The Catholic Leader - 21 April 2019 - Issue 5548

9 / 28

9
The Catholic Leader, April 21, 2019
News
Make an offering i your W l
Please prayerfully consider including a gift in your Will (a bequest) to support the
vital ministries of the Archdiocese of Brisbane. Help secure the future of our Faith.
Contact the Archdiocese of Brisbane today for your bequest information kit.
Anna Herbert, Gift Manager | 07 3324 3211 |
Catholic Foundation
ARCHDIOCESE OF BRISBANE
By Joe Higgins
BENEDICTINE Father Robert
Nixon says his first year as a priest
has been an incredible experience.
And the key to his experience – the grace of
God.
Fr Nixon said he could feel the grace of God
working through him in the celebration of the
sacraments and in the communication of God’s
saving message, through the ministries of
preaching proclamation.
“I have a deep and indescribable sense of awe
each time I offer the sacrifice of the Mass, know-
ing that it is partaking in the greatest sacrifice of
Christ, through which alone we are saved,” he
said.
Fr Nixon has spent the year with the New
Norcia Benedictine Community in Western
Australia, one of few Benedictine monasteries in
Australia.
The monastery was established in the 1840s
and is the heart of the New Norcia town.
It was this monastic life of the Benedictines
that stood out to Fr Nixon when he was discern-
ing his vocation.
“I had often thought about what it would be
like to be a monk – but it is hard to imagine
it accurately or realistically, without actually
spending time at a monastery,” Fr Nixon said.
“I made a retreat at New Norcia, and I was
very drawn to the reflective approach to the
liturgy, to the high priority given to prayer, and
lack of ‘worldliness’ in the community.
“Monastic life is not for everyone, of course,
but I found it a wonderful way of witnessing to
and living the Gospel.”
And while his discernment was
fruitful, he did have a message
to offer.
“I would urge young men
and women considering a
religious vocation simply
to ‘give it a try’,” he said.
“Sometimes, one can
spend too much time
‘discerning’, rather than
responding.”
His own journey took him
far from his hometown of
Townsville.
He said he was blessed to have
been born into a family with a strong
Catholic faith.
Some of his earliest memories were in the
life of the Church, saying he was privileged to
be able to be an altar server, an organist and a
reader from a young age.
Completing his primary schooling with the
Josephites and his secondary schooling with the
Christian Brothers, he said God was a big part of
his younger years.
After finishing school, Fr Nixon studied music
and education and pursued both careers for a
time.
“It was something I really enjoyed, and felt
that it was what God was calling me to do at that
time,” he said.
“But I also felt all along that
eventually I would enter religious
life.”
He joined Holy Spirit Sem-
inary, Banyo, in preparation
for diocesan priesthood.
But in time, he dis-
cerned it was the monastic
life he was called to.
His saintly inspiration,
as one might imagine, was
St Benedict.
Fr Nixon said at a young
age, St Benedict had the cour-
age and wisdom to set out for life
as a hermit – to search for God and
eternal life through silence and solitude.
“The spirit of Benedict continues to guide and
govern the life of our monastic
community,” he said.
“The daily life we follow, in terms of praying
of the psalms, sacred reading and work, is not,
of course, identical to what it was in Benedict’s
time – but it is very close.”
Fr Nixon said this contemplative life is of vital
importance in the life of the Church.
“It is a life which does not need to justify
itself in terms of practical utility, because its
goal is simply the glorification of God, and the
contemplation of His glory,” he said.
“This is the most important part of being hu-
man, and it is what the eternal life will be.
“At this time of crisis in the Church, perhaps
prayer and silence are the most useful and most
credible things we can do or offer.”
Though, he said waking up early everyday
was a bit of a challenge to begin with.
“But one adapts to that eventually,” he said.
His favourite Bible passage was found in the
back of the holy book.
“I love the description of the ‘new Heaven and
new earth’, in Revelation 21 and 22,” Fr Nixon
said.
“This vivid and beautiful description of the in-
effable joys and glories of the eternal life serves
always to remind me of the ultimate goal of our
life here,” he said.
“This life is but a short journey, a brief time
of testing – but which opens upon the true and
unending life in union with God, when we shall
become one with Him in eternal blessedness.”
Following the call: Father Robert Nixon
‘I have a deep and indescribable sense of awe each time I offer the sacrifice of the Mass’
A lifetime ahead giving glory to God
Glory to God: Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe and the newly ordained Fr Robert Nixon (third from left) among his fellow Benedictines. Photo: Feby Plando/The Record