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On October 14th Br. Hervé took his life commitment in our community through solemn profession and vows of religion. On this occasion Fr Abbot gave a homily whose text you can read below.

« The Kingdom of God is like a treasure in a field... » (Matt. 13)

Brother Hervé! We have known you for a long time...
However I still have questions:
Who told you there was a hidden treasure?
And where it was hidden? How did you discover it?
That you found the pearl of great value will not surprise anybody... But where did you get the strength to sell, to wait?

The answer — or at least a good part of it — is to be found in that new life that you received from your family, your parents, fiends, relatives, those who trained you, who bent over your “cradle”. A new life handled with restored humanity. And isn’t the answer also to be found in the promise of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet:

“I will take you out of the nations... I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land... I will give you a new heart... a new spirit... Then you will keep my laws... faithful...”

Herve, you are part of the people of the promise, and so are we, with you! Your life is written in the palm of God’s hand. The hand of God is large. There are many other lives with yours; the most visible are the brothers of your community, notwithstanding those who have preceded us in heaven.

Then you will find the swarming life of the Church too: it is one of the main concerns of regular canons: “It is their home!”. You give yourself to the “Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Leffe”, which is part of the worldwide Church. We love this Church, and so we serve it, as agents of communion in such an individualised society.

Your brothers, the Church, is of course our world today. And its balance is so fragile! The life of our worlds is like a building which was built on a steep slope. This is surely unsecure. We give ourself to the Church to be sent — like Him — to the world, and to make Him alive. Never forget the hospitality of the hand of God which carries you, and us with you, together with the Church, the world... When I look at the Abbey’s shield I see all that is that tight wheat sheaf; all our lives are engraved in it, so that we are elsewhere like in exile.

We all know this passage of St Augustine’s “Confessions”, which so well expresses it: “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

For us, this hidden but so active presence of God becomes our hidden treasure, not in a field, but in the heart of our Brothers, of every man, unto our own heart, sometimes quite divided and isolated.

“I will take you back to your land... where the heart is not divided, but is back to its wholeness, to its unity... where the does not stay isolated, but comes to communion, and sings at unison...

“The multitude of those who had come to the faith was one heart and one soul in God”. This text from Acts is a spotlight in our canocical spirituality. We will be God seekers, watchmen, bridge builders... not isolated, but working in common. Let’s start among us! A wonderful school, supposing an “upside down world”, at home, on behalf of the Gospel. Of course, we are so different from each other, even though we wear the same habit, our differences unveil a unique richness: “gifts from God”, they are not offered to affirm our own personality, but to serve others in a better way” (D. Bonhöffer)

The deep and respectful contemplation of God, living in our brothers. “Honour God himself in your brothers, whose temples you have become” (Rule of St Augustine)

Brothers and sisters,
The profession of Brother Hervé is not a “private act” but rather a “pearl of great value” on the crown of the life of the Church. Our scheme of religious life does not follow a “special way” invented by the Church for consecrated brothers, athletes in exercising virtues. We are planted on the wide way of Salvation history, and we are introduced in the unique project of a God who so much loves man that He wants to share his humanity to give him part to his divinity.

Brother Hervé,
You are now going yo take your vows...
May the gift of yourself have the taste of a well pleasing sacrifice to God!

Go forth, into deeper waters.

[updated on the 08.12.06]

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