Benedictine Oblate Newsletter No. 14, December 2011
Via Vitae way of life
Benedictine Oblates of The World Community for Christian Meditation
BENEDICT THE BLESSED ONE
C
an the pursuit of a spiritual path lead to the very egocentricity it is trying to escape? Not infrequently. The Desert monks were acutely aware of this danger especially in solitude and relied above all upon the abba-disciple relationship to avoid it.
It was however Benedict of Nursia (480-550) who devised a masterly, sapiential formula of training for the mystical life
based on community rather than a personal master. His Rule, though, is masterly especially in its modesty - and despite lacking any direct mystical doctrine. Even his name is anonymous, meaning the ‘blessed one’ as the Buddha was often called by his followers. The story of his life is known to us through legendary miracle stories collected as theological illustrations by Pope Gregory, a former monk under the Rule. These inspired innumerable works of art, most beautifully in the frescoes by Signorelli and Sodoma at Monte Oliveto Maggiore, worth a week’s retreat in themselves. Benedict began his monastic journey in an archetypal desert mode. He dropped out of school in Rome, (‘wisely ignorant’), curiously so for the founder of the system that saved learning in the Dark Ages. He took the habit from a nearby hermit and then spent years in a cave (Sacro Speco) in Subiaco, near Rome and still one of the most presencefilled and holy places in the world. He taught the Gospel to the pagan peasants around him anticipating the missionary branch of his spiritual progeny in future centuries. When some leaderless monks in the vicinity begged him to come and be their abbot, he kindly but unwisely accepted. He was too strict for them and, not for the last time in monastic history, the community tried to murder their abbot. He left them, but stayed in the coenobitic (community) form of monastic life rather than returning to solitude. He formed twelve monasteries each with twelve monks. Modern sociologists reading the rule note the emphasis on smallness for healthy group dynamics. Even in the big community he organises the members in ‘deaneries’ of ten. Yet in Chapter One of his Rule on ‘The Kinds of Monks’ he sees solitude as the goal. After an unspecified ‘long’ period of time in the monastery those who have ‘built up their strength … go from the battle line in the ranks of their brothers to the singlehanded combat of the desert.’ The military imagery might seem better suited for men playing at soldiers. Yet women, including Benedict’s own sister, Scholastica, whom one story shows praying better and
more wisely than her brother, respond as much as men,
who seek God and hunger for the contemplative experience
with certain adaptations, to the psychological wisdom of
of seeing God and listening to God’s Word? Firstly by
the Rule. The point of the military symbol is not the use of
identifying the call itself: ‘is there anyone here who yearns
force but solidarity, obedience and good management on a
for life and desires to see God?’.
collective mission. The short Rule was probably composed
Quoting psalms and the Wisdom literature as he often
over many years and seems to have a second ending
does, Benedict identifies seeking God with the goal of
attached. Most of the material is lifted directly from the
human life. That life does not cease to be human and
Rule of the Master one of the many other contemporary
variable once the goal is being pursued. When the ‘first
monastic rules. Pope Gregory, with Roman centralising
fervour of conversion’ wears off your brethren no longer
efficiency, selected Benedict’s for use throughout the
seem saints or even best friends. Stability then is one
western church.
of the vows Benedict defines and requires both physical
Benedict’s genius is seen in what he left out of his
and mental perseverance. He would have enjoyed the
original and in the Prologue which is his own. He was aware
rabbinical saying ‘you are not obliged to succeed, but you
that he was forming a softer rule than that of the golden
are not allowed to give up.’ But being Benedict, he knows
era. ‘We read that monks should not drink wine at all but
that people will, and so gives the monk three strikes before
since monks of our day cannot be convinced of this, let
he is out and not allowed to return.
us at least agree to drink moderately.’ This via media and
To balance stability which otherwise becomes static, his
common sense backed up by a firm but flexible structure
second vow stresses commitment to an ongoing conversion
of life and perennially valid principles of time management
of life and manners, a form of the endless pursuit of God
made the Rule, after the Bible the most influential text in
in the mystical life described by Gregory of Nyssa. And
European civilisation for a millennium. Abbots and business
obedience—ideally or eventually practised without delay,
leaders still join and turn to it for light on contemporary
spontaneously and from love not out of fear—completes the
social issues. And interestingly the best commentaries on
triad. Obedience must be practised vertically to the abbot
the Rule may not be written, as is often claimed, in hotel
and horizontally to each other and thus becomes Christ
rooms, but certainly are often composed today by women
like. Unlike later religious orders who saw the will of God
and no doubt one day by Oblates.
in the superior’s commands, Benedict allows the monk an
The Rule is a masterpiece of rationality, modesty
appeal if he is commanded to do what he finds impossible.
and self-transcendence. In the last, and usually least
If it fails, he has to do his best to obey and trust in God.
commented upon, chapter Benedict calls it a little Rule
The monastery is the laboratory in which the vows and
for beginners. Those who want to move on to high school
the ‘tools of good works’ train the monk for the higher
or even graduate school should consult Cassian and the
slopes. If it works well it becomes such a loving and freeing
fathers. So in what ways does this little Rule train those
place that it feels like the summit but this depends on good management. Firstly time-management, getting the
CONTENTS
balance right between physical work, lectio (spiritual reading) and prayer, which correspond to the human
Benedict: the blessed one............ 1
person’s composition as body, mind and spirit. The kind of prayer Benedict describes is communal
Editorial................................. 3
psalmody and reading – a collective lectio which serves as preparation for true contemplative prayer. Stress is
Salt, light and yeast................... 4
the disruption of natural human harmony. Peace is their
The only thing required............... 5
working well together. Murmuring (gossip and moaning)
Marriage & monastic oblation........ 6
is picked out especially for its corrosive attack on peace.
The hidden depth of the rule........ 8
virtues of paternitas and gravitas with not much left (at
Organisational management in the Rule shows the Roman least officially) for hilaritas. Overall, the abbot has an
News from New Zealand.............10
impossible task. He must be able to keep the list of the
An old symbol; Sydney oblate cell;
tools given out for work each day and constantly adapt
Christchurch...........................11
himself to each different temperament. He has the final word but is himself subject to the Rule and must consult.
