From the Abbot

Virtual Reality

It has been my experience that when we witness a crisis, or world event, or social distress, we turn to describe what is being experienced. Journalists, television personalities, bloggers, and even monks in monasteries grab onto catchwords that rise out of the discussion of our experience. The word, it seems to me, that we have been tossing about with much regularity these days of COVID-19, is the word “virtual.” We have virtual Masses, virtual classrooms, virtual meetings, virtual personal interactions, virtual shopping, virtual fundraisers, virtual marathons, virtual-and-thelist-goes-on – most of these are gifts during these difficult times, and some are grace-filled.

What we are experiencing in these “virtual realities” has been necessary for this time of pandemic. However, virtual can never replace reality, or at least we need to consider the consequences when it does. This is not the beginning of an Orwellian commentary on technology, but rather a lead-in to our monastic community’s experience of this time of “stay-at-home,” and how we tried to allow others to encounter our experience in reality in their homes during the Holy Triduum, Easter Sunday, and beyond. And, “in reality,” our experience is the encounter with Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

At our weekly Tuesday evening community meeting the day before the stay-at-home order went into effect for the State of Kansas in March, from which we went into “lockdown” at the monastery, I offered to my brothers that it would be a Triduum and Easter like none other we had experienced. First and foremost, because we were being called to encounter each other in new and different ways, serving each other in profound ways, reaching out to others in ways that might be foreign to what we know. Whether we are in “lockdown,” or bound by a stay-at-home order, or our lives return to something resembling “normal,” we will always be called to encounter the person of Jesus Christ – the human and divine Christ – always in new and exceptional ways; for the one we so earnestly seek is the same Lord and Savior, and we are the same Body of Christ, everywhere called into an encounter with him.

That Body of Christ has never made more sense to me than precisely in times like these – times in which the support we provide each other, inside and outside the monastery, highlights the beauty of our lives, the beauty of the life of the Church, and the beauty of the Christian faith we all share. Know that we continue to pray for you each and every day – the constant in our lives – working to reach out to you in new ways as we are doing through technology.

When it became painfully obvious that the word “cancellation” would be used in these times as much as “virtual,” we, as a community of monks, had to think differently. We were challenged by reality to continue to live our lives together as monks; however, we have been called in new ways to share that unity with others. It was in this “new reality” that Fr. Jay Kythe, our Retreat Master,

How could we not share the privilege we continue to have during this time? While it is provided through technology, the Body is ever present, forming us in Christ Jesus. - Abbot James Albers

Pray with us online:

- Live Mass Broadcasts & New Videos Weekly - join us online: kansasmonks.org • youtube.com/kansasmonks

Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name give glory because of your mercy and faithfulness. - psalm 115:1

and Br. Angelus Atkinson, our Assistant Retreat Master – when all our retreats had been canceled through the summer – offered the idea of taking our annual Holy Week Retreat to the internet. Normally a retreat with 25-or-so Benedictine College students, Fr. Jay and Br. Angelus’ idea was not to have an “online retreat,” but to create a “retreat-in-place” by using the internet. They wanted to create an environment that would be as if we had been personally invited into the retreatants’ homes, into the “reality” of their encounter with Christ. The idea was to help the retreatants create an environment in their own homes, an atmosphere of retreat, so that they could encounter their Lord and Savior in a real way, the One who suffered, died, and rose for them.

It was really this type of experience for many people, including myself. This was made possible because, wherever we were [more than 3,000 participants in over 1,450 households joined us from six continents], the truest reality of encounter was made present, not by means of any virtual retreat conference, or online chat session, or any virtual meetings on Zoom, but by means of the individual parts of the Body of Christ, sharing together as the One Body, putting their trust in God, in the Triune God who took on human flesh, humbling himself, taking on the ultimate image of a servant, the form of a slave. The retreatants were able to make themselves vulnerable to a Savior who would suffer all our human weaknesses but sin, and who would take on that sin, our sin, so that it would ravage his body… that we might live.

Throughout our experience of this pandemic – however it all eventually plays out – we can be sure that God will use each of us and our sacrifices to bring about greater things in his kingdom. We know, for certain, that love will always conquer death. Whether we call these times a crisis, a pandemic, difficult, unprecedented, unique, there is a word given to us which sums up our experience and our encounter. If we allow the virtues, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to work through us, especially those virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love, this time has the possibility to be truly a moment of grace.

As we have been cut off and cloistered, radically changing our (and everyone’s) lives, one great blessing has been witnessing the tremendous outpouring of faith in our social media channels. We have sought to join in with the faithful by sharing Mass and more with the world. Our brothers share their thoughts on participating in this new new evanglization:

Br. Jerome Simpson

- Mass & Retreat Video Producer - I first started helping with streaming the Mass and events when I saw a confrere overwhelmed; with so much on his plate, I just wanted to help out to allow him to fulfill his other roles in the Liturgies. When I started recognizing the names of different people watching the Mass and taking part in the retreat, it started to sink in that this was something more. Knowing that people were cut off from their faith communities made me want to work hard and learn all I could to help provide the next best thing to being here with us. Easter is an important time to experience a revitalization of faith for me, and I feel blessed to help others enter into that with me. It felt empty in the Abbey without our usual friends and students present, but seeing the names on the computer screen and hearing the homilies about being a united faith community reminded me how big the Church is.

Br. Angelus Atkinson

- Assistant Retreat Master - Each day, each challenge of the retreat was new – we had to live it a day (or an hour) at a time – but what was clear throughout was that we were simply responding to a need in ourselves and others, that we were participating in the work of an Other, from beginning to end. So it was a great joy to be a part of.

Fr. Meinrad Miller

- Schola Master & Oblate Director - I have enjoyed being able to share my Masses and retreat conference with others. These days of pandemic are trying times for so many of our family, friends and oblates, as there is so much uncertainty. Being able to share our faith reminds us that even in these days, God is with us and never abandons his people.