I earned my first Master’s Degree at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota; I began my studies there in the autumn of 1999 (CE) and graduate in the winter of 2001 (CE).
Collegeville is home to Saint John’s Abbey, named for John the Baptist, and it is the largest Benedictine congregation in the world…I studied Church History and Systematics at the School of Theology there.
Saint John’s Abbey was home to Godfrey Dieckmann, the monk and scholar who led a liturgical-reform-movement, which would be best summarized as a return to the spiritual practices of the patristic era, the ante-Nicene era, to the apostolic era, to a time in the life of the church where it’s members actually remembered the life of Jesus, and could recall the church-life that Jesus envisioned in response to the social pressures of his day.
By the mid-twentieth century the liturgical-reform-movement had gained significant support among the magisterium of the Church, and in the 1950’s (CE), at the Second Vatican Council convened by pope John XXIII, Godfrey Dieckmann’s movement redirected the future history of the entire Church; changing the way Catholics celebrate the mass, the language it is officiated in, the music we sing, and in some cases even the bread we share at the eucharist and who is invited to the feast…even to the point of sharing an open table.
While I was studying at the School of Theology, I taught world religions at the Preparatory School, and wrote my master’s thesis on the topic of universal salvation, its reasonableness and historical authenticity[1]; my work is also rooted in the ante-Nicene world, and in particular, the theology of saint Irenaeus of Lyons and I found support in other theologians from the early to mid-twentieth century, who like Dieckmann, were interested in returning the church to its foundations, to the way that was established through the ministry of Jesus.
My thesis challenged the theology of the Imperial Church and my work was well received by my students, my peers and my professors at this Benedictine in central Minnesota.
I took courses on medieval and monastic history, on monastic spirituality and one course specifically related to the Rule of Saint Benedict, from which I have taken a phrase that I use most often in my ongoing theological work.
Obsculta![2]
I use the command interchangeably with: be mindful, know this, understand…remember.
Today we celebrate the feast of saint Benedict, who purportedly lived between the late fifth-century and the mid sixth-century of the common era (CE).
Be mindful.
What we know of Benedict comes from the writing of pope saint Gregory I (otherwise known as Gregory the Great); what he wrote is not exactly a biography, but rather a reflection on the idealized life of an abbot, most of which is a fiction developed c. 593 CE.
Nevertheless, Benedict, whether real or imagined, produced a Rule (a guide for community living) that became the foundation of western monasticism; among other things his rule enjoins the monk to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience, a commitment to work and to a studious-meditative reflection on the psalms.
The Life of Benedict, and the writing attributed to him has influenced the lives of thousands upon millions of people. As I mentioned, it was a group of monks living under his rule who built the university where I earned the title of theologian, housing the second largest library of original ancient manuscripts in North America, and who produced the first fully illuminated manuscript of the sacred text since the invention of the printing press[3] it is where I honed my skills as a historian and philosopher, where I proved my thesis that we may have faith in the salvation of all people…simply on the basis that God desires all people to be saved, and it is where I became a member of the magisterium of the Catholic Church.
[1] RHADUS: the Reasonableness and Historical
Authenticity of the Doctrine of Universal Salvation
[2] Listen
[3]
The Saint John’s Bible Project: https://saintjohnsbible.org/
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