The journey inward...................12
It is a wonderful, brief, vivid and humane description of the Christian lifestyle in which ‘all the members will be
Preparing for birth; Ash Temple....13
at peace’. Exceptions prove any rule and Benedict makes many of them, especially for the old, sick and children,
Book corner............................14
the most vulnerable members of any society. Weaknesses
2012 events; Contact info...........16
2
EDITORIAL
of body and character are treated with patience – a rare feature in most spiritual doctrines. Yet there is a single-mindedness (‘prefer nothing whatever to the love
V. May the word of Christ flourish among you, R. As you guide each other from the fullness of wisdom.
of Christ’) that never turns moderation to compromise. Focusing on the mundane as he does, Benedict achieves
Benedictine Daily Prayer: A Short Breviary p. 949
something astounding. We see God reflected in the ordinary
T
– Christ dancing in a thousand places. And yet this, he
hese words touch me each time I pray them, as they speak to me of the meaning of our oblate community. They encourage fidelity, perseverance and internal fortitude among other virtues. The ‘word of Christ’ can be understood as our mantra when meditating and as the word or phrase that touches us during Lectio Divina. Being faithful to these spiritual practices along with the Rule of St Benedict enables us to guide each other in a manner that is different from the world’s way.
insists, is still the spiritual kindergarten, just the beginning. with much love
Laurence This article originally appeared on www.wccm.org ‘Weekly Teachings’ 20/11/2011
Mentoring is a firmly established Benedictine practice and noted in RB Ch. 58:6: “A senior chosen for his skill in winning souls should be appointed to look after them with careful attention”. However, we don’t use the word ‘senior’ as that implies a hierarchy that does not exist in our oblate community. It is worth noting that elsewhere St Benedict calls the whole community together knowing full well that “the Lord often reveals what is better to the younger”. Two different situations but relevant with regard to mentoring. Co-ordinators have written to me of the reluctance in their oblate communities from those who have made their Final Oblation, to be involved in the ministry of mentoring. Mentoring is a most appropriate way for the oblate to continue his/her own formation that does not cease at Final Oblation. Speaking from my own experience, to mentor another as they discern God’s will regarding oblation is a gift to be cherished. To quote St Francis: “It is in giving that we receive”. To assist those new to mentoring, there are written ‘Guidelines for Mentors’ as well as supervision. Becoming an oblate within our monastery without walls is not a private affair, but grounded in all aspects of community. Being open to the promptings of the Spirit, “The will of God will never call you to where the grace of God cannot keep you”. We welcome Mary Robison who became the oblate Coordinator of the USA in September. We wish Mary every blessing as she steps into this role, and endeavours to acquaint herself with the U S oblate community. This will take time. Mary’s email address is on the back page for those who would like to welcome Mary. We bid farewell to Bob Kasarda who accepted the role of US Oblate Co-ordinator when Greg Ryan resigned in July 2010. We are grateful to Bob for his generosity of time and energy in getting to know and work with the oblate community, but understand the needs of his other commitments. We wish Bob every blessing and as with his predecessor hope to hear from him from time to time. May the blessing of peace and the peace of blessings surround you, your family and friends during the Christmas Season and remain with you during 2012.
Hope blooms as hopes die. Hopes are veiled desires or fantasies which we use as substitutes for reality or as defenses against disappointments and sufferings. Often we have to tremble on the brink of despair and the evacuation of desire before discovering the meaning of hope. Before we get to that brink we start clutching at false hopes. The John the Baptists of our lives –those who alone give authentic consolation– are not harbingers of doom but preachers of reality. But at the graced moment of emptiness we are visited by hope that enlightens us about the meaning of the process we are passing through. Even if we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel yet we know–with a kind of night-vision– that we are on the way and even the feeling of failure or of being forgotten are part of the process that will flower in the light of love. LAURENCE FREEMAN
With love and prayer TRISH
(from Advent Reflection Week 2: http://www.wccm.org/category/category/advent)
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SALT, LIGHT AND YEAST
how much we can learn from meditating with children and as we approach Christmas it’s particularly interesting to recognise how we can savour the new “salt light and yeast” that comes to us from the children’s childlike understanding of the infant Jesus. Unfortunately many children get very little in the way of a solid grounding in Christianity from their families but interestingly one of the priests who attended a recent “inservice training day” put forward the view that one of the main sources of evangelisation in the future may well be directly from the children. One way that this can begin to happen is if we recognise the huge benefit and impact of Christian meditation on the “precious lives” we have been entrusted within our schools. We have been amazed and delighted at the way in which teachers have recognised and grasped this opportunity in beginning to implement this beautiful prayer of the heart
You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. …
in the schools where they work. In an age where religious instruction has sometimes been relegated to a simple mugging up of facts from the Bible in order to regurgitate
You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others,
those facts in an exam, there comments are truly “salt and light”: “It feels like this is life transforming” “This will have a huge impact on our children’s behaviour”
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. … The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.
“It’s what I’ve been looking for” “I like the emphasis on prayer – not just a de-stressing technique” We know that by encouraging our children to enter their
s oblates, we share the privilege of service; not only to
A
“inner room” or “heart room” they can not only get to
our own community but also to the world at large and
know themselves better but also get to know God better at
in this relatively secular age we have many opportunities
a personal level and this is a gift that they take with them
to honour the commitment that my wife Patricia and I
for the rest of their lives. We are helping them to make their religion a living
made at our Final Oblation. “The three basic vows of the Benedictine Rule are principles of life to which the
reality by helping them to practise those Christian values
oblate makes a commitment of heart and mind – Stability,
they learn in their own lives in such a way that they
Obedience, Conversion. These general principles are lived
naturally share true Christian love with those around
out in personal ways. There are, however some particular
them. In other words, they become a light in a relatively
elements of the oblate commitment which also highlight its
secular and dark world and spread that light in a loving and
meaning. In the context of this reflection: Sharing in some
persuasive way. People often think that the art of persuasion is
way in the work of the community to pass on the Christian tradition of meditation.”1 This particular element speaks
dependent on well chosen words delivered in cleverly
clearly to the work Patricia and I are involved in. This
constructed phrases, but we are becoming increasingly
service is never a burden - we both continue to be amazed
convinced that the deep silence of meditation is infinitely
and humbled at the way in which the saying “in giving we
more powerful. This seems doubly impressive when so many
receive” manifests itself in everything we do.
people actually fear the absence of noise and rush to fill that so-called deathly silence, with the bombardment of
During the past few months we have begun to realise
noise from the radio, television or iPod. By contrast, notice how small children really enjoy
1 Freeman, Laurence: Monastics in the World, http://www.wccm. org/content/monastics-world
quietly looking around their environment in pure 4
THE ONLY THING REQUIRED
amazement – silently absorbing the wonders of nature around them and noticing things that we, as adults, may
From a letter to the Canadian Oblate Community, 6 August 2011
become so accustomed to that we pass by on the other side.
