01/2014 Via Vitae

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Benedic t ine Oblates ofThe World Community forC h r i s t i a n M e d i t a t i o n

BENEDICTINE OBLATE NEWSLETTER NO. 18, JANUARY 2014

St Benedict urges us in the opening paragraph of the Rule – Listen carefully, tomy instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice fromone who loves you; welcome it and faithfully put it into practice. To listen carefully,attentively, in any situation we ourselves need to be silent, to let go of our innervoices. In the chapter on restraint of speech even good words are to be left unsaidout of esteem for silence. In the Rule we are guided by a way of life that does noharm and we include nature and the environment. Never do to another what youdo not want done to yourself. 4:9. Benedictine Monk, John Main wrote – everyoneis safe in a Benedictine heart.

We take Christ as our model for self giving, the self emptying of Kenosis. This is notannihilation of the ego. We need an ego to function, but as a servant not as a master.

Metanoia: to turn and be turned enables transformation. We turn from self, openand unencumbered to the Other preferring nothing whatever to Christ. RB 72:11.How can our Oblation be fruitful within family life, especially with the young andelderly, at work, in the parish, and in the social, political and inter-religious arena?We are involved in all or some of these areas according to the circumstances of ourlife, and as we all know, our circumstances do change over time, however oblationremains constant.

The circumstances in which we Live Oblation in our time are many and varied. Look-ing at the posters brought to the Congress, and hearing from each other in our Groupmeetings, oblates are involved in many arenas of spiritual and civic life.

There are increasing numbers of poor and marginalised people in our cities. Wecan’t solve all the problems but we can solve some, by lobbying councils, by bringingfood and clothing and by listening. Listening is an important aspect of being withpeople.

In RB 4 “The Tools for Good Works” we are guided in so many practical ways.First of all, love the Lord God with your whole heart, your whole soul and all yourstrength, and love your neighbour as yourself. 4:1,2. We not only love our neigh-bour, but see Christ in our neighbour.

The sick and frail elderly who are often marginalised in society, are given specialcare and consideration in RB 36. How can we tap into this in practical ways for example, in hospitals and Aged Care facilities?

“The Qualities of the Abbot” (Ch 2) has much to offer social and corporate entitiesas does Ch 3 – in the how decisions can be made. Some oblates may be in a position to offer a Benedictine view of decision making in the boardroom, the officeor in the daily management of companies and in parishes.

Ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue is being addressed by oblates. The oblatecommunity itself is ecumenical. Inter-faith meetings are organised and held regularlyby oblates in my own city.

Refugees and Asylum Seekers from war ravaged countries are not treated by manygovernments in a compassionate and dignified manner. However there are increas-ing numbers of people, among whom oblates offer a way of being with those in-volved in such work. Visiting those in prison is also an ever expanding ministry.

ur journey is a way

of solitude. True, it is

the end to loneliness

and isolation. Solitude

becomes the crucible

of integrity, personal

wholeness, which the

love of God trans-

forms into commun-

ion, into belonging

and inter-relatedness

at every level of our

lives. But still it is an

ascesis. The solitude

of the path is a con-

tinual purification, a

continual refining in

the fire of love.

O

Living Oblation in Our Time(Talk given at the Third World Congress of Benedictine Oblates Rome – October 2013)

Monastery without Walls: The Spiritual Letters of John Main

ed. Laurence Freeman osb

Protecting the environment is a work on an internationalscale.

In all the above we bring a spirit of humility, restraint and respect for those we meet and accompany in their difficulties.

As the numbers in monastic communities, both male and female, decrease there is a continuing surge of lay peopleknocking on monastery doors enquiring about the Rule of StBenedict and asking guidance to live an oblate way of life.How do we approach these and how can we work togetherfor the greater good?

Our experience as Benedictine Oblates is grounded in Oraet Labora prayer and work.

The words Ora et Labora are not specifically written in R Bbut on reading RB 35 –“ Kitchen Servers of the Week”, wesee this in action. Those starting their week of service pray– O God come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to helpme. And when finishing their week, they pray – Blessed areyou O Lord, who have helped me and comforted me. Wecan make these prayers our own when starting out and con-cluding a ‘work’.

Living our oblation is not a task. More and more we becomewho we are called to be. We are on mission and aspire tolive and teach in the Lord’s school of service by example. StFrancis urged his monks – to rarely use words.

R B 4 guides us in our Oblate way of life. These and theother ‘tools’ urge us to renounce ourself in order to followChrist who calls us to ‘follow him’.

The vows of Stability, Obedience, Conversatio guide us inour personal life and in our work. We become grounded inthis way of life and place our hope in God alone. 4:41

Formation is high on the agenda for oblates. Mentoring offers formation for the Mentor as well as the newcomer asthey work through a discernment process. “It is in giving that

we receive”. Apart from the practical formation in the Rule,and teaching spiritual practices guided by a mentor, thereis an increasing need for continuing Spiritual Accompani-ment according to the Monastic Tradition. For some oblates,this course could provide a wealth of spiritual and psycho-logical insight largely untapped at the pastoral level. Withso many lay people embracing the oblate way of life, thiswould be an opportunity for those who sense a call, to beinvolved at this depth.

Meeting with our oblate director in our monastery, wherethis is possible gives us an opportunity to continue formation.Annual retreats also offer times for prayer, reflection on howwe live our oblation.

For those not able to visit their monastery because of dis-tance or circumstance Benedictine Oblate Cell days offer for-mation for all in the cell. In our “Monastery without Walls”for example, we meet regularly during the year. We praythe Office, followed by Christian meditation then Lectio Div-ina, which is concluded by sharing the fruit of our Lectio.We break for lunch and catch up with each other. After lunchwe have an hour study of R B and alternate this with a spiritual book each time meet. We also have an annual re-treat at the monastery of St. Benedict nearby where we havean enduring friendship with the monastic community for over26+ years.

