The day I became a Benedictine oblate

This is from my journal, Aug. 15, 2009 and is a continuation of a three-part post from Journeying with the Saints on my becoming an oblate to Mt. Saviour Monastery near Elmira, N.Y.: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

Today began with me walking out of the guest house where I was staying at Mt. Saviour Monastery near Elmira, N.Y. for morning vigil and seeing a light. At 4:30 a.m., it wasn’t the light of the sun I was seeing. It was the light I had left in my car all night after going to retrieve something from it the previous evening.

So when I was supposed to be thinking holy thoughts on this day I was to become an oblate, instead I thought something unholy. “Dung!” I said or something equivalent as I rushed to the car only to realize it was locked. Back inside to the guest room to my room to get the keys. After turning off the light, I now had to turn my attention to being holy.

Surprisingly as the vigil began, I already felt like I was in the rhythm of the recitation of the psalms with the monks. I remembered going to Mt. Savior in 1995 on a summer retreat where I and other younger men lived with the monks for six weeks and how out of rhythm I felt then. Fourteen years later, I was in rhythm, but it was not of my own doing.

As St. Benedict writes in the rule:

If you notice something good in yourself, give credit to God, not yourself…

Chapter 4, Tool for Good Works, Line 42

and I have no problem in doing so, since this definitely wasn’t of my own doing but truly the grace of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, as well as His mother Mary on this, her Feast Day, the Assumption.

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After Lauds and breakfast, I put the key in the ignition and…

…the car starts, miracle of miracles.

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Rite of Final Oblation

Stand
1. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. R. Amen
2. The Lord be with you. R. And with your spirit.
3. Let us pray: Raise up, O, Lord in your Church, the Spirit which animated our Holy Father Benedict, so that, filled with that same Spirit, we may strive to love what he loved and to practice what he taught. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
4. ___________ What do you seek?
R. I (We) seek to serve God as (an) oblate(s) of St. Benedict.
Kneel
5. Throughout the ages, the Rule of St. Benedict has served as a spiritual guide for countless men and women. Its teaching is a practical application of the Gospel to the daily lives of those who truly seek God. By following the wisdom of the Rule you will progress along the way of salvation. As you associate yourself with Mount Saviour through your act of oblation, you will share in our life of prayer and work to the end that in all things, God may be glorified. In baptism you were committed in faith to Christ. Now renew that commitment as you offer yourself to God as an oblate.
6. In the name of our community I invite you to make your oblation.
Reading of statement.

Peace! In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I ________________
Offer myself to Almighty God through the Blessed Virgin Mary and our Holy Father Benedict as an oblate of Mount Saviour Monastery and promise to dedicate myself to the service of God and mankind according to the Rule of St. Benedict in so far as my state in life permits.

Signing of statement at lectern.
7. Lighting of candle.
Presentation of candle: May your oblation, symbolized by this burning candle, be acceptable to God and many your loving gift of self be eternally blessed.
8. Let us pray: Compassionate and loving God, kindly bless all the people you have chosen for yourself, especially those who have associated themselves with Mount Saviour. Strengthen us as we strive to seek you in all things and complete the work you have begun in us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
9. PAX Greeting.

Example of PAX greeting.

However, before I get to this point, I am to be humbled by God. Humility, after one, is one of the key tenets in the Rule of St. Benedict.

When I came in as an oblate candidate, I didn’t know what to expect. Fr. Martin, the previous abbot and guest brother at the time, didn’t tell me much beforehand, but then when it happened, a ceremony took place in the oratory in the basement of the chapel. I thought that this is how it was going to take place this time too, so…

…I mentioned it to a few guests, who also thought that is how it would happen. When it came time after Vespers for me to go for my final oblation, it happened…

…NOTHING! No grand announcement was made. I just went down the stairs by myself. A few minutes later, one of the guests whom I had told about the ceremony said he didn’t know what was going on. I said that I didn’t either.

Finally Fr. James came down and asked me to come into the oratory with him. He then explained to me and the guest how oblates came to be, namely with rich patrons of the monasteries offering up one of their children to the monasteries. “Oblatio” also refers to “offering” and the Eucharist, he said, or as Merriam-Webster says about the etymology of the word “oblate”:

Medieval Latin oblatus, literally, one offered up, from Latin, past participle of offerre

Then the ceremony took place.

So much for humility. One of the guests, a priest, even had joked that he was going to chant my name during Vespers along with the other guests. I told him this wasn’t about me. Only later did I realize how much not about me it really was, is and always shall be.

Tomorrow, along with my regular Motivation Monday post, I also will post photos from Mt. Saviour and a little more on this past weekend here. This post also can be found at my spiritual blog, Journeying with the Saints. If you only are interested in spiritual-related posts, you can subscribe only to that blog, if you so choose.