What's New at Klosternueburg

Palm Sunday

A.D. 2003

Dies Palmarum
Turba Deo plaudit qui quos vult salvat et audit.

The Day of the Palms
The crowd applauded God, who according to his desire saves and hears.

What is new at Klosterneuburg:
- Requiem Mass for His Eminence, Hans Hermann Gröer
  
  Abbot General Bernhard Buchovksy offered the Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of the former archbishop of Vienna on April 12, 2003. The Mass was celebrated in the Stift church with full pontificals and Latin chant.
  
  The former archbishop died on March 24th. Please pray for him.
- An Overview of Holy Week
  
  Holy Week or Karwoche (in German, which derives from Trauerwoche or grief week) presents to us the opportunity to participate sacramentally in the central mysteries of our faith. Through personal prayer and meditation on the Sacred Scriptures, the Way of the Cross and the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary we prepare for the Liturgical celebrations of Holy Week:
  - Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday
  - Holy Thursday
  - Good Friday
  - Holy Saturday
  - Easter Vigil
  Holy week concludes with the Easter Vigil, whereupon the Octave of Easter begins and continued to Low Sunday, which is now according to the new Missal also called Divine Mercy Sunday.
- Pictures from the Blessing of the Palms

The blessing occurred outside in Kaiserhof of the Neu Stift in the crisp morning air . Above the faithful assemble in expectation of the blessing.

The Abbot General presided at the blessing with the assistance of the pastor of the Stift parish and his parochial vicar.

Dom Rudolf, Dom Jakob, Dom Lukas and Dom Elias look on...

Sprinkling with holy water...

...and blessing them with incense.

(The mayor of Klosterneuburg stands on the right.)

The procession to the church through the Stift's plaza...

...with songs of praise for Our Lord.

Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday?

For pastoral reasons the Church has joined two distinct events in the life of Our Savior in one liturgy. Why?

The Mass begins with the ritual reenactment of the Messiah's entrance into the Holy City of Jerusalem among the Chosen People of Israel. The priest's entrance into the church in the procession of the palms symbolizes the Christ's coming among His people. With the same joy, therefore we welcome Christ into our midst.

But there is a second dimension to this reentactment which is less pleasant, but vitally important. We welcome Christ as the people of Jerusalem, but we must admit to ourselves that we -- like them -- do not really know Him. We have not really heard His Gospel in its full effect. We still only see and hear what we want and turn a blind eye to the parts of the Gospel we do not want to hear or understand.

We, the new People of God, have fallen short and stand before our Savior -- conscious of it or not -- in sin, not just the sins we commit, but also the sense of sin which refers to that completely observable and universally knowable fact that there is something wrong with this world, something is not right.

This reality, that sin is still a problem for this world, brings us to the pressing need to confront the truth that we still have not allowed that Gospels to penetrate our hearts.

Hence the second celebration of Passion Sunday.

Since many people are not able to come to the Liturgy of Good Friday, Holy Mother Church has judged it wise that we should all hear the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Church at least once before we celebrate the Resurrection. To find joy in the victory Easter, we need to face the hatred and violence that made the crucifixion possible.

Passion Sunday therefore is an anticipation of Good Friday. Our hearts and minds ought to now focus on the questions posed by Christ hanging on a Cross. Why is He up there?

The answer to the question has changed the world and will continue to do so until the end of time.

Preparation for Holy Week

Eight days before Easter, Jesus arrived in the midst of jubilation in Jerusalem, where He would complete the work of Salvation in a most unexpected way through his passion, death and resurrection. We ought therefore to spend this week celebrating and meditating upon the central mysteries of our faith.

We are challenged by the fact that Jesus' three year long preaching mission did not produce lasting fruit. One of his apostles, Judas, betrayed him; St. Peter denied him three times and the other apostles abandoned Him in his moment of greatest need. Only his mother and the holy women and St. John the Evangelist stood by Him at His crucifixion. This sad story leaves us with a pressing question.

Why are human hearts so hard that the message of God's love did not change those who heard the Gospel?

It is clear that sin has a much more powerful grip over the human race than we are used to believing. In the crucifixion of Jesus we are convicted of this hard heartedness and in the resurrection we are given God's response to it. God's salvific will will not be altered. He will never cease to love us, not even when we have murdered His beloved Son.

How unlike God are we, who lash out with murderous rage over the slightest and most ridiculous things, pouring forth beautify justifications for our cruel words and ugly deeds.

Who then keeps us from knowing the love of God?

There is only one answer left.

We do.

If we want to know the love of God, we must allow our hearts and minds to be made anew. Otherwise we condemn ourselves to the sadness of never knowing how much God loves us and what joy He has planned for those who welcome Him into their lives.

What do we have to loose if we embrace the truth of God's love for us?

A lot.

We will loose fear, anxiety, despair, alienation, loneliness, suspicion, hopelessness, meaninglessness, worry, cynicism, nihilism and all those things that take away life and give us death.

What do we gain?

All that we need to find peace and joy in this live and in the life to come. God Himself is all we need. His love for us is the foundation of all human dignity and tells us that we matter and our lives are important, no matter how small they might seem when compared with the standards, which rule this world.

This Holy Week let us look again at the story of our salvation and welcome this truth which Jesus has shown us with His flesh and blood on the Cross and which we receive in the Holy Eucharist.

-- Fr. Elias

Book Review

Read a book review entitled "How to Heal the Liturgy to the Roots" by Fr. Elias Carr in the March 2003 issue of the Adoremus Bulletin. <click here>

What is new on the website:

Clerics Page

Once a man makes temporary vows in our community, he is called a cleric. This page describes what goes on during those years. <click here>
Novitiate Page

Many wonder how we spend our days and what the life of a novice is like. To answer these questions we present this introduction to the life of the novice. <click here>

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