Conception Abbey

All Saints and All Souls:

Some of us old timers around here tend to associate the feast of All Saints and All Souls with the change of beautiful autumn to simply nasty weather. That was not the case this year as Nov 1 and 2nd came along with delightfully sunny and warm days. Since All Saints fell on Sunday this year it was a special way to mark the weekend.

The feast began with First Vespers of the feast on Saturday evening announced by all five tower bells pealing across the rolling Missouri hills backlit with the setting sun. On Sunday we celebrated the feast but also honored over one hundred of our devoted and loyal donors with a special celebration and banquet. In the name of the seminary and the abbey, Abbot Gregory presented a special award to Bob and Carol Miller of Kansas City. Bob and Carol have been so generous in helping us in so many ways over the years. Their suggestion and promotion efforts have been an important driving force behind several fund-raising events which continue to benefit both the seminary and the abbey. Needless to say we appreciate all our donors who share their blessings and talents with us as partners in the work of our various ministries.

All Souls was a day filled with traditional ways of remembering our beloved dead. Since we have a large percentage of Hispanics in our student body, this day, called "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) was marked with a special display in the corridor just outside the north entrance of the basilica. A colorful display of foods, candles, pictures and statues reminded everyone that our beloved dead are still close to us as we remember and honor them.

The unusually pleasant weather allowed the monks and seminarians to gather for the traditional All Souls Day procession to the cemetery right after lunch. While singing the psalms in procession and praying for the departed in the cemetery all our departed loved ones were remembered to the Lord. May they intercede for us.

Encounter with God’s Call:

The weekend of Nov 14-15 was the first of two "Encounter" Weekends hosted by the seminarians each year. This brief but intense experience of hearing and observing seminarians describe their vocational discernment has been a very important step for many of our present and past seminarians. We had about 70 young men and several vocation directors from Midwestern dioceses with us for the weekend. We hope and pray that the grace of discernment touched many people during their short visit. It’s always amazing to me to see how people receive the call of service in different ways and at different stages in their lives. For those who are listening, the grace of vocation comes at the right time, and then as they say, "the rest is history."