My dear Sisters and Brothers of St Benedict,
Nowhere is this enjoyment of “being” rather than
B
eing an oblate of St Benedict is an affirmation of one’s
“doing” more evident than in the gentle silence of Christian
solitary, monastic self. The self in whose depths the
meditation where the apparently ordinary experience of
Prayer of Christ rises ceaselessly. We must, as scripture
sitting quietly in our own “inner room” is shot through
says, be always in the state of prayer. Do not shout from
with the extraordinary experience of enjoying some real
the roof-tops, but go into the quiet room. …
value-time with our Creator. One is even tempted to
The longer I meditate, the stronger this inclination
wonder whether Jesus actually taught Mary to ponder all
becomes – to be monk, alone – yet not alone. We are, all of
those things in her heart. And, at what stage, did Jesus
us oblates, are monks. Father John often said that tonsure
learn to enjoy the benefits of going to the hills to pray all
and habit, even a monastery, does not a monk make.
by himself? Certainly children seem to enjoy the discipline
We are, each of us, responsible for the discipline of our
of meditation and are able to share with others really
life of prayer, which is nothing less than the communion of
easily. So much so that many of the children who learn to
our Spirit – lost (and found) in the spirit of Christ.
meditate in school, also begin to meditate at home, and
Our primary responsibility is to live out of this profound
often teach it to their parents.
Reality – as we promised when we took that leap of faith
The hunger for silence seems particularly universal among
into the Unknowing. And we must take it again and yet
the schools we have visited and may well be the “yeast”
again, each time, surprised that we are always caught.
that both children and teachers are searching for. We need
Therefore, whatever life may throw on one, I hope to meet
to lighten the daily drudgery of the secular concentration
with confidence, because I know that I am loved.
on targets, to-do lists and exams.
So let us be very very serious about our fidelity to the
If we can spread this belief in “living silence” – rather
mantra, to meditation. Father John’s talks, those Monday
than “deathly silence” then it may well be a source of
and Tuesday night talks, so thoroughly prepared and
evangelisation in our schools and families and bring a new
given with so much love, passion and urgency. They were
meaning to the “risen” Christ in all our lives.
meant for you and me. This is where the teaching is. If the
If you would like to find out more, please contact:
teaching of Christian meditation is to survive in its absolute
CHARLES and PATRICIA POSNETT
simplicity for future seekers – validate it in your own
UK Special Coordinators, Christian Meditation with Children charles@posnett.entadsl.com
experience, listen to Father John. Let us be more mature and confident as we stretch out our hand to one another. As far as praying goes, the bottom line is that we are One, in and with, the Prayer of Christ, always. Is this enough? The only thing required of me is that I stay faithful.
POLLY SCHOFIELD, Canadian Oblate Co-ordinator
wccm.oblates@bell.net
The reception of Teresa Decker as an Oblate Novice, with other oblates who participated in the International School Retreat, Fara Sabina, Italy, 3-9 September. Teresa is the only meditator in Uruguay discerning a call to the oblate way of life. Front row L-R: Kath Houston, Australia; Angela Gregson, UK; Mary Robison, USA; Christiane Floyd, Germany; Giovanni Foffano, Italy. Back row L-R: Mario Bossu, Italy; Fr Laurence; Teresa Decker, Uruguay; Kim Nataraja, UK; Giovanni Felicioni, UK; Stefan Reynolds, UK.
5
MARRIAGE AND MONASTIC OBLATION Twelve Steps of Humility
A
re you still reading that book?” My fiancé asked me
to make an unreasonable demand, the cellarer should not
after she had seen ‘The Rule of St Benedict’ travel with
reject that person with disdain and cause distress, but
me on various journeys. I had to try to explain to her that it
reasonably and humbly deny the improper request’ (Ch.
was one of those books which one never finishes. I became
31).
an Oblate in 1996. Last year I got married. Two forms of
5) I don’t have children yet but reading the qualities
vows; different, but compatible. Surely the criteria of the
needed for an Abbess or Abbot I get some idea of the
call is similar: ‘Is there anyone here who yearns for life and
demands of parenting: ‘They must know what a difficult
desires to see good days?’ (Ps. 34.13). The married Oblate
and demanding burden they have undertaken: directing
is also a coenobite; he/she lives in a community. I have a
souls and serving a variety of temperaments, coaxing,
few reflections.
reproving, and encouraging them as appropriate’ (Ch. 2).
1) Before I was married, in my bachelor days, I was
And change nappies!
free to do what I liked with my
6) What about the teaching
holidays and when I came back
on silence (Ch. 6)? Well, in my
from work. In that sense every
experience, it doesn’t work in
bachelor is a sarabite: ‘Their Law
marriage. However ‘Speaking
is what they like to do, whatever
and teaching are the teacher’s
strikes their fancy’ (Rule Ch.1).
task; the disciple is to be silent
To be married is ‘to love not our
and listen’. In my experience
own will, nor take pleasure in the
marriage and teaching do not
satisfaction of our desires’ (2nd
go together. My wife does not
Step of Humility, Ch. 7). One has
want to listen to my theological
to take into consideration what
opinions at breakfast or at any
the partner wants. My wife does
time. I have to climb down
not fancy a holiday in an Ashram
off my retreat-giving pedestal
in India.
before I am ready for an
2) In that sense to be married
evening cuddle. There are no
is to be under obedience. I have
Zen Masters in the bedroom.
to listen to my wife. It is not just
For me silence is the silence of
me anymore. ‘Constraint wins a
heavy opinions.
crown’, as St Benedict reminds.
7) What about sex? In
That crown is the ability to live
marriage is to ‘love chastity’
beyond my ego and its desires;
(Ch. 4) really a tool for good?
being able to live with others. My
‘Do not gratify the promptings
wife is Christ to me, in that sense
of the flesh’. Well, it plays
she is also my Abbot.
more of a role in marriage than just getting children.
3) If the root of obedience is to listen and respond, that
Maybe the rule has taught me a little that sex is more
is key to marriage. If I am asked to do something (“Can
about giving than begetting. Sex may be part of that ‘good
you hoover the house/ take the dog for a walk/answer the
zeal’ which Benedict sees as ‘fostering fervent love’ (Ch.
door, etc.”) - unless I have some real reason why I can’t -
72): ‘No monastics are to pursue what they judge better
then why not assume that this is what I am called to do. So
for themselves, but instead, what they judge better for
I try to respond promptly. I don’t quite match those who
someone else’. It gives meaning to Benedict’s injunction to
‘immediately put aside their own concerns, abandon their
remove one’s knives before going to bed! (Ch. 22) In sex we
own will, and lay down whatever they have in hand, leaving
are all vulnerable and joyful, it is not a place for power or
it unfinished’ (Ch. 5). At least I should not annoy my wife
moralising.
by leaving undone, or postponing without reason, what has
8) Getting married normally (and certainly in my case)
been asked.