As oblates living a contemplative lifestyle, our lives are veryfull with many competing needs. Living Oblation in our timecan be very demanding, and we need to discern with thehelp of another which ‘work’ we are called to.

In all that we do and all that we are in times of joy and strug-gle we need to remind ourselves – The call of God will neverlead us to where the grace of God cannot keep us.

Trish Panton, Sydney, AustraliaEmail: [email protected]

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Benedictine Oblate Newsletter No. 18, January 2014

The WCCM Oblate Community is a unique kind of oblation in a

monastery without walls. Yet it now participates fully with other

oblate communities from around the world and makes its con-

tribution to the regular Benedictine Oblate Congress initiated

in recent years by the Abbot Primate.

Photograph of John Main talking to the Abbot Primate VictorDammertz in 1982, Victor Dammertz was Abbot Primate from 1977-1992.

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Dear Oblates and Friends,

Hope you enjoy this winter newsletter,it is here to give you encouragementand support on the way. There aremany ways of living out Oblation asthese beautiful articles express. For ourcommunity the twice daily meditationis central but for many the praying of the Office with andalongside meditation times is also a key to their practice ofBenedictine spirituality. In the last editorial I explained the var-ious 'On line' options which are available for that. Many how-ever like myself are old fashioned and prefer books so weuse the 'Benedictine Daily Prayer: A Short Breviary'. The Eng-lish version is published by Liturgical Press. There are of courseother options, some use the more compact 'Glenstal Book ofPrayer' or various versions of Morning and Evening prayerand Benedictine Breviaries in languages all over the world.The advantage of the On line version 'Universalis' is that youcannot get lost. It is always on the right day with the rightreadings. As a breviary user I do often get lost, especiallyafter a 'season' when we go back into 'ordinary time'. Some-times I do not know readings-wise which week I am in (eitherin the 1-4 weeks of Morning and Evening Prayer or the 34weeks of Ordinary Time or those for Seasons for the Officeof Readings). There are annual small 'Liturgical Guides' pub-lished which help – Trish recommends to her AustralianOblates 'ORDO' which tells you all you need. But if you getlost both Trish and I are happy for you to email us and wecan put you back on track!

At the risk of boring you a word about the Liturgical yearahead can help. Please ignore this if it is not relevant to you.We have just started a new year: Sunday 12th January —The Baptism of the Lord concludes the Season of Christmas.)so Monday 13th begins Ordinary Time – Divine Office/Hours/Psalter (however you name it) begins as Week 1 bothin Morning and Evening Prayer and in Readings. This goeson until Ash Wednesday (this year 5th March) when weswitch to the Lent readings. On the first Sunday of a Seasonthe Hours of that Season begins (This year: Sunday 9thMarch – First Sunday of Lent – Hours, Week 1, Sunday 16thMarch – Second Sunday of Lent – Hours, Week 2, etc). Ifwe use the Benedictine Daily Prayer: A Short Breviary the In-troduction to the "Proper of Seasons" is helpful if we take itslowly. (For Lent for example in this breviary it is explainedon p. 1435. This 'Season of Lent' goes on to Holy Weekwhich begins with Palm Sunday (p. 1474 of Benedictine DailyPrayer, continues through 'Holy Week' followed by 'EasterSeason' which concludes (this year 8th June) with PentecostSunday. From there (this yearMonday 9th June) we revert toOrdinary Time – Week 10 (where we had left off at the be-ginning of Lent). From there we go right through in OrdinaryTime (with Saints and Feast Days) until the next Season which

is Advent. Anyway if you get lost just email Trish or I and weare happy to help.

Anyway that is basically the mechanics of the Breviary. Notvery thrilling but it is part of Benedictine spirituality to have aregular form to our prayer, just as our meditation practice isregular. If you read the Rule of St Benedict you will notice howmany Chapters are devoted to the structure of the Office.These may not be the most thrilling Chapters to read but theyremind us that prayer is supported by a certain repetition ofform. This repetition is focused most purely in our use of afixed prayer word or Mantra in our meditation. Benedict givesus inspiration but he is also very practical; prayer and medi-tation is something which, as Oblates, indeed as Christians,we are called to do and to build into our every day. Noteveryone, I know, can or may want to do the whole Office,but it is an excellent preparation for and expression of ourmeditation. There are other ways, 'Pray as you can not as youcan't' the English Benedictine Monk Abbot Chapman said,but most Oblates find having a fixed form very helpful. Nowthat's the structure: If you need inspiration then can I recom-mend again the excellent WCCM Oblate Blogs given byMary Kelly Robison (wccmoblateblog.blogspot.it). If anyoneis still unsure about how Daily Prayer can be practiced, orwhy it is considered to have important value then I am happyto email further explanation and encouragement. If this is notyour way then please don't worry, just keep on keeping onwhichever way you do, and remember that for us the dailymeditation is the key to our practice.

With much love, StefanDr Stefan Reynolds

Glenville Park, Glenville, Co. Cork, [email protected]

Stefan Reynolds

EditorialFor Breviary Users who have got lost

Table of contentsLiving Oblation in Our Time .......................1Editorial......................................................3To Pray in Desolation.................................4Living my Oblation with Children ...............6Ecuador Retreat Reflections.......................8A Kerry Woman’s Story..............................8Meditation is Not What you Think ..............93rd World Benedictine Oblate Congress...10The Rule of St Benedict on the Mantra.....11Boundaried and Beyond ...........................12Not a Book Review ..................................14End Point .................................................16

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ord my God, I call for help by day;I cry at night before you.

