St. Norbert Abbey presents “Restless Hearts Returning to God”—a series of Lenten video reflections by Fr. Tim Shillcox, O. Praem., Fr. Bradley Vanden Branden, O. Praem., and Fr. Michael Brennan, O. Praem.
Ash Wednesday features a message by Fr. Bradley Vanden Branden, O. Praem.
Looking for inspiring books that will enhance your Lenten journey? We asked a few prolific readers within the Norbertine community for suggestions. Below are their recommended titles.
Br. Steve Herro, O. Praem.Fr. Matthew Dougherty, O. Praem.
Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection
By Pope Benedict XVI
Recommended by: Fr. Matthew Dougherty, O. Praem., and Br. Steve Herro, O. Praem.
Pope Benedict takes his readers through the familiar stories surrounding our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection while adding unique reflections and insights earned from a lifetime of study, prayer, and reflection. This book not only makes you rethink what you know of Jesus of Nazareth but also fall in love with him again.
Mysterium Paschale: The Mystery of Easter
By Hans Urs von Balthasar
Recommended by: Fr. Matthew Dougherty, O. Praem.
Named a cardinal of the Church by Pope (Saint) John Paul II shortly before he died, Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988) was one of the great theologians of the post-Vatican II Church. Mysterium Paschale is one of Balthasar’s most influential works, especially for its unique take on Christ’s decent into hell. At times, this work can be a bit jargon-filled and difficult to read, but for those comfortable with theological language, it is a profound and worthy book.
Fr. Michael Weber, O. Praem.
Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI
By Pope Benedict XVI
Recommended by: Fr. Michael Weber, O. Praem.
I’ve used Pope Benedict’s devotional throughout the last couple of years for reflection. Although these are daily meditations throughout the year, they are particularly powerful, well written short reflections on Scripture passages—including Lenten messages.
Abbot Emeritus Jerome Tremel, O. Praem.
The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully
By Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B.
Recommended by: Abbot Emeritus Jerome Tremel, O. Praem.
Grace and wisdom flow from some 40 short essays. A rich source of reflection for anyone approaching or experiencing the elder years.
Fr. James Herring, O. Praem.
i am through you so i
By Brother David Steindl-Rast
Recommended by: Fr. James Herring, O. Praem.
Brother David, one of the most significant spiritual teachers and international speakers of our era, tells his incomparable rich story spanning the nine decades of his life.
Brother David and his TED Talk also can be found online.
Written for Our Instruction: Theological and Spiritual Riches in Romans
By Thomas D. Stegman, SJ
Recommended by: Fr. James Herring, O. Praem.
This book sets forth and makes accessible an under-appreciated aspect of St. Paul’s theology on the life of the Spirit. In his letters, Paul often reminds his readers/hearers about the gift of the Spirit they have already received.
Everything Ablaze: Meditating on the Mystical Vision of Teilhard de Chardin
By David Richo
Recommended by: Fr. James Herring, O. Praem.
Richo describes our calling to discover the sacred heart of the universe, grow into planetary consciousness, and participate in the great work ahead of us. A rich resource for meditating.
—Ursula King
Fr. Michael Brennan, O. Praem.
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
By Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, with Douglas Abrams
Recommended by: Fr. Michael Brennan, O. Praem.
The author invites these two spiritual leaders and close friends to share their experiences of deep and abiding joy, most particularly in the face of profound suffering. This book has both confirmed and challenged my understanding of hope, joy, and suffering amidst the blessedness and brokenness of our shared humanity.
The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation
By Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell
Recommended by: Fr. Michael Brennan, O. Praem.
Fr. Richard Rohr invites us to enter into one of the central tenets and mysteries of Christianity: our God is relationship, our God is community. Made in this image and likeness, we are invited to be transformed by our God, who constantly calls us into relationship. I’ve had this book on my shelf since late last summer; perhaps Lent will be the perfect time to jump in.
When I start my day reading the Office of Readings, my heart is much more open to God’s presence throughout the day. Simply download the iBreviary app, click on “Breviary” and then select “Office of Readings.”
Hope for the Flowers
By Trina Paulus
Recommended by: Frater Johnathan Turba, O. Praem.
This simple book tells a beautiful allegory of letting go of our comforts in life and finding the courage to move through death to a life greater than anything we could have imagined. I find this book so insightful in reflecting on my own struggles, identifying what comforts I am holding on to that I may need to let go of, and visiting anew the need to give my life completely to God.
Fr. Stephen Rossey, O. Praem.
The Way of Gratitude: Readings for a Joyful Life
Editors: Michael Leach, James Keane, Doris Goodnough
Recommended by: Fr. Stephen Rossey, O. Praem.