goes hand in hand with becoming a householder. Setting
4) “Let’s go to Venice for our summer holiday!” In this I
up house has its demands. For an academic like me I am
have to be like the monastic cellarer: ‘If anyone happens
reminded that in manual work (cleaning, shopping, cooking, 6
gardening, DIY) we are living like real monastics (Ch. 48). Cooking for one another, according to the rule, is a way of ‘fostering love’ (Ch. 35). ‘Consequently no members (husband or wife) should be excused from kitchen service’. For me ‘toiling faithfully’ in the house and its life and stability in the marriage is the ‘workshop’ where love flowers (Ch. 4). 9) I certainly give more dinner parties than I used to. With house and home, especially in the country, hospitality plays a new role. ‘All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ’ (Ch. 53). Though my wife does not meditate in a formal sense, we share the same faith. For me this is nowhere more clear than in trying to ‘show every kindness’ to our guests. In welcoming them we welcome more than them and realise that our home is more than our home: ‘God, we have received your mercy in the midst of your temple’ (Ps. 48:10) 10) Before getting married I reflected on Benedict’s
beginnings of monastic life’ (Ch. 73). In the monastery of
‘Procedure for Receiving Members’ (Ch. 58) as parallel to
marriage I am still a junior. I have many venerable elders
the commitment of marriage. As Benedict says it is not to
under this profession for whom I rise and offer them a seat
be taken too lightly. Dating is a sort of postulancy (though
(Ch. 63). I ask for their blessing. But my wife is my Abbot
a bit more fun!). Engagement is a sort of novitiate even,
and Prioress. Her orders take precedence (Ch. 71).
in Benedict’s view involving moving in to see whether
I have recently taken up, with my morning and evening
things really work. Then we get our ‘marriage preparation’
meditation, chanting the Office to myself. “Go into the
meetings where we were told ‘all the hardships and
garden if you are going to make that racket”. I obey,
difficulties that will lead to God’ on this path. Then the
and have built myself a little garden Oratory. ‘Nothing
vows: ‘For better and for worse, for richer and for poorer,
else is done or stored there’, I am not ‘disturbed by the
in sickness and in health, till death do us part.’ Or as
insensitivity of another (!)’ and if I ‘do not pray in a loud
Benedict puts it: ‘They must be well aware that, as the law
voice’ then I figure ‘I will not interfere with anyone else’
of the rule establishes, from this day they are no longer
(Ch. 52). The moral of the story is that we should all ‘walk
free to leave the monastery, or shake from their neck the
according to another’s decisions and directions, choosing
yoke of the rule which, in the course of so long a period of
to live in monasteries and to have a prioress or abbot over
reflection, they were free either to reject or accept.’
them’ (Ch. 5). Or as they said in the sixties: ‘Make love not
11) Marriage is a sharing. In the house things are no
war’.
STEFAN REYNOLDS, UK
longer labelled ‘yours’ or ‘mine’. Even our bodies belong
stefandreynolds@yahoo.co.uk
to each other. Benedict’s description of profession fits the self-giving of marriage; ‘without keeping back a single thing
We cannot love or serve others seriously without discipline. We cannot be free without learning discipline. A spiritual practice followed as a discipline raises consciousness beyond the ego level of perception and awakens a new way of seeing. It helps us to see the fruits of the practice in a new way and this gives access to a level of energy beyond what even the biggest or best-directed ego can imagine. It is the non-coercive power of the Spirit which the ego’s desire for control and domination can never achieve.
for themselves, well aware that from that day they will not have even their own body at their disposal’ (Ch. 58). 12) Marriage is an enclosure; ‘faithfully observing God’s teaching’ we are ‘in the monastery until death’ where ‘we shall through patience share in the sufferings of Christ that we may also share in the eternal presence’ (end of Prologue). Commitment. Patience. Monogamy. Monotony. But also depth. Deepening love. Unconditional love. Unending love. As Leonard Cohen puts it: ‘The bed is kina narrow, but my arms are open wide, and here’s a man still working for your smile’ (from the song ‘I tried to leave you’). Twelve steps of humility. I am sure those who have been married longer than me will have more experience. I would do better ‘to be silent and to listen’ (Ch. 6). Still Benedict
LAURENCE FREEMAN First Sight: The Experience of Faith, p. 62.
wrote his rule so that ‘by observing it in monasteries, we can show that we have some degree of virtue and the 7
THE HIDDEN DEPTH OF THE RULE opening and without any efforts. But the Rule is similar to meditation - the outward simplicity, which opens its doors only when some work was done, which involved all three components of each person - body, mind and spirit. So, the Rule, seen by us at the beginning as something uncompromising simple and severe, begins to disclose its depth step by step. Constancy, humility in silence of body and mind, calmness and discipline - all the things we’re trying hard every day to make them the axis of our life - all these things make our vision sharper. And only then we can see that there is something that the Rule says, not literally in the words and terms, but only in experience, which we can get in its simple and practical chapters.
Maria and Albert Zakharovi, Ukraine, with Fr Laurence following their Final Oblation in Poland 19 October 2011
Chapter 20: Reverence in Prayer
O
This chapter is one of the most short in the Rule, and
perception.
brevity, helping the disciple to find the most concise
ne of the most amazing experiences we had lately in
maybe it’s very important. In our view St Benedict tries
our daily practice was an incredible feeling of depth of
to express the most important things with the maximal
the Rule, gradually unfolding and becoming accessible to
way to the logical silence of pure experience. We find
It’s like the spiritual experience as a whole - at the
in our daily meditation the humility and the reverence,
very beginning we learn about the many spiritual realities
referred to as the essence of the act of prayer. The more
logically (the existing of the Divine Reality outside and
we are faced with a difficult but rewarding experience of
inside us, the basic laws of cause and effect, the path of
meditation as a discipline (rather than as a hobby, which
spiritual growth), and it can be supported by some mystical
can be postponed for a day or two), the more we realise
feeling, growing within us. But at the beginning we cannot
that the daily concentration and peace are the greatest
really feel all the beauty and grandeur of these things (and
possible reverence and humility before existence. When we
in our early spiritual experience it was just like this), - that
put off at certain times of the day all that we have - our
is why we can accept and honor them mostly mentally, at
work, thoughts, desires, memory and identity - we start at
the level of concept. Then at a certain point we begin to
100% to participate in something that is and that is offered
experience the true depth of the reality to which we have
to our attention initially. The result of our daily practice
started to go at the beginning, relying on the wisdom and
(as in our own experience, so in the experience of most
discipline.