Let my prayer come into your presence.O turn your ear to my cry.

For my soul is filled with evils;my life is on the brink of the grave.I am reckoned as one in the tomb;I have reached the end of my strength.

Like one alone among the dead,like the slain lying in their graves,like those you remember no more,cut off, as they are, from your hand.

You have laid me in the depths of the tomb,in places that are dark, in the depths.Your anger weighs down upon me;I am drowned beneath your waves.

You have taken away my friendsand made me hateful in their sight.Imprisoned, I cannot escape;my eyes are sunken with grief.

I call to you, Lord, all the day long;to you I stretch out my hands.Will you work your wonders for the dead?Will the shades stand and praise you?

Will your love be told in the graveor your faithfulness among the dead?Will your wonders be known in the darkor your justice in the land of oblivion?

As for me, Lord, I call to you for help;in the morning my prayer comes before you.Lord, why do you reject me?Why do you hide your face?

Wretched, close to death from my youth,I have borne your trials; I am numb.Your fury has swept down upon me;your terrors have utterly destroyed me.

They surround me all day like a flood,they assail me all together.Friend and neighbour you have taken away;my one companion is darkness.

To Pray in Desolation

Psalm 88, Grail Psalms

by Ross Miller

But the Psalmist does not choose atheism. This is something we learn fromIsrael in her sufferings. The failure of God to respond does not lead todoubt or to the rejection of God. It leads to more intense address. InChristian contemplative faith and prayer this means the realities we knowand practise -- silence and stillness, waiting and consent. What we donot do is rush to easier psalms in our haste to feel better.

Walter Brueggemann, a Christian Hebrew scholar, asks (rhetorically, Ithink) what a psalm like this is doing in our Bible. But in reply he says,first, these amazing poems, the Psalms, speak of all of life, not just thegood parts. And so Psalm 88… militates against every theology of glory,against every theology that imagines that things can be resolved, thatthere are answers, and that we go “from strength to strength”.

Secondly he points out, in the bottom of the Pit Israel still knows it has todo with God. It cannot be otherwise.

People who come to mind include Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde.Utterly shamed, ill and hopeless, he wrote De Profundis (the Latin title ofPsalm 130) from Reading Prison:

… I find hidden somewhere away in my nature something that tells methat nothing in the whole world is meaningless, and suffering least of all.That something hidden away in my nature, like a treasure in a field, is

Humility. It is the last thing left in me,and the best...”

In the depths he found humility.

Another contemplative discovery in painor desolation is joy. It emerges, gently,rising from the pain, in stillness and silence. The Scottish hymn writerGeorge Matheson, newly blind andabandoned by his fiancée, wrote of“Joy, that seekest me through pain”. Itis one of the loveliest of hymns:

O Love, that wilt not let me go,I rest my weary soul in thee.I give thee back the life I owe,That in thine ocean depths its flowMay richer, fuller be.

Etty Hillesum, a young Dutch Jewish woman, was transported toAuschwitz where she died on 30 November 1943. Two months before,they all began their final journey in freight cars. Etty wrote her last letter.It was thrown out of the train as it left Westerbork: I am sitting on my ruck-sack in the middle of a full freight car. Father, Mother, and Mischa are afew cars away… We left the camp singing…

L

This psalm, it seems to me, could be a serious embarrassment to conventional faith. It reflects the situation ofIsrael and of many believers in our day who sense they are living in a world in which there is no answer. ThePsalmist wants to know how he or she can respond at all to Yahweh’s inexplicable absence.

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What they sang would have been these Psalms in Hebrew. In her letters and diary Etty describes how shepassed her time caring for people and reading thePsalms. She found the joy:

…though I am sick and anaemic and more or less bedrid-den, every minute seems so full and precious… I rejoiceand exult time and again, oh God, I am grateful to youfor having given me this life.

My one companion is darkness, writes the Psalmist.

Anne Perry, the very successful and insightful novelist, isactually Juliet Hume, who at age 16, in 1954, joined withher schoolfriend Pauline Parker to murder Pauline’s motherin the Port Hills of Christchurch. The two girls of coursewent to prison for about ten years. Many years later,Juliet/Anne has described how eventually in her cell, inthe medieval disgrace which is Auckland Prison1, ill, aloneand hopeless, she found the light of utter sorrow leadingto deep repentance. These rich themes of sorrow and re-pentance later emerge movingly in her series of WorldWar I novels.

I have written before of the Hebrew inscription I found atAuschwitz, on a wall. It was from the Book of Job:

O earth, cover not my bloodAnd may my cry find no resting place…

The darkness is real. Sometimes no light is to be seen.Sometimes the darkness may be appropriate. It interestsme that the Psalmist calls darkness a companion. It is afamiliar if malign presence, which has first to be acknow-ledged for its own truth. And yet God is here, not some-where else where all is well.

God, please listen to me.I am full of sadness, I am crying.I feel lonely and scared.Do you really love me?I’m calling you, God.Please comfort me.

For me the surprise in the abyss was joy -- paradoxically,impossibly, not because faith and endurance had gener-ated it in any way, but because of grace, of mercy. Still,silent, accepting and consenting to God, a gentle innerunmistakable joy emerges. Grace seeks us through pain.

With joy comes the corollary, realizing that pain and mor-tality are not frightening me any more. It’s an exhilaratingfreedom – presumably also a gift to those closest to me,who are trying to put up with me.

