On May 20, 2025, the Church celebrated the 1700th anniversary of the opening of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, from which we get our Creed, the testimony of faith we profess at every Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy.
I am struck always by the divine sign of hope when we say as a baptized assembly, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” As we commemorated the Council this past May, our local community at Saint Meinrad found itself witnessing to the labor of the Holy Spirit, as our vocation calls us. While May is often the time for many institutions to hit the pause button for the summer, those of us on the Hill hear God whisper silently the ongoing mission of hope we have been promised with the acclamation: “I believe in the Holy Spirit.”
In fact, graduation in early May sets a summer bonfire ablaze with our Graduate Theology students anticipating spreading the Gospel of hope with their new degrees in hand. Before the month is out, several of our seminarians will have received the gift of ordination to the diaconate and presbyterate by the laying on of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit by the bishop and the congregation with, “Veni, Creator Spiritus!” A recollection of those ministerial and spiritual gifts repeats annually as the monastic community celebrates jubilees of profession and ordination at the end of May.
No sooner do we finish the celebration of these many treasures than Pentecost ushers in another wonderful moment of hope with the college interns of “One Bread, One Cup” making their home with us for about seven weeks. Imagine the Holy Spirit investing these young people with such great and enthusiastic energy for their Catholic faith! Who could not be inspired not only by the participants but also by those who work with them and behind the scenes—from OBOC staff to our tireless housekeepers and kitchen workers? As I said, the Holy Spirit LABORS with us, drawing us into the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. By the end of July, we will be hosting our alumni, preparing the young monks for profession, engaging mini-sabbaticals for hard-working priests and, finally, taking us to the edge of another school year with the Intensive Spirituality Week.
This is what Hope looks like in the local Church. With the end of August, we have not only a reason to be grateful for the sacrifice of the men and women who make hope enduring, but sense the Holy Spirit’s presence, which brings us joy in the midst of the remarkable future that awaits all of God’s children.
Fr. Guerric DeBona, OSB, Monk, Saint Meinrad Archabbey