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Listen, my Son

~ Following Christ as a Benedictine monk of Conception Abbey

Listen, my Son

Monthly Archives: September 2018

Vocation Work

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by Fr. Paul Sheller, O.S.B. in Daily Life

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Bible Study, brotherhood, Catholic school, community, Conception Abbey, consecrated life, Eucharist, faith, fraternity, mass, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Prayer, priesthood, religious life, St. John's Catholic Student Center, Stillwater, vocation promotion, vocations, work

This past weekend I traveled to Oklahoma to do promote monastic vocations at the Catholic Center on the campus of Oklahoma State University. My classmate, Fr. Kerry Wakulich, is pastor at St. John’s Catholic Student Center and he is always welcoming to the monks of Conception Abbey.

What do you do when you travel to a college campus for vocations?

Normally the pastor invites me to celebrate Mass and preach to the students. This past visit I took the Friday noon Mass, the Sunday morning Mass, Sunday evening Mass, and Monday noon Mass. I also setup a vocation display and have different information about monastic life, prayer cards, and Benedictine medals available for the students. I make myself available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and for spiritual direction and schedule appointments with the students. I witness to the Benedictine way of life by being around campus and the student center in my monastic habit. Many students don’t know about monastic life and I need to be present to answer their questions. Since I’ve visited OSU about once a semester for a couple of years, I have gotten to know many of the students’ names. Building relationships is an important part of the ministry.

In this case, it is also a helpful connection that I attended Oklahoma State for two years before entering seminary. While at Oklahoma State I was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, which is always something students are surprised to hear.

Below: Fr. Kerry and I pose next to the monastery vocation display board and materials.

Below: Monday evening Fr. Kerry arranged for 15 men from the Newman Center to meet out at a ranch outside of town. The ranch belongs to one of the parishioners. We started with skeet shooting, then grilled some pork chops. It was a good chance for fellowship and brotherhood. One of the freshmen is pictured below aiming at one of the clay pigeons.

On the morning I was departing to return to Conception, I was able to visit my niece and nephew’s classrooms at their Catholic grade school. My nephew is in first grade and I am pictured below with his teacher and class. I gave them icon prayer cards of St. Benedict and medals.

Upon my return, Wednesday evening I did my usual ministry at the Newman Center at Northwest Missouri State University and afterwards we had another Bible Study. We continued our discussion about the Eucharist and Mass. To begin the Bible Study I had organized a quiz about the Mass. We used Kahoot, a website that allows you to make a quiz and have all of the participants use their mobile devices to answer the multiple choice questions. Since everyone in the group is really competitive, the quiz format went well.

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Bible Study

20 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by Fr. Paul Sheller, O.S.B. in Daily Life

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bible, Bible Study, catholic, Conception Abbey, Eucharist, evangelization, fellowship, friendship, Gospels, holiness, mass, Prayer, priesthood, religious life, vocations

On Wednesday evenings after ministry at the Newman Center at Northwest Missouri State University, I lead a Bible Study for ten college age men and women. The group is comprised of kids all who have graduated from Jefferson High School (Conception Junction, MO) in the past few years. Jefferson High School is less than 2 miles away from the Abbey.

It’s our second year gathering together for Bible Study. We have covered a lot of different topics and passages during our time together. Typically we start with some sort of opening game, read a Scripture passage and I lead them in a reflection and encourage them to think interact with the Word of God through my asking questions. Since the group have been close friends for years, practically all of them growing up together, we share a lot of laughs too. They are young people who want to grow in their faith and are willing to sacrifice their time to talk about how God is working in their lives. It’s a very rewarding experience as a priest to be able to help them in their faith and enjoy their friendship.

Yesterday evening we talked about the Mass. I gave them notecards with different parts of the Mass printed on them and they had to arrange them in the proper order, beginning with the Sign of the Cross and Greeting, concluding with the Prayer after Communion, Blessing, and Dismissal. Each small group also had a Catholic Mass Quiz that they worked together to complete. We conclude by sharing a challenge and a blessing from the past week, and closing with prayer.

Below: Evening sunset on my way to Bible Study.

September in Photos

19 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by Fr. Paul Sheller, O.S.B. in Daily Life

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Br. Jeremiah, Br. Luke, Br. Placid, Br. Stephen, cards, clouds, Conception Abbey, fog, funeral, games, Missouri, monastic life, morning, seminarians, September, sky, vocations, weather

The month of September is going by quickly. We have had some beautiful weather. Early on we had about a week of rain, which the farmers appreciated very much. Then, we have had plenty of sunshine, so everything is green in a way that we hadn’t seen all summer long.

The seminarians had their first off-campus weekend this past weekend. They were eager to get away for a couple of days. The monks said farewell to two of our confreres within a short period of time: Br. Jeremiah died on September 5 and Br. Stephen died on September 11. We had a couple of beautiful liturgies to assist them with our prayers.

Below: Novice Gregory and I play a deck-building card game called Hero Realms. He glares at me only as an attempt at intimidation. His attempt fails.

Below: Morning fog.

Below: More beautiful pictures from around the Abbey.

Below: Abbot Benedict offers the prayers at the cemetery for our confrere Br. Stephen. The funeral was held on Saturday, September 15.

Below: Br. Placid and Br. Luke enjoy a stroll on a sunny day.

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