August 2021 Benedictine Newsletter

Salvete, fratres! At the risk of being perceived as an "over-achiever" (laugh, now and add eye-roll), here is the August newsletter!! God reward you all!

Saint Benedict’s Abbey 1020 North Second Street Atchison, KS.? 66002

PRISON OBLATE NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2021

"Stultas autem et sine disciplina quaestiones devita sciens quia generant lites."

said: "stool-tahs / auw-tehm / eht / see-nay / di-shee-plee-nah / qways-tee-oh-nays / deh-vee-tah / shee-ehns / qwee-ah / gen-ehr-ahnt / lee-tehs." Translation: "And avoid foolish and unlearned questions, knowing that they beget strifes."

(2 Timothy 2:23)

Editor’s Note:? Salvete fratres!? This edition of the newsletter was graciously afforded to us by Fr. Daniel Kluge at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.? Both Hildegard and I heard this one and that was an instant “We need to share this with the other Oblates.”? As a result of this sermon’s length, you all get a break from the Oratio Devota ?column…[GASP!!!]? Go ahead, laugh now!? (some of you are probably thinking “Heinrich is ‘phoning it in’ this month”...HAHAHAHAHA!)? Do not be discouraged, however, as I will return next month with another injection of Latin for you all.? You are all in my prayers during the Office.? May God and Mary be with you all!? PAX!

Fr. Kluge begins:

“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.? Today we shall consider what hatred is and how to avoid it.? As a response to evil, hatred is similar to anger, but it is different from it in several ways. First, anger is a momentary passion. Anger is enkindled more quickly and vehemently than hatred, and it also dissipates more quickly, for when punishment is inflicted upon the sinner, anger is satisfied. As the result of passion, anger is also more easily forgiven. We recognize when our friend has been struck with anger and responds hastily and bitterly, and will certainly soon regret losing his reason to anger. Hatred is neither momentary nor so much a passion as it is a disposition of one’s mind. Hatred lasts long after anger has gone; hatred is much more clear-headed and calculating.? Hatred also differs from anger in that, while anger seeks to apply good to evil (punishment as a remedy for some sin), hatred is the application of evil to evil. Anger desires what is ultimately good for another; but hatred simply desires what is evil, what is hurtful to another, not to bring about the good of that person, but simply to bring about what is evil for him. Anger can be satisfied when the bad action is made up for; but hatred can never be satisfied, not as long as the object of that hatred exists.? Anger is focused more on a man’s acts—a man does an unjust action, which makes us angry—but when he makes amends, our anger ceases. Hatred is more focused on a man’s being. The sheep is said to hate the wolf because the entire being of the wolf is a threat to the sheep. Their very natures are opposed. As far as the sheep is concerned, the wolf is evil in its very nature. Hatred views our fellow man just the same way, as irredeemably evil.? You can be angry with your friends and loved ones. Anger in itself is not contrary to love, for it is ordered towards the good. ‘You were rude to me, so now I’m angry at you. But once you apologize and are nice to me, I will stop being angry.’ Hatred says something quite different. While anger says, “I’m mad at you because of this evil action you have performed which can be undone”, hatred says, “I’m mad at you because you are evil.” It is the sentiment of the sheep for the wolf: “you are evil by nature, which means that anything and everything you do proceeds from your evil nature, and must be evil, and there’s nothing you could ever do to stop being evil.”? So while anger is appeased by a man’s good actions, hatred is increased by them. If we hate someone, then everything he does—even if it appears good—is hateful. And if it appears good, then it is almost even more hateful, because now he’s being deceptive and pretending to be good. He looks like a sheep, but I know he’s a wolf. Such hatred cannot be cured. For what would cure it? hatred believes the worst of a man, that his evil is not accidental to his nature but truly who he really is—and that anything that appears good is simply pretense.? Man’s nature is good; the sinner is acting contrary to his nature when he sins, and anger is there so we may correct him and turn him back towards the good, back to what truly fulfills his nature.? But hatred sees a man’s very nature as evil, that he is acting in accord with his nature when he sins, and somehow acting against his nature when he does good, or appears to do good. Hatred looks at a man as irreformable, as worthy of nothing but eternal punishment, and thus does not seek a man’s correction but his torture. Justified anger is moderated by the virtue of clemency, which watches over the punishment of the sinner keenly, and withdraws punishment the moment it has fulfilled its purpose—the moment the sinner has been reformed. Clemency is quick to see when someone has ‘learned his lesson,’ and is in need of no more correction. But instead of clemency, hatred produces cruelty, a hardness of heart which desires not the amendment of the sinner, but only his punishment, always ready to increase the punishment at any excuse—and eventually produces brutality, when a man takes pleasure in the torture of another, not for justice, but simply to cause him pain, to apply evil to evil.? What is hatred but a perfect picture of hell? The soul that gives itself to hatred is preparing for hell, cultivating hell within it. Anger, like purgatory, has an end in something good. But the soul filled with hatred sees evil all around it—in the very nature of things—inescapable; the more it hates, the more evil it finds; the more evil it finds, the more it hates. Hatred traps the soul in an infinite loop. Hatred is persistent, persevering, and self-perpetuating.? Hatred only has eyes for evil, like a child who is always looking for pretty stones. Our Lord says, seek and ye shall find; hatred seeks only evil, finds only evil, turns all good into evil.? How, then, do we avoid hatred? First, we must not see evil where none exists, or where its existence is at all doubtful. We must be careful not to judge or even suspect our neighbor of evil unless we have certain proof. St. Alphonsus says that “he that has true charity thinks well of all, and? banishes from his mind both judgments and suspicions.” While certain authorities like parents need to judge who is bad company for their children, he says that “they that are not entrusted with the care of others, ought to abstain carefully from inquiring after the defects and conduct of others.”? When our soul is moved by anger, we must not let the anger go unchecked. Immoderate anger always leads to hatred. Anger begins by desiring punishment as a remedy to restore the good of justice; but immoderate anger, which is so very easy to fall into, desires more punishment than is actually warranted. Which means immoderate anger is not actually satisfied by justice anymore. Someone makes an apology; but it’s not enough, we think. Or we pledge to forgive, but then hold onto the grudge. We say ‘it’s nothing, it’s in the past, forget about it’ but then later we dig it up again and nurse it back to life. We begin to take pleasure in playing the victim, and savor ills done against us, a perverse satisfaction. We develop a taste for evil.? Or perhaps we give in to anger repeatedly; we make a habit of it; we begin to get angry over smaller and smaller things; anger becomes a normal reaction; and then like all habits, we begin to enjoy the habit for its own sake—we enjoy being angry. We look for things to get angry about, latch onto the tiniest excuse, and never let go. We give our anger free rein, and no longer setting our sights on what is good, now we have turned our desires to what is evil.? But more than avoiding immoderate anger—and remember that it is only the very virtuous who can moderate anger—more than this, we must remedy the temptation towards hatred with love. Love is focused on what is good, in itself, simply and purely. Love seeks its own; it seeks good to be united to; and all good comes from God, and leads to God. There is no good in anything, not in any man, which does not come from God. And while the sinner is not lovable in his sinful actions—which come from himself—he is lovable in his being, in his nature, which comes from God. While hatred sifts through all a man’s good acts to find the tiniest bit of evil it can latch onto, love pushes past all a man’s evil deeds to find his true nature, to find that goodness in him that no amount of sin can ever erase. Love strikes to the heart. Love sees in even the greatest sinner the potential for great virtue, for great holiness. Love sees every sinner as a man made for heaven.? The more a man loves, the more he becomes like God. Yes, God punishes us when necessary, for our amendment, for our purification. But even when we were at our most evil—when we were at our most hateful—God loved us even then. This very simple fact should be all it takes to withdraw our heart from hatred, and from any immoderate anger: that while I was at my most hateful, when I was the least lovable, even then, God loved me, and it was only because of his love for me that I was pulled from such a wretched state.? This, then, is the love we must have for sinners. We must be keen to find all that is of God in them; to seek out whatever goodness remains there—to see each as a future saint. We should hope and desire to meet them in heaven one day. For what will become of you if you die, and then see in heaven your enemy whom you can’t stand the sight of? Where will you go if you hate whom God loves?? Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and abides only in death—for he desires only evil, seeks only evil, and finds only evil; but everyone who loves the goodness of God he finds in his brother finds and loves God himself; and how often does it happen that it is through this love, through the love of God working in man, the soul of the sinner is touched to the quick. When he looks back upon his life, the former sinner will recognize that others were right to treat him badly; but he will see God most in those who saw through even his most sinful deeds, who never stopped loving who he was meant to be.”? Gratias ago tibi, pater!? (Thank you, Father!)?

