Friday 10 July 2009

Robert of Caldey



Caldey OCSO NECROLOGE 2009

July 8, 2009 : Dom Robert O'Brien (abbot 1984 – 1996). Born in 1933 in London (England), he entered Caldey in 1960 and made his solemn profession in 1966. He was ordained a priest in 1957. Father was 76 years old, had been in monastic vows for 46 years and 52 years a priest when the Lord called him.

To Abbot, Caldey

Dear Daniel,

We were sorry to hear the news of Robert's death.

Knowing him, he would be very happy about the way things have worked out. Long illnesses were not his forte.

I seemed to have known Robert for ever. He was a big presence and a genial companion. But he was a strong personality, too, which he needed to be to have achieved so much in a difficult period at Caldey.

Long may his life and presence bless your community.

It refreshing to have known him over many years.

We keep him and the Caldey community in our prayers.

Fr Donald is hoping to be present for the funeral.

. . . Mark (Nunraw, Abbot)




Wednesday, 8 July, 2009,

Caldey Abbey

Dom Robert O’Brien, Abbot Emeritus

27th April 1933 – 8th July 2009

‘There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written’ (John 21:25).

These words are very applicable to the life of Father Robert. His life was so rich, so many-faceted, and yet so incredibly simple and accessible. No doubt therefore, that so many, many people could relate to him. We all know that he preferred to be addressed as Brother Robert, because he took the Gospel very seriously where we read that we ‘should not call any man on earth “father”, for you have only one Father, and he is in heaven’ (Matthew 23:9). However, our experience is and forever will be Fr Robert’s fatherly qualities as our brother, because he loved and cared for the community, his brothers, the islanders, and the vast amount of men and women in our locality and from far away. His heart reached out to everyone without any distinction.

He must have encountered this radical and unreserved love within his own family at Charlton in south London, where he was born as the third of five brothers. From a very early age onwards, he learned that to love means to serve, to get involved, to be prepared to take risks and to get your hands dirty. He never minded dirt too much…

Quite soon it became clear to him that the demands of love could not remain within the boundaries of family life only. He responded to the self-giving Love of Christ by becoming a servant himself in his Church. He was ordained as Priest on June 15th 1957, and remained a Priest in the true sense of the word ever since: his heart was opened to the presence of the Lord and to the needs of countless of people. It was this inner disposition that drew him in 1960 to Caldey Island, where he embraced the service of the Priesthood within the radical simplicity of the Cistercian monastic life. He loved the monastic life and he loved simplicity, but not without struggle at times. Struggle had a vital role to play in his life and therefore he was deeply aware that nothing could be taken for granted. His service in our community ranged from guest-master, bookbinder, jam-maker, and procurator to abbot (1984 – 1996). Without any doubt we can say that thanks to his unwavering faith and untiring efforts our community still exists. It was especially during the 1980’s that it seemed inevitable that the monastery had to close its doors for good, due to lack of vocations. His enthusiasm and a deeply ingrained stubborn refusal to give up made it possible for the new influx of vocations to receive the life and the wisdom that he transmitted.

Right to the end of his life he cared, with a great sense of responsibility, for the material welfare of the island as our bursar. As always he was eager to make ends meet and never lost sight of the ultimate quality of life: to be with his brothers and to remain involved in everything that could enrich the life of everyone within the community and beyond. There is no doubt that we will miss him: his clarity of mind (he could be very articulate!), his great sense of humour, his devotion to prayer and especially his perseverance in reading the Holy Scriptures, be it in plain English, or in Latin, or in Greek, or in Hebrew…

‘God, remember this to my credit, and do not wipe out of your memory the devotion which I have shown in the house of my God and in his service!’ (Nehemiah 13:14).

Wednesday 8 July 2009

Monks of Tibhirine 7 July 2009



  • Email Message from Michael regarding the 1996 Assingnations of 7Atlas Monks
    Donald,
    I have just seen on France 24 TV that President Sarkozy is releasing documents on the monks killed in Algeria.
    It seems that the monks were killed by the Algerian army who were attacking rebels in the building. They didn’t realise the monks were there and covered it up so that no one would see the bodies riddled with e bullets.
    Best wishes,
    Michael



Google Story SARKOZY
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g4vGe3R2xzEQdBKwZtzLn4m5omHg
Sarkozy wants 'truth' on French monk massacre in Algeria
1 day ago
PARIS (AFP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday 7 July2009, he was determined to find out who was really behind the 1996 abduction and beheading of seven French monks in Algeria, which has been blamed on Islamists.
"I want the truth. Relations between major countries are based on the truth and not on lies," he said, adding that he would release any classified documents on the killings which investigators might ask for.
The move came a day after potentially explosive allegations that the Algerian army killed the monks by mistake when it raided an Islamist camp and that the French state covered up the blunder to protect bilateral relations.
Critics have long been suspicious of the official Algerian and French versions that the Trappist monks were killed by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) at the height of a decade of violence that left more than 150,000 people dead.