meditators) is something that St Benedict understands as
Beginning the every day’s reading of the Rule, each of us
the best sacrifice for God - the purity of heart and sincerity,
felt the aspiration and sympathy for this ancient text. But major portion of this sympathy surely was based on logic, and at the beginning we faced the interesting feeling. The Rule for us was like the nut, inside which something important is hidden, but it’s under protection of the nutshell, or, it’s better to say, the protective fence. The discipline of daily meditation and reading obviously is the way of action which can lead us to the very heart of the Rule. However, we felt that moving to the centre of the Rule is related to success in moving to our own hearts - to the inner peace and concentration. It is very difficult for modern people, who live in a huge flow of information and who are replete with this information, to feel the spiritual importance of the such simple and practical texts as the Rule. Many people, including us, are accustomed
Maks Kapalski, Poland; Maria and Albert Zakharovi, Ukraine; with Fr Laurence following their Final Oblation in Poland 19 October 2011
to “understand” any book at once, at the moment of 8
the absence of bifurcation. Maybe, we can compare it with something that Buddhists call the “suchness” (tathata). Acting every day according to our oblate discipline, we begin to open ourselves more and more - and sometimes it’s the discovery of something not best in ourselves (such as irritability, or laziness, or weakness). But accepting it and moving on through the path of discipline and concentration, we understand that it’s the only way to live in the presence of God’s attention, not rejecting it, making it the witness of every moment of life. Brevity of our mantra and the simplicity of what we should do every time, help us to remove the self-ego. It brings us the tremendous freedom that allows us to accept all the components of every day’s life, which manifests the
Taynã Malaspina Bonifácio being received as an oblate novice by Fr Laurence at São Paulo, Brazil in November
Divine presence - as the difficulty of compliance with the schedule of the day, and also, for example, the beauty of the sunset observed by us after the evening meditation. Such an experience we felt in the recent weeks of our
There is nothing more sought after and desired in our time than the gift of peace – interior peace and world peace. Interior peace is the gift of a heart that knows the experience of Divine Love. When we are no longer afraid, no longer caught in the guilt and anxiety that block our experience of love, we know peace.
practice, and these reflections on the Rule became for us a special expression of our own inner feelings.
ALBERT and MARIA ZAKHAROVI, UKRAINE
info@wccm.org.ua
Handoyo Gazali being received as an Oblate Novice by Fr Laurence. The ceremony was held at the conclusion of the Indonesian National Conference held during Fr Laurence’s visit to Indonesia 30 November-5 December. Handoyo is the first of two Indonesian meditators discerning their call to the Benedictine oblate path.
Peace is the result of handing over our very lives to the Divine Other, knowing that Divine Love is completely trustworthy and that all we need will be provided– that there is nothing to fear. Because it is indigenous to human nature to extend what is known in its own heart, the experience of interior peace that we now know is extended in our world. We become peacemakers.
When the rhythm of the twice-daily meditation becomes part of the fabric of our being, entirely natural and so always renewed and renewing, then our life is being transformed from the centre outwards. Then we are learning to see even the appearances of our ordinary life, work, relationships, with the vision of love. The Christian is called to see all reality with the eyes of Christ. JOHN MAIN
EILEEN O’HEA
The Present Christ
Woman: Her Intuition of Otherness, p62
9
NEWS FROM NEW ZEALAND
O
Jane Hole, in her presentation on Obedience, mentioned
ur New Zealand oblate community came together for our annual contemplative time of reflection at “The
the difficulty of moving from our idea of obedience
Home of Compassion”, Island Bay in Wellington on 14-16
as a child (“doing things I didn’t want to do”), to the
November. Thirteen of the seventeen NZ Oblates attended.
Benedictine aspect of obedience. “Benedict calls a
Included in our group were four postulants who had
community to obedience, but he does not call it to
discerned with their mentors their readiness to take the
servitude.”1 We are called to listen and in the listening to
next step and were received as oblate novices. Three
learn to respond to the call of the Spirit.
were from Christchurch, the city that has seen so much
And then we become distracted
instability from earthquakes this past year. So it was with
And God’s love calls us to return
great warmth and enthusiasm that we welcomed Margaret
We listen and return
Moore, Sally Dunford and Margaret Nouwens. Jane Hole has
And we become distracted again
been their mentor and will continue during their novitiate.
And comes the call of love again
Our fourth postulant, Ruth Kinilau is from Rotorua in the
We listen and we return
North Island, her home town being famous for hot pools
… And so on
and boiling mud areas, and our welcome to Ruth was just as
… And so it is and so it will be
warm. Ruth has the continuing support of her mentor, Stan
Ross Miller offered the third thread of Conversion. Both
Martin.
Hebrew and Christian faith, he said, understand Conversion
It was fitting therefore that the conferences over the
as a process in which a person “returns“ as in the parable
three days we were together would centre on the precepts
of the prodigal son and changes by the grace that is always
of Stability, Obedience and Conversion and what they mean
offered. It is not so much we are great sinners. It is more
especially during the time of novice formation.
that we are daily re-encountering love and grace, as sitting
Stan Martin in leading the reflection on Stability
still and silent, we become entirely open to God.
introduced the paradox that Stability, in Benedictine
Another thought he presented was our expectation and
spirituality, implies, of necessity, change. We are required
consent to changes in our life. The surprise often is that the
to advance in perfection, ever striving daily to come closer
changes are not necessarily where we expected them to be.
to the presence of God in our ordinary lives. Our stability is
For an oblate each day is new. Each morning brings our
grounded in fidelity to the community while we move each
return to Jesus. Both in the Hebrew and Greek of our
day to a growing awareness of the Spirit.
scriptures the word conversion comes from the verbal root to return to where we belong.
Our relationship with the Divine Other will always move us to relationships with others in a life of love and service. Since our prayer leads us into Christ’s own consciousness, our life will pattern of what was most characteristic of Jesus’ life, a life of relationship and service to the Other and all others. Like Jesus, our life will grow in its expression of the inseparableness of love of God and love of neighbor as we allow ourselves to be drawn more deeply into intimate relationship with the Divine Other.
HUGH MCLAUGHLIN, Oblate Co-ordinator, New Zealand
hungnz1916@yahoo.com.nz
1 Chittister, Joan: The Rule of St Benedict: Insights for the Ages, Crossroads, New York, 1993.
Front: Sally Dunford, Margaret Murphy, Jane Lys, Jane Hole, Stan Martin; Centre: Paddy Walker (partially obscured) Ruth Kinilau, Janet Price; Back: Elizabeth Isichei, Hugh McLaughlin, Barbara Welsh, Margaret Nouwens, Ross Miller
EILEEN O’HEA
Woman: Her Intuition of Otherness, p. 63 10
AN OLD SYMBOL
SYDNEY OBLATE CELL
Put a steadfast spirit within me. O God … Indeed you love truth in the heart; Then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom. Psalm 51, Benedictine Daily Prayer: A Short Breviary, p. 1106
L
ying sick in bed last week, I doodled with a pencil trying to map the journey of my soul that has brought
me to this day. The many strands weaving in and out, from baptism in the Presbyterian tradition, to coming seven decades later as a Catholic to seek entrance into a contemplative Benedictine community began to resemble one of our Canterbury shingle rivers seen from the air, with many tributaries coming and going. Gradually, more
SYDNEY OBLATE CELL DAY, 8 OCTOBER Front L -R: Janet Sorby, John O’Neill, Trish Panton, Isabel Arcapalo. Back L-R: Ann Bergman, George Bryan, Judi Taylor, Penny Sturrock, Marina Müller, Martha Miglietta, Paul Taylor, David Chauncy.
recently, the many strands entering and leaving have seemed to come together as one steady single flow that knows its way to the sea. The Waimakariri river, always a
F
rom 5-11 October, three meditators from Argentina—
potent symbol for my family, now carries this new meaning
Marina, Isabel and Martha—visited our Sydney
for me as it makes its way from narrow rock-confined
meditation and oblate community. At this time, Marina
mountain gorge, through wide meandering plains to
Müller was preparing to make her Final Oblation during Fr
eventually form a single coherent flow, ocean bound.