Pax + Domini sit + semper nobis +cum!

Book of the month:

Antichrist? by: St. Robert Bellarmine (Translated by Ryan Grant)

ISBN:? 978-0-69264-891-9

This is an excellent work of profound clarity and, unfortunately, most applicable at this moment in time.

Prayer Intentions and Requests:

For the continued growth of the Benedictine Oblates in and out prison.

For the healing of all wounds in Holy Mother Church.

For the protection and restoration of all wrongly persecuted priests.

For the Triumph of The Immaculate Heart of Mary over the whole world.

For the return of all apostate Catholics.

For the resolution of all sex scandal in Holy Mother Church.

For all the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

For the end to abortion in this country.

For the reunification of separated families due to COVID.

For the prayer intentions and success of Gerry Culkeen.?

Important Dates in August:

2-Sts. Stephen I & Alphonsus Liguori; 4-St. Dominic; 5-Dedication of Our Lady of the Snows; 6-TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD; 7-Sts. Cajetan & Donatus; 9-St. Romanus; 10-St. Laurence; 11-Sts. Tiburtius & Susanna; 12-St. Claire; 13-Sts. Hippolytus & Cassian; 14-St. Eusebius 15-ASSUMPTION OF THE B.V.M.; 16-St. Joachim, Father of the BVM; 17-St. Hyacinth; 18-St. Agapitus; 19-St. John Eudes; 20-St. Bernard of Clairvaux; 21-St. Jane Frances de Chantal; 22-IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY & St. Timothy & Companions; 23-St. Philip Benizi; 24-St. Bartholomew, APOSTLE; 25-St. Louis IX; 26-St. Zephyrinus; 27-St. Joseph Calasanctius; 28-St. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO; 30-Sts. Rose of Lima, Felix, & Adauctus; 31-St. Raymond Nonnatus.

Do you have questions or comments about the Prison Oblate Program?? Write to:? Fr. Matthew Habiger, OSB, Director of Prison Oblates, St. Benedict’s Abbey, 1020 North Second Street, Atchison, KS.? 66002.? Share this newsletter with a friend, prayer partner, or fellow parishioner, wherever you may be located.? If you wish to contribute financially to this ministry, make your check or money order payable to: Oblates In Prison and mail it to Fr. Matthew at the address above.? For those of you who already contribute, THANK YOU!? We cannot do this without you.