In the Beginning

bEGINNINGS

Fr. Alfred Cogliandro used to tell his novices every year that they were the Best Novices ever – well the novices always thought that it was true at least for that year. And it is really true because as everyone knows each year there is always a new batch of novices and every year there is only one batch. This must also be the reason why they are called “novices” – every year the novices are always new.

This year, however, the novitiate at DBMS is slightly different from the previous years. For this year even the novice master is new. He may be a bit old as some would tease him but he is at least new to his task as novice director.

Nonetheless, the present novice master is not at all worried. Despite walking on unfamiliar grounds, he believes that he is in a situation similar to the situation of everyone. No one starts at the end. Everyone starts at the beginning. No one is born an adult. Everyone is born a child. You can’t build a house from the roof down, nor dig a hole from the bottom up. You always start at the beginning. This year the master starts too at the beginning.

This year the master is also a novice. It is a good chance for him to once more live the “vitality of the beginnings” which his own novice director used to speak of when he was still a young novice. After being in the religious life for so many years, one can plateau in his fervor. And in these moments of holy immobility, he can always go back to where he had been once if only to bring back to his present situation his original spiritual force and dynamism.

Whether we are just starting our ascent up the mountain of religious life or are already on the way down, everyone needs the vitality of the beginning. May we have an abundance of this vitality with us always.