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SSC Celebrates St. Benedict's Feast Day (July 11)
by Sr. Angeline Arceo, OSB
Your way of
acting should be different from the world's way.
The love of Christ must come
before all else." RB 4: 20-21
July 11 is the Solemnity of our Holy
Father St. Benedict. To commemorate this feast, .the
different units of St. Scholastica's College will hold a triduum, a
three-day novena starting July 6, Tuesday until July 8, Thursday.
Each day during the novena, a portion of the Holy Rule or excerpt from
the life of St. Benedict by Gregory the Great, is read to inspire the
listeners to live out the gospel values which St. Benedict himself
advocated in his lifetime.
The school
will have only these days of prayers and the Holy Mass.
These days of prayers are the school community's way of
living the spirit of Benedict "who provided the lamps and
kept them burning throughout the Dark Ages."
The week-long celebration will culminate with an
institutional Mass on July 9, Friday, at 8:00 in the morning
at the open field. As in any Benedictine community
where communal sharing is a way of life, all units have been
given tasks to prepare for the liturgical celebration.
Presider for the Mass is
Fr. Rafaelito Alaras, OSB, prior of the Monks of the Abbey
of Our Lady of Montserrat (San Beda), Manila.
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DID YOU KNOW ... |
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That
the religious feastday honoring St. Benedict falls on
March 21? However, this date typically falls during the
middle of Lent, the Catholic/Orthodox season of
penitence. Within Monasticism, Lent is a special time of
personal and communal spiritual renewal and celebrations
of any sort are discouraged. Therefore, the Church also
celebrates Benedict's feastday on July 11 (which is never
during the Lenten season).
Source:
George R. Hoelzeman [Suite University]
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PRAYER TO ST.
BENEDICT |
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O
glorious St. Benedict, sublime model of all virtues, pure
vessel of God's grace! Behold me, humbly kneeling at your
feet. I implore your loving heart to pray for me before
the throne of God. To you I have recourse in all dangers
which daily surround me. Shield me against my enemies,
inspire me to imitate you in all things. May your
blessing be with me always, so that I may shun whatever
God forbids and avoid the occasions of sin.
Graciously obtain for me from God those favors and graces
of which I stand so much in need, in the trials, miseries
and afflictions of life. Your heart was always so full of
love, compassion, and mercy towards those who were
afflicted or troubled in any way. You never dismiss
without consolation and assistance any one who had
recourse to you. I therefore beg your powerful
intercession, in the confident hope that you will hear my
prayers and obtain for me the special grace and favor I so
earnestly implore (mention it), if it be for the greater
glory of God and the welfare of my soul.
Help me,
O great St. Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child
of God, to be ever submissive to His holy will, and to
attain the eternal happiness of heaven.
Amen.
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Quick Facts About
St. Benedict |
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Born c.
480, Nursia [Italy]
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He came from a
noble family of Rome
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Twin brother of St. Scholastica
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Studied
in Rome, but was dismayed by the lack of moral discipline
and the lazy attitude of his fellow students
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Fled to
the mountains and lived as a hermit in a cave in Subiaco
for three years
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He was
asked to head a group of monks in the nearby monastery
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His
discipline was such that an attempt was made on his life;
some monks tried to poison him, but he blessed the cup and
rendered it harmless
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Blessed
Benedict returned to his cave, but continued to attract
followers and eventually established twelve monasteries
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Founded
the monastery at Monte Cassino, where he wrote the Rule of
his order
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Had the
ability to read consciences, prophesy and forestall
attacks of the devil
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Destroyed
pagan statues and altars, drove demons from grave sacred
to pagans
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At one
point there were over 40,000 monasteries guided by the
Benedictine Rule
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Benedict
died in 547 [Monte Cassino] while standing in prayer
before God
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