Snow at the Monastery
Here are some pictures of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit under several inches of snow — most unusual for us southerners. These photos are by Haven Sweet.
Read More» | 0 commentsJan
11
Dec
08
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen
On Monday Fran and I went to see Vision, a recent German-language film directed by Margarethe Von Trotta and starring Barbara Sukowa, on the life of the twefth-century visionary abbess, Hildegard of Bingen. Many people in our time know of Hildegard exclusively through her music, thanks to beautiful contemporary recordings like Gothic Voices and Emma Kirkby’s luminous A Feather on the Breath of God. But Hildegard was more than just a composer — she was truly a renaissance woman, centuries before the Renaissance! In addition to being an abbess and a musician, she was a visionary, an herbalist, a healer, a playwright, and a mystic. She corresponded with some of the leading figures in the church in her time, from the pope to Bernard of Clairvaux. She did all this in an age when women had virtually no social standing, making her an icon for feminists. The movie is a beautiful and contemplative retelling of her life, from her entry in the cloister at age 8 through to her midlife (it does not show her death, in the year 1179 at about 81 years of age).
If you like this blog, I think I can safely say you’ll love this movie. So go see it if you can, or at the very least, plan on renting or buying the DVD when it is released. Thankfully, Von Trotta doesn’t seem to have any axes to grind, which makes for a rich movie that I think could be enjoyed by both the convinced faithful and the thoughtful skeptic.
Below is the movie’s trailer, which will give you a sense of the lovely cinematography. I think the trailer plays up the idea of Hildegard as a proto-feminist and church rebel; thankfully the movie itself is much more nuanced in how it portrays Hildegard’s occasional conflicts with her superiors.
| 0 commentsDec
05
Quote for the Day
The problem of mysticism is to endow the mind and will of man with a supernatural experience of God as He is in Himself and, ultimately, to transform a human soul into God by a union of love. This is something that no human agency can perform or merit or even conceive by itself. This work can be done only by the direct intervention of God. Nevertheless, we can dispose ourselves for mystical union, with the help of ordinary grace and the practice of the virtues. We have just seen that, for St. Bernard, the two principal steps in this active preparation were humility and charity, or meekness and compassion. They both are “experiences” of the truth: the truth about ourselves and the truth about others. But since contemplation is an “experience” of God by connaturality, by union of love, St. Bernard sees that a connatural appreciation of the sufferings and sentiments of other men is an excellent preparation for the mystical knowledge of God in the obscure “sympathy” of infused love. After all, contemplation is an intimate knowledge of God that flows from a loving union with His will. And God himself has told us that the ordinary way to that union of wills with Him is union of wills with other men for His sake… We can see that, for St. Bernard and his contemporaries, the true fulfilment of the Cistercian life was something more than the literal observance of the Rule of St. Benedict, more, even, than the practice of perfect fraternal charity in a common life like that of the first Christians. Both of these were only means to a more perfect end: mystical contemplation and union of the soul with God. This must be well understood by anyone who hopes to grasp the full meaning of the Cistercian vocation, whether in the twelfth century or in the twentieth. The Cistercian Order is essentially contemplative, and it is contemplative in the purest and strictest sense of the word.
— Thomas Merton, The Waters of Siloe
| 0 commentsNov
22
Thank you for donating thirty books! More to come?
Thirty monasteries and convents have now received, or will soon receive, a free copy of The Big Book of Christian Mysticism, thanks to the generous support of the readers of this blog! I truly appreciate everyone who has sent in a gift to assist in purchasing copies of the book (at cost), and mailing them to religious communities throughout the United States (and even as far away as the Czech Republic).
Would you please consider giving a gift of $16 to pay for a book, at wholesale cost, and the packing and shipping costs to have it mailed to an Abbey, Convent, or other religious community here in the United States? (if you’d like to donate to a community outside the US, that’s great, but postage costs would be higher — contact me and we’ll figure it out).
For more details, please visit the Donate a Book to a Monastery page. And thank you!
| 0 commentsNov
06
Quote for the Day
Thomas Merton. Image by jimforest via Flickr
Men have not become Trappists merely out of a hope for peace in the next world: something has told them, with unshakable conviction, that the next world begins in this world and that heaven can be theirs now, very truly, even though imperfectly, if they give their lives to the one activity which is the beatitude of heaven.
That activity is love: the clean, unselfish love that does not live on what it gets but on what it gives; a love that increases by pouring itself out for others, that grows by self-sacrifice and becomes mighty by throwing itself away.
But there is something very special about the love which is the beatitude of heaven: it makes us resemble God, because God Himself is love. Deus caritas est. The more we love Him as He loves us, the more we resemble Him; and the more we resemble Him, the more we come to know Him.
— Thomas Merton, The Waters of Siloe
| 1 commentsSep
19
A Novice and His Master…
Belltower at Gethsemani Abbey. Image by + Alan via Flickr
Readers of my blog may find this interesting: the story of Randy De Trinis, who explored monastic life at Gethsemani Abbey in the 1950s under the spiritual guidance of Thomas Merton. Although he did not stay at the monastery, his memoir reveals what an impact Merton had on his young life.
