Brothers Abel, Joseph make solemn vows

Two of Gethsemani’s junior monks made solemn profession on July 11, the Feast of St. Benedict. After five years of formation, Br. Abel Arbuckle and Br. Joseph Bender made perpetual vows of stability, obedience and fidelity to the monastic way of life at the Abbey.

As Fr. Elias mentioned at the start of Mass, for months it remained uncertain whether this milestone would need to be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, restrictions were lifted in time. The church was opened to the public a week prior, and family members were able to attend.

The solemn profession of a monk is a serious commitment to God and the community to which one is called. The monk writes out his vows and signs them during Mass, placing the document (known as a profession schedule) on the altar with the gifts to be consecrated. This consecration is not taken lightly and comes only after many years of discernment on the part of the professed and the community to which he is bound.

While a “solemn” occasion, a monk’s solemn profession is a joyful moment for the professed, the community and the Church. In this case it was made all the more special by having two brothers make this commitment in one day – the first such event in many years.

Please join the monks in thanking God for the gift these brothers have offered – the gift of their very lives – and pray that they joyfully persevere in the path to which God has called them.

When we hear this Gospel passage on the feast of Saint Benedict, a normal surface-level reaction is to connect it with Benedict himself, as a model of the kind of leadership Jesus describes. But Jesus’ words are addressed to the whole group. His message is really about a new way of living together.

As this story illustrates, competition has always been the default mode among human beings: who’s on top, who’s the strongest, who’s the wealthiest, the smartest and so on. Jesus turns this tendency on its head: “Among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.” The greater you are, the clearer your view of reality and, therefore, the more you are aware of your limitations. You are more capable as a leader the more you can put yourself in the shoes of the least and gauge what’s most needed and what’s most important. By removing competition from the concepts of greatness and leadership, Jesus pulls out the thorn that makes living together intolerable.

Jesus is inviting us into a new mode of relating or, put simply, into the Kingdom of God. Saint Paul saw here the calling of all Christians: “I…urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.”

The vows you will pronounce today, Brothers Abel and Joseph, are promises to keep learning to live this way. To promise stability is to commit yourself to being part of a community; to promise fidelity to the monastic way of life is to commit yourself to staying on the learning curve of this new way of relating; and to promise obedience is to commit yourself to living with and for others, less and less on your own terms.

Those of us who welcome you today into this community and into this way of life share with you an experience of the call that brought you here. We recognize in you the signs that you are willing and able to learn the new mode of relating Jesus describes. But, like you, we are still working it out, still begging the Lord for the wisdom and integrity we hope to acquire. We gladly witness your vows today and, along with you, recommit ourselves to “live in a manner worthy of the call” we have received.