The Chimes

Paul Forster’s Solemn Profession

We welcomed Dom Paul Forster’s Solemn Profession in June 2020. Below is Abbot John’s homily delivered at Mass on the day:

The question Jesus puts to the disciples in today’s gospel – “who do you say I am” – Jesus has been putting to Dom Paul all throughout his Christian journey. It is a question Dom Paul has been answering in a very particular way since he first came to the monastery four years ago. In being clothed as a novice, in making simple profession a year later, and in the three subsequent years of preparing to make solemn profession today, Dom Paul has been acknowledging Jesus as Christ, the Son of the living God. And, not only that, he’s been taking heed of St Benedict’s instruction to prefer nothing whatever to Christ.

Throughout his Christian life thus far, Paul has known the love of Christ for him, and although he has in turn been loving Christ back through imparting that love within the many relationships in his past, he’s been responding more fully to this commandment of love by expressing his desire to enter more deeply into union with Christ by the bonds of fraternal love, that is, in this particular community of like-minded brothers seeking God.

In the four years we’ve been journeying with Dom Paul, there’s no doubt in our minds and hearts that he is seeking God. That’s why we’re assembled here right now, because Dom Paul has been tested to see if he can live the monastic life in the spirit of the letter to Timothy we just heard – that is, in the spirit of the sound teachings of Christ. He has done so by embracing and living in the spirit of the Rule of St Benedict.

In doing so, Dom Paul has given noteworthy witness to the precepts of St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which he chose on the occasion of his being clothed in the monastic habit. Dom Paul has indeed excelled in bearing with us in love; he has indeed made every effort to maintain unity with us; he has indeed been able to live here in peace; he has indeed been able to live in our midst with a sense of hope in times when it has felt rather to the contrary; he has indeed been able to draw from the grace given him when he has found it difficult to see much evidence of the spirit of grace alive and active in the community. In other words, Dom Paul has passed with flying colours in his observance of chapter 72 of the Rule:

“This, then, is the good zeal which monks must foster with fervent love: They should each try to be the first to show respect to the other, supporting with the greatest patience one another’s weakness of body or behaviour, and earnestly competing in obedience to one another. No one is to pursue what he judges better for himself, but instead, what he judges better for someone else”.

Again, just as Elijah heard a voice asking him: “what are you doing here?”, we’ve been asking Dom Paul the same question throughout the four years of his initial formation, and we’ll continue to keep asking it. Like Elijah, his answer has been “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts”. Dom Paul’s answer has been endorsed by his actions, that is, his monastic life of prayer, work, lectio divina, study, hospitality and community life – all enriched by his embracing humility, obedience, stability and conversatio morum, the ongoing conversion of his life.

Dom Paul has been able to do all this, because he has experienced God here in a very real and profound way, just as Elijah in the first reading experienced God on the mountain of the Lord, not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in the “sound of sheer silence.” It is through this listening in the silent depths of his heart, that Dom Paul has been able to also experience something of God in the moments of “wind, earthquake and fire” moments that are an inevitable and necessary part of community life.

In preferring nothing whatever to Christ, Dom Paul has, as the entrance hymn suggests, found in Christ his star, his sun. And, in that light of life, he will, through his solemn profession and every moment thereafter, walk till his travelling days are done. From this moment on, Dom Paul will sing today’s responsorial psalm in a deeply profound way that only he and the God he seeks will understand: “shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death into life”.

This monastic community has been given the honour and privilege of being able to share something of that understanding, a gift for which we are truly grateful. And it is in the spirit of gratitude that we lay our hands on you today, Dom Paul, as Timothy did for the Christians of his time, empowering them with a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. In so doing, we pray that you will be given a renewed sense of grace, which will affirm you in your holy calling, the good treasure entrusted to you, and to us, so that Christ will indeed bring us all together to everlasting life.

Daniel Meer's Solemn Profession

On Thursday 3rd December 2020, Dom Daniel Meers took his Solemn Profession in the New Norcia Abbey Church, and promised obedience, stability and conversion of life, for the rest of his life in this community.

Abbot John made a special welcome to the Little Sisters of the Poor, who brought with them Abbot Bernard, who is now in the care of the Sisters at their wonderful nursing home in Glendalough. He also acknowledged Dom Daniel’s family and friends, who due to COVID-19, were prevented from travelling to New Norcia from South Australia. Please find below the Homily from this joyous occasion:

When Dom Daniel was clothed as a novice back in 2015, he articulated with absolute clarity the primary reason he presented himself in our midst, through the words of the Prophet Jeremiah: “You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart.” In that joyful moment the monastic community was reminded that the seeking of God is at the heart of every monastic vocation, every monastic community, every monastic endeavour.

Dom Daniel’s choice to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit into religious life was not some spur of the moment mid-life decision – it was many years before he came to New Norcia, when he entered the Salesian novitiate. Dom Daniel has never ceased calling on and praying to the Lord for the Lord to make known His plans for him. In other words, Daniel has all along been seeking – with all his heart – God and God’s will for him.

Our hopes for Daniel, when he found his home among us, have been realised. He has heard God saying to him through monastic life: “you will find me here”, “I have restored you”, “I have brought you back”.

In these past five years, Dom Daniel has followed St Benedict’s primary instruction: “listen with the ear of the heart.” In doing so, he has discovered that this level of listening is tricky business, because our hearts can deceive us. But, through devoting himself to prayer with purity of heart, compunction of heart and intention of heart, Dom Daniel has discerned what is “good, acceptable and perfect” …although none of us reach perfection. In living with Dom Daniel these past five years we have come to know another remarkable disposition of heart that is so evident in Dom Daniel, an endearing characteristic so welcome in any community, and that is gentleness of heart.

This gentleness of heart has indeed given Dom Daniel the ability to walk his journey towards God in the spirit of the Benedictine Rule, which is, in essence, a way of living in sync with the Gospel of love. Daniel knows that the greatest way of expressing this love is to give up his life, not in some quaint symbolic way, but truly give up his life, in ways that have produced much fruit. As he has done so faithfully, Dom Daniel will spend the rest of his life engaged in prayer, in work, in ruminating upon the scriptures, in showing hospitality, and in serving his monastic community in love.

Dom Daniel will be able to continue doing all this, because he has found the way – and that way has been revealed to him through the scriptures, the scriptures he has been pondering day-in-day-out, and will continue to ponder, because God hasn’t finished with him yet.

In the first reading from Sirach we heard:

“My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for testing”.

I’m not sure how prepared he was, but boy has Dom Daniel been tested – by God, by himself, and by his fellow monks. He has accepted what has been dished up to him, with patience and humility and hope – and that’s why he stands here now ready to commit... why we stand here with him to affirm his choice. He has remained steadfast, because like the psalmist he has been pleading:

“Make me know your ways, O lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; For you I wait all day long”.

Of course, Dom Daniel hasn’t been left to do all this on his own; he was never meant to. All along he has been challenged and affirmed in the stability of this community, which aspires, as the Letter to the Ephesians suggests:

“[…to bear] with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.

Dom Daniel has chosen a beautiful Gospel in which to make his solemn profession – a post-resurrection story all about pilgrimage, about talking of the things of God, about our failure at times to recognise Jesus in our midst, about inviting strangers into our lives, about the centrality of the Eucharist, about the burning desire in the hearts of each of us, about the mutual support we enjoy in the sharing of the Good News.