The restoration of man by the worship of God.

Monastero di San Benedetto in Norcia

The international Benedictine monastic community of Maria Sedes Sapientiae was founded in Rome on September 3, 1998. The birth of St. Benedict then inspires the rebirth of his followers today, and the Holy Rule he wrote then is a gift of the Holy Spirit in the hands of his disciples today.

 

Monastero di San Benedetto in Norcia

Via Reguardati, 22

06046 Norcia (PG)

The Very Rev.  Cassian Folsom, OSB, prior of the Monastero di San Benedetto in Norcia

 

Monastery History

 

The international Benedictine monastic community of Maria Sedes Sapientiae was founded in Rome on September 3, 1998. At the end of the Great Jubilee Year, on December 2, 2000, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Spoleto-Norcia, the community moved to Norcia, and took up residence at the birthplace of Saints Benedict and Scholastica. In the crypt of the basilica, where, according to tradition, the holy twins were born, the walls of a pre-Christian basilica can be seen, dating to the first century A.D. In this holy place, where the monks chant the Office seven times a day and once at the end of the night, it is easy to connect with the tradition. Returning to the spirit of the founder, as Vatican II urged, is as natural as breathing. The everlasting hills that surround Norcia were there when St. Benedict was a youth, when he received his human and Christian formation and was exposed to the spiritual riches of the monastic tradition by contact with the many hermits in the area. The birth of St. Benedict then inspires the rebirth of his followers today, and the Holy Rule he wrote then is a gift of the Holy Spirit in the hands of his disciples today. "What can be sweeter to us, beloved brethren, than this voice of the Lord inviting us? Behold, in His loving kindness the Lord shows us the way of life" (RB, prol.19-20).

 

 

The Inspiration for the New Monastery

 

1.  The restoration of man by the worship of God;

2.  The radical gift of self to Jesus Christ in the monastic way of life according to the Rule of St. Benedict: Nihil amori Christi praeponere (RB 4:21);

3.  The common life of brothers as described in the Acts of the Apostles (they were of one heart and one mind);

4.  Full monastic observance, including vigils and fasting;

5.  The integration of prayer, study and work;

6.  Liturgical life: a. Divine Office as prescribed in the Rule

 b. Mass and Office in Latin, sung in Gregorian chant;

 

7.  Love of the Church: a. Cultivation of the attitude sentire cum ecclesia;

 b. Drinking deeply from the streams of the living tradition;

 c. Fidelity to the Magisterium, filial devotion to the Holy Father;

 d. A truly "catholic", i.e. universal spirit, acquired from studying in Rome, at the heart of the Church;

 

8.  Apostolic work, our contribution to the new evangelization: intellectual, clerical and manual work in the service of the universal Church; pastoral care of the Basilica of San Benedetto, Norcia;

9. Marian consent: openness to the will of God after the model of Mary's fiat.

 

 

 For More Information, Please Contact:

 Very Rev. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B., Prior

 

Address:

 Monastero di San Benedetto

 Via Reguardati, 22

 06046 Norcia (PG)

 

 

Telephone: (0743) 81.71.25

Fax: (0743) 82.84.25

Email: monastero@osbnorcia.org

The Very Rev.  Cassian Folsom, OSB, prior of the Monastero di San Benedetto in Norcia

 

 

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Sacred Signs and Active Participation at Mass

 

By The Rev. Cassian Folsom,  OSB

 

Father Cassian Folsom is a  Benedictine monk who is Vice-rector of Sant Anselmo and Pro-President  of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. The following  essay was Father Folsom's address to the Adoremus Conference  held in Los Angeles on November 22, 1997.

 

 

What Do These Actions Mean, and Why Are They So Important?

 

 About ten years ago, I had the rare good fortune to spend two weeks on Mount Athos in Greece: the Holy Mountain as they call it. I remember standing in the back of one of the churches, praying‹when a young man came in with his little son: maybe three or four years old. The man had brought his son with him on pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain.

 

 There was an icon of Our Lady in the church, as there always is. It was a particular style of Marian icon, however, called "Our Lady of the Sweet Kiss", because the child Jesus is reaching up to his mother Mary in a tender embrace.