Laurence’s visit to Latin America, 1-20 November. Marina
This present river comprises the weaving together of many years of spiritual direction under the searching eye
was the instigator of this visit that evolved out of the close
of a Jungian analyst, the start/stop/start again movement
connection Marina had with her mentor over the years. The purpose of their visit was to learn about the
of various meditation practices, and a gradual giving in to the soul’s desire for the depth and mystery of the Catholic
Australian experience of teaching the teachers to introduce
faith.
Christian meditation to children, and to generally exchange ideas regarding our respective meditation communities.
The difficulties of the last two years—learning to be a widow, breaking bones and the on-going stress of
During the Sydney visit our October oblate cell day had
co-existing with Ruamoko, the earthquake god, have
been planned, and they participated wholeheartedly in
been a thorough testing ground for my first steps on
every aspect of that day. Over the six days our time together was very much Ora et
the Benedictine oblate path. I have found a strong and dependable firm base from which to push off, and a wealth
Labora (prayer and work), but also included an element of
of inspiring people and writings to energise the way ahead.
‘play’, as they relaxed and enjoyed the generous hospitality of two oblate families in particular, who ensured they
I haven’t found it to be an easy path, but in submitting to its rule I’ve been finding the rewards: a firm structure that
were taken out to dine and visited places of international
contains my scattered, excitable and often undisciplined
interest around Sydney. From Sydney our visitors travelled to Townsville, to learn
nature; a cooling influence to my tendency to be hotheaded, and a joyful sense of being caught up and held in a
firsthand from Ernie Christie and Kathy Day about their
world-wide fraternity that plugs gaps of loss and change.
experience of the teaching Christian meditation to children in all the schools of the Townsville Diocese. Another very
SALLY DUNFORD, NEW ZEALAND;
positive and delightful experience for all.
jhdunford@xtra.co.nz
TRISH PANTON
pantonamdg@ozemail.com.au
CHRISTCHURCH Getting back on its feet
I suppose you'd have to say that being in the city of Christchurch is inexpressibly sad (in the damage to homes and lives) and inexpressibly wonderful (in the strong instinct of people to be together, and the ingenuity, courage, humour and energy being poured into getting our city back on its feet). I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. JANE HOLE, NEW ZEALAND; holejane66@hotmail.com 11
THE JOURNEY INWARD
REFLECTIONS ON A SILENT RETREAT
W
e hear promises of expansion of life through Christian
earlier with a more natural period of Christian Meditation
Meditation. Expansion of life was definitely nowhere
as the day was breaking. Such peace! Such inner beauty! It was not until after I had departed on the last day that I
close to Beaumont, Texas for me as I grew up on the Gulf Coast south of Houston. All I had ever seen of Beaumont
realized how internally quiet I had become and how long it
was I-10 as we made car trips through it to Louisiana,
had taken to get that way (literally on the 3rd day). Driving
or the odor-evident petrochemical plants spanning the
back into Houston, I felt like I was being rudely jostled back
horizon, or the local university to which we made quick and
into too much insanity. I didn’t want to avoid life, but I
intense band trips for competitions.
wanted to walk through it in a different way from everyone who seemed so un-peaceful.
But here I was, choosing to spend most of my precious
About that time I realized that I had re-emerged into
Labor Day weekend at a retreat center with a Beaumont
the rest of the world with some really good tools, and I
address. Bottom line: Great decision!
still call them up to serve me. Among the most powerful
I made it in faith, and once again the Holy Spirit took me to ordinary places with ordinary people to witness subtle
are particular memories based on physical sensations I had
transformation. I know to wait for it - but it never fails to
while in the Beaumont woods:
surprise and to touch me.
Hearing the miraculous meshing of unmatched voices and feeling the energy of breath work as we chanted psalms in the several worship periods of each day;
Our excellent retreat leader Gene worked with our excellent retreat center hosts Michael OSB and Peter OSB to
Realizing I was humming some snatches of tonal chant patterns at other times under my breath;
create a respite, carved as it were out of our usual busyness in the “real” world.
Smelling moisture in the wind after a so-long period of drought in our area;
They used rhythms of both sitting and walking meditation
Watching raindrops as they dripped across soaked and thirsty vegetation (yes, during that weekend Beaumont was blessed with welcome rain from a tropical storm);
periods, multiple and throughout the waking hours; didactics with discussion carefully inserted into our overall silence; and frequent brief personal time periods
Moving my arms gently to spread a light prayer shawl around my body with sensation of the fabric falling across my knees in the cool air, as I began work of the mantra where we sat in the dimly lit chapel;
encouraging the traditional balance of work, study, and prayer. They created a strong sense of our being safe and cared
Viewing our line of meditative walkers, winding peacefully under covered walkways in a slow and soundless thread of beautiful human diversity;
for through hospitality in the Benedictine tradition - the meeting of Christ in the stranger. All three leaders provided spiritual mentorship and guidance, formally and informally.
Being struck by changes in fellow retreatants, remembering when I saw the faces and expressions of the last morning back to how they had appeared on the first evening, and then marveling how even through silence we get to know things about each other.
Gene’s didactic sessions were based on the sharing of wisdom in the Christian meditation tradition with its history, Christian foundations, and fruits. He skillfully led the way in encouraging some of us to start our discipline
And I love to think of how a so-small experience of
and others of us to maintain one. We all took part in
Beaumont in my previous life has now been lifted and
nurturing new meditators and empowering them to share
enlarged. Thanks be to God and to all the helpers of the
their new practice in their home communities.
Kingdom!
Our whole group participated with Michael and Peter as
LINDA A. SCHMALSTIEG,USA
they pursued their regular worship practices of the Daily
lmasch@earthlink.net
Office. Our location in the southern reaches of the East Texas
Faith is the light of consciousness found in the heart. The price of the ticket into the heart is the loss of self. Meditation is the act of faith that leads us on the journey from the head to the heart. It is made as it is felt. It is made in the stillness from which action flows.