The Way of Gratitude is a treasure trove of writings that inspire and prod one to think seriously about things that most of us just take for granted. The editors have assembled the writings of well-known authors who open the meaning of “gratitude” to make its practice useful and joyful. Authors such as James Martin, SJ, Henri Nouwen, Joan Chittister, O.S.B., and even David Brooks help you rethink your own response to gratitude.
Deacon Patrick LaPacz, O. Praem.
The Magnificat Lenten Companion 2018
Recommended by: Deacon Patrick LaPacz, O. Praem.
This booklet contains reflections and short prayers for every day in Lent and helps keep one focused through one’s Lenten journey.
Frater Anh Tran, O. Praem.
The Long Loneliness:An Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist
By Dorothy Day
Recommended by: Frater Anh Tran, O. Praem.
Through Dorothy Day’s autobiography of her life as a devout Catholic, a lover of Christ, and a tremendous champion for the poor, we gain insights regarding the call of true discipleship within our lives and the beauty of the Paschal Mystery.
In this season of Lent, the Church invites us all to prepare for the Easter Feast through a deepening life of prayer, fasting, and works of mercy.
On the Second Sunday of Lent, the Norbertine Community of St. Norbert Abbey is offering Lenten Lessons and Chants.
The abbey church will be filled with praise of God’s Mercy through Word (Scripture and other Christian writings), rich silence, and sacred music sung by Norbertine cantors and the Abbey Singers of St. Norbert College.
Lenten Lessons and Chants 2017 in the Church of St. Norbert Abbey
Sunday, April 2, 2017 | 7 p.m.
Join us for this time of Word, silence, and song.
In this season of Lent, the Church invites us all to prepare for the Easter Feast through a deepening life of prayer, fasting, and works of mercy.
On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Norbertine Community of St. Norbert Abbey is offering Lenten Lessons and Chants.
The abbey church will be filled with praise of God’s Mercy through Word (Scripture and other Christian writings), rich silence, and sacred music sung by Norbertine cantors and the Abbey Singers of St. Norbert College.
By no means would I consider myself a social media aficionado. To be honest (or “tbh”), Twitter is too much for me to figure out, my LinkedIn profile is left wanting, I’ve tried and tried again to make it in the blogosphere, and I’ve never even visited Reddit. Instagram is slowly growing on me, and the students and staff at Notre Dame de la Baie Academy know how much I pride myself on crafting ridiculously “catchy” hashtags: #ShamelessPlug.
Yet, I’m still a sucker for “clickbait.”
You know—clickbait: those sneaky headlines that tantalize your imagination and make you second-guess scrolling past them. It could be something as innocent as, “Did You Know This Common Household Item Could Do This?” to more edgy slogans like, “Top Vatican Official Reveals the Truth.” And it never fails; I click on the bait.
I’m not sure why I fall for it … am I secretly hoping to discover the cleaning potential of sliced lemons? I don’t think so! Still, the clickbait is just so tempting, there are many times I can’t seem to take my attention from it as I’m browsing my social media accounts.
It’s strange, though, that as much as lemon-based cleaning products and supposed Vatican truths can catch our eyes, we’ve grown blind to the clickbait that Jesus presents.
Jesus was all about using catchy stories and creative words to teach His followers about the Kingdom of God. Think about stories of lost sheep and lost coins (Lk 15:1-10), of wedding guests and street people (Mt 22:1-14), and of salt and light (Mt 5:13-16). Suddenly these images become too stale or boring for us. We view these creative lessons of Jesus as less about intrigue and truth, and more about obligation and duty. They land on our deaf ears.
Perhaps this Lent, we could change our browsing habits from household cleaners and suggestive NewsBytes to an even more elusive piece of clickbait: the cross.
All of Jesus’ teaching and preaching culminated in that moment where He hung on that cross, isolated from any followers. It was on that rugged piece of torturous equipment that the Lord hung and forgave us for having deaf ears. It was on that wooden harness that Christ gave His own Mother and Beloved Disciple to each other as a model for the Church. It was on that gnarly post that the Son of God spent Himself completely for all of us.
This Calvary-clickbait has echoed throughout Christianity for millennia, and still can be used today to inspire us toward a rejuvenated devotion to what the Lord taught us. Learn from His stories and example. Find ways to:
better support the poor.
feed and clothe the homeless.
visit the lonely or elderly.
welcome the relational or ideological other.
advocate for refugees and migrants.
love those who have different abilities than you.
pray for the dying.
No doubt, these merciful acts are not easy. They require that we give of ourselves, which is never an easy task. Instead of looking for followers of our own, suddenly we are being invited to follow Jesus alone. Although He gave His all on the cross, we are being asked to give a part of ourselves in service to our brothers and sisters. Yet, it was also His cross that ushered in the Resurrection.
