Celebrating the Assumption

The recently renovated abbey church

Today's activities were centered around the celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lady's Assumption. As you would expect in a Benedictine monastery, it was marked by solemn and beautiful liturgical celebrations. The high point of which was Mass today. Here at Glenstal, they expertly combine Latin Gregorian chant with the Roman rite in English in a dignified and prayerful way. At times, the singing seemed quite other-worldly. It's hard to know what the untrained or uninitiated would make of this. I am fortunate to have lived for many years at Sant'Anselmo in Rome, where this style of liturgy was 'normal'. Clearly, though, this is not every day liturgy or every parish's style of celebration. Still I couldn't help reflecting that it is important that the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church still may  and should be celebrated in this way in some places. The human psyche today desperately needs these important rituals precisely because they take us out of they everyday, and remind us Christians that we are also part of a world beyond the one we can see with our eyes.



In fine monastic tradition, after feasting at the Eucharistic table, the community gathered for a festive meal in the monastic dining room. There was a palpable feeling of joy in the human companionship at a shared meal. . . and some wine . . . There was general agreement that the next order of business was a siesta!  Who was I to argue with the customs of my host community?

The Lady altar at Glenstal

The morning had been dark and rainy, but during Mass there had been some breaks in the sky and the sun actually came out. When siesta was over, the sky had brightened considerably and I went for almost an hour walk. The air was fresh and breezy; and the walk did me good. On my way back, as I got closer to my donkey friends, I could see their ears sticking straight up in anticipation. I knew it wasn't me. Then I saw Abbot Patrick approaching with a bag of what I could see were small apples. The donkeys definitely knew who their friends were! As he was feeding the donkeys, a family of three generations came up with small children. It was so cute to see how they were eager to join in the feeding! I left them to their fun and made my way back to my room. I needed to get ready for tomorrow. It's off to yet another airport (Dublin) and on to Copenhagen. Next report from Denmark!

Abbot Patrick feeding the donkeys.