 

 This man walked up to the icon of Our Lady, made the customary reverence (a profound bow, so as to be able to touch the ground with your fingers as a sign of humility)‹and then he lifted up his son to kiss the icon.

 

 Now the little boy had learned to kiss the members of his family, not with small, silent kisses, but with great big kisses that were very loud indeed. And that¹s how he venerated the icon. He gave a loud smack to Christ, the wisdom and power of God‹and then he gave a loud smack to the Mother of God, she who holds Divine Wisdom in her arms. When the kiss of the little boy was joined to the kiss of the Christ child, the Spirit of God entered powerfully into that church, and I worshipped in reverence and in awe.

 

 Adoremus: come, let us adore the Lord, for it is He who made us! In the monastic office, that¹s the invitatory antiphon for Sunday Vigils: Adoremus Dominum, qui fecit nos. In this conference, I would like to talk about the attitude of love and reverence that¹s necessary for adoration. More specifically, I¹ll be talking about sacred signs and gestures that we use in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

 

 What does "active participation" mean?

 

 But before I begin with the Mass itself, let me first describe the big picture for you: this will set the stage for what follows. The big picture is the well-known expression "active participation" at Mass. What does that mean?

 

 First of all, it means the interior participation of all the powers of the soul in the mystery of Christ¹s sacrificial love. Participation, in the first place, is something interior; it means that your mind and heart are awake, alert and engaged.

 

 Secondly, participation involves exterior action: saying things and doing things. What I¹m going to focus on today, are the bodily gestures and sacred signs we use in the course of the Mass. So we¹re talking about the relationship between soul and body in liturgical prayer.

 

 This theme is an important one, because modern man, it seems to me, has lost this sense of the unity of his being: the unity of body and soul, of the interior man and the exterior man.

 

 A famous theologian of the earlier part of this century, Romano Guardini, was already talking about this problem in the 1920¹s. He said: "The agent acting in the liturgy, the one who prays and offers, is not `the soul¹ or `the interior spirit¹ but man. It¹s the whole man which carries out liturgical activity. The soul, to be sure, but only insofar as it gives life to the body. The interior spirit, to be sure, but only insofar as it manifests itself in the body."

 

 We have a hard time getting this right. Either we act as if the body is everything (which is one of the great temptations of our day) or we act as though there is a great divorce between body and soul and the body is of no account at all. Remember, the ultimate goal for the Christian is not the immortal soul, but the resurrected body! So the problem of the relation between body and soul remains. We may poke fun at the ancients for not always getting it right, but modern man is in no better shape; in fact, he¹s much worse. Modern man boasts of the power of his intellect, desperately searches for the sensual pleasure of the body, and forgets his soul altogether. It¹s a rare thing when a person succeeds in integrating mind, soul and body into the unity of what the human person is called to be: "man fully alive", as St. Irenaeus says.

 

 Now, why am I talking about all this? Because these problems show themselves in the liturgy. The solution, according to Romano Guardini, is liturgical formation. He says: "Filled as we are with the negative formation of the spirit of the age, we must learn once again to live our religion as `men fully alive¹. That is, we must learn to pray with our body also. The way we carry ourselves, our gestures and actions‹these things must become spontaneously religious in themselves. We must learn to express our interiority exteriorlyŠ we must become capable once again of living in a world of symbols."

 

 I am convinced that we can rediscover these things in our own Catholic tradition. In fact, if we can learn these things and live them out in practice, we¹ll be making a significant contribution to the new evangelization. How many young people of the West have looked to the religions of the Far East for some kind of experience of God? Such people are willing to follow a rather strict discipline, to remain seated for hours, back straight, without moving, all for the sake of meditation. But the richness of prayer‹even mystical prayer‹is our Catholic inheritance: like a treasure box filled with amazing and precious gems‹but alas, often shut, locked, the key rusting on a hook and the box itself pushed into a corner and forgotten.

 

 But we have the key! Holy Mother Church offers us the key. And part of the treasure we will find in the Church¹s tradition is the role of the body in both private and liturgical prayer.

 

 We can begin our study of sacred signs and gestures, starting from the very beginning of the Mass and going all the way to the end.

