St. Olav, the cathedral where Varden will be consecrated, is a new building. Constructed in 2016, it replaced a cathedral building in poor shape and too small for the number of local Catholics.
"It had become too small, since the number of people attending the Catholic Church in Trøndelag [county] and Norway is growing rapidly; with an annual growth of 15% in recent years," Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo said at the time of the new cathedral's opening.
Eidsvig has administered the Prelature of Trondheim since 2009, when the previous bishop retired.
A musician with expertise in Gregorian chant, Varden has also published books and articles on spirituality and monasticism. He told CNA that he was "profoundly convinced that the contemplative tradition has much to offer the Church as a whole."
"One of the gravest threats in our current world order, so it seems to me, is a loss of perspective. This tendency affects Christians too," he said.
"To be a contemplative is to strive valiantly to pass from what is partial to what is whole. St. Benedict speaks of the broadening of the heart that results if we really strive to follow Christ's commandments -- and towards the end of his life he saw, so Gregory the Great tells us, the whole world in a single ray of light. This high goal indicates a vital aspiration for all of us."
The monk added that he was "struck, inspired and challenged by the Holy Father's insistence on the joy of the Gospel."
"This joy is not a superficial feeling, but an existential response to an immense, unmerited, ever-surprising gift," he explained. "To be capable of such joy is to be aware of one's poverty and need; it is to have a heart that is vulnerable and open, that longs for communion, for joy calls out to be shared, like a current that is passed on as depth calls out to depth."
"What a wonderful vocation and task this is! And what a life-giving challenge to seek to build up the Church as the Body of Christ in such a way that, according to Christ's desire, our joy 'may be full'!" he said.
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.