I wrote much more for this article, but space was limited.I wrote about the realities of clinical depression, of the effects of tragedy, of the relentless processing of mem-ories, the progress of chronic disease, of sliding into senility… and of the realities for carers and lovers. I wroteof simply lying awake at 2 am going over it all. I wantedto write something about the hideous murder by poisongas of some 400 children in Syria… that was when Iknew the article had got out of control...

What I know is what the writer of Psalm 88 had yet to discover:

O God our Light, to thee we bow,Within all shadows standest thou…

Contemplatives learn what Rowan Williams meant by aray of darkness, a loving, keeping, sustaining, healinglight, once we have permitted ourselves to cease raging,to set our own agendas aside, to be waiting, still and receptive.

Christ in the Wilderness—The Scorpionpainting by Stanley Spencer

1nevertheless accorded Category 1 by the NZ Historic Places Trust

t is possible to enjoy a deeper, more positive fraternity rooted in a common aware-ness of the potential of the human spirit, rather than the limitations of human life.

It is the specifically Christian task to sink the roots of this awareness deep into modernman and woman's understanding of themselves and their world.

IJohn Main

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Several years ago, while chatting with Fr. Laurence aboutmy plans for my future, he offered mestrong encouragement for my thenlukewarm decision to pursue a careerin education. Fr. Laurence inspired meto undertake this new venture with thesimple directive: “Do it to serve God.”With the idea presented to me with such clarity and sim-plicity, I was immediately inspired to begin the journey. After three years of graduate studies, I recently beganteaching at a private Catholic elementary school. I washired at the very end of the summer, and I was excited tobe offered the position of 3rd grade teacher. Although myqualifications would allow me teach in a public school set-ting, I relished the opportunity of being in a Catholicschool where I could eventually perhaps introduce my stu-dents to meditation. However, it was made clear to me atthe start of school year that the school and its attendingfamilies were on the “conservative” side of the Catholicaisle. I myself generally refrain from such distinctions, as Ithink that making unnecessary divisions in a body that ismeant to be united is a profitless activity. In any event, Isuspected that the school administration and parentswould be a bit wary of the idea of Christian meditationand perhaps assume that the practice was somehow a wa-tering down or “easternization” of the faith. To my surpriseand delight, a parent of one of my students came to me,having read my resume, and suggested that I start medi-tating with the children.After receiving unexpectedly enthusiastic support from theprincipal, I began meditating with my third graders forabout 5-7 minutes a few times a week during religionclass. Many of the students seemed to enjoy it, and thestudents who took to it most naturally were, surprisingly,the most chatty and disruptive boys in the class. Whenmeditating, they took on a new disposition, and alwaysasked to keep meditating after the time was up. After a few weeks, some of the students in the class (mostlygirls) seemed less enthusiastic about the process. I alwayslet the students vote as a class as to whether or not wewould meditate. Although I think it is always valuable tospend time in mediation, I wanted them to approach the

practice in a completely voluntary and joyful way. To thatend, I thought it might be a good idea to start an afterschool meditation club. This would allow the students thattruly enjoyed it to deepen the practice, while also openingmeditation to the entire student body. Once again, I received encouragement from my principal,and I began offering meditation after school once a week.For the first several weeks, only 2 or 3 students came. Al-though the numbers were small, I enjoyed the time spentwith the students. There was ample opportunity to get toknow them. We would also have a light snack before med-itation, in addition to a simple craft or activity (painting aprayer stone, for example). Apparently word spread, andfor the past few weeks, at least 12 students have come toeach session (There are only 85 students in the entireschool). The students range from Kindergarten to 6thgrade. The hour that we spend after school together is veryenjoyable. The students are full of energy after a long dayof disciplined school work, and they enjoy the time to havea snack and make a craft with their school mates. Duringmeditation, they often ask to be allowed to ring the chimeor light the candle. Many of the students are still learningthe basics of silence and stillness; some don’t rememberto keep their eyes closed, while others giggle from time totime throughout the session. Many are still learning themantra, and a few of the 6 year old students have delight-fully creative ways of pronouncing “maranatha.” I try notto critique their behavior too much, but rather try to modelthe quiet, still disposition that is conducive to this way ofprayer. I cannot be sure that the meditation segment of our after-noons is the most exciting or enticing to the students. Per-haps they really enjoy the craft and the snack, and themeditation is merely an afterthought. At this early stage, Ihave no way of knowing. I just want them to have a pos-itive association with meditation. I do hope that they findmeditation “fun” at this early stage. By that, I mean that Iwant the practice to deeply engage their deepest selves.The first time I meditated with a WCCM group, I immedi-ately perceived that the practice was inherently enjoyable– not in a superficial, pleasurable or fleeting way, but ina deep and mysterious way which I still to this day to not

'Unless you Become Like One of these Little Ones':

Living my Oblation with Children by Elizabeth Cardone

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entirely understand. My greatest hope for my students isthat they would enjoy the practice, and be open to its gentleworking in their lives, both while they are young and as theygrow.As an oblate, I strive to incorporate the practice of medita-tion into my life, while supporting the work of the communityand living in the spirit of the rule given to us by St. Benedict.In my own practice, I probably resemble my own students.My practice is far from perfect; I often find myself distractedand irregular in my meditation schedule. I frequently focuson the fellowship and activities that flow from a meditationsession with my own peers, rather than perhaps giving the

practice the serious attention it deserves. Though I am farfrom perfect, I hope to become more like students. Their faithand openness is so simple, so enthusiastic, so hopeful, andso unashamedly genuine. These past few months with themhave been a great gift. If I have managed to share the pre-cious gift of meditation with them in some small way, thanI am truly thankful. The gift of meditation is a gift that doesnot belong to me, or to anyone. It is the gift of the very lifeand love of God, who gives himself to all the world, if webut sit down, and listen to the mantra that has always livedin our hearts, the mantra of love.

n its social role and significance, monasticism is essentially classless and time-less, symbolized by the customs of the monastic life which are passed on down

the centuries. But it is also utterly contemporary. ….