 

 1. Dipping Your Hand in Holy Water

 

When you come into the church building, what is the first thing you do? Don't you dip your hand into the holy water and make the sign of the cross? Why do you do that? Well, for three reasons:

 

 a. in repentance for your sins;

 

 b. for protection against the Evil One;

 

 c. to remind you of your baptism.

 

 a. Holy water reminds us to be sorry for our sins. When there is the rite of sprinkling in the liturgy, we always sing the Asperges, which means "you will sprinkle or wash". Asperges me hysoppo et mundabor; lavabis me et super nivem dealbabor. These are words from the great penitential psalm, Ps 50: You will sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed: you will wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

 

 b. Holy water is a sacramental which is a protection against the snares of the devil. The old prayer for the blessing of holy water said: "O God, creator of unconquered power, King of invincible empire and victor ever-great: who put down the powers of hostile dominion and conquer the fury of the roaring enemy, who fight powerfully against our wicked foes: trembling we beseech you, O Lord, we implore you and beg you: that you might graciously look upon this creature of water and salt, kindly illumine it, sanctify it with the dew of your loving kindness, so that wherever it is sprinkled, through the invocation of your holy Name, every infestation of the unclean spirit be cast out, and the terror of the poisonous serpent be driven far away. And may the presence of the Holy Spirit deign to be with us always, we who implore your mercy."

 

 c. Holy water reminds us of our baptism: of that great day when we ourselves or our parents or sponsors‹renounced Satan, professed faith in Christ, and were baptized into the mystery of the Holy Trinity. At that moment all our sins were forgiven: original and actual, and we became children of God,  filii in Filio, heirs of the promise, daring now to call God our Father.

 

 When you dip your hand into the holy water font, remember these things, and like Our Lady, treasure them in your heart.

 

 2. Sign of the Cross

 

Then you make the sign of the cross. Do it deliberately. Not hurriedly, not sloppily‹but carefully and with reverence. The deepest mysteries of our faith are contained here.

 

 Let me return once again to the story I told you at the beginning about Mount Athos.

 

 While there, I had occasion to talk with a young Greek layman, who pointed out to me that Catholics make the sign of the cross backwards. That¹s not the most ecumenical way to put it! But there¹s something behind what he said. You know how the Byzantine tradition makes the sign of the cross: with the thumb, forefinger and middle finger held together and the last two fingers held together against the palm.

 

 The three fingers symbolize the Trinity, and the two fingers symbolized the double nature of Christ: divine and human. Making the sign of the cross then, becomes a mini-catechesis, a self-reminder of the most basic mysteries of our faith.

 

 But the way of holding your fingers is not the only difference. The eastern tradition makes the sign of the cross from right to left, whereas we make it from left to right. Why?

 

 It¹s interesting to note that in the 13th century, Pope Innocent III (contemporary with St. Francis of Assisi) instructed the faithful on the meaning of the sign of the cross in these words: "The sign of the cross is made with three fingers, because the signing is done together with the invocation of the Trinity. This is how it is done: from above to below, and from the right to the left, because Christ descended from the heavens to the earth, and from the Jews (right) he passed to the Gentiles (left)."

 

 Note that Pope Innocent is describing what the custom was in the West. In the 13th century the East and the West still made the sign of the cross in the same way. The pope goes on to say: "Others, however, make the sign of the cross from the left to the right, because from misery (left) we must cross over to glory (right), just as Christ crossed over from death to life, and from Hades to Paradise. [Some priests] do it this way so that they and the people will be signing themselves in the same way. You can easily verify this‹picture the priest facing the people for the blessing‹ when we make the sign of the cross over the people, it is from left to right."

 

 So the people, imitating the blessing of the priest, began to sign themselves from left to right. Be that as it may, centuries have gone by since then, and we in the West make the sign of the cross from left to right, with the palm open.

 

 Here¹s an important liturgical principle: it is always difficult and often undesirable to jump back across the centuries to some ideal liturgical practice of the past. That¹s what Pius XII in Mediator Dei called "archeologism". You can¹t erase the intervening centuries. The principle rather is continuity with the tradition (mind you, I¹m not saying a fossilized tradition, but a living tradition). So the Western way of making the sign of the cross is a valid development of the liturgical tradition.

