of the overwhelming storm and astonishing actions of Jesus on the previous journey, which Br Aelred reflected on with us last week? Interestingly, this time Mark does not even mention the disciples. It is almost as if Jesus is alone in the boat.
The past month was a more regular one for the Priory, with relatively few unusual events and a more stable rhythm of community life, prayer, ministry and work. Several Volmoed guests and various local people joined us from time to time at our chapel prayers and Eucharists. We were especially pleased to have one of our long-term Associates visit with her husband and a good friend to attend Eucharist on a Sunday morning.
Br Robert James, the Superior of our Order, arrived in the last week of May. He is with us to organize the final preparations for our Order’s annual Chapter gathering, which will take place in South Africa during the first two weeks of June. This is the first time the Chapter meeting will be held outside of North America, and we are looking forward to having many of our Brothers from North America with us here at Volmoed soon. For several of them, it will be their first time in South Africa. For part of the time, they will travel to visit our Holy Cross School near Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape.
Today in the Church calendar is Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost. The doctrine of the Trinity has been developed since the early years, as the Church has thought together and argued a lot about the nature of God, eventually deciding for the most part on a Trinity of persons in a Unity of being. Some theologians might like us to consider aspects such as the homoousias and hypostases of God this morning. But we’re not going to do that.
Instead, I intend to heed the sage advice of Columbanus, a Celtic monk from the 6th century who insisted that “no one must presume to search for the unsearchable things of God: God’s nature, the manner of God’s existence, God’s selfhood. These are beyond telling, beyond scrutiny, beyond investigation. Who then is God? God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God. Do not look for any further answers concerning God.”
As I was contemplating on today’s Lessons during the week, the thing that attracted my heart the most in the book of the Acts is where the HOLY SPIRIT gives the disciples the ability to speak about GOD’s Deeds of Power in different languages so that everyone who is there can hear what GOD is saying to them in their own languages, which made me highlight the love of GOD that brings His people back to Him! The love of GOD that brings all nations back to Him! God’s love that brings back all languages to Him! God’s love that brings all races back to Him! This is the first thing the HOLY SPIRIT did to make it clear that no one living under the sun is shut out from hearing the Gospel. Everyone created in the image of GOD is invited to the Feast of the Kingdom of Heaven! That is why we must not fail to spread the good news of JESUS even today to all the people we live among or meet because everyone is called to hear the mighty works of our GOD who created us with His amazing love!
The highlight of the past month for us once again was an Initial Profession of the Monastic Vow, this time by our Br Josias. Having two such happy occasions in a little over a month was a rare delight for the monastic community. Br Josias’ Profession took place during a noon Eucharist in the Volmoed chapel on Saturday 27 April, celebrated as Freedom Day in South Africa, this one marking the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in the country. For Br Josias, it also meant embracing a different expression of freedom.
Today in the Church calendar is the feast day of St Mark the Evangelist, by whom is meant the author of the Gospel of Mark. The first difficulty is that we aren’t completely sure who that was. The Gospel itself is essentially anonymous, with both the author and the intended audience left unidentified within the received text. A tradition that was strongly developed very early in the history of the Church is that the Gospel was composed by a Mark who was a close associate of the apostle Peter and who wrote down what Peter taught him about what Jesus said and did.
The beauty of Easter is that we celebrate it for a very long time and intensely. First we have the Octave, which is an eight day celebration of this great event in the history of creation with the same solemnity as the resurrection Sunday itself, followed by at least six weeks(42 days to be precise) of what we call Eastertide to allow the message sink. The gospel readings during this period are passages that deal with one or the other account of the appearances of the risen Lord
Today’s passage majors on Thomas, popularly known as the doubter but was he really? Humanity has a way of putting labels on people based on perceived negatives at the expense of the numerous positive or good things the same individuals may have done. If we follow scriptures closely, slightly before Jesus went to Bethany to raise Lazarus, shortly after the Jews attempted to kill him by stoning and the disciples were cautioning him about it, it is Thomas who is quoted declaring… “Let us also go that we may die with him” (John 11:16). That right there is courage even in the face of death but instead of Thomas being called the ‘courageous one’, all we seem to remember is the doubt. Thomas is portrayed as a person who operated from the mind or experiential knowledge level and therefore had to see in order to believe. Some preachers make Thomas sound like he wanted to believe but his mind or intellect, or call it want of empirical knowledge, kept him from following his heart in what it desired.
The highlight of the past month for us was certainly the Initial Profession of the Monastic Vow by Br Edwin, who has taken the religious name Br Aelred, by which he is now becoming known to us. The happy occasion took place during a noon Eucharist in the Volmoed chapel on Saturday 23 March. Having completed his novitiate, Br Aelred committed himself to live according to the threefold monastic vow of stability, conversion, and obedience, for an initial period of three years. Many of those from his family and friends in Worcester and other parts of the Anglican Diocese of False Bay, as well as from the Volmoed community, who had been present just over a year before to witness his Clothing as a Novice of the Order, were there to witness this joyful commitment. In addition to affirming his own sense of vocation to monastic life, and the fulfilment that comes from living into that vocation, Br Aelred has strengthened the life and witness of the monastic community, by adding his own presence to the variety of ways in which we pray and hope that God’s love will be made known through us. Br Scott preached the sermon at Br Aelred’s profession, the text of which can be found here.
Today’s Gospel reading starts halfway through a conversation Jesus has been having with Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to visit him at night. Nicodemus has been struggling with what Jesus has been saying about the need to be born again from above in order to enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus knows that Jesus has come from God, and so he perseveres.
Whatever difficulty Nicodemus might have had with understanding Jesus, there was at least one thing that Jesus said that left an impression on him. Later, when a group of chief priests and Pharisees are trying to have Jesus arrested and have just cursed a crowd of people for believing in him, Nicodemus reminds them that their Law requires that they give everyone a hearing before judging them. Perhaps Nicodemus hoped that Jesus would have the same effect on them as he had on Nicodemus, if only they would listen to him.