When it is truly timeless it is most prophetically contemporary. The reason is thatthe dimension of time in the monastic life is measured against its times of prayerWhat can look like a mechanical and boring routine, from the outside, is knownfrom the inside as an expansion of consciousness beyond the normal limitations of time and space. Continuously returning to those times of prayer creates thegrammar of each day, the structure of a lifetime. In every prayer period, time andeternity intersect. In our ordinary, fallible, mortal consciousness we are opened tothe consciousness of Jesus dwelling within us. The intersection of our consciousnesswith his, sparks the moment of love, and it becomes increasingly evident that thisoccurs not just at the times of prayer but is incarnate in us at all times.

Light Within: The Inner Path of MeditationLaurence Freeman OSB, p.113

I

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“International Living” magazine has listed Ecuador as oneof the top places in the world for Americans to retire. Andso JoAnn and I, forty years married, did just that: we settledour affairs in North Florida and moved here two years ago.We have come to love our beachfront home on the PacificCoast’s Manta Bay in this small fishing and vacation villageof Crucita. At 78 and 73 we find this a great time andCrucita-by-the-sea a great place, to meditate.

Our meditation received a great boost the week beforeChristmas when Fr. Laurence made his first visit to Ecuador.His itinerary brought him to Quito, Ecuador’s capitol city,for a three-day, December 16-18, silent meditation retreat.His theme was “Christ The Teacher Within, The Way of TheHeart”.

Fr. Laurence presented in English with an excellent Spanishtranslator. My aging ears especially appreciated the pausesfor the translation—they gave me time for the wisdom of hisstatements the better to penetrate to my understanding. Iusually take notes whenever I have a chance to hear Fr. Lau-rence. Mainly I write since my note-taking helps me focusmy monkey mind.

For me, Fr. Laurence’s message, as usual, reinforced JohnMain’s and WCCM’s: meditate using “Maranatha” as myword or mantra, laying aside all thought. Do this twice aday for 20 to 30 minutes. Do this every day.

Meditation’s power to create community shone forth with theforty or so of us in the midst of the silence of the retreat. FrLaurence reinforced our commitment to the silence of the re-treat. He encouraged us to use two books: (1) the book ofnature in this beautiful setting of the Bethania, Valle de losChillos, retreat center and (2) the Bible, doing reflective read-ing, Lectio. In all this we are focusing on the presence ofGod, remembering that we always find Jesus in the present.We are on a journey without end, always falling more

deeply in love with God. That’s how children meditate.They teach us. They’re not solemn about it. And we do nottry to repress thought or imagination—we just do not givethem our attention.

I felt a bit tongue-tied when I had my ten minutes of one-on-one time with Fr. Laurence: my heart was so full I did notknow how to phrase whatever question I had. He intuitively,it seemed to me, responded by speaking of perfectionism,and expanded on this in a subsequent talk. That is a lessonI need to go on learning, probably for the rest of my life:that life-long lesson of self-acceptance, of love of myself,rooted in God’s love for me. As the early Christians put itso concisely, Fr Laurence reminded us, “God became manso that Man could become God”. In meditation I get to enterinto, “jump into”, that stream of love between Jesus and theFather, embracing the Spirit, who loves me as I am, a child,with lots of warts.

I especially appreciated the Benedictine hospitality demon-strated by the composition of the forty or fifty retreatants.Mainly Roman Catholics, the participants included SouthernBaptists, at least one Buddhist, and non-believers. They allexpressed their appreciation for the opportunity the commu-nal silence, stillness and simplicity of meditation affordedthem. The experience of meditation once more did its workof creating community from a group of strangers.

The six of us who made the trek from the Ecuadorian coastto the Andean retreat center were all grateful that we did.We have already met several times over the past few weeks,utilizing the WCCM-produced “Time Peace” CD with JohnMain for meditation, followed by discussion. Out of this anex-pat meditation group has been born. We plan to meetto meditate together here in Crucita every Thursday after-noon. The Ecuadorians from the Sierra, the Quito area, willstrengthen their one group and expressed much interest increating others. Meditation does create community!

Ecuador Retreat Reflections Wally Saunders (352)505-1905 (FL/USA#SKYPE)

I grew up in John Mains ancestral county. I have deeproots in the countryside and I had felt all along that therehas to be something else besides saying prayers, but I keptplodding along on the old strict ways which were ok tooand eventually meditation arrived unknown to me. I wasinvited along to a service to mark the 10th anniversary ofJohn Mains death on a cold January evening. I barely knewthe man’s name and I knew nothing about him but in myheart I was curious and ready for something.

The wind from the sea in Ballinskelligs blew in my directionand just carried me along gently and it continues to carryme and hopefully I will carry with me all the people I meetin my lovely neighbourhood and in my busy workplace.

In the afternoons, instead of a coffee break, I go to the tinycollege chapel to do my twenty minutes meditation. Mywork colleague reminds me its” Maranatha time”. Shethreatens to peep in sometime to see what I am doing. An-other colleague jokingly calls it Marrakesh.

The question was what God has done through Fr. John inmy life. My wish is that little ripples from what I have gainedfrom meditation would pass on to others. I have more joyin my life and I am less judgemental.

I look forward to our monthly oblate meetings. Being anoblate has put a seal of discipline on my two periods ofmeditation.