 

 When we make the sign of the cross, are we aware of its meaning? Listen to what Guardini says about this: "When we cross ourselves, let it be with a real sign of the cross. Instead of a small cramped gesture that gives no notion of its meaning, let us make a large unhurried sign, from forehead to breast, from shoulder to shoulder, consciously feeling how it includes the whole of us, our thoughts, our attitudes, our body and soul, every part of us at once, how it consecrates and sanctifies us. It does so because it is the sign of the universe and the sign of our redemption. On the cross Christ redeemed mankind. By the cross He sanctifies man to the last shred and fibre of his being."

 

 In the liturgy, there are many occasions when we make the sign of the cross:

 

€    with holy water before Mass begins

 

€   at the beginning of Mass itself

 

€   at the Gospel: "may the Lord purify my understanding, my speech, and my heart, so that I may receive the words of the Gospel".

 

€   we make the sign of the cross in the rite of baptism, for anointing the sick, for exorcisms, when we pray throughout the day

 

€   in the Divine Office, we make the sign of the cross when we begin the Benedictus and the Magnificat, because they are Gospel canticles, and the Gospel stands for Christ Himself.

 

In the library of Sant¹Anselmo in Rome, a place where I spend a good deal of time, there is a fine mosaic floor showing the cross of Christ, surrounded by the words: Ave Crux, Spes Unica. Hail O Cross, our only hope! The cross of Christ is indeed our only hope‹there is salvation in no other name. So when we make the sign of the cross, which we do many times each day, let¹s do it well!

 

 3. Genuflecting Before the Blessed Sacrament and Bowing Before the Altar

 

What¹s the next thing you do as you enter the Church? You walk to your pew, and if the Blessed Sacrament is reserved on the altar, you genuflect; if it¹s reserved somewhere else, you make a profound bow to the altar. I¹ll say something about kneeling later. Here we are talking about a gesture of greeting, a kind of salute. I mentioned both genuflecting and bowing. What¹s the difference?

 

 There¹s a traditional distinction that¹s very useful: a distinction using three Greek words: latria, hyperdulia, dulia. These three categories indicate different grades of reverence due to God and the saints. Latria  means adoration: it is reserved to God alone. Dulia means reverence; it is given to the saints and to sacred objects. Hyperdulia means "extra special reverence". There is only one person in this category: Mary the Mother of God, since she is above all the saints by the glorious design of Divine Providence.

 

 Latria, hyperdulia, dulia. When we reverence the altar ‹ and the altar always represents Christ‹we are showing honor to a sacred object. That means dulia. So we bow. When we reverence the Blessed Sacrament, however, we are adoring God Himself, since the Lord is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. That means latria. So we genuflect.

 

 Let me say something about both of these gestures.

 

 Bowing

 

There are three kinds of bows. (I hope all these distinctions aren¹t confusing. In fact, they¹re rather useful).

 

 a. There¹s the simple bow of the head that we use at the Name of Jesus. During the Mass, that head bow is also used at the Name of Mary, and at the Name of the Holy Father.

 

 b. There¹s a medium bow of the head and the shoulders. In monasteries we use that bow to greet another monk in order to honor the presence of Christ in our brothers. That is, when we process into choir, as we get to the center and split doff to go to our choir stalls, after bowing to the altar we bow to one another: a medium bow.

 

 c. Then there's a profound bow, bending the entire body at the waist, touching the knees with the palms of the hand. That bow is used when the deacon asks the priest for a blessing before reading the Gospel, when a monk asks the abbot for a blessing, or in the Liturgy of the Hours, whenever there is a Glory Be. At the doxology after every psalm, all the monks in choir make a profound bow in honor of the Trinity. This comes from the Rule of St. Benedict, where he says: "After the third lesson (he's talking about one of the nocturnes of Vigils) let the cantor intone the Gloria Patri, and as soon as he beings, let all rise in honor and reverence for the Most Holy Trinity." (RB 9).

