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Brother Guerric, Novice Andrew take next steps
Given a final chance to turn away from the monastic life, Brother Guerric Letter chose to stay.
The solemn profession of Brother Guerric Aug. 27 was the culmination of a vocationally abundant month as three young men took the next step in their formation as monks of Conception Abbey.
Novice Andrew Sheller became Brother Paul upon making his simple profession Aug. 15. The previous day, in a brief ceremony, Nicholas Roberts entered the novitiate.
The Rite of Solemn Profession, a ceremony rich with symbolism, included a “mystic burial.” After professing his vows, Brother Guerric lay prostrate before the Abbot. Four monks covered him with a funeral pall, as the entire community intoned a litany, and Abbot Gregory sang a prayer of solemn consecration. A single bell tolled in the Basilica’s north tower. As the pall was removed the community sang of resurrection and all Church bells rang in celebration.
Brother Guerric lies prostrate beneath a funeral pall during the “mystic burial”
at his solemn profession. Photo by Karen Ceckowski.
Before accepting Brother Guerric’s vows, Abbot Gregory Polan offered a stern warning about what lies ahead.
Many would consider his decision unthinkable, he predicted. Why make such a choice, “when the world has so much to offer someone like you, a young, healthy, and wholesome young man?”
Comparing the decision before Brother Guerric to that of the disciples when asked by Jesus to relinquish all and follow him, Abbot Gregory asked his young confrere if he would be daunted, as many were, and turn away from Christ, or would he answer as Peter did, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the word of everlasting life” (John 6:69).
In a series of questions that were anything but rhetorical, the Abbot left no room for compromise.
“Can you believe that the simplicity of the monastic life, to possess nothing at all, will bring you riches in the life to come?” he asked. “Do you trust that yoke of obedience…will give you new freedom of heart? Can you believe that a life of chaste celibacy will enable you to love whole-heartedly in the manner of Jesus Christ? Do you accept the belief that daily conversion of life will, in the end, bring you deep and abiding peace of heart?”
The answer to his questions must be unequivocal, the Abbot explained, “for you throw your lot, whole and entire, with Christ and with this community.”
Quoting St. Paul, Abbot Gregory spoke of the perseverance needed to follow Christ. A perseverance “not founded on the mentality of ‘Stay the course at any cost,’ but rather a deep inner love for what one is doing.”
“Preceding the actual Rite of Profession, I guess for me it was like any marriage,” Brother Guerric admitted. “I was nervous; I had cold feet. Then, with the Abbot’s warning, it became very clear that this was not to be taken lightly.”
A chartered bus was required to haul the Letter family from Wisconsin for
Brother Guerric's solemn profession. Photo by Karen Ceckowski.
The road to final profession was bumpy for Brother Guerric. During the second of his three years of simple vows, he felt burdened by the demands of the community and the work load and strongly considered leaving.
But things began to change when a seminarian approached him and said, “You can’t leave, Brother Guerric. I need you.” The young monk realized that in his role as director of student activities in the seminary he was making a difference.
“It made me realize that maybe God was working through me here,” he recalls.
Like a parent to an adventurous child, the Abbot told Brother Guerric the road ahead would be narrow and difficult, but also joyous and filled with hope.
“Do you wish to follow this road in faith, acknowledging its unforeseen struggles?” the Abbot asked. “If you do, you may now come forward; but realize that you are doing this for the rest of your life…If not, you are now free to leave.”
Novice Andrew Sheller received a new name, new clothing and a new challenge when he professed simple vows on the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Aug. 15.
The day after completing a year-long novitiate, the 24-year-old native of the Diocese of Tulsa, appeared before Abbot Gregory Polan and the rest of the monastic community, promising an even more binding commitment.
Novice Andrew Sheller became Brother Paul at his simple profession.
Photo by Karen Ceckowski.
“My son, a year ago and a day, you sat in that same place asking to enter the novitiate, to test your vocation as a monk of Conception Abbey, and to accept the challenge of living wholly for Christ in this imperfect, but still-striving community,” Abbot Gregory told Sheller. “Today you sit in the center of this community, again petitioning, and this time to bind yourself to Christ through the profession of monastic vows.”
Simple vows is a three-year period of formation, in which a young monk prepares for the permanent commitment of Solemn Profession.
Before profession of vows, Abbot Gregory gave Conception’s newest monk the name Paul.
“A new name carries with it a change and transformation in your life,” Abbot Gregory said. “The conferral of a new name is a call to conversion, a symbol of your new life in Christ.”
The Abbot challenged Brother Paul to be an instrument of charity and perseverance, like his new patron, “running the race toward the goal of Christ, and striving toward the things of heaven.”
We welcome your comments:
communications@conception.edu
www.conceptionabbey.org
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