A Kerry woman’s Story by Lillian Casey, Cork, Ireland


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Two pleasant surprises have made me realise that medita-tion is not what I thought it was. The first was at the ThirdWorld Congress of Benedictine Oblates in Rome and thesecond was listening to a Christmas broadcast presentedby the Queen of Great Britain.

“The Word became flesh and dweltamong us” is one of those familiarChristmas phrases that refers toGod’s Word becoming human atthe incarnation. But as FatherMichael Casey reminded us, in abrilliant lecture at the Oblate Con-gress, it is repeated each time we

open our hearts and our lives to God’s word and allow theHoly Spirit to operate through Lectio Divina. What I hadn’trealised about Lectio Divina is that the fundamental gift ofgrace passes through five stages very similar to those expe-rienced in Christian Meditation.

Firstly, we experience the power of silence in a similar wayto experiencing the powerful impact of the written word.

Secondly, we catch a glimpse of God’s spiritual glory in asilent enlightenment.

Thirdly, we give assent that our faith is deeper than merewords.

Fourthly, we acknowledge that we can only turn this faithinto action by regular practice of periods of silence everyday.

Fifthly, this faith can only be truly authentic if it becomes aregular discipline and if it is characterised by perseverancein our daily lives.

Thus our faith-filled reading of God’s word and our faith-filled observation of regular periods of meditation both playtheir part in strengthening our spiritual life. But the similari-ties go deeper than mere process. Just as God’s word“smites us with the grace of compunction”, so too do the ab-sence of words allow us to see and hear things that wemight overlook because they are drowned out by the busy-ness of our lives – in the shape of radio, television, the Internet and social networking.

We need to be alert and attentive to that still small voice ofcalm, rather than exposing ourselves to the danger of im-posing our own and other people’s interpretation on ourthoughts and on our lives.

Lectio Divina strengthens our faith, guides our behaviourand leads us into prayer. So too does Christian Meditationand the fruits of meditation are visible for all to see in theway that they modify our social behaviour. St Athanasius

claims that Scripture is a mirror in which we can see our-selves more clearly; but so too is meditation, if we allow itto reflect and adapt our innermost being.

The Third world Congress of Benedictine Oblates was heldin Rome in October and was a wonderful opportunity tomeet with other oblates from across the world.

Our own working group (pictured below) reached theseconclusions about “Oblates listening in the world.”

The members of this group believe unanimously that obla-tion is a vocation – a unique calling within the Church andto the world. We believe that living the life of oblation givesstructure to our formation in Christian service. We agreethat the practice of lectio divina develops in us new skillsfor listening to the Word of God and the needs of the world.We agree that the cultivation of silence is essential to theprocess of listening, but also that silence itself can be partof our gift to the world. As one of our members remindedus, “Silence speaks.” From those of our group who are partof the Monastery Without Walls, we were reminded that lis-tening is being attentive, and that being attentive is love –love that is so needed by our world today.

Two months later and in a completely different context I waslistening to the Queen’s Christmas broadcast; so imaginemy surprise and delight on hearing her speak these words:-

"We all need to get the balance right between action andreflection. With so many distractions, it is easy to forget topause and take stock. Be it through contemplation, prayer,or even keeping a diary, many have found the practice ofquiet personal reflection surprisingly rewarding, even dis-covering greater spiritual depth to their lives.”

So meditation is not what you think. It’s not just for the con-templatives, it’s for everyone.

As the Queen rightly said : "For Christians, as for all peopleof faith, reflection, meditation and prayer help us to renewourselves in God's love, as we strive daily to become betterpeople. The Christmas message shows us that this love isfor everyone. There is no one beyond its reach.”

CNP : 30th December 2013

Meditation is not what you Think by Charles N Posnett

CNPosnett

— 10 —


My pilgrimage began when I was asked and then acceptedto participate as the Canadian Representative from theCanadian Community of Christian Meditation of the WorldCommunity for Christian Meditation at the 3rd World Bene-dictine Oblate Congress held in Rome.

October 4th 2013, the first day of the congress attractedover 150 oblates from around the world at the SalesianiumConference Center to pray, listen, learn, discuss and travelas a community of love together with the Abbott Primate,Notker Wolf OSB, the organizing committee and the Bene-dictine monks. We were all blessed with this opportunity toshare our particular vocation as followers of St. Benedict inrelation to our personal, communal and global lives. I con-sidered it a week of retreat, renewal and affirmation that theBenedictine Order with the motto “that in all things, Godmay be glorified,” would be manifested.

Our week began with Holy Mass to thank and offer ourweek to God. The mass and the divine office were cele-brated in Latin, which was quite a challenge for most of us.Group meditation was led by Trish Panton at 7 A:M: in thechapel. The theme of the congress, “Obsculta” the oblate listening in the world, was presented in many and all activ-ities of the congress. These included the addresses of themain speakers and the four working group sessions. Our twomain speakers, Mary John Mananzan OSB from the Philip-pines whose presentation included listening in the depth ofyour heart, listening in scripture, listening to God’s peopleand listening in creation and Michael Casey O Cist fromAustralia who presented Lectio Divina as the “Word becameText and dwelt among us.” Working groups were arranged

