Saturday, April 24, 2021

CONVOCATION AND COVID

 Tomorrow, April 25, 2021, is "Good Shepherd Sunday." so named because of the gospel passage for the day, in which Jesus calls himself the "good shepherd" and we, of course, are his flock. As I started to meditate on this image early this morning I realized that the idea of a "flock" seemed awfully limited and closed in. This was a a stark contrast with last week's post that reflected the wide open, infinite perspective of the "Universal Christ."

Convocation Pre-pandemic

The more immediate reason why the idea of a "flock" seems kind of limiting is my experience during the past thirteen months of the way we start each school day here at St. Benedict's Prep. Since the day we reopened in July of 1973, we've met as a school community to take attendance, to pray, listen to scripture, sing songs, and make announcements. In mid-March last year the 600 of us crowded together as usual in the small gym for our usual morning "convocation." None of us knew that this would be our last "convo" for over a year. That afternoon it was announced that due to the pandemic, all classes in our Middle and Prep Divisions would be virtual, starting on Monday(!) 

Covid Convo - now with our girls

In a normal school, that would have meant that there would be no more morning convocation. But, as you may have gathered, ours is no normal school. Over the weekend, our computer technology person, Dexter Lopina, arranged everything so that on Monday morning we held "convo" virtually, with everyone in attendance. We followed the usual format, including songs played by Dr. Lansang. The first couple of weeks of convocation were strange, like everything else at the time, but soon we settled in to a routine that we still follow (with several improvements) as of this writing, over a year later. 

The following article that I wrote for our school newspaper, the "Benedict News," helps explain why I now have a much wider sense of the image of Christ's "flock." I wrote the following for the students, but I think you can fill in most of the missing information.

I like to picture the St. Benedict’s Prep Community as a set of concentric circles, each fitting inside the next larger circle, like a bullseye target. In the center is the monastic community that has been here longer than the school, and of course founded and still acts as the spiritual hub of St. Benedict’s. Moving outward you have the academic community of students, teachers, staff and parents. Then there’s the larger circle of thousands of alumni, friends and supporters. Somewhere inside these circles you have to locate the members of Saint Mary’s Church and the NeoCatechumenal community sponsored by the monks. And the neighbors who come to the Food Pantry, and others who I’m leaving out.

In the center of the bullseye is the monastic community, which has been the least affected by the Covid pandemic. The monks’ routine of daily prayer and mass has continued unchanged, although we do wear masks and sit six feet apart as we pray. The monastic schedule of meals, recreation and meetings has continued as well. Saint Benedict says somewhere in the Rule that “It is by no means good for monks to go about outside of the monastery.” So he would be proud of us Downtown Monks over the past year.

Every time I’m in church praying with my brother monks I sense ripples of grace and blessings and God’s love spreading outward through all those circles to every member of the wider “community,” from Kindergarteners to the oldest alumni.

A few years ago PBS aired a 90-minute documentary about the abbey and school, entitled “The Rule.” Two different friends of mine who saw it made the same remark to me about the school: “What I sensed all during the movie was a lot of love.” These were people who had never visited us, but they caught the spirit of the place, thanks to the Bongiornos who did the documentary. When visitors step into our bustling buildings, many of them feel it right away -- that spirit of love that we all have for one another, expressed in so many ways, such as student leaders caring for younger students, group members building bonds with their brothers in their group, or the way teachers and counselors give themselves selflessly to the students.

You would imagine, then, that the pandemic restrictions and the emptying of the Prep and Middle Division buildings would have put an end to all of that love as we switched to virtual everything. However I, at least, got a pleasant surprise when just the opposite happened to our community. 

Over a year ago, on the first day of virtual learning, the SBP community kept right on praying together at Monday morning convocation with all the students and faculty in attendance. We never missed a day of Scripture readings, Psalms and songs. Then before long, something very special began happening: members from the wider circles of our community began attending convo with us: Alumni of St. Benedict’s and of Benedictine Academy, elders, and friends of all ages. Friends and alumni started to join us from countries around the world including Israel, the Netherlands, Brazil and Mongolia. Many of these visitors, especially alumni, have been participating in convo via the “chat” that streams alongside the video, emphasizing even more the feeling of shared community. 

Did you ever ask yourself what draws these people back every morning at 8:00 a.m.? I would say that it’s the same thing that my two friends saw in the documentary, or that visitors feel when they enter our buildings: Love. The love shows itself at convo in the praying and singing, in the chatter and the chat, in the corny jokes and the sense of family. The members of our extended community know that SBP convo will be there every day at eight o’clock, reflecting, I suppose, the monks’ vow of Stability of Place. Interestingly, none of these people would ever have known about our daily convocation had it not been for Covid-19. They would not have this special little boost to get them started on their day. 

 So, “In the Midst of It All,” as Rev. Winstead’s song puts it so appropriately, our Saint Benedict's community, with the special addition of the new Girls’ Prep Division, has turned the pandemic experience on its head. While others are feeling alienated and separated, the pandemic restrictions have prompted us to create new ways of creating bonds, and of extending those bonds of love until they embrace the entire  globe.

In the midst of the pandemic, the Lord’s grace keeps reaching out through all those circles of community with the message of the Gospel carried in the words of our songs, “You Gotta Love People. You can’t choose who to love!” and, “Stay Up! Don’t let nothin’ get you down!” and of course, our informal pandemic motto, “In the midst of it all.” 

Christ's Idea for Convocation: The Kingdom


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