In his own words:
This is an article by Randy De Trinis originally published in The Merton Seasonal, a quarterly of The International Thomas Merton Society. It is a memoir of my life especially focused on my years as a monk at the Trappist Monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky where I was fortunate to have Merton as a spiritual director. I would like to hear from you: reactions good or bad or further discussion.
Read the article (in two parts) at Thomas Merton and the Quest: A Spiritual Odyssey.
| 0 commentsAug
27
Chants from the Benedictine Monks of Rostrevor
Holy Cross Benedictine Monastery, Rostrevor, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
When I was in Northern Ireland, I stayed at a retreat center in Rostrevor, in County Down. Just four miles down the road is Holy Cross Monastery, which according to its website is the first new Benedictine monastery in Ireland since the twelfth century! It was established in 1998, and currently is home to six monks. I attended lauds there one morning, and mass on Sunday; nearly all the locals who spoke of the monastery mentioned that the monks sang beautifully, and indeed they were right.
Happily, the monks have posted three MP3s on their website, so you can hear their lovely singing for yourself. Just follow these links to enjoy.
Credo • Jubilate • Suscepimus
The monks indicate on their website that these tracks are samples for downloading, so feel free to save these to your computer or iPod.
| 3 commentsJul
12
Means of Liberation and Internal Conversion
Yesterday at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit’s lay associates gathering day, I attended a class in which we considered a document called Lay Cistercian Identity, drawn up at an international gathering of Cistercian lay associates in Spain two years ago. We particularly examined a list of “Cistercian values and practices” commended to laypersons as “a means of liberation and internal conversion.” These values and practices include:
- Prayer and praise
- Confidence and abandonment to God
- Humility
- Obedience
- Poverty
- Chastity
- Austerity
- Simplicity of Life
- A Balanced Life
- Silence and Solitude
- Work
- Hospitality and Service
- Stability
- Simplicity
- Joy
Although there seems to be some overlap, it may be wise to consider nuances here: ‘simplicity of life’ may refer to simplicity in external matters (few possessions), whereas basic ‘simplicity’ may signify a more interior clarity and lack of complexity.
Even if you are not a lay monastic associate or interested in becoming one, I think this list is worthy of consideration. Some values, like poverty and chastity, may seem counter-intuitive to the spirit of our age. That alone appeals to me, aging subversive that I am. And while I don’t believe we are all called to the same degree of austerity as a saint like Mother Teresa, perhaps a bit more austerity would do most of us some good. Indeed, in today’s economy, many of us have had simplicity of life, austerity and even poverty thrust upon us. When this happens, we may as well try to find some spiritual value in it!
What I love about this list is the idea that it links “internal conversion” with “liberation.” We are called to be free: “know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Culturally speaking, we associate freedom with the ability to make our own economic or political choices. Freedom means nobody gets to tell me what to do. Here is rather a different notion of freedom, a liberation not merely from outside economic or political forces, but from our own inner attachments, addictions, compulsions, and sin. And while we may react harshly agains the idea that “obedience” is linked to freedom, perhaps if we recall that true obedience means listening to God and God’s will in our lives, perhaps this can help us sort out the distinctions between freedom and how we relate to the structures of power in our lives.
May we all be led by the gentle hand of the Spirit into ever-increasing liberation.
| 0 commentsFeb
18
Running with Expanding Heart
Running with Expanding Heart: Meeting God in Everyday Life
By Mary Reuter, OSB
Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2010
Review by Carl McColman
Just in time for Lent: here is a wonderful new addition to the literature of Benedictine wisdom.
Running with Expanding Heart (the title comes from a phrase in the prologue to the Rule of Saint Benedict) offers a vision of how Benedictine spirituality can provide inspiration and guidance for twenty-first century Christians—including the laity. Sister Mary Reuter, a member of Saint Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota and a theology professor at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, understands just how down-to-earth and practical Benedictine wisdom is, and uses storytelling, personal reflection, and thought-provoking, open-ended questions to illustrate just how relevant Benedict’s Rule continues to be. Beginning with an homage to her father whom she describes as an “extraordinary ordinary man,” the author goes on to show, in a variety of ways, how Benedictine wisdom can help Christians to find the extraordinary in all of life’s ordinary moments.
The chapters of the book cover the key elements of Benedictine wisdom, including hospitality, stability, obedience, the beauty of the ordinary, the spirituality of place, and the recognition that everything is holy. Although the book does not promote any sort of method or technique of prayer, the overall message will support all who seek to nurture a contemplative dimension within even the most down-to-earth corners of their lives.
This book can serve as an introduction to Benedictine spirituality for beginners, but also as a bouquet of new insights for those who have walked with Benedict for some time. It’s a slender little book (100 pages plus notes), making it ideal to read as part of an overall discipline of daily devotion. St. Benedict expected his monks to read a book for Lent; if you want to make Benedictine wisdom more integrally part of your life, this would be an ideal selection for your Lenten reading.
| 0 commentsJan
14
iMonk
Michael Casey, a wonderful Trappist author from Australia, has begun a podcast on the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict. If you’re interested in checking out what contemporary monastics have to say about this ancient document, visit this page:
iMonk: Reflections on the Prologue of Saint Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries
| 0 comments