according to language and the four sessions enabled us todiscuss the Rule, the relationship with the monastery, or inmy case the monastery without walls, living our oblation andthe Benedictine mission. Results of these group meetingswere presented on the Tuesday to the whole assembly. Thegroup I was in, which included oblates from Canada, theUK, the USA, Africa and Argentina was a very vocal groupwith intelligent discussions on the four main topics. The sec-ond session: that of our relationship with the monastery andthe monastery without walls was a very controversial session. Since most participants were first time participants,the WCCM was a community that was not known to them.Their first exposure to the WCCM was reading the prayercard which was included in their registration package. Theidea of an oblate without a monastery was unfamiliar andnot well received. At noon on Sunday we visited St. Peter’sSquare for a public audience with Pope Francis and thenafter lunch the Sacro Speco of Subiaco. With presentations,dialogue, discussions and reports attended to, our attentionon Tuesday and Wednesday was directed to travelling andvisiting the monasteries of St. Anselmo and Montecassino.The hospitality shown to us from the monks was that of receiving everyone as Christ. The monks took pleasure inserving us a meal, celebrating mass, leading vespers andat St. Anselmo very excited in performing a folklore musicalfor us. Thursday has arrived and after mass and lauds it wasa time to say, “until we meet again.” Now there are newfriendships, new knowledge, and new memories to processas we continue as oblates, living our promises of obedience,stability and conversion on this new pilgrimage in our jour-ney to the Father. PAX

The 3rd World Benedictine Oblate Congress in RomeA Front Row Viewpoint from Canada by Cathie Jarvis, Canadian Oblate

from The RuleChapter 20: Let us be assured that it is not in saying agreat deal that we will be heard (Mathew 6:7) but inpurity of heart and tears of compunction. Our prayer,therefore, ought to be short and pure.

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The contribution of the Holy Rule for the contemplative tradition of the Church for the benefit of all and not only formonks and nuns, is found in the specific approaches ofSaint Benedict on topics relevant to Christian Meditationsuch as Humility (§ 7), Silence (§ 6) and notably the Pro-logue, verse 28. Laurence Freeman OSB wrote a commen-tary on the RB Chapter 6 in Via Vitae No.9, December2008. Chapter 7, considered one of the principal ones ofall the RB in any sense, is quite extensive and complex fora short article (see “Patrologia Latina” 66, 377-378 andthe monumental commentary on the RB by Adalbert deVogué OSB: “La Règle de Saint Benoît : commentaire doc-trinal et spirituel”, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 1977). Thereforethis paper addresses the fifth section of the Prologue, par-ticularly the 28th verse.

The prologue of a work introduces the text to the reader,but the prologue of the RB has a different purpose: it is anexhortation, a call to monastic life (and to Christian life ingeneral) and at the same time, a catechesis, a statementthat describes the vocation of the monk and the broad linesof his spiritual route.

The fifth section containing the verses 22-34 (reading forJanuary 4th, May 5th and September 4th) is inspired bythe Psalms 15 and 137. The Psalm 15 comprises ‘the wayof tent’. In the desert Yahweh dwelt in a tent, as the wholepeople of Israel. Sukkot, the Feast of Tents (or Tabernacles),one of the great feasts of Israel, commemorates these eventsannually (Exodus 23:14). It is one of the Three PilgrimageFestivals (Shalosh Regalim) mentioned in the Bible. The tem-ple of Jerusalem (the ‘abode of Yahweh’) was also called‘the tabernacle’ in this verse from Psalm 15. In the contextof the Prologue, ‘to dwell in the tent’ is equivalent to defi-

nitely penetrating the eschatological Kingdom. The way toget there is laid down by Christ (v.24). This section containsa promise of happiness and a catalogue of good works thatevoke for a Christian reader the eternal bliss and the demands of the Gospel. To dwell in the abode of God, torest in the holy mountain, the allusion of the tent is the pic-ture of the monastery inside our hearts. We must never thinkthat the Kingdom of God is something that is just given tous without our having to respond to it. This is one of thosegreat debates in the history of Christianity: the relationshipbetween grace and good works, between grace and freewill, between salvation as a gift freely given and salvationas something we must strive for. Saint John Cassian (4-5thCenturies), whose writings profoundly influenced St. Bene-dict, was accused of semi-Pelagianism because of his emphasis on the need to work for salvation. Other early Fathers have been accused of Quietism because of the em-phasis on God's work in salvation. A classic statement ofhow these two aspects of salvation work together is this: wemust pray as if everything depended on God and we mustwork as if everything depended on us. We must understandand put into practice above all the internal conversion torecognize the presence of Christ by our side and enjoy thejoy of His holy presence. This is the first reason of an enlarged heart.

Many of the Desert Fathers and other early monastic writerswere convinced that the heart of the spiritual life lies in theunderstanding of thoughts and how to deal with them. Per-haps today it could be added that the understanding ofboth thoughts and feelings and the wisdom of knowing howto let thoughts and feelings lead us to Christ is the heart ofthe spiritual life. The Greek philosophers often taught thatself-knowledge was the most important element in living awise and good life. Christian philosophers would add tothat self-knowledge the ability to spend our energies forChrist.

The 28th verse of the Prologue contains the personal recommendation of St. Benedict to the spiritual resource ofthe mantra:

“He has foiled the evil one, the devil, at everyturn, flinging both him and his promptings farfrom the sight of his heart. While these temp-tations were still young, he caught hold ofthem and dashed them against Christ.”

But the path of goodness is also the path of faith. TheGospel is the ‘good news’, and so we walk under the guid-ance of the Gospel of Him who teaches us faith. The Waythat is the same Jesus who said: “I am the way” (John 14:6),

The Rule of Saint Benedict on the mantra by Marcelo Melgares

St. Benedict delivering his Rule to St. Maurus and other monksof his order. France, Monastery of St. Gilles, Nimes, 1129

— 12 —


and “Whoever does not take up his cross daily, cannot bemy disciple” (Matthew 10:38). It is the imitation of Christ.It is the way of faith. Whoever imitates Jesus is ‘God's tem-ple’: his heart is pure and his tongue is pure; he does notharm his neighbor and he dwells in the tabernacle of God.St. Benedict has here a beautiful allegorical interpretationof Psalm 137 to show the definite and strong attitude thatwe must have when facing evil: to dash against stone1 ourdarkest thoughts, our inclinations towards evil. The stone isChrist. We should have a similar attitude and realize thedesires from God to us. It is all or nothing, because weknow that He is with us and demands everything. As wasthe case with Saint Paul: “by the grace of God I am what Iam, and His grace to me was not in vain” (1 Corinthians15:10). This phrase of St. Paul is nothing more or less thanGod requires from us.

