Denver Catholic

8 APRIL 11-17, 2015 | DENVER CATHOLIC Around the Archdiocese Jim Chevarria Chevarria Insurance Group 2014 Best Businesses of Lakewood Award www.chevarriainsurancegroup.com If you needed long term care who would be your caregiver? Your Spouse? Your Children? Who would care for you? Long Term Care Insurance not only provides expanded care options, it provides loved ones the ability to maintain their quality of life. Call (303) 955-6837 for a no-risk consultation. Protecting Your Future...Today April 15 Day of Prayer (9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.) April 17-19 Vietnamese Retreat (Men & Women) May 1-3 Weekend Retreat (Women) May 11-20 Individually Directed 8-Day Retreat May 22-24 Serenity Retreat (Men & Women) June 8-17 Individually Directed 8-Day Retreat 4801 North Highway 67, P.O. Box 185, Sedalia, CO 80135 Phone: 303-688-4198 ext. 122 (information/reservations) Website: www.sacredheartretreat.org Priest makes lifelong vow as Trappist monk F ather Edward Ho¤ man began to feel a call to something di¤ erent after ministering in the Denver metro area for 37 years. "It basically began with my desire to deepen my own spiritual life and my life of prayer," Father Ho¤ man, 69, told the Denver Catholic. "It wasn't that I didn't have one in the parochial ministry, which I loved. But I did a series of discernments when I was still in pastoral work, refl ect- ing on where I was in my life." It came to him gradually "that the Lord was asking something more, something di¤ erent." That discernment led him to St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass where he has lived since 2009. St. Ben- edict's, situated on 3,500 acres in the Roaring Fork Valley about 15 miles from Aspen, is home to 15 brothers of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, also known as Trappist monks. The con- templative order is rooted in the Rule of St. Benedict written some 1,500 years ago. Father Ho¤ man sought the counsel of many people including then-Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., archbishop of Denver 1997-2011, while discerning monastic life. "I owed him obedience as a priest of the diocese and it was certainly a matter of his discernment, as well as my own," he said. "(Archbishop Chaput) could have very easily said, 'I need you in the diocese … it's just not possible.' "He was very understanding, very sup- portive," he continued. "Otherwise, I never would've begun monastic formation." Last month Father Ho¤ man took the fi nal step in his formal six-year discern- ment process when making a solemn profession of vows with the Trappists. Adhering to the monastic life in accordance with the Rule of St. Benedict, his days are structured around prayer beginning with personal prayer at 3 a.m., followed by com- munity prayer at 4:30 a.m., more private prayer such as lectio divina (prayerful read- ing of Scripture), then breakfast and 7:30 a.m. community prayer. One morning a week, the monks hold a chapter meeting where they share joys, di culties or "what- ever it might be," Father Ho¤ man said. The work day begins around 8 a.m. and continues until noon. The monastery's principal means of support include a retreat house, gift shop, cookie-baking business and ranching. "I'm involved primarily in ranch work," he said. "There are two of us who are basically on duty year-round during the summer, when we're raising hay and taking care of the cattle, and all the things you can imagine go on in a ranch." They raise grass and alfalfa hay to sell to horse owners, and from May through October provide for 400 head of cattle on a contract basis. In the winter, they repair all the things they broke during the summer, he said. "There's a lot of maintenance," he said, which is his specialty. The monks come together for lunch, which they take turns preparing, fol- lowed by afternoon free time for reading and prayer, before congregating in the chapel at 6 p.m. for contemplative prayer and meditation, followed by 7 p.m. eve- ning prayer. While the schedule may appear demanding, it's not a burden at all, Father Ho¤ man said. "The regular rhythm of monastic life really does sustain you, both physically and spiritually," he said. "It sounds pretty rigorous if you're just looking at it, arranged in a schedule, but your soul, spirit and body adapt to the rhythm of the life as St. Benedict created it." He also appreciates the silence and sol- itude of the pre-dawn hours. "(It provides) the ability to free your spirit," he said, "and ask the Lord to take you where he wants you to go." Father Ho¤ man expressed his gratitude to the people of the Archdiocese of Denver for their prayers during his discernment and vows. Eleven priests, along with about 50 people from the metro area attended the solemnity of his profession March 25. Following his 1972 ordination, Father Ho¤ - man served in parishes including Risen Christ, Holy Name in Englewood, Nativity of our Lord and Spirit of Christ, as well as the role of chancellor, and at the seminary and tribunal. He holds a doctorate degree in moral theology from Pontifi cal Lateran University in Rome, and was named a mon- signor by Pope John Paul in 1996. During his profession, in addition to vowing obedience to the abbott, Father Joseph Boyle; and conversion and fi delity to the monastic way of life, he took a third vow of stability to the monastery. "Stability to the monastery means that I am making my vows here in this house … to this community and to this group of men," he said. "I have no intention of asking to go anywhere else—this is the place that I feel the Lord has sent me for the rest of my life." Finding the rhythm of contemplative life BY JULIE FILBY 303-715-3123 | julie.fi lby@archden.org www.twitter.com/DenCathJulie Father Edward Ho¡ man makes a solemn profession of vows at St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass March 25; the monastery is depicted in Denver Catholic fi le photos. MONASTERY www.snowmass.org Retreat house www.stbenedictsretreat.com

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