Abbey’s Anniversary Mass. A Benedictine oblate blog

At the end of Mass

[Click picture to enlarge]

My wife and I attended the 120th anniversary Mass at St. Leo Abbey in Florida, USA. The Abbey’s 60-year-old Church of the Holy Cross was packed to overflowing.

The music was wonderful. The new renovations of the church impressed everyone — and rightfully so. The simple elegance of the past still greets us, but now it is beautiful too. The various parts of the church are warmly linked with new colors and textures. Great job.

The wise abbot’s homily began by him reading part of the homily given about 60 years ago when the church was consecrated. The “old” homily’s assessment of a monastery’s place in the wider Church and a dark world still rang true which is not surprising — monasteries preserve truth and spiritual traditions. The essence of a lighthouse is not to transform itself into something that extinguishes the light.

Many elderly people were there today, I imagined that some may have attended the consecration of the church 60 years ago. I also saw many families with young children. My mind was drawn to think about the abbey’s 180th anniversary when those children of today will be in their sixties and seventies.

Although the abbey’s church may be renovated again by then, those future adults will be able to walk to the front of this church, bow, and be in the same light as today.