Look Who’s Coming to the Walk! Mt. Angel Abbey in St. Benedict, Oregon!
A 50-seat bus will be bringing Benedictine seminarians to the Walk for Life West Coast from Mt. Angel Abbey in St. Benedict, Oregon. Bless the Benedictines, oldest order in the Catholic Church, founded by St. Benedict in 519 AD!
When we worry about the state of our culture, and we certainly should, let us remember that the Benedictines have been around for almost 1500 years. Reflect on the challenges they have faced! As most Catholics (and many others) know the motto of the Benedictines is “Ora et Labora”—“Pray and Work.” That’s sure what we are doing at the Walk so we know St. Benedict is with us! From the Mt. Angel webpage:
“We are called by the Gospel to embrace the marginalized and break down the privileges that exclude those who are different or disadvantaged. Guided by Church teaching, we celebrate the ‘transcendent dignity of each human person’” and we accept our common duty to make ourselves neighbors to others and actively serve them (Catechism of the Catholic Church, III.3.1).
They Benedictine seminarians have been to the Walk before. Their journey to San Francisco for the Walk for Life West Coast in 2015 inspired this lovely poem by seminarian Ivan Arevalo:
I walked for me, with no shoes
I walked for a promise, my promise
I walked for my hurt, for my pain
I walked for my wounds, my sorrow
I walked for my living, for my dead
I walked for hope, my hope
I walk now for them
I walk now barefooted
I walk feeling the broken and wounded road
I walk for the broken and wounded on the side of the road
I walk because I am broken and wounded
I walk for their hurt, I walk for their pain
I walk for their wounds, I walk for their sorrow
I walk for the breath not taken
I walk for the steps not taken
I walk for their living, I walk for their dead
I walk for hope, their hope, our hope.