When the king had spoken with all of them, none was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; and so they entered the king's service. In any question of wisdom or prudence which the king put to them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his kingdom. Daniel 1:18-20
When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood." Luke 21:1-4
Piety
“St.” Oscar C. Burnett, Monk of the Order of Saint Benedict (1926-2017)
LISTEN! Honor is flashed off exploit, so says the news according to WBTV or the Gastonia Gazette;
Hands raised for Army Air Force oath-taking, penciled and passed the Georgia Bar, practiced letters and laws.
The bar was crossed when lifted by the spirit of the Lord, he went to work at a school for God’s service, the seventh servant of the servants of Belmont, resting on the ordinary cathedral floor before battle.
Unseen by the media and even parents, his heroic Crescat and his Adolphus walked upon hand-made bricks, ora et labora, labora et ora.
Now, he has crossed the bar, his tongue and laughter time now silenced. Resting on the basilica floor, battle-won.
While heads talk and press meet, his glorious sun has set. Tabernacle locked, pall and corporal forever rest upon his chalice.
Unlocked the winning secrets to overcome our personal within wars, leavening us with the brand unleavened: the sand dollar, the autumn leaves, the water-turned-wine, the Appalachian trial, the red-clay kudzued path to Chi Rho, the brown school bus…who could forget that school bus?
Earth hears no hurtle then from the confessional of His prodigal mercy.
Yet God (that hews the hot springs and ocean isles,
Campus, all, out; who, with tickling laughter uncontrollable
Doubles over and makes more laugh and laugh more)
Could crowd career with conquest while there went
Those years and years by of world without event
That in Belmont, Oscar watched your sons and daughters with stability, obedience and conversatio morum.
Who, now, will roll away the stone? We must trumpet now that Clarion, till now the field sowed, beat into plowshares the swords set down.
Study
Models. In today’s environment of moral relativism, political relativism and economic relativism, we search for True Magnetic North. We want something that is as constant as the rising sun. Jesus wants us to have that as well so he holds up models for us, never who or what we suspect.
The Roman centurion for his faith. The Prodigal Son for his conversion. The Good Samaritan for his service. The poor widow, not for her generosity, but for her absolute dependence upon God.
What do they have in common? None are who you might expect to be singled out. They are not Jewish. They are not “from here.” They have no power of position in the church, government or military. Anyone else would likely pass them by on the street without notice. Not Jesus.
Action
Who are your models? Daniel? The poor widow?
The obituaries don’t tell the real story of heroes and role models -- like Rev. Oscar Burnett, OSB. His story is now history. The obituary writers sprinkle around some facts and dates to telling us about honors and exploits. But they do not tell the rest of the story.
September 17, 1926 in Savannah, Georgia. How did being a child of the Great Depression and the changing South melt him and mold him to the man who melted and molded others?
July 11, 1958. As humanity was rocketing into a space-race, why did he retreat from the courtroom to the monastery courtyard, trading cravats for crescats?
December 22, 1962. On this ordinary day, Mary Help of Christians got an early Christmas gift from the Burnett family.
December 21, 1991. Leaders were changing all around. A trade unionist was now president of Poland and the iron curtain rusted and collapsed. A laughing lawyer was now abbot. After nearly three decades in the vineyard, he was elected to follow in the shoes of the abbas: Leo, Vincent, Walter, Edmund, Jude, and Peter.
No obituary re-told the stories of his great homilies -- like the one about the agony of the mother who had to endure the trial of her surviving son who accidentally killed his brother.
No obituary told the stories of how he brought young college students to Christ. Make a friend. Be a friend. When they might have preferred to sleep in on a Saturday morning, he piled students into a rickety pick-up truck and created a “Christmas in April” type service projects to renovate the homes of the widows of former campus workers long before service days became popular.
No obituary told how he combined vacation and ministry on beach retreats or mountaintop retreats to overcome the Catholic guilt we grew up experiencing. Making faith fun was his whole livelihood!
Oscar C. Burnett, Presente!
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