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We’re all ambassadors of Christ’s gospel
Dear Friends,
Greetings of peace from Conception Abbey.
The late summer and early fall are times when our minds and hearts are
touched by the sublime mystery of vocation, the call of God in the lives
of each of us. For us at Conception, mid-August is the time of year when
we joyfully anticipate new membership in our monastic community. This
year we welcomed two new postulants, three new novices, and our two
novices of last year professed the monastic vows of obedience,
stability, and conversion of life on Aug. 15, the Solemnity of the
Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Within a few short weeks of those events,
we welcomed 95 seminarians to begin another year of formation and
education at Conception Seminary College. Our campus is alive with signs
of new life and the abundance of God’s blessing.
For each and every one of us, God calls us to a vocation in our life.
For many people that is the call to the married life and the raising of
a family; for others it is the single life, religious life, or the priesthood. The
Scriptures are full of the stories of men and women whom God invites to
a special calling, that they might participate in the on-going work of
God’s redemption in our world. Whatever our calling in life may be, our
Christian baptism commissions us to be ambassadors of Christ’s gospel.
Whether it be in the home, the monastery, the workplace, the parish, or
the golf course, our vocation affords us to live the message of the
gospel.
 As mentioned above, this is a time of year when Conception Abbey and
Conception Seminary College are budding with new life. At the same time,
this fall season speaks of dying and transformation as the leaves fall
from the trees to become part of the earth again. There is a
mystifying connection between these two extremes of life and death, and
this mystery lies at the heart of our Christian faith. On the natural
level, life eventually ends in death. However, on the level of faith,
death leads to life. That is shown to us in the paschal mystery of
Jesus. Not only did his death on the cross lead to new life in the
resurrection, but all the daily “deaths to self” led to a newness of
life that brought joy, peace, happiness, and hope to others. And isn’t
that what the vocation of each of us is about?
There is a profound beauty in death; we see it all around us these days
of autumn. Did you ever notice that leaves turn their brightest shades
of red, yellow, and orange in the very process of dying? It is in the
process of dying that they are most beautiful to behold. In our own
vocation, whatever it may be, are we not the most beautiful to behold
when we let go of our own plans and will, and die to our own wishes,
so that we might serve another, care for someone in need, or simply do
well what our vocation asks of us? Look at that glorious maple tree in
all its splendor, and see there a symbol of yourself, living your
vocation well.
In this issue of Tower Topics, as we share with you something of our
vocational journey as monks, we rejoice with you in your own vocation,
your own calling from God. We ask God to bless the efforts of us all
that, together, we might announce the reign of Christ and build up God’s
kingdom in the humble things of daily life, those things that can make a
real difference in the way we teach the gospel to one another, without a
spoken word.
Sincerely in Christ,
Abbot Gregory J. Polan, OSB
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