Feast of St John The Evangelist

Introduction to the Mass. Feast of St John the Evangelist.

See, Believe, Rejoice

1 John 1: 1 - 4

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That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our joy may be complete.

And in the Gospel we see how John, who reached the tomb first, also went in. He saw and believed.

John believed because he had seen, heard and touched. But we have not seen, so John gives us his testimony of all this. Why? He did so because he wants us to have union with him and the Apostles. This union or fellowship is with the Father, with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit, the family of the Holy Trinity.

He tells us these things so that his own joy will be complete and ours also. This peace and joy is a gift from God. We must treasure it, protect. This joy is deeper than our deepest darkness. We may only know it by its fruits, like falling into a blissful, restful, sleep at the end of a trying day. It is the best antidote to the ‘After Christmas Blues’. Even our good sisters and brothers in the world are happy to escape from the boredom of Christmas parties and superficial joys. Our Guest House is over-booked for the New Year by people seeking the peace and joy that lasts. Here in the monastery this joy increases our enjoyment of the innocent joys of Christmas, music, videos and rich food, (brandy soup, gorgonzola etc.!).

This union with God includes our fellowship in God’s Kingdom, a kingdom which comprises the Church Triumphant in Heaven, the Church Suffering in Purgatory and the Church Militant on Earth. Our life here below is a warfare. The devil tempts us night and day but God’s power is greater than Satan. The key weapon against Satan is humility, especially our repentance for sin and our sinfulness.

As we begin this Holy Mass we are blessed because we are aware of our need for God’s mercy. But we also pray especially for those who stand in most need of God’s limitless mercy.

Holy Souls - waiting for our petitions

All Souls, Nunraw, 01 Nov. 07

Today we have the yearly commemoration of all the Faithful Departed. Their bodies lie buried but their souls live on.

The Church Suffering is part and parcel of yesterday’s feast of All Saints, the Church Triumphant. With ourselves, the Church Militant, we all form an extended family. We need each other and can help each other. The people in heaven don’t need our prayers but we should not take it for granted and stop praying for the dead.

Offering Mass for the Holy Souls in Purgatory is the most effective way we can help them to enter heaven a little more quickly.

Many mystics, even today, are continually aware of their presence. It seems that they like to hang around us, human beings, to receive any little help we can give them, even if only to sprinkle them with holy water. At times they also help our Guardian angel to keep us out of harm’s way.

It is a holy and wholesome act to offer sacrifice for the departed but it is also useful to pray to them for our own needs, as we do to the saints.

Veneration for the ancestors is deeply embedded in most cultures. In the monastery we toll the bell when a brother dies. In Bamenda we know immediately when a neighbour dies. The drums start up and the guns go off intermittently for several days.

As we pray for our dear ones who have gone before us let us repent of our sins and so prepare for our own departure.

PS. My cousin, Liam, has introduced me to the beautiful hymn, 'They are waiting for our petitions'. It is most moving.

On Friday, for the first time, I was present at my cousin Rita's Cremation. The parish priest was waiting at the door of the small well furnished chapel plus an organ. The atmosphere was quite homely and reverent. But there was no cross or other religious symbol as it is used by people of other faiths and atheists etc. The coffin was placed on the 'stage', oriented with the feet towards a shuttered opening in the centre of the back wall. The priest said the usual prayers that are said at the graveside ending up with the 'Our Father'. We stood up to sing the 'Hail, Queen of Heaven' and as we did so the curtains moved slowly to close the coffin from our view. We forgot to look up for the puff of smoke. The ashes would be taken by the family and placed in the family grave. I am told that cremations are now more common than burials. It is not as yet common in West Africa. It was a worthwhile experience. Picture: Our Lady Queen of Purgatory.

Witness for Christ

27^th Friday, Year 1 12 October 2007

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us to rejoice that our names are written in heaven, not because we work miracles and drive out demons. He continues by saying that he who is not with him is against him. And elsewhere Jesus says, “Those who are not against us are for us”.

The martyrs are Christ’s witnesses par excellence. Yet we too are called to witness to Christ every moment of every hour.

Every Christian begins the day with the morning offering. Thereby he stands up for Jesus before the host of heaven if not before the world.

As monks, our morning offering is the Divine Office of Vigils, (of Readings), which we begin at 3.30 a.m.

When I was a junior at Mt St Bernard Abbey, Abbot Finbar of Mt Mellery, visited us every year. He once told us the story of an elderly monk. He told the monk it was time he stopped attending Vigils. So he should stay in bed. Low and behold, next morning, the good man appeared in choir. Later in the day he asked him why he came to Vigils. He replied, “Oh yes, Rev Father, I stayed in bed but I couldn’t sleep. So I went to choir and I had a grand sleep. He preferred to sit in those uncomfortable choir stalls rather than remain in his warm bed.

