March 20, 2018 -The Feast of Saint Joseph -Year B: Br. Randy Greve,OHC

" As we read the biographies of our departed brothers around their death dates in chapter, I am moved over and over again by the recurrence of a phenomena: at some point in the life of each brother he heard, he got up, he met a purpose, and he gave himself in a way that served a particular need, provided an essential offering of work and wisdom for the community. For some it was a role in leadership, especially those who brought care and calm in times of turmoil or change. For others it was the realization that their best service was a quiet, steady, behind-the-scenes gift for keeping things going. For all of the variety of stories and personalities, and indeed many struggled and suffered profoundly with their own issues, none of them could have predicted the twists and turns their lives would take within this community or how responding to the monastic vocation in this Order would be a source of stretch and challenge, of joy and consolation. The only assurance was that they had each other and their common commitment to keep getting up together. I think to myself as I hear the biographies, “It’s almost as if he were born for this”. And of course he was. If there are saints in our history, saints among us now, and there are, they did not and do not ask for the title, much less the trials and sacrifices that formed their holiness." . . .