RB Reflection: 18 June 2008

Feb. 17 - June 18 - Oct. 18

Chapter 14. The Celebration of Vigils on the Anniversaries of Saints.

On the feasts of saints, and indeed on all solemn festivals, the Sunday order of celebration is followed, although the psalms, refrains and readings proper to the day itself are said. The procedure, however, remains the same as indicated above.

When the monks and nuns celebrate a solemnity, they treat the day as a Sunday. No work is done on Sunday, so treating a solemnity (like the Sacred Heart) as a Sunday is a way of making the day special. In our lives, too, we have special days, birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations of graduation. What Benedict is showing us here is that yes, indeed, celebrate the special days, give them the same importance you would a Sunday.

I'm not saying take off work on every saint's day, but it wouldn't hurt us to pay more attention to each others special days of celebration. If someone in your local Lay Cistercian group has reached a milestone, then make a celebration out of it. Support them in it, send a card, make a phone call, or at the very least send them an email saying "Hey, thinking of you, and loving you."

God is Love. How easy it is to forget that. Benedict here is reminding us that God doesn't want us to work all the time, that we need to make certain days special, and always, give thanks to God for every moment we live.

Father's day has just passed. How many men are barely known by their children because all they do is work? It's a celebration set aside to celebrate a man, who far too often, the children don't even know. Benedict calls us to remember the Anniversaries of Saints, and the special days of our lives, our local Lay Cistercian groups, and all the people in our lives.

May God lead us altogether to everlasting life.