Joy at Solemn Profession
Ampleforth Abbey was a place of joy on Saturday 16 August as the community celebrated the Solemn Profession of Br Edmund, a celebration attended by many of his family and friends.
"Br Edmund, you have had quite a journey", said the Abbot at the start of his homily, as he recalled the time thirty years' earlier when he first spoken to him about a possible vocation. Neither of them realised that "we would be here today, and I would receive your Solemn Vows on behalf of the Church and this monastic community. What an awesome grace".
In a moving celebration, Br Edmund promised to commit himself "to the constant search for God in the monastic life, according to the Rule of our Holy Father St Benedict and the Constitutions of our Congregation". He then read out his profession document and signed it, before placing it at the centre of the altar, where it remained throughout the Mass. As a newly-professed monk, Br Edmund sang three times the Suscipe verse from Psalm 118: 'Uphold me, Lord, according to your promise and I shall live, and let my hope not be in vain', a symbol of a monk's complete offering of self to God. This was followed by invocation of the saints in the sung Litany, for which Br Edmund lay prostrate in front of the altar on a black funeral pall. "You will die to self", the Abbot said, "and rise again with Christ. You will not leave this Abbey church the same as you entered, even though you will be tempted to believe that to be true and even act as if nothing of significance has taken place. But everything is about to change".
The Abbot outlined some of the stages in the journey that had brought Br Edmund to Ampleforth, from horticulture, to bookshops, a kitchen manager, working in an estate agency, "to Ampleforth, and so you bring all that history into this moment of self-gift".
More than one hundred guests were present in the Abbey church for the Solemn Profession and at the lunch afterwards in the Main Hall, as they celebrated with the newly-professed monk.
"The strong and deeper our roots in Jesus", the Abbot said, "the firmer our future will be. Edmund, open your heart today, choose to be a committed partner in a truly sustainable monastic future. Let the 'Yes' be the fire that fuels your daily journey".