The Algerian government has repeatedly been accused of exploiting extremist violence -- and even staging gruesome attacks and blaming them on extremists -- during the conflict to try to turn the population against the Islamists.
It denies such accusations.
The Paris prosecutor's office opened an inquiry in 2004 into the massacre of the monks after a civil suit was filed by the family of one of the men and by a senior member of the monks' order.
Patrick Baudouin, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Monday the latest allegations were proof there was an attempt at "a cover-up on the part of the Algerian authorities and certainly on the part of the French authorities".

His comment came after a source close to the probe leaked remarks allegedly made to French investigators last month by General Francois Buchwalter, who in 1996 was France's military attache in Algiers.
The now-retired general said Algerian army helicopters, hunting Islamist rebels, opened fire on a camp they spotted in the mountains near the monks' hilltop monastery in Tibehirine, 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of Algiers.
The helicopter crews realised afterwards that not only had they hit members of the armed group but also the monks, Buchwalter said, according to the source.
Buchwalter said he had been told of the incident by an Algerian soldier whose brother had participated in the helicopter attack.
The monk's heads -- but not their bodies -- were found by security forces two months after they were kidnapped in March 1996.

Buchwalter told investigators that the bodies were riddled with bullets, said the source, adding that the question was now being asked if the bodies were dismembered to avoid the bullets being identified as army munitions.
The general informed the French military chief of staff and the French ambassador but his reports were never followed up and he was told to remain silent to avoid damaging Franco-Algerian relations, the source said.
Herve de Charette, French foreign minister at the time of the events, said Tuesday he did not doubt that Buchwalter had transmitted such a report to the French defence ministry.
But he added that "during this period there were many interpretations" of what had really happened.
Baudouin said Monday he would ask to see Buchwalter's reports and for Charette and French intelligence agents involved in the affair to be questioned.
French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Buchwalter's statement brought a significant "new element" to the case and promised "everything will be done to discover the perpetrators and the conditions of these killings".

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, re-elected in April for a third mandate, began a policy of national reconciliation in 1999 after more than a decade of Islamist violence.
Thousands of hardline Islamists have since handed themselves in and Bouteflika hinted during his election campaign at a possible referendum aimed at granting a general amnesty for those who give up their arms.
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See Blog: abbey-roads.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Trappist Martyrs of Atlas

Were they really martyrs or victims of friendly fire?
.
One reason martyrs are not immediately canonized is that the Church must be convinced they had been killed for the faith. The Martyrs of Atlas, 7 French monks, were killed about 10 years ago in Algiers, presumed to have been executed by Islamic extremists, the only remains found being their heads:
.
"During the night of March 27-28, 1996, seven monks of the Cistercian Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas, near the village of Tibhirine in Algeria, were abducted by Islamic fundamentalists. Their abduction was claimed by a radical faction of the GIA (Groupe Islamique Army) in a communique dated April 18, 1996 and published on April 27. In a second communique, dated May 23, the GIA announced that the monks had been executed on May 21, 1996. Their remains were identified and their funeral Mass was celebrated in the Catholic Cathedral of Algiers on Sunday, June 2. They were buried in the cemetery of their monastery at Tibhirine on June 4, 1996." - Source Trappist ocso.org

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Spiritual Friendship



This morning there was a contrast in the Night Vigils Readings. I read the words of Saul’s aim to kill David and goes on to the friendship of Jonathan. In the Second Reading Fr. Hugh read on St. Aelred about Spiritual Friendship. In the Introduction of the Mass, Dom Raymond, Principal Celebrant, spoke on the subject.
TUESDAY: First Reading, 1 Samuel 19:8-10; 20:1-17
Responsory Sir 6:15-17
There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend; + those who fear the Lord will find one.
V. Whoever fears the Lord directs his friendship aright, for as a person is, so is that person's friend. + Those who fear ...