This Lent, stop falling for the clickbait that leads nowhere. Instead, follow the clickbait of the cross. Use that event of selfless love, forgiveness, and service as a model for your own spiritual development, so that you, too, can join in Easter joy—transformed and renewed in your own call to holiness.
The Eighth Station: Jesus meets the women, as portrayed at Our Lady of Lourdes, De Pere | Photo by Fr. Tim Shillcox, O. Praem.
The Stations of the Cross, one of our most beloved devotions, chronicles the last few hours of the life of Jesus Christ and is a way for the faithful to literally walk with the Lord in prayerful gratitude, wonder, and awe.
Whereas history does not provide us with specific evidence of the very first visual (artistic) articulation of the Stations of the Cross, we might well imagine the origin of this popular devotion occurring as our ancestors in the faith walked along the very “way of the cross” in the streets and roads of Jerusalem and pondered in their hearts the great mystery of the passion and death of Jesus.
I like to imagine that perhaps it was Mary herself, in the company of the unnamed women and children of Jerusalem, the apostles and Simon of Cyrene with his sons, Alexander and Rufus, who, after the crucifixion, walked and rewalked the very steps they took in the company of Jesus on that first Good Friday. I wonder if they didn’t pause, periodically, to recall the memory of that very day and their great love for Jesus—and over time, others joined them along this Via Dolorosa, accompanying them with their own memories and prayers, sharing together a mutual love and affection for the presence of Jesus in their lives—yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Many of our most treasured religious and secular rites and rituals, customs, and traditions, have uncertain origins; but what we most certainly and assuredly know about the Stations of the Cross is that its origin is literally in every step of Jesus en route to the sacrifice upon the cross. The practice of ritually and artistically categorizing the footsteps of Jesus along the way to Calvary is equally obscure and its history is subject to great debate. But we are confident that our current 14 Stations of the Cross have evolved in tandem with the Church’s revelation of the presence of the living Christ in our midst, in our own here-and-now.
The placement in our churches of 14 visual articulations of those final hours in the life of Jesus inclines us to recognize and remember an essential aspect of our Christian faith; namely, that our salvation is linked to the suffering of Christ who, even as he bore the torment of hostility and fear of those who hoped to eradicate his presence on earth, he persevered toward God’s divine will with nobility and courage, with tenderness toward the most marginalized and hopeful reliance on the emerging strength of others.
The placement of 14 images of the last hours of the life of Jesus in (or upon the grounds) of a church or a chapel allows us to sense the magnitude of this sacred narrative and to discern its ongoing relevance in our lives. Without these visual cues, these sacred works of art, we are impoverished and risk forgetting the immensity of God’s great love for the world.
That there are five traditional Stations of the Cross that depict instances not recorded in sacred Scripture (there is, in fact, no scriptural record of Jesus falling three times along the route to Calvary nor are there exact passages citing the meeting of Jesus with his mother or Veronica) is not a worrisome matter for a devout and sincere Catholic. Rather, those particular stations reveal the extent of the Christian imagination and how it is rooted in the art of logical, poetic, and compassionate inference.
The inclusion of three stations, wherein Jesus falls along the way, reveals many things that we know to be true: the crushing weight of life and all its complexities can cause all of us to stumble along the way and we then rely on others (like Simon) to assist us. The Catholic imagination delights in recognizing how our journey in life is intimately known to Jesus.
That we believe Jesus met Mary along the way to Calvary feels only natural to the believing imagination as we know, from sacred Scripture, she is there later at the foot of the cross; would not any of our own mothers demure from accompanying us along our own way of the cross? Mary’s presence reveals what we know to be true among women who are full of grace: they walk with us and for us, even when we believe we can’t see them.
Of course, Veronica acts as a counterpoint to Simon; as Simon was ordered to assist Jesus, we have a family legend that recalls the power and beauty of freely and naturally offering one’s assistance to someone in need. Veronica recalls for us a beautiful truth; we have all, at one time or another, enjoyed the sweet relief of someone freely and wonderfully coming to our aid, comforting us with a moment of surprising relief.
During the season of Lent, the church invites us to enter more mindfully into the Passion of Jesus, to set aside a bit of time wherein we can more fully recall the courage and conviction of our Lord’s love of us, particularly as this was made manifest on that first Good Friday.
The Stations of the Cross that we find in our cathedral and local churches, act as catalysts to remember the strength and dignity, the resolve and determination, the complete and overwhelming goodness of Jesus, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Whenever we actively pray the Stations of the Cross, either alone or in the company of fellow believers, we extend a great legacy and tradition of the Church, linking our prayers and footsteps with the very prayers and footsteps of Jesus, our Blessed Mother, the apostles and disciples, the saints and the martyrs, and countless generations of faith-filled men, women, and children.
