Reflection from Brother Kyle when he first entered Mepkin

“It is good to feel like I’ve found home, and I look forward to the joy of simply being with this Mepkin community I love.”

Reflection from Brother Kyle when he first entered Mepkin

Brother Kyle passed away Tuesday, March 5. He entered our Mepkin community September 14, 2022. A gifted writer, his reflections were admired by many. Below is the first reflection he shared where he introduces himself to the Mepkin family.

Dear Mepkin family,

My name is Kyle Berceau, I am 32 years old, from Wilmette, IL, and I feel held in adoration as I gratefully embark on this new passage in my relationship with Jesus in entering the monastery. My life story includes highlights of attending the University of Notre Dame where I studied Finance and Spanish; the glory of the game of baseball in all its capacities, playing, coaching, and studying the great game; long, difficult, but teaching trials with autoimmune colon and liver illness, which have thoroughly enriched my interior life, my capacity to listen to the body, and my understanding of the Paschal Mystery in my life; and a spiritual adventure through multiple religious traditions as Jesus’ love took me on a Tolkein-esque “There-and-back again” journey after his heart, ordering the love of my heart back to its source in the anchor of His Real Presence, true God and true man, in the Eucharist.

For a few years now I have been discerning how God wishes me to give my life to him in complete availability and service to the people of God. I was a member of Mepkin’s first Monastic Institute in 2018 and have since revisited about five times. After spending the last two years discerning priesthood in the diocese of Chicago, it became clear to me the deeper union of my heart, that place where my heart meets the Lord’s in my unique humanity, is in the monastery. I once reflected, and this statement stays with me in a powerful way: “I am made to read, to pray, to write, and to simple gaze on the Lord in my heart and in others.” It is good to feel like I’ve found home, and I look forward to the joy of simply being with this Mepkin community I love, and to growing and dreaming together with Her as to all God is inviting this community to become in the future from glory to glory.

I share a piece of art I beheld in the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame the weekend before I entered. It speaks much to my life and vocation with Mary upholding me tenderly on the Cross as her sweet, gentle, and loving hand has continually beckoned me forth into new life and grace on the journey. The piece is more beautiful in the fact that the day I arrived at the monastery was the memorial of the Holy Name of Mary before entering on the Exaltation of the Cross, and the Vigil of Our Lady of Sorrows. Jesus living in Mary, bless you.

Kyle