 

 For guests who aren't accustomed to monastic ceremonial, it's a very impressive thing to see all the monks in choir practically disappear into the choir stalls as they all make a profound bow for every doxology. Another instance for this kind of bow‹as I mentioned‹is whenever we pass in front of the altar, as a way of saluting Our Lord, for the altar always represents Christ.

 

 Try it next time you pass in front of the altar (that is, if the Blessed Sacrament is not there). Bend right in two, all the way down. Slowly, reverently. It is the Lord Himself you are greeting.

 

 Genuflecting‹a "half-kneel"

 

This gesture is related to kneeling, but you can think of it as a quick kneel, or a "half-kneel", since you only bend one knee, not both, and immediately get up again. When I say "a quick kneel", I don't mean that you should do it in a hurry! Sometimes when people go into their pew, you see them make a little bob that vaguely resembles a genuflection. No. Put that knee all the way down to the floor, and let it rest there for a moment. Keep your back straight, and for balance, you might want to place both hands on your other knee. You might want to practice at home, and teach your children to make this gesture well.

 

 Now, my suggestion to practice genuflecting may seem silly ‹ but actually these bodily gestures have become foreign to us, and we need to re-learn them with a new deliberateness. To do it well, you have to be conscious of what you're doing. We have to be taught.

 

 You know after the consecration of both the Host and the Chalice, the priest genuflects in adoration. The Holy Father nowadays has a hard time doing that, as many older people do, because of arthritis or a once-broken hip or some other physical difficulty. For Pope John Paul, it costs him something to genuflect. But he grips the altar bravely, and forces his aching bones to bend all the way down to the floor. And then the Master of Ceremonies helps him back up. Why does he go to so much pain and trouble? Because of love. He loves the Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament. If the Holy Father makes this gesture at such great personal cost, can we who are healthy do any less?

 

 4. Standing to Begin Mass

 

After you make your preparation for Mass‹whether kneeling or sitting in the pew‹the bell rings, and you stand for Mass to begin. What does this gesture of standing mean?

 

 Allow me to refer to Guardini again. In his book called Sacred Signs, he describes this situation:

 

 When you are sitting down to rest or chat, and someone to whom you owe respect comes in and turns to speak to you, at once you stand up and remain standing so long as he is speaking and you are answering him. Why do we do this? In the first place to stand up means that we are in possession of ourselves. Instead of sitting relaxed and at ease we take hold of ourselves; we stand, as it were, at attention, geared and ready for action. A man on his feet can come or go at once. He can take an order on the instant, or carry out an assignment the moment he is shown what is wanted.

 

 The posture of standing, then, is a sign of respect, reverence before God. In addition, it means that we are to ready respond to Him subito, sempre, e con gioia as Chiara Lubich, the foundress of the Focolari Movement says. That means "right away, always, and with joy." We stand as Mass begins. We stand for the Gospel. During the Divine Office, we stand for the Benedictus and the Magnificat, because these are Gospel canticles, and we are aware of the Lord's presence in a more intense way.

 

 To stand was also the normal posture for Jewish prayer, and the posture characteristic of Christian prayer as well. In the catacombs of Santa Priscilla, there's a famous fresco‹still visible after all these centuries‹of a person in the orans position‹standing, the garments falling in noble folds, with arms outstretched. In fact, this is the symbol of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome, where I live and work: Ecclesia Orans, the praying Church.

 

 As many of you are aware, the posture of standing is a posture typical of the Easter season: standing is a sign of the Resurrection. In fact, the ancient discipline of the East prohibits kneeling on Sundays and during the Easter season. That's good to know. But there's the same principle at work here as we saw when talking about the sign of the cross. To be aware of the liturgical traditions of other rites is always useful, but it does not mean that we should ignore the legitimate developments of our own tradition.

 

 I have heard that in some places in this country, people are being told that they can't kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer. Well, this can be understood from the point of view of comparative liturgy and the history of the liturgy, but our western tradition has developed in a different way, and these developments have their own value.

 

 The rubrics of the editio typica ‹ the official Latin edition of the Missal‹indicate that kneeling is the proper gesture at the consecration. When the English Sacramentary first came out, the Bishops' Conference of the U.S. decided that for American Catholics, kneeling was in order for the entire Eucharistic Prayer. And that rubric has never been changed.