Second Reading From Spiritual Friendship by Saint Aelred of Rievaulx

In human life nothing holier can be desired, nothing more useful sought after, nothing is harder to find, nothing sweeter to experience, nothing more fruitful to possess than friendship. For it bears fruit both in this life and the next, showing forth all virtues in its sweetness and in its strength destroying vice. It softens the blows of adversity and moderates elation in prosperity. Without friendship there can be hardly any happiness among humans; they may well be compared to animals if they have no one to rejoice with them in good fortune or sympathize with them in sorrow, no one to whom they can unburden themselves in time of trouble, or with whom they can share some especially uplifting or inspiring insight.
Alas for anyone who is alone and has no one to lift him up when he falls. Without a friend one is indeed alone. But what joy it is, what security, what a delight to have someone to whom you dare to speak as to another self; to whom you are not afraid to admit that you have done something wrong, or shy of revealing some spiritual progress you have made; someone to whom you can entrust all the secrets of your heart and with whom you can share your plans.

What can be more pleasant than to be spiritually so closely united to another, so completely one, that no arrogance is to be feared, no suspicion dreaded! Correction of one another causes no pain, nor does praise bring a charge of flattery. A friend, says the Wise Man, is the medicine of life. That is well said, for no other medicine is as powerful and efficacious where temporal ills are concerned as to have someone hastening to us with sympathy when anything goes wrong and congratulating us when things go well. So, shoulder to shoulder, the two bear each other's burdens, each one thinking that his own is lighter than that of his friend. In this way friendship heightens the joys of prosperity and mitigates the sorrows of adversity by dividing and sharing them.

In friendship are joined virtue and pleasure, truth and enjoyment, sweetness and goodwill, feeling and doing, all of which take their beginning from Christ, grow through Christ, and are perfected in Christ. It should not therefore seem too hard or unnatural to ascend from Christ who fills us with the love we have for our friend to Christ who gives himself to us as a friend to be loved, so that pleasure follows upon pleasure, sweetness upon sweetness, affection upon affection. And thus, friend cleaving to friend in a Christian spirit becomes one with him in heart and soul, and by the steps of love rises to friendship with Christ and becomes one spirit with him.
Responsory Sir 4:9-10; 6:14
Two are better than one, for because of their partnership they have this advantage: + if one falls the other can help him up again.
V. A faithful friend is a secure shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure. + If one falls ...
A Word in Season (Readings for the Liturgy if the Hours) Vol.V, pp.193-194.


Aelred of Rievaulx, Saint (1109-1167) A native of Yorkshire, Aelred spent part of his youth at the court of King David of Scotland. About the year 1133 he entered the Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx of which he later became abbot. His writings, which combine mystical and speculative theology, earned him the title, "The Bernard of the North." The most important works of this master of the spiritual life are The Mirror of Cluirity and Spiritual Friendship.

Sunday 5 July 2009

Abbot Raymond Jaconelli

Thanks to Scottish Catholic Observer for INTERVIEW of Dom Raymond Jaconelli, ocso, ending his term as Abbot. Thanks also for the Holy Land SERIES, "The Footsteps of Christ" by Gerard Gough. It would be a very welcome to have Online access from your Older Features































Abbot Raymond Jaconelli from the Cistercian Community at Nunraw stepped down on May 30 and Dom Mark Caira was elected as the new abbot. Cath Doherty talks to Abbot Raymond about his experience and future plans.

‘IT is not good for Man to be alone'

ABBOT Raymond Jaconelli is a happy man. Pausing outside the church at Sancta Maria Abbey at Nunraw, in the archdiocese of t Andrews and Edinburgh, he gives a sigh of sheer pleasure as he invites me to admire his favourite view - a pastoral landscape, a wide valley sweeping down from Nunraw and away towards the distant River Forth.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he said. "I never tire of it."

His happiness is infectious. As we make our way back to the guesthouse where hospitality is offered in true Cistercian tradition, he pauses to greet those who have come to spend a few days in the tranquillity of Nunraw or simply to pay an afternoon visit, leav­ing smiles in his wake.

Temptation

Abbot Jaconelli has a vivid recall of the beginnings of his vocation. He speaks of his early Life in Airdrie. Born and brought up there, his mother took him on frequent visits to Carfin, 'in the days of the famous Canon Taylor. 'He fondly recalls his secondary education at St Mungo's, Glasgow, a Marist school, which clearly had a strong influence on his choices in life. He tells of a growing interest in his Faith in his teenage years and mentions two books in particular as part of that influence. One was St Teresa's Story of the Soul, the other a book given to him by one of his Marist teachers, Elected Silence by Thomas Merton. The latter book drew him towards the Cistercian rule. And, as he finished his secondary education, he found that prayer and reflection on a possible vocation gradually displaced everything else in his life.

"I suddenly realised then that the pre­occupation with it all was, in fact, my vocation," he said. He requested admis­sion to Nunraw, having just gained a place at university. His acceptance as a Cistercian novice came in his first few weeks at university.

"I had taken just three lectures, but when the call came from Nunraw, I just packed up and came here without delay," he said.

