Grace to you and Peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come. This may be a strange voice to most of you since you are more familiar with the voice of Dom John Eudes the superior here for a year and a half. Dom John had finished his term as superior of Our Lady of the Philippines a week ago, August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Beloved Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was also the day that I assumed the rein of responsibility to guide and serve the monks of OLP. It was not without trepidation that I accepted the appointment as superior ad nutum of this community. However, I believe that God does not command impossible things. If He commands something which seems difficult, it is that we may ask for help; and He will help us so that we may be able to do it. With this in mind I put all my trust in Him.

I would like to introduce myself to you all. I'm Fr. Alberic A. Maisog, a native of the Philippines. I was born in 1958 in the town of Aloran, Misamis Occidental. It is in the southern part of the Philippines. I joined this community in 1986 and made my solemn profession in 1992. In 1993, I was sent to our mother house, Assumption Abbey, in Ava, Missouri to help there because the monks are getting older and there's a scarcity in vocation. After many prayerful discernments, I eventually changed my vow of stability in 1998. With another stroke of Divine Providence I am back again to where I started!

Now, I feel like dancing with Divine Providence. Fr. Charles Cummings in his email to me remarks: "Not a bad partner, but unpredictable One." I do have some apprehensions because I do not know what kind of dance is this. I might step on His toes, or my back might be broken by too much twisting! But in one of my talks with the former abbot of my community in Missouri, he said, "It's really not that all crucifixion, there will always be some consolations." I was very much encouraged by these words, and also of the support of the monks there and here.

The more I realized that I am truly loved, the more I felt the inner freedom to come here in peace and to let inner debate about what will happen next subside. The peace and joy that come from having to endure something for the love of God, no matter how little & trivial it is, is indeed incomparable and is always beyond any human articulation.

A good friend of mine from San Mateo, California gave me a T-shirt. In front of the T-shirt it says, "Keep on working for the Lord. The payment is not much, but the retirement plan is out of this world."

I suppose that Dom John Eudes is now nibbling some of his retirement benefits, first and foremost, as a retired abbot of Genesee Abbey and as an appointed superior of Our Lady of the Philippines. Most of you might know that Dom John Eudes is one of the most influential monks of our Order. With all his services to our Order, as a whole, and to our other communities, without any shadow of a doubt, he highly deserves a retirement plan that is out of this world! We certainly had profited from his gentle wisdom and vast experience. We are deeply grateful to him for all his services to us.

With him as the superior here, we had a good taste of what Genesee Abbey is. I think it is good to let you know, if you have not known it yet, that our community is a joint venture of the houses of the U.S. region, that is, monks from different monasteries of our Order in the States founded this community. They came from Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, Holy Spirit Abbey in Georgia, Holy Trinity Abbey in Utah, and Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina. Before they came here in 1972, they formed a community life at Assumption Abbey in Ava, Missouri for about six months. This is one of the reasons why Assumption Abbey assumed the paternity of OLP and became its mother house.

With Dom Joseph Chu-Cong from Spencer who was abbot here for six years, we had some tastes of what St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, MA is. So now, we will see how OLP will be like!

Know that you will be always in our prayers. God never asks us to accomplish the impossible, but only to do what we can under the conditions in which we find ourselves. God bless you all.

Superior of Our lady of the Philippines
Trappist Abbey
5045 Jordan, Guimaras
Philippines