October 15, 2024
Feast of Teresa of Avila
Dear Oblates,
We concluded our quadrennial community Visitation this past weekend. This is a venerable Benedictine tradition that has Benedictine monks from our Congregation visit the abbey and over several days have interviews with the abbot and all the monks and prepare a report. A prelude to the actual visitation is a pre-Visitation report prepared by the community for the Visitators. Just as our institutions undergo a yearly financial audit, the Visitation every four years is a healthy spiritual and moral audit for the Abbey. Having been a Visitator myself many times over the years, I can attest to how much one learns from listening to the viewpoints of other monasteries and helping to formulate recommendations for their abbot and monks. The watchwords of transparency and accountability that we hear so often today are ingrained in this monastic practice of a regular oversight provided by seasoned monks from outside the local community. It is also one more example of how we follow St. Benedict’s advice to listen to those who visit the monastery, for they may be instruments of the Holy Spirit. And that includes oblates!
I want to let people know that we will have our October Oblate Meeting this Sunday, Oct. 20, at 3:00 pm in the Day Room of the Abbey. I remind you that we will plan to have Zoom meetings every other month and the next virtual option will be for our November meeting. For those who plan to be present at our meeting this Sunday, I ask that you bring with you in whatever form you prefer the article I sent by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe. It will be the basis of our main discussion.
In giving a medical update on the monks, I can tell you that Fr. Kenneth is now back at St. Patrick’s Residence in Naperville. On Oct. 4, he went to Rush-Copley Hospital in Aurora with much swelling in his legs. He had over four liters of water removed. He also had an evaluation by physical therapists. They recommended he return to St. Patrick’s where he hopes to regain some strength with through occupational and physical therapy. He is in room 123 and is open to visitors. Although we have had our share of fall colds and allergies, the rest of the community is in good health. But please continue to keep our Fr. Cristobal in Guatemala in your prayers.
Our recent stretch of beautiful fall days has helped attendance at our Abbey Farms’ Pumpkin Daze. I invite you to come early for the Oblate Meeting on Sunday and sample some of the food and drink in the Nagel Emporium, if not all the rides and corn maze. The Pumpkin Daze will last through the month of October.
We have had a number of burials of Abbey affiliates and oblates in the past months and if you have visited the cemetery, you can see that we are running out of room. We do have plans to expand our space for the non-monastic grave sites. Some of you have already planned your grave plot and even have stones in place. If you wish to ask for a place in the cemetery, you can contact me and I in turn will have Fr. Vincent, who is in charge of burial plots.
We are also in the final stage of firming a contract for solar panels to be installed on the roof of Abbey Farm buildings, in conjunction with the same thing being done at the Academy. This allows us to not only reduce our utilities bill, but offer an ecologically friendlier energy option, very much in accord with Pope Francis’ recommendations in Laudato Si.
I want to compliment Oblate John Kunkel for his work in compiling a list of past and present oblates at Marmion. Like other Benedictine communities, we have many who have passed away. Especially for those who have little acquaintance with oblates of our recent past, I am going to try and offer at our future meetings a little historical commemoration. On Oct. 20 I will do that for Bill Wood, one of our first adult oblates who left a lasting impact on Marmion and the local community. If you have suggestions for other deceased oblates of Marmion whom we might commemorate, please pass your suggestion on to me.
We will have the annual Abbot Marmion Society Mass and luncheon on Saturday, October 19. This is the chance for the Abbey to show gratitude for our generous and loyal benefactors. I look forward to seeing some of you then. We also have our Board of Trustee Meeting this coming week (Oct. 17) and our first Kairos Retreat of the school year from Oct. 22-25. We have remarkably gifted and generous people who help us on the Board of Trustees and some of them are Marmion Oblates! Please pray for Fathers Michael and Antony too. Their leadership of the Kairos retreat program is a blessing for all concerned.
May the Lord bless you and your families and may you find time in this busy autumn season to enjoy their presence and to find time as well with the Lord.
In Christ,
Abbot Joel
Oblate Director