That was in 1951. Asked if he had ever been tempted to leave, Abbot Raymond was emphatic.

"Never," he said.

Winds of change

Speaking of the changes to the outside world since then, he recalled working in the fields during his early years in the abbey and returning exhausted but sat­isfied, and sounded almost regretful that everything had mechanised over the years.

On the broader changes of the last half-century, he focussed on the tenden­cy these days to self-interest and indeed, in some cases, selfishness, which damages society.

"Stability and commitment affect everything in a very positive sense," he said. "Marriage, jobs, family structure and vocations come from living within that structure, in a culture of faith."

When asked about his frequent refeence to our Creator's words 'It is not good for Man to be alone,' he explained the significance of relationships and interdependence.

"Stemming from the Trinity, relation­ships are the very foundation of our existence," he said. "They serve all the needs of society. We are all part of a family. It is not possible for man to be alone. For example, the teacher needs

the nurse ... the doctor needs the milman ... and the monk needs them all. They benefit, too, from the Monk's Life of service and dedication. All of us have a role to play."

Music

Abbot Jaconelli is known as a musi­cian, an organist and obviously a skilled exponent of Plainsong. Speaking of music and the liturgy, he enthused about music as the 'most expressive of all the arts' .

"It reaches into the soul," he said. And as he spoke, a real passion for music emerged. He said that in provid­ing music for the liturgy, people should be allowed to use the music appropri­ate to their experience in giving praise, in that way opening up a wider field.

"Where music's concerned, there's something for everybody," he said.

Speaking of his involvement in the production of English Liturgy books, he explained that he had been in charge of printing at the abbey at that particu­lar time, and enthused about 'getting to know' computers and devising a method of replicating Plainsong in print using the components of a dis­carded Daisy Wheel.

Kitchen duties

Before being elected abbot some six years ago, he had undertaken a variety of duties within his community.

"Everything except tailoring," he explained.

Having been novice master and procurator, he served as guest master for some 20 years. He particularly enjoyed that duty.

"I love cooking for guests," he said, and went on to explain that welcoming guests is an integral part of the monas­tic life, that it has a spiritual dimension and honours the Rule of St Benedict, on which monasticism is founded, in the best possible way.

"It's an enriching, healing thing for both host and guest," he said. "It gives a witness, more than any sermon."

Reaching out

Asked about his experience of leading Time for Reflection at the Scottish Parliament, he admitted that the cham­ber at Holyrood seemed to be a rather noisy place after the peace and tran­quillity of the monastery. His message to politicians was simple, however.

"They must remember that this world isn't the be all and end all," he said. "There is another dimension to life."

Abbot Jaconelli has journeyed to Nigeria on several occasions during his term as abbot. He explained that in Nsugbe, Nigeria, the Cistercian Foundation of the Monastery of Our Lady and the Angels had had the overview of Nunraw as its 'Mother House' that has always been used to assist new monasteries within the Cistercian order. There is satisfaction that the new foundation is now firmly established, but the Abbot admitted that the climate in Nigeria formed something of a challenge for him.

Nearer home, the abbot also expressed his pleasure that strong links had been forged between the abbey at Nunraw and the surrounding commu­nity. These began shortly after the monks arrived. Blizzards had rendered the roads impassable for days on end. The community came to the assistance of their neighbours by making journeys of up to seven miles across the fields, carrying baskets of bread and other provisions. They lent similar assistance at a time of widespread flooding and now share neighbourly events like Christmas parties.

The future

When Abbot Jaconelli's term of office as Abbot ended on May 30, Dom Mark Caira was elected as new abbot by the community at Nunraw.

Abbot Mark was born in 1939 and he entered Nunraw in 1960. He prfessed solemn vows in 1968 and was ordained priest in 1973.

Abbot Jaconelli will now take on the tasks assigned to him within the abbey. When he asked if he has any prefer­ences, he remarks again that he partic­ularly enjoys cooking, but he will just have to wait and see. First of all though, he intends to take' a small sab­batical for a few weeks' ... a pause in his journey of more than 50 years. In that time, although the world has changed, there have been few changes in the monastic life. There is a little relaxation of the rules, in that the monks are allowed to watch the news bulletins in the evenings if they so wish ... and, with a chuckle, the abbot confesses that he has seen 'a little bit' of Last of the Summer Wine.

And he summarises his journey of prayer, work and contemplation by saying, "My treasure grows richer, deeper, fuller with the passing years."

Asked for a message with which he might mark the conclusion of his abba­cy, this pause in his journey, he uses a line from Psalm 30.

"Be strong, let your heart take courage, hope in the Lord ."