Greetings to everyone! I am writing this reflection on my last night in the Boston area visiting my sister Kimberley and her husband Mark. I have had such a wonderful time visiting them, being here in New England for the mission appeal I had in Rhode Island this past weekend. When my sister and brother-in-law picked me up at the South Boston train station last Thursday evening, they mentioned that Hurricane Henri was scheduled to hit this weekend. Little did I know that it would hit right on the Rhode Island coast on Sunday morning where I was scheduled to celebrate the Masses at two parishes that very weekend. Fortunately, it was not as destructive as it could have been. It moved to the west rather quickly and was down graded to a tropical storm. There were a lot of trees down and the electricity in the town went out, but it could have been much worse. I made it back to my sister’s house in Massachusetts late Sunday afternoon without any problems.
Saturday evening, I celebrated Mass at the quaint little chapel of St Romuald built in 1903 just two blocks from the beach in the coastal town of Matunuck, Rhode Island. I had never heard of St Romuald before, so I looked him up and found a very interesting history. All of you know how much I love learning about the saints! St Romuald (951 - 1027), born in the town of Ravenna in northeastern Italy, founded the Camaldolese monastic order. He spent a lot of his life traveling around Italy founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages. His monastic order has monasteries that are functioning to this day. Of the several monasteries located in the United States, two are located in the towns of Big Sur and Berkeley in California. The rule of St Romuald that governs his monasteries integrated several rules of monasticism that existed in his day. Here is a wonderful quote from St Romuald: “It is better to pray one psalm with devotion and compunction than to pray one hundred psalms with distraction.”
As I am writing this reflection on Monday evening, I will be leaving on the train on Tuesday afternoon, going through Chicago where I will have a layover on Wednesday, and then arriving in Jackson on Thursday. I look forward to spending Wednesday exploring some of the familiar sites of my hometown of Chicago. In addition, I look forward to seeing all of you when I get back to Jackson. Have a blessed week everyone! I hope to see all of you at one of the Masses this weekend.
Father Lincoln
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