Fr. Malachy Riley, OSB

Died 25 March 2008
Aged 93 years

Requiescat in Pace

Christ Is Risen, Alleluia

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!

My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,
that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.

It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,
When Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night,
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slav’ry,
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night,
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin.

This is night,
when Christians ev’rywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night,
when Jesus broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:
“The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”

The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed,
when heaven is wedded to earth
and we are reconciled to God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Pergere

We are pleased to inform you that Mr. Richard Morgan A. J. Romero, formerly of Kansas City, Phoenix, and Albuquerque, will be admitted to Postulancy at the Abbey of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Conception, Missouri, on Wednesday, the 26th day of March, in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Eight.

Deo Gratias.

Well, It Was Fun

…while it lasted.

For those of you with whom I haven’t spoken in awhile, it is looking as though I will be entering postulancy some time during Easter Week (but nothing is final).  What that means, as next weekend is the Triduum, is that last night might very possibly have been my last free night, like ever.  Okay, not ever, but for a long time.  So, in order to prepare myself for an extended leave of absence from the world, I celebrated just as I should have.

With beer.  Duh.

A couple of the seminarians and I went out and said goodbye to my days of wine and roses (except we didn’t have wine because it  is surprisingly impossible to find any decent vintages in West Nowhere, MO, and the only person who has ever given me roses is my stepmother.  Come to think of it, that’s really a rather stupid turn of phrase.  “Days of wine and roses.”  Feh.  Should be “days of Taco Bell and Halo”).

Anyway, we had a good time, and I was still able to get out of bed this morning.  As is, I have less than an hour to nap before Mass, so this is all you get.  By the way, the current total of people who have come to visit me is one (1), and I ain’t exactly gonna be able to catch a flight to see all yous, so I reckon it’s your responsibility to bring the total up.  As an added bonus, if you come to see me, I promise I will chant for you.

Now go to church and get your palms blessed.

Best. News. EVER.

No, I’m not entering the monastic community.  Not yet, anyway.

No, the news I refer to is that the speculation of speculations has become official:

they are splitting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two films.

I cannot begin to express how happy that makes this little pseudomonk.  I admit freely that I have been reasonably content with the cuts they have made in the previous movies from the plot–some of it, while awesome, just wasn’t entirely necessary.  But I lived in mortal fear that they were going to chop HP7 to smithereens, and now I can go back to sleeping at nights.

Sure, I’ll have to wait a little longer to see the ending that still makes me cry, but it will most assuredly be worth it.

*drool*

My Plans

I have finally decided what I will take as my monastic name when I take my first vows next year.

Following a long-standing monastic tradition,* I will be adopting my maternal grandmother’s maiden name* as a surname.  In addition, I have chosen as my patron Bl. Charles Hapsburg, the last Emperor of Austria.  On 15 August 2009, I will come to be known as Br. Chuck Norris.

Now, somewhere down the road, I am sure there are going to be people who will write a lot of apocryphal stuff about me, and I just want to, while I have your attention, verify some things that you may read in unauthorized biographies.

Br. Chuck Norris has never chanted a wrong note.*
Br. Chuck Norris can swing a thurible so that the smoke spells out the Magnificat, but he doesn’t because it distracts the other monks.*
Br. Chuck Norris actually put the ora in labora.*
When Br. Chuck Norris chants the Sanctus, the Hosts of Heaven pause for a moment to make sure they’re on pitch.*
Br. Chuck Norris once played Bach’s Little Fugue one-handed while the monks processed in, while simultaneously feeding a blind orphan leper with the other hand.*
Br. Chuck Norris can trilocate.*
Br. Chuck Norris was elected Abbot Primate as a Postulant, but declined out of humility.*
Br. Chuck Norris can meditate on all of the mysteries of the Rosary without his mind wandering.*
Br. Chuck Norris’s habit has never been dirty.*
Br. Chuck Norris fasts from everything during Lent. *
Br. Chuck Norris can recite the day’s Office of Vigils from memory.*

and lastly,

Br. Chuck Norris discovered the 13th Step to Humility.*

- - -

*-this is not, strictly speaking, true.  As a matter of fact, it is patently false.

Getting High

This week I placed my life in the hands of the Abbey.  Literally.  The second largest pipe on our ginormous organ buckled some time ago, and it was time for it to be replaced.  So, who do they call, but an expert organ pipe repairman and scaffolding builder me.  It makes perfect sense, really.

I always wanted to die in the service of the Church, just not falling through one.

After getting over my initial fear of falling and killing myself,  it actually wasn’t that bad.  Sure, I will probably find a way to make myself unavailable should the opportunity again present itself, but at least I can look back and remember that I was there, 30 feet in the air, staring eye to eye with a mural of St. Benedict.  Not too many of the monks have had that particular view of the Basilica.

In other news, our Abbey Baby turned 21 this week.  Yes, Postulant Adam is now old enough to drink, God help us all.  I even bought him a bottle of Hot Damn to mark the occasion, mainly because he’s a quasi-monk and the bottle says “Damn” on it.  It’s funny, really.

Anyway, my laundry needs changing and I have some reading to do, and being as it’s Sunday you are probably due for a nap (I already had mine, thanks be to God).  Everyone get your Laetare on and remember–Lent’s half over.

Sitting in Choir

…is much less nerve-wracking the second time around.

Tonight was my first experience actually chanting with the monks, as opposed to just chiming in from the cheap seats.  I was a little… what’s the word I’m looking for… terrified at Vespers, but by the time Compline rolled around I had the hang of things.  Ish.

Other than that, things are pretty much normal around here.

Catholic Miscellanea

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Gilded Baroque Throne.

Some of you may not know this, but there were actually quite a few days commemorating apostolic furniture before the changes to the calendar enacted by Paul VI.  I’ve done some digging, and wanted to present you with a list of a few more:

Solemnity of the Ottoman of St. Andrew
Feast of the Bedside Table of St. James the Less
Memorial of the Antique Writing Desk of St. John
Optional Memorial of the Dinette Set of St. Matthew
Commemoration of the Ugly Lamp left by his Aunt Millie to St. Bartholomew

It’s Still Snowing

It’s been snowing for 2 months now. I have forgotten the color of dirt. And the feel of warmth.

The interminable winter plows on.

Yet, despite it being all of 1 degree Fahrenheit last night, I stood outside to watch the moon disappear turn brownish-red. I’d never seen an eclipse before, and I’ll freely admit that I was expecting more. Like pandemonium. Or the Eschaton. Hell, just an audible “ding” to let us know it was fully eclipsed would have been nice.

When I’m on the committee for the next Creation, you can bet that will be on the list. And dragons.

So, seeing as Christ didn’t come back last night, I really don’t have much to write about. Life continues to move along swimmingly, and this weekend I am actually staying home, so expect me to be even more boring to read about than usual (I won’t even get dressed up to go to Subway). Still, I hope everyone else has a great weekend, many blessings, and all that jazz.