Remembering Brother Joe

Today, the monks of St. Procopius Abbey say “Bon voyage!” to their confrere Joseph Vesely, O.S.B. After 92 years on this planet, Brother Joe goes home to the Father’s house.

Ever since I began my association with the monastery as an oblate, I always looked up to Brother Joe. He was not very talkative, but always wore a placid, welcoming smile on his face. He was not highly educated, in a worldly way, but you sensed that he carried within himself a deep knowledge of God. He was my picture of a “true monk.”

Some years ago when he had one of his many leg surgeries—his knees were replaced and then broke his leg in an accident—he found himself more or less confined indoors. Being an active man, serving in the carpentry shop, managing the refectory and the apple orchard, Brother Joe loved being outside and doing things. I visited him during his convalescence and gave him a book entitled Scratching the Woodchuck, a charming little collection of reflections and observations of life on an Amish farm. I thought it would transport him outdoors, if only in his imagination. I saw him at an oblate meeting shortly afterward and he told me he enjoyed reading the book, but it was going slowly because he couldn’t neglect his lectio divina. Brother Joe always had his priorities straight.

Fr. James Flint O.S.B., in his eulogy, emphasized a constant theme: Brother Joe always wanted to “learn more and pray better.” He said this:

He was a faithful practitioner of the slow, meditative reading of Scripture that characterizes the monastic life. A couple months ago, after Brother Joseph had been absent first for Sunday solemn vespers and then for supper, I stopped by his room and found him in his chair, sound asleep, with his battered and obviously much-used Jerusalem Bible open before him.

A simple, humble man, who for me epitomized the Benedictine way of life, worked at whatever task he was given, big or small, completing it thoroughly, and well. He lived the stability of his vocation for sixty-eight years, never forgetting the most important thing: loving communion with God.

Fr. Jim said of him:

Brother Joseph’s days were joyous. He had come to know experientially, I think, the truth of what St. Paul promises, the living presence of God’s love for those who have spent their days seeking Him. So what Brother Joseph forgot in his declining years were such matters as resentments, hurts, harsh judgments. What he did not forget, ever, was the desire to learn more and to pray better. We pray this evening that he is enjoying the result of nearly ninety-two years of very determined application to his studies.

Brother Joe, I thank God I got to know you, even just a little. You don’t know what a role model you are to me. I know I shouldn’t be sad at your passing, but I will miss you.

Pray for us…and welcome home!