Land Updates 

What's happening at our new Abbey site in Silverado Canyon these days?  

 

Following the completion of the staking of the project boundary by our civil engineer we trimmed coastal sage scrub and southern cactus scrub vegetation under the oversight of a professional biological monitor. Our goal was to complete this work prior to the March 15 nesting season. The trimming was completed by February 14, and no California gnatcatchers were observed during this work. In addition, the salvaged cactus pads are now being stored for on-site restoration.

 

We also recently completed some "stumping" of trees (which takes the tree down to the stump without disturbing the root/soil). Through this process we learned sadly that many of the trees on-site were diseased.

 

While our approved land use plan called for the entire "orchard" area to be graded, we did modify our plans so that we were able to keep about half (or the central part) of the orchard area.  In addition, we are working hard to nurse back to health several additional avocado trees. We have also been able to retain the jujube and persimmon trees as well as the large sapote tree and the larger walnut and avocado trees near the existing barn. To help ensure the visual barrier to the road, we also are trying to keep all the trees along Silverado Canyon Road.

God blesses the Norbertines in many ways.  
One of these ways is inspiring a circle of friends 
and supporters to share a good part of themselves 
out of love of God and service to neighbor.  
To express our appreciation, the abbey's bi-weekly news blast is highlighting individuals or families whose generosity is heroic.
-----------------------------
Rick Belcher 
In this photo Rick is standing next to
Fr. Claude who offers Sunday Mass in the extraordinary form at St. John the Baptist parish in Costa Mesa.
Bringing beauty and joy to others with his photography is Rick Belcher's particular expertise.
 
Along with wife Silvia and daughter Ana, Rick has been a friend of St. Michael's for close to 15 years.  Rick started taking photos of Norbertines because "of the beauty, reverence and spirituality of the sacraments. Everything is proper while still being personal." 

Rick's photos of abbey liturgies, its events, and confreres have enriched and enhanced every memory and image about St. Michael's for more than a decade.  Rick explains, "I try to capture a small piece of the story with the hope that it will bring a peace of heaven to you when you see the photographs." 

 

Like others, Rick finds that he receives more than he gives. He reflects, "I think of the power of this spiritual family which shares all things in common; all the graces and good works of the Abbey are mine too.  Every single prayer offered is for my benefit as well as the benefit of the rest of the world.  I take pictures to thank the Abbey Fathers for all this."

 

Abbot Eugene and all the Norbertines of St. Michael's thank Rick Belcher for sharing his gifts of photography so generously with them.

Featured Homily 
Blessed Hugh
 

"For discipline is like her name, she is not accessible to many."  Words taken from the first reading for this feast of Blessed Hugh, first Norbertine abbot of Premontre.

 

There are few battles we face that are more difficult than the battle against our own desires and feelings-otherwise known as the passions.  At times, they can be our most stubborn and dangerous enemy.  The passions struggle against any restriction-even the most reasonable, and so we must look upon this lower self of ours as an enemy within our own border.  Self-discipline is a virtue that can be practiced by anyone-although only those seeking moral perfection will recognize it as something good-which is what our Lord implied when he said that his Father had "hidden" these things from the wise and the learned, while revealing them to the childlike-that is, the upright of heart.

 

Rose Garden
When I started re-configuring the abbey gardens in 2004, a local rose expert told me that it was possible to prune roses in our zone of Southern California any time between late October (say around the 20th) and Valentine's Day.  The first couple of seasons, that translated to getting them done by around February 1st, because it was a one-man-operation then.  Since many of the confreres of the abbey have become interested in the gardens - we have a phalanx of pruners available and these have most free time in the Christmas Octave. So the Octave it is: we prune the abbey's beds usually starting around December 27th and go until we're finished, which this year was about January 3.  Each type of rose takes a slightly different approach to pruning, from most severe (Hybrid Teas) to least (Teas).  

We are blessed to live in a climate where winter does not do our pruning for us. In many colder zones, spring pruning mostly involves cutting the canes down to slightly below the level that the winter has killed, which in some seasons can mean almost to the ground. Generally, here the Hybrid Teas are clipped down to a height above knee level (we don't prune very severely here, since the goal is abundant garden display, not very large, exhibition quality flowers) and the English roses and Hybrid Perpetual varieties have the top third of their size clipped off. The Teas are shaped like the large shrubs they are and never more than a third removed, as this will set them back a few seasons and stunt their performance. Toward the end of February, the beds are fertilized and mulched to prepare them for the spring display. 



ST. MICHAEL'S ABBEY
19292 El Toro Road
Silverado, CA 92676