Abbot Charles enjoyed attending our Vigils here in Nunraw. During his five years at the Generalate in Rome, the thing he missed most was not having Vigils in choir.

I think most of us have similar feelings about attending Vigils however difficult it may be to rise from bed on a cold morning.

It is our joy to rise and stand up for Christ. “They also serve who only stand and wait”, (Milton?).

Sts John Brebeuf, Issac Jogues & Companions, Martyrs

28^th Friday of the Year. 2007-10-19

Sts John Brebeuf, SJ, Isaac Jogues, SJ and Companions

In the Gospel Jesus tells us of our heavenly Father’s love and care for each one of us. “The hairs of your head have been counted. Are you not worth more than hundreds of sparrows?”.

Some years ago we listened to the Life of St Isaac Jogues being read in the refectory in Bamenda. We were astonished at the many similarities between the American Indian culture and that of the African culture.

African culture today is predominantly Western. However the traditional culture is still very strong, both the good points and the not so good. Tribal warfare is still going on even between Christian tribes.

St Thérèse also knew the life of St Isaac, the Jesuit missionary and martyr in North America. She had a great devotion to him and had a picture of him in her cell. So when she wanted to join in the Carmelite foundation in Vietnam she did so with her eyes wide open to the hazards of missionary life. Providence ordained that she remain at home and suffer the terrible dark night of the soul. This is an experience that we all have whether we are missionary or contemplative. As we all know she is now co-patron of the missions with St Francis Xaviour.

Our mother used to attend the Carmelite Church in Dublin and had a great devotion to St Thérèse. I suspect this had a lot to do with our missionary vocations.

I thought I had sacrificed my missionary vocation when I entered Mt St Bernard. But when I arrived there and saw two African priest oblates I had a premonition that I might end up on the missions after all. I had been slated for South Africa where I would have met my aunt, a Sister of Mercy.

You might say I have enjoyed the best of both worlds.

Truly the story of St John, St Isaac and companions is most inspiring. The same is true of St Brendan, the Irish navigator monk, whose name I took at baptism. He discovered America six centuries before Columbus. St Isaac followed in Brendan’s footsteps but went much further inland.

All for the Glory of God.

Installation news and pictures

NEW ABBOT FOR THE CISTERCIAN ABBEY MBENGWI

On Tuesday the 6^th of August 2007, Dom Charles Arde-Erzoa Amihere was elected as the new Abbot of the Cistercian Abbey Mbengwi. He takes over from Dom Jude Tah Forcham who ended a six year term of office on the same day. The elections were conducted by Dom Joseph Delargy, Abbot of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey Leicester England, assisted by Mother Margaret, Abbess emeritus of St Justina's Monastery Abaikiliki in Nigeria.

The Installation of Dom Charles took place on the same day in the Chapter Room of the Monastery.

In installing Dom Charles Dom Joseph congratulated the community for its maturity in electing an African Abbot in place of another African. This he said, was a sign of the progress the monastic life is making in Africa. He also congratulated Dom Jude for what he has done to the Abbey in the past six years. He said the successful election of a new Abbot was the sign of a successful Abbacy of Dom Jude. He finally congratulated Dom Charles for his election and called on the community to give him the necessary support to govern well. The new Abbot then made the profession of faith, pledging to follow the mind of the church in the administration of the Monastery. He was then given a pectoral cross, the keys and seals of the Monastery, to take up command of the affairs of the Monastery. Then he took the Abbatial Chair in Chapter and all the professed monks of the Monastery in order of seniority came up and knelt before him and pledged obedience. The documents of the installation were then signed and the community moved to church where Dom Charles took the Abbatial stall and the Te Deum was sung to praise God for the success of the election. The Abbatial blessing to be done by the Archbishop of Bamenda will be done later.

Dom Charles was born on 17^th April 1950 in Ghana. He did his secondary and high school education in Ghana between 1966-1973 when he proceeded to St Peter's Regional Major Seminary at Pedu, Cape-Coast Ghana where he did philosophy and 2 years of theology. In 1976 he came into contact with monks on a visit to Togo and desired being one himself. Since there were no monasteries in Ghana, he applied and was accepted to join Newark Abbey in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. When he was preparing to travel to the U.S. he met a Ghanaian priest who was starting a monastic project in Ghana. Br Charles joined the new diocesan monastic foundation in 1978. In1979 he was sent to Bamenda for monastic formation to return home to Ghana to help in establishing their own Monastery. In 1981, he made first profession and went back to Ghana in 1984. The monastic project in Ghana was not successful and so in 1988, Br Charles decided to return to Cameroon to join the Cistercian Monastery in Mbengwi. He had to start afresh the monastic journey he began 10 years earlier with another canonical novitiate in September 1988. After the second novitiate, he took his temporary vows in October 1989 and final vows in February 1993, and was ordained priest in 2001 by Archbishop Paul Verdzekov.

