A Season of Change
For weeks, farmers around the country focused on bringing in the crops. Even though the weather has been challenging throughout the planting and growing season, we give thanks for the results of the harvest.
As the days get shorter and the fall climate slowly changes to cooler temperatures we prepare for winter. This is part of the cycle of nature. Change in family settings brings hope, joy, and the challenge of letting go. Death knocks at the door at unexpected times. This month of November, we especially remember our departed loved ones and trust that our loving and merciful God grant them eternal rest and peace. We have in them powerful intercessors in heaven!
The Liturgical Year ends with the celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King on November 26. Thanksgiving Day, November 23, brings family and friends together, giving thanks for the many blessings we received throughout the year, and as a harvest festival. Let us not forget those who have less than we do! Our country and world yearn for lasting peace, and yet there is strife and unrest in many parts of the world, and even in the Church. Let us not fall into despair but be people of gratitude and hope!
A season of change:
As I reached my 75th birthday in October, Abbot Michael suggested that I share responsibilities with Fr. Anastasius who assumed the appointment as prior for our community in January of this year. As of late October, Fr. Anastasius also took on the job as mission procurator of Christ the King Priory – Benedictine Mission House. The main task will be correspondence with our mission partners around the globe and overseeing projects our office supports financially through the generosity of our benefactors. Before coming to Schuyler, Fr. Anastasius served as the Congregation Procurator and thus knows all the places in Africa and Asia where we are involved. My tasks remain in fundraising and donor relations.
April 2024 – visit to Tanzania
On November 15, we welcomed Br. Moses, O.S.B. to our community. He professed vows in 2004 at St. Benedict Priory in Digos, Philippines. He was assigned to our motherhouse in Germany, and we are grateful to Abbot Michael for sending Br. Moses to us. – If you are following us on social media platforms, especially Facebook, you have noticed reports from various missions and pictures of joyous events, but also notifications of confreres whom God called to eternity.
No doubt, I could go on reporting. However, let me thank you for your faithful support of our work and your commitment to be the messengers of God’s love and compassion to the people in our lives. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, may our “hearts burn with fire and our feet keep moving” as followers of Jesus. (Pope Francis – message for World Mission Sunday 2023)
Sr. Dolores Dufner, OSB, of St. Benedict Monastery in St. Joseph, MN, wrote a beautiful hymn that inspired me in my ministry over the years:
“Then let us go to serve in peace the gospel to proclaim.
God’s Spirit has empowered us; we go in Jesus’ name.”
Thank you for your faithful support and friendship,
Br. Tobias Dammert, O.S.B.