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As they have since 1889, the monks of Mount Angel Abbey, the faculty of Mount Angel Seminary, and friends and staff of the Abbey welcomed seminarians for the new school year with the Mass of the Holy Spirit at the

Abbey church on Monday morning, August 28.

Listen to Abbot Jeremy’s homily

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Abbot Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B., chancellor of Mount Angel Seminary, presided at the concelebrated Mass and gave the homily. Invoking the Holy Spirit and welcoming all the students to the hilltop, Abbot Jeremy reminded the congregation that August 28 is also the feast of St. Augustine. He described St. Augustine as “an absolute giant of the Catholic theological tradition.” The Abbot told the students that they “will hear of [St. Augustine] in our pursuit of philosophy, of the arts, of pastoral practice, of rhetoric, of spiritual growth.”

But, what is truly important to know about St. Augustine is this: “What the Holy Spirit found and molded in Augustine is the same basic ‘stuff and material’ that exists in every human being — student, faculty, monk, employee, guest.”

As the school year begins, each student may have different talents academically, but all are called to respond to the gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit. “We are to praise the Holy Spirit for the gifts he poured out on [St. Augustine] for the sake of the Church, for the sake of the world,” said the Abbot. “We pray to the Holy Spirit today for the same gifts.”