In 1996, Dom Charles was appointed Assistant Novice Master and subsequently went for a course at the Catholic University of Angers in France in 1997. On his return from studies, he was appointed Superior Ad nutum of the Cistercian Monastery at Koutaba. In 1999 he returned to Bamenda to assume the same responsibility, a position he held until 2001. At the Cistercian Order's General Chapter of 2002 he was elected Councilor at the Abbot General's Council in Rome where he was till his election on the 6^th of August as Abbot of the Cistercian Monastery Mbengwi.

We ask you to keep him and the community in your prayers.

Br Luke-Kingsley Ake

Hi friends,

In June my family, only five of us, had a mini family reunion. Three of my five sisters spent two weeks in the Guest House, here in Nunraw, where my brother Donald is Guest Master. They arrived a few days after the failed terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport. All airports were on high security alert. Hence Noreen and Josephine were delayed at Dublin Airport for about three hours, one of them sitting in the plane, before they obtained the 'All clear' from Edinburgh. Before this Patricia arrived from Aberdeen also one hour late because she got the wrong coach. By then it was too late to have supper at Nunraw so we had our first meal together at a quiet resturant just outside Edinburgh. As we chatted we enjoyed the drive through the beautiful Lothian countryside, aglow with the warm evening sun.. Our absent sisters were Mary who teaches English to the young Sisters in South Korea, and Christina who does parish work with the Aboriginese in Australia.

5th July: The five of us set off for Carfin, Scotland's National Shrine to Our Lady. It is not far from Glasgow on the Edinburgh road.It has been transformed into a very wonderful shrine. Our mother often visited it with members of the family. The cost of enhancement was shared by church and private contributions, Irish, Polish, Ukrainian etc., as well as from government developement agencies.

The Blessed Sacrament Chapel is built almost entirely of glass, very beautiful and most prayerful. The Chapel is dedicated to Our Lady, Maid of the Sea. This title is the name of the passenger aircraft that crashed, near Locherbie not far from Carfin, due to a terrorist bomb. A list of the victims, (R.I.P.), hangs on the wall.

By way of exception, since it is only open on Sundays, we were allowed to view the fantastic display of relics in the Relics Museum.

In the afternoon we visited Donald's friends at Wellwood, not far from here. Beatrice (in the photo) and her sister, Claude, from Oregon, USA. Originally they came from a large family in Belgium. Coming from Cameroon they were disappointed that I did not speak French. We enjoyed a nice afternoon tea together complete with Belgian cookies. Beatrice, now an eighty-year old widow, is still full of energy in spite of two strokes and is rather deaf. She is a member of the landed gentry and has a large estate/farm. She drives herself here to Mass every Sunday. Her husband used to accompany her though he remained an Anglican.

My very pleasant surprise was to meet up with Claude. When she said she was from Oregon I could scarcely believe my ears. I was even more surprised when she said that the 'Oregon Grape', ornamental and herbal shrub, grows in her garden. The scientific name is 'Mahonia Aquifolium'. The bark of the root is used to make ointment for skin disorders. It is most effective for psoriasis. When I looked up the Internet for the seeds it said that they were out of stock. More surprisingly still I discovered that Beatrice had it growing in her garden and estate, all ready for harvesting. So I now have a supply of the seeds. I had to be quick because the birds love the grapes. The shrub will be a useful addition to our herb garden. We run a small Herbal Clinic in Bamenda, Cameroon, where many people suffer from psoriasis. There are no specific drugs for psoriasis in West Africa. The preparations, ointment and tablets etc., are only available on the Internet. Even if you have a credit card it is not easy to import any item due to risk of theft and high customs duty.

11th: Our cousin, Brian Sweeney and his wife, Kathy. were with us for lunch and afternoon tea. He had polio as a small boy.They are always most inspiring in the way he copes with his disability with the help of Kathy. They are a perfect, loving team. He is now a qualified Consulant for the disabled and gives lectures at the University and Medical schools. He is a living example of what he preaches. He is a great advocate for the rights of the disabled. He is a great entertainer. He arrived in his big Mercedes custom built car. I think he got it at a special rate. The fittings and gadgets were supplied free of charge. He drives up to the car in his power driven wheel-chair. Using his handset he opens a door and a platform drops to the ground. He reverses into it, the platform rises and he enters the cabin, wheels round and hops into the driver's seat. Coming out of the car the procedure is reversed. He does most of the driving himself though Kathy drives from time to time.

What a missionary Columban!