Piney Woods (who knew they went that far into Beaumont?) steeped us in quietness and the healing presence of nature. I began to experience a restoration through these rhythms, returning to a physical and emotional balance away from my usual over-busy life. My willingness to be kind to myself was tested and won out through luxuries of naps and solitary walks during hours usually invested
LAURENCE FREEMAN
in other things. I found myself re-setting daily patterns.
First Sight: The Experience of Faith, p. 69.
By the time I left I felt a renewed ability to start my day 12
PREPARING
FOR
BIRTH
ASH TEMPLE A pile of ashes which the wind could blow away leaving a blackened spot. This remains of what my ego built and celebrated many years. It proudly stood before like Job, I bowed my will to you, perceived accepted in my heart that what you want from me, had wanted all along, was love unconditional embracing all. A love which saw the sacred in the eyes of each respected them worked for their good because in loving them I’m loving You in hurting them, its full of pain to say, I’m hurting You.
I
f we really want to know the truly spiritual meaning of Christmas, the celebrations and rituals at home and in worshipping communities, we have to know with wellprepared and peaceful hearts what it means to enter the space where celebration becomes joyful. This is what the daily pilgrimage of meditation teaches us from within. In that simple and humble journey we discover what it means to make space in our heart. We feel what it means to prepare the heart for the great celebration of life. As we prepare, and as our spiritual materialism and egocentric expectations drop away, it dawns on us that the event we are preparing for precedes us. The great liturgy has already begun in spirit and in truth. So often we have the experience and miss the meaning. Afterwards we know the hollowness and disappointment at what was merely said or done in external signs that did not connect us with their underlying realities. This is the sad result of being unprepared, of being lost in the superficial. But once we have found true relationship at depth, everything that happens to us is drawn into a meaningful pattern. It is only necessary for us to prepare our hearts and we are prepared for everything. One reason that Christmas can still mean so much to us spiritually, despite all the materialism and busyness which accompanies it, is that it continues to remind us of our innocence. Often, however, our sense of innocence is romantic rather than Christian. We think of a period of ‘lost innocence’ and are filled with that great enemy of all maturity, sentimentality, and that great enemy of prayer, nostalgia. In any season the spiritual balance and clarity of life can be disturbed by emotional self-indulgence, by the cultivation or indulgence of an image of self. These are the common ways we stifle our sensitivity to truth and our
At my ground zero place of blackness, out of these ashes Phoenix-like Your joy and love arise within my heart I lift my hands my heart in gratitude to You Source of all wisdom Love Who came to me gave me my sight persuading me persistently but gently that Your way is best. Ash Temple marks the spot where what was of no worth within my heart was tried by fire. I am committed now. Each time I find unworthy thoughts and ways and deeds within my life I’ll bring them here.
capacity for empathy with others.
RON DICKS, CANADA rdicks@rogers.com
JOHN MAIN
My inspiration for this poem came when I was having coffee and saw a van belonging to a dental company which had the name of Ash Temple.
An extract from the letter ‘Preparing for Birth’, included in John Main’s Monastery Without Walls, The Spiritual Letters of John Main, Canterbury Press, Norwich, 2006, pp. 144-145.
13
BOOK CORNER
from the laity. He also saw it as a fruit of the encounter of the world religions. He draws attention to the fact that John Main’s recovery of mantra meditation for Christians
THE NEW CREATION IN CHRIST, Bede Griffiths
came from his study of the monastic tradition of prayer but
Christian Meditation and Community
also his encounter with an Indian monk witnessing to the less obscured contemplative wisdom of the East. Fr Bede
It is fitting in this year of celebrating the 20th Anniversary of The World Community for Christian Meditation to return to the wisdom and teaching in ‘The New Creation in Christ’
sees John Main’s teaching as the fruit of open mindedness and depth, an integrative vision which actualised in the practice of meditation is what the world needs so much today. There are many gems of wisdom in the book like the story of Father Jules Monchanin, founder of Fr Bede’s Ashram in India who, Fr Bede says; “approached a group of school children and asked them, ‘Where is God?’ The Hindu children pointed to the heart and said God was there. The Christians pointed up to the sky.” Fr Bede comments: “These are two different ways of understanding God and of course they are complementary; we are all learning today how to reconcile opposites.” It is this experience of nonduality that Fr Bede sees at the heart of meditation; God is in us and we are in God. For the Christian, Fr Bede says, this integration is lived out in human relationships. Oneness with God leads to oneness with others. Jesus prayed in the spirit to his Father; “I in them and you in me, may they be completely one.” Like John Main, Fr Bede sees the nonduality of the trinity through analogy to the interpersonal
T
his book is important for Oblates of WCCM because of
communion that it makes possible: “I think that love is the
its subject, its occasion and its author. As to subject the
key. In love, there are two, and each has to go beyond the
first two chapters speak for themselves: ‘The Monastic Ideal
other. They have to transcend their differences and meet at
According to John Main’ and ‘The Extension of the Monastic
the point where they become one.”
Ideal to the Laity’ and goes on to look at ‘The Future of
Fr Bede and John Main met a couple of times and, as
the Contemplative Life in the Church’. He encourages the
Fr Laurence says in this introduction to the book, the
growth of small lay communities and meditation groups
fruit of those meetings was a sense of joy and laughter.
drawing from monastic wisdom but independent, recovering
Here were two very different people, whose monastic
the simplicity of the early church. As to the occasion the
journeys took them away from England (no prophet is
book is an edited transcript of the talks given by Fr Bede
accepted in their own household?) in opposite directions
at the 1991 John Main Seminar in New Harmony, Indiana
and yet they discovered the same thing. As Oblates of The
where, as Fr Laurence explains in his Introduction, WCCM
World Community for Christian Meditation, in all parts of
took “its first form and structure”. If John Main can be
the world, we are heirs of their wisdom. As a foundation
seen as the founding father of WCCM Fr Bede was its God-
document ‘New Creation in Christ’ reminds us of our
father at this moment of naming and orientation. As to the
commitment as Oblates to study John Main’s teaching and
author Fr Bede was a Benedictine monk who witnessed to a
the monastic tradition from which it comes so as to serve
contemplative meeting, even marriage, of East and West.
the unity of all. It still challenges us today to try to realise
In these talks he highlights the influence another monastic
that vision through the openness and hospitality of our
prophet had on his integrative vision. From the beginning
meditation groups and the community of our Oblate cells.
this book is rightly generous in its appreciation of John
Alongside the book are the original tapes and CD’s of the
Main.
