April 5 – What’s New?

In monasteries and convents all over the world, there is a new look, a new décor, a new diet, a new start on the Monday after Easter Sunday.

After months of fasting and meditation upon the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, all the windows of newness are thrown open. The altar cloths are new, the priests’ vestments are new, and the atmosphere is new.

The solemnity and the considerations of Jesus’ death are swallowed up in the reality of Jesus’ life. He is alive, and we may live in Him! He is taken into heaven, and He has come into our hearts. He has overcome death, and we are delivered forever from the fear of death.

Monastics train themselves to await death with a healthy realism. They do not know anyone exempt from death, nor do they know anyone, however holy, among their numbers who has cheated death, but together they make real the words of Scripture, “O death, where is your sting; o grave, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Cor Unum Abbey opened on New Year’s Eve, celebrating the newness of the year. Far greater than the turning over of the year is the turning over of death, from victor to vanquished. Christ Jesus has conquered death, and in Him we live, free in life and unafraid of death, here in the monastery of our hearts.


"Free to Worship"
photo by Kerry