In January, my second sister, Mary, a Franciscan Missionary of Mary, was assigned to S Korea to teach the local novices English. She received a warm welcome from the Columban Fathers, Irish. After wining and dining they promised to put her in contact with our distant cousin, Fr Patrick James McGlinchey. He became famous as a young missionary when he brought bicycles to Korea to make spinning wheels for his parishioners. The following is an account of Mary's first meeting with him.

"Had a lovely visit to Jeju Island and Fr. P.J.s miission there. He is a tall, fine looking man with very fair skin and stands very straight for a 79 year-old. (He reminded me a little of Donald.) And what a Missionary he is. For his first 25 years at Hallim he built up the Parish including a Church which a few years ago was demolished to make way for a large new Church. The bell-tower of the old Church has been preserved as a memorial.

The Jeju Island Mission

After 25 years there He bought a mountain on Jeju Island which was going cheap as they say. There were stones and rocks everywhere but comparing it with some of Donegal's hills and mountains he saw some possibilities and went on from there. He started off with pig farms and had to pipe water from 15 miles away which cheered up all the poor farmers from the pipeline along the way as they helped themselves from the pipeline.

I won't go into details but today there are good roads leading to the mountain mission where there are some lovely green fields with crops growing mostly for silage. There is a herd of 900beef cattle another of 400 dairy cattle and a herd of 200+ horses. P.J. brought me on a grand tour in his car because it was raining.

There is a convent of 26 Poor Clare nuns, and three other women Congregations, including Salesians who look after the Youth Centre, , a local group for the Resedential Home for the Elderly. They are full at the moment with 75 residents ( all poor) who do not pay any money. and another group of local Sisters for the Hospice for the dying . This latter was officially opened the week before I visited. ( By local I mean Korean Sisters not Jeju Island as such. The Govt pays the salaries for the Staff and paid 80% of the expenses for the building ( which is spacious and modern. The Govt. however, gave nothing towards the building of the Hospice, nor does it contribute to salaries for the Staff.

So P.J. had to find donors. One of these is the owner of teh famous Cooper Stables in Ireland. His name begins with Ma -- but I can't remember the full name and he is a famous horse trainer.. He wrote him a letter asking if he could lend him a thorough racehorse for breeding purposes as he wished to upgrade his horse farm and get good prices in the sale of his horses. The money raised was to fund this Hospice for the dying ( which again is free of charge). Your man contacted the Irish ambassadior in Seoul to ask him to find out if P.J. Mc Glinchey was authentic. As it happens P.J. and the ambassador are good friends so he wasted no time in recommending P.J.'s cause for funding. A few weeks later he received a letter from Ireland and Mr. Ma-- said " I am not lending you a horse, I am giving you one and I will send him out to you, all expenses paid. And so a few weeks later "Yahoudi" arrived and the first batch of foals were born the day after I arrived and beautiful, they are!. The horse trainer, a New Zealander, was ecstatic.( We actually passed the field where the expectant mares were grazing on the day I arrived.

There is also a retreat house that can take in 240 retreatants at one time and schools and Parishes from all over Korea send people all year round usually for a 4-day stay. Some combine retreat and sight-seeing as the Island has become a famous holiday resort for S. East Asia and not only Korea. The Church holds about 3000 and there is a Piazza on the top which can also hold a few thousand people. O dear I could go on but I think I will tell you rather than continue here. It is already 9:pm and actually s. Angela is setting up he new Vista laptop right next to me here in the office! with the help of our mrdia expert! It's a small world.

Thank God I am keeping well and of course busy."

I'm afraid he put some of us to shame!

Our Cistercian Sisters are doing well there

Genesee Abbey, New York, is sponsoring a diocesan monastery which follows our life style.

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INTRODUCTION

Hi friends,

After almost one week in Bonny Scotland I'm still very glad to be back for a few months though I keep thinking I'm at the North Pole. Cameroon is almost on the Equator and pretty hot. Fortunately for me, the Bamenda highlands, 9,000 ft, are relatively cool. Our monastery, 20 km from Bamenda Town, (it is almost a city), is 4,200 ft above sea level. This is about the same as the top of Ben Nevis. This can be seen from Nunraw Abbey, Haddington, my brother, Donald's monastery where I am staying. I pray the weather will soon allow me a glimpse of the top of the British Isles.

We do not have regular leave but I come home from time to time for special reasons, work on liturgical books, family reunion and health etc., all through the generosity of Nunraw Abbey.

I was born in Glasgow of Irish parents. We holidayed in Donegal every year until the family grew too large. When I was 2 years old we were at the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, 1932, (I'm not giving away my age), so I heard John McCormack sing Ave Verum and have been in love with music every since. Ireland is celebrating the 75th Anniversary of this Congress at the moment.

This is my first attempt at blogging so look out for more to come.

Your fellow blogger

William Brendan Nivard McGlynn

wbn for short

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