John Main Seminar which are available and bring to life
For these reasons it is a book worth returning to many
Fr Bede’s inimitable charm, his humility and his humour.
times and is in many ways a sequel to ‘Monastery Without
Either as Audio or as Lectio these are the conferences of a
Walls’ as a description of how WCCM developed from the
founding father of a community and vision to which we are
teaching on meditation John Main rediscovered. Fr Bede
continually recommitted in our daily meditation.
was a scholar and a mystic which can be seen in his careful study of John Main’s teaching. He was also a prophet who
STEFAN REYNOLDS, UK
saw the contemplative renewal within the church coming
stefandreynolds@yahoo.co.uk 14
A WAY IN THE WILDERNESS, James Bishop
I recommend one with a dated daily reading of the Rule to encourage this good habit. You may know or work with prisoners who would find a
I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
sympathetic insight to Benedict’s Rule and its application
Isaiah 43:19
to prison life. You may be feeling somewhat imprisoned yourself, perhaps by busy schedules, work, or just by all that life tends to throw our way. Whatever your circumstances, I invite you to journey with me. It will not be a journey of escape, for no growth comes from escapes. Rather, I have found a path forged by St Benedict, a “way” to live while we are in our wildernesses. I invite you to join me on this way in the wilderness.
JAMES BISHOP
jamesbishop@mannex.com
MANIFESTING IN FORM, Eileen O’Hea Final writings and poems 1994-2005
T
he room spun, and I reached a sweaty hand toward the table in front of me, attempting to steady myself. The
gavel struck. I had expected to hear a deep echo, the echo you hear in the movies when the judge’s gavel exclaims the finality of judgment. There was no echo. There was only a dead thud, muted in the same way as my expectations of a last-minute miracle. I was sentenced to twelve years in prison, and with good
E
behavior I would serve at least ten of those years. I sat in
ileen’s writings capture the distilled wisdom of a woman
my cell afterward thinking about what I would do with all
who has been seeking God all her life and who had
that time, and still somewhat flummoxed that God had
come to know the God who was also seeking her within her
failed to provide a miracle.
seeking …
But God had provided a miracle, and the miracle was the
Her last writings possess the clarity, precision, even
decade I would spend in prison.
terseness of a teacher skilled at her craft. They carry that
I was introduced to the Rule of Saint Benedict at the
sweet pain that truth cuts us with as it slices through old
end of my first year in prison. I fell in love with it almost
fixed patterns, melts down comfortable self-deceptions,
immediately, and saw great depth and insight. The parallels
and opens us to the wonderful formlessness of the real.
of prison life and monastic life were striking, but as I
They also have that radical refreshing humility of a genuine
learned to live the Rule as best I could under those harsh
teacher who is in passionate love with the truth, not her
circumstances, I was experiencing tremendous personal
reputation.
LAURENCE FREEMAN
growth. When I was released from prison ten years later, I continued applying the Rule to my daily life, and found it to be replete with lessons for personal growth in “normal”
To receive the love of a friend, husband, wife, or any person – or even a pet – is to know the experience of Divine Love. All is one. Love of God and love of neighbour are not separate realities.
daily life. “A Way in the Wilderness” is not simply a commentary on the Rule of Benedict. Rather, it is a guide to using the Rule to help us through our own wildernesses in life. I draw from experience in prison and from my own life outside of prison. I also include basic instructions of daily meditation. Though some of the content is based on prison experience, it is intended also for “the rest of us” who live in prisons of our own constructions. The full text of the Rule is
EILEEN O’HEA
included and I read several different translations of the
Manifesting in Form: Last writings and poems 1994-2005
Rule of St Benedict. Each one was useful and helpful, but 15
MONTE OLIVETO RETREAT 9-16 June 2012
THE BOOK OF THE HEART STAGES OF CONTEMPLATION
JOHN MAIN SEMINAR
SPIRITUALITY & ENVIRONMENT 16-19 August 2012 INDAIATUBA/SP, BRAZIL with LEONARDO BOFF, FREI BETTO OP, LAURENCE FREEMAN OSB
T
T
change and development. But we need a sense of the
world and those wishing to discover the practice.
he essential nature of the human journey is like meditation: it cannot be analysed or measured. Ends
and beginnings meet and cycles of growth make for fresh journey and its main stages in order to make meaning of our lives and to endure their dark nights. The theme of this year’s Monte Oliveto retreat explores how we can perceive what is happening on the inner journey and how this can bring us to self-knowledge, true personal freedom and the confidence to love.
he John Main Seminar is an annual event designed to broaden and deepen the teaching of Christian
Meditation. It brings together meditators from around the
PRE-SEMINAR RETREAT BE WHO YOU ARE Led by Laurence Freeman 13-16 August The Christian understanding of Jesus as the Word made flesh transforms the way we see our own humanity and also the natural world we are part of. "Nothing that is not against nature is against Christ" (Clement of Alexandria)— this liberating insight has to be more courageously embraced in our own time so that the mystery of Christ can become fully transformative. But this is not only a theological project. It begins—and finds its culmination— at the deeply personal level of experience. And this is why meditation inour own tradition is such a blessing and necessity—it opens us to the mystery of the inner Christ and to the cosmic Christ simultaneously. Our daily meditation
Jamb figure of Abraham, with head turned hearing God's message North Transept Central Portal, Chartres Cathedral
leads us to self-knowledge and also gives us new words with which to understand and communicate the Word itself.
Using traditional imagery such as the Ars Contemplativa figures at Chartres Cathedral as well as contemporary psychological insights Fr Laurence’s talks—together with the unique atmosphere of beauty, peace, silence and
Bookings and further info: www.johnmainseminar2012.com www.wccm.org
community which have come to characterise the Monte Oliveto annual retreat—present a special opportunity to grow in wisdom and peace by understanding what the journey of our life is and what it means. Bookings and further info: www.wccm.org
NATIONAL OBLATE CO-ORDINATORS USA: Mary Robison, maryrobison@mac.com UK: Eileen Dutt, eileendutt@yahoo.co.uk NEW ZEALAND: Hugh McLaughlin, hungnz1916@yahoo.com
VIA VITAE, No. 14, December 2011 EDITOR:
Trish Panton PO Box 555 Pennant Hills, NSW Australia 1715 Tel: +61 2 9489 1780 Mobile: +61 409 941 605 Email: pantonamdg@ozemail.com.au
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alexandra Irini, Australia
ITALY: Giovanni Foffano, foffano@libero.it IRELAND: Rowena O’Sullivan, rowenaos@gmail.com CANADA: Polly Schofield, wccm.oblates@bell.net BRAZIL: Marcelo Melgares, marcelomelgares@yahoo.com.br AUSTRALIA and INTERNATIONAL: Trish Panton, pantonamdg@ozemail.com.au