Fr. Nivard is taking the Community Mass for the Jubilee. He say’s it is to be all very low key.
Abbot Mark, still bursar, will have a little something in the Refectory.
He says, “The Mass of Martha, Mary and Lazarus show us the beauty of a welcoming family, a home, a house of overflowing hospitality.
“What they were to Jesus God, our Father, has been to me from all eternity. He has showered me with blessings through my parents brothers, sisters and ancestors.
“I thank God for his mercy and love granted through Mother Church and my religious Family, MSB, Bamenda and especially, at the moment, for the unique hospitality of Sancta Maria Abbey. I don’t know how manage to put up with the beggar monk from Africa.
“But seriously, the gift of fifty years of priesthood is so great a grace that only with the Mass, the Eucharist, can we offer the Lord adequate thanksgiving. I thank you for joining me on this joyful occasion.
“Coming together as God’s family, with confidence, let us ask the Father’s forgiveness, for He is full of gentleness and compassion”.
Fr. Nivard is the eldest of the McGlynn family of seven , two Cistercian Monks, and five Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. The father, Daniel died 22 July 1988. Mother, Norah, died January 196o.
Caldey - winding wall from monastery leading to St. Davids Church
Saint of the Day: 28th July
ICN News 28 July 2009 -Saint Samson
Saint Samson
Welsh abbot and bishop. The life of this 5th century saint was written within 50 years of his death and is believed to be the earliest biography in existence of a British Celtic saint.
According to the ancient text, Samson was educated and ordained at St Illtyd's school in Glamorgan. He then went to another monastery on CaldeyIsland where he became abbot. He also spent some time in Ireland and as a hermit on the banks of the River Severn. He lived in Cornwall, and Brittany where he established a monastery at Dol. He also seems to have been in Jersey and Guernsey and the Scilly Isles. He interceded with the Frankish king Childbert I on behalf of the dispossessed Breton ruler Judual.
Many miracles were attributed to Samson. There are ancient churches dedicated to him in Cornwall, Brittany and elsewhere . Recent research indicates that he must have been an important evangelizer in Cornwall and the Channel Islands.
For today and the next four Sundays the next Gospel Readings come from the Chapter six of St John’s Gospel. John, unlike the other three evangelists, has no account of the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.
Most of John’s Eucharistic teaching is contained in this Chapter 6, at his Gospel. There are clear Eucharistic overtones in the way the miracle of the teaching of the 5,000 is related. We are told that Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people. Such language is meant to remind us of what he did at the Last Supper, and at what happens every time we celebrate the Eucharist.
St. John describes me the miraculous things Jesus did as signs. A sign either points us somewhere or tells us something, and this is true at the signs Jesus gave us. The sign of the feeding of the five-thousand- strong crowd points first at all, to the wonderful compassion of Jesus, who was so concerned for the human needs of those around him. This tells us that Jesus is interested in the details of our life, our worries and our fears.
Secondly, the feeding of the crowd points us to the faiths of the disciples. Philip was unsure when Jesus asked him where enough bread could be taught to feed everyone. Andrew did a little better. He took a hesitant step in faith and pushed toward the small boy with five loaves and two fish. At the command of Jesus, however, the disciples trustingly did exactly what he asked. This tells us that living by faith can sometimes be shaky and unclear, but that the word of Jesus can be relied upon.
Finally, this sign points us to God’s generous provision for our needs. By miraculously feeding the impossibly large with the incredibly small, Jesus reminds us that God always wants to nourish us, both humanly and spiritually. The supreme sign of this is in the Eucharist, when we receive the food and drink that points us towards heaven and tells us we are loved.
The Lord nourishes us here in the Eucharistic banquet as surely and generously ass he fed the people in the desert. He nourishes us so that we in our turn may be able to nourish others. Generosity should have a central place in our lives, and we get many opportunities in our everyday dealings with one another to practice it. It’s not only about giving things, but also and more especially about giving of ourselves – of our time, our energy, and our love, some people will only experience God’s generosity through our willingness to give of what we have and, in faith, to allow God to multiply the graces and benefits that will flow from it.
God’s generosity strengthens us to trust deeply in God’s care and to show that care to others by sharing what is ours.
Almost 3,000 monasteries were founded; many of them have disappeared in the course of time.
At Nunraw Abbey Guesthouse, encountered some Guests from Germany, OCist Oblates. (They come each year)
As something of interest, the OCist Oblate, Gabriele, has enthusiasm in Cistercian Lay Associations and Oblates. She revealed that a few months ago she had contributed the subject of Nunraw Abbey to the Cistopedia, the Cistercian Encyclopedia.
At this point the only Cistopedia documentation for Great Britain is Nunraw.
I learned from this the example of the template to be filled with Data, Pictures and Bibliography. As encouraged by the OCSO and OCist Procurators Generals they write, “We warmly invite you to also support and participate in the project, so that as our collection of data and photographs grows, our Cistercian community may grow as well”.
It makes fascinating and interesting building up of this Cistopedia resource.
Many thanks to Gabriele’s initiative – and prompts us on to further research.
HADDINGTON East Lothian – Founder:Ada, Countess of Northumberland and Huntingdon, Fd. -1159, Date or Sec 1621
HADDINGTON. Founded by Ada, countess of Northumberland and Huntingdon (Scotieh., lib. viii, cap. xxv (i. 475) ); RMS, ii. no. 61 I and lists). The foundation took place -1159 (v. Trans. East Lothian Antiq. Socy'., v (1952h3). Its prioresses swore fealty to Edward I, in 1291 and 1296 (CDS, ii, nos. 508,823). The nunnery was burned by the English in February I? 3 5/6 (Scotich., lib. xiv, cap. xiii (ii. 354) ), and again in May 1544 (L. & P. H. VIII, xix. no. 533) and (perhaps) 1545 (Chron. of John Smyth, in Kinlos, p. 10). This was one of the largest Scottish nunneries. It is said to have twenty-four nuns, 21 April 1461 (CPR, xii. II5); and there were eighteen in 1560 (Tram. East Lothian .Antiq. Socy., v. 18). This nunnery was erected into a temporal lordship for John Maitland, master of Lauderdale, in parliament, 1621 and by charter, 1622 (APS, iv. 645-7; RMS, viii. no. 306).
Medieval Religious Houses Scotland, D. E. Easson Longman Green 1957, p. 123.
Fr. Nivard, (William, Brendan) McGlynn OCSO, O.L.of Bamenda Abbey, Cameroon.
