Transcript of Abbot Clement's Talk on Monday, December 30,2002
Christmas season, of course, is the manifestation of how the Trinity is on mission. God is not a passive God but active. We already heard in Paul’s epistle and his statement in the Acts of the Apostle’s, "that in God we live and move and have our being." But that’s not good enough for us that are catholic Christians, who believe in the Trinity. The Father so loved the world He sent His Son. And His Son is active in us so that we are a part of the mystical body under the power of the Spirit. So God’s presence is more present, tangible and active in our life. And so when we are thinking in terms of our visitation and our strategic planning for the Abbey, we have to first of all look at our mission statement. Because that’s supposed to be summary of our relationship to God and mission that we participate that is part of the movement of the Trinity. We say we are monks who wholeheartedly choose to seek and depend upon God the Father as disciples of Christ in the Holy Spirit. We do this by living the Rule of St. Benedict under the Abbot of St. Andrew Svorad Abbey.
Maybe we out to re-look at this question, does this grab you? Does this express the gospel message for you? Is it alive? Maybe instead of saying "depend" we should say find God, and in finding Him, surrender ourselves totally to Him in passionate love. We ought to think about the mission statement. Then another thing that we ought to look at is, you know, since I’ve been Abbot, I’ve been forced to focus on finances, which is a necessary evil, but that’s crisis thinking. That’s not mission thinking, directly. Indirectly, of course, it is. What’s necessary for us to fulfill what God sent us to do. Now, I really appreciate your honesty and openness in what we’ve accomplished so far, but we have to move this to really - mission. And so we need to think of how this impacts upon our chapter’s and our discussions together. And another thing we ought to be doing, each one since I put the mission statement there for you to remind you, you ought to do some homework. And the homework is this: in the present things you are doing, hopefully for the Lord, how is that connected with the mission statement? How does the mission statement, incarnated in your life, by what you are doing with your time and your service? So when we get together and discuss this dimension we have some real input in some real listening of what the Spirit is saying to this church for the 21st century, for the year 2003.
Another thing is, ok, we have indeed committed ourselves to our services in terms of manpower and resources, there’s no doubt, but is there anything else the Lord is maybe asking of us as a community? Especially in the present times. Maybe not so much something new exteriorly in doing things but maybe a tonality in the shape that is made public, proclaimed by both behavior and by statement. Maybe peace would be one of the things we ought to think about because our world is so depleted of these things. Then I was thinking also, what does the abbey stand for? OK, I have reinitiated the Slovak Institute, first of all because I think it’s of value and we have all this valuable stuff sitting there and nothing is being done with it. And now it’s beginning to be responded to by the Slovak Community which is a good thing. But we still have to shape this in terms of our mission. And then maybe some of the things we do here need to be sharpened. This is an atmosphere, a place where people are supposed to find God. And we do, we have conferences, and the Oblates and we have pro life people. But the question is can we improve this and sharpen it and make it more effective? For instance, maybe we need to make a more public statement about pro life stances as an abbey. I certainly have tried to encourage the people that make the petitions that you would make a petition everyday of some form or manner that basically asks the Lord to bring down the strong hold of those who are opposed to life in all its forms.
That brings me to another point, when we pray the vocation prayer, you have to realize how important that prayer is. When a person is being called by God it’s a struggle. It’s not a nice little thing, ho hum, hey kid, come. And he comes. Oh no, no, it’s a battle. The devil is pulling on him, the world is pulling on him and so he needs prayer. So you have to pray that prayer with lot more intensity and a lot more petition that the Lord would send grace and strength to that person and place people in his life that would make him respond. Because it’s a battle especially in our present world that says, "I don’t need God, I can do it on my own. I’ve got my talents and my friends and my money, etc." I think with that in mind I want you to think about then the mission statement because I think the mission statement is a key element to the question of preparing for the visitation and for strategic planning. How alive is the concretization of why we are here and what’s this all about. If God is on mission and He is. If the Trinity is manifested in the mystery of the Incarnation, God is closer and nearer to us then He is also moving not only each of us but the whole community into a deeper relationship to Him and His purpose which is the salvation of the world and His glory. So do some homework and look at the mission statement and reflect on how that mission statement is being made incarnate in your life.