Editor's Note

May 17, 2023

A few important items remain in this academic year – notably, graduation for the class of 2023, with final exams looming for returning students. Both of these call for much prayer – as does everything, always. These eschatological elements of the school year bring a time which a friend recently aptly called, “the sprint at the end of the marathon.” And many, it seems, whether student, teacher, parent, or monk, seem a bit winded by it all. The Current is itself easing up its weekly publication pace to a more leisurely monthly rate; catching our editorial breath as well during the summer months. Perhaps this leads to a thought about Pentecost – catching our true Breath, the wind of the Spirit. It is a feast of invigoration, precisely at a moment when, for some of us, our strength may seem to be failing. So, as we finish this weekly publishing cycle, having once again “run the race,” we thank our readers for your feedback and support, and assure you of our prayers.

Pax,
Blake Billings

May 11, 2023

At times, the liturgical calendar merges very well with the School’s academic calendar. This week, we enter into the final days of the Easter season, celebrating the Ascension of the Lord, and soon finding, at the other end of the novena it opens, the great feast of the Pentecost. This year, that latter date coincides with School’s graduation day. This is a true gift for the class of 2023, which entered just prior to the start of the pandemic, and is now to graduate soon after its official conclusion: a defining experience whose effects linger. While I have only recently been drawn to the practice of keeping a novena, the Novena to the Holy Spirit that arrives at this time has a strong appeal, if only as a kind of spiritual gimmick helping me to claw my way through the final demands of the academic year. This year, our coincidental commencement makes for a beautiful symmetry. As we hear the varied languages of the graduates and their families, representing many different nations, may we also think of the universality of our faith, as of our humanity – of its need for grace, and of the willingness of the Holy Spirit to pour out that grace upon us.

Pax,
Blake Billings

May 4, 2023

This week’s issue prompts some degree of self-reflection for The Current staff, as we report on the newsletter of The English Benedictine Congregation. Both journals, one can say, are about news – the Good News. They are part of a larger mission of evangelization, through spreading awareness as well as affirmation of our efforts, within this community as within the larger EBC community, to live out the Christian vocation. To connect to this our other “good news” this week – these modes of communication are indeed a response to the voice of the Good Shepherd and an outgrowth of the cenobitic life of liturgy and of prayer. We are grateful to be able to make available to our readers some of the experiences, insights, and activities of this monastic community, and to be able to share this with Benedictines worldwide. Please know that we keep our readership, with gratitude, in our prayers.

Pax,
Blake Billings

April 27, 2023

The Easter Season, conspiring for us with the arrival of springtime, speaks to us of new life and growth. We saw a powerful and visible witness of new growth in the late 1950’s, with the construction of our new church of St. Gregory the Great, its dedication stone carved by James Peter Casey. Yet we also hear from Br. Sixtus of Mr. Casey’s carving his own memorial stone, a stone of commemoration for much of his family. This carving out of his own memorial struck me as resonating with the well-known maxim of St. Benedict, to “keep death daily before your eyes.” Indeed, it reminded me of Ade Bethune, whose own life was woven into James Peter Casey’s. Ade kept her own casket in her living room, using it as a kind of sofa-bench where visitors might sit. A temporary resting place, one might say, reminding us of our final resting place. These strange interactions of life and death, of newness and finality, seem also woven into our experience here of May, which, in connection with the School, culminates in a “commencement.” We can be grateful that we find Christ in all, whether alpha or omega. And we may also connect this to Fr. Edward’s homily on the Emmaus experience, in which the recognition of the living Jesus, for those still mourning his death, was a difficult insight to attain. Perhaps the two stones of James Peter Casey help us gain some wisdom concerning this alpha and omega, this conclusion and commencement.

Pax,
Blake Billings