Our challenge as oblates today is to live the Gospel fullyand totally in a manner that shows the love of Christ to allwho encounter us. The tradition embodied in the RB, applied to the discipline of reciting the mantra as taught byJohn Main, guides us to abandon our thoughts and feelingsto find the Holy Spirit who prays in our hearts. Oblate lifecalls for a real discipline on our part and the willingness togive ourselves over to learning that discipline. The disciplineis for the sake of putting ourselves at the service of Christ.

Marcelo Melgares is a WCCM Benedictine Oblate, married andFamily Physician in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sulstate, Brazil. The author wishes to kindly thank Dom Alexandrede Andrade OSB, monk of the Saint Benedict Monastery in thecity of São Paulo, Brazil, for his suggestions and contributions.

Contact: [email protected]

1The composition of the Book of Psalms spans at least five centuries. Some of the Psalms are contemporary of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (10-7th c. BC) when cruel Assyrian warriors invaded some cities of Ancient Near East and sometimes killed the local littlechildren dashing them against stone. The picture of Psalm 137 is taken from this context.

There are boundaries everywhere we look in every part ofour world. All things seem to have a beginning and an end.Everything has an edge. But not all points of contact or separation fulfil the same function. Perhaps learning to namethem with greater accuracy will help us to live more skilfullyin an endlessly liminal world, help us to know a road-blockfrom a threshold, an invitation from a refusal.

As in so much else, St Benedict provides us with many cluesin our search for discernment. His Rule has long been cele-brated for its flexibility. It quietly affirms this central value byconforming itself to the needs and abilities of individual per-sons, honouring where they are at this particular time andplace in their lives. As such it is significant, as Joan Chittisterpoints out, that the accurate translation of the title is not Rulebut Guide. As that famous little phrase from the Prologue insists, it is hoped to introduce “nothing harsh or burden-some”. Throughout – as long as we are able truly to listenwith the ear of the heart – the Rule guides us through bound-aries from the legalistic and limiting towards a place ofopenness, connection and human growth.

LIMITSThere seem to be some non-negotiables in our human con-dition. Most starkly, we are born and we will die. Beyondthat, our experience of reality will always be a kind of re-construction, brilliantly cobbled together by the brain from

the data provided by five (simultaneously connecting andlimiting) arbitrary senses. We are ultimately defenceless inthe face of the awesome powers of the universe (ask Job,King Lear, the person sitting next to you in the doctor’s surgery). The Buddha called it dukkha. Often translated as‘suffering’, the word is actually closer to something like ‘unsatisfactoriness’.

Why is the world – why are we – like this? The Buddha istoo wise to ask this question. This is simply the way it is. Heconcentrates on looking into this ‘given’ nature of reality andat how we can start from here. Others might say that thestate of affairs we encounter is ‘God-given’, with perhapssome reference to the Fall, another attempt to account for thelimited nature of our existence. The brief version is that Godmade a beautiful garden and placed us in it. He set bound-aries, we experienced them as limitations, we breachedthem, and now we find ourselves even more limited. Fallen.And no longer in the nice garden.

Which takes us to Vladimir and Estragon in Beckett’s Waitingfor Godot. They’re another version of Adam and Eve, show-ing us just what a tight place we’re in: nothing to be doneand nowhere to go. It’s difficult to think of any two characterswho are more limited. We are stuck with them for a coupleof hours (or eternity, whichever comes first). After a lot oftalk and fantasising and desperation and cheering eachother up, they decide, at last, to go. They do not move.

Boundaries and Beyond by Jim GreenAt the Benedictine Monastery of Christ our Saviour in Turvey, UK, a group of psychotherapists, psychiatrists, spiritualdirectors, monks and fellow seekers met on St Andrew’s Day 2013 to consider, through a day of dialogue, what wemean by “Setting Boundaries”. These reflections arose from that day.

— 13 —


LIMITATIONSEvery self-help guru will tell you that you are much, muchmore than you think you are. We all build glorious palacesand then live in tawdry, tumbledown shacks next to them.How come? What makes us have such a low opinion of our-selves? It may, of course, often not be a conscious belief thatI am in some way unworthy, not deserving of love andpraise, incapable of great things. Such a decision can be(is usually) taken at an early age and then buried. I have dis-appointed Mummy. I have made Daddy angry. I have failedto do what they want me to do. I don’t deserve their love (butI desperately want it). I have failed. I will always fail.

These terrible life-sentences, visited upon your self, by yourself, are delivered, and live on, in the murky gloom of the un-conscious. Too often we are governed by these limiting beliefsabout ourselves which are secretly preserved as a kind ofperverse holy writ. And then we try to lead our lives underthe secret rule of these cruel limitations. No wonder many ofus end up feeling like ‘hungry ghosts’ or ‘beasts of burden’.

DEFENCESWhat’s happened in these cases is that we have retreatedbehind our defences. What motivates this disappearance be-hind the castle walls is the desperate desire to preserve some-thing we believe essential to our very existence, to avoid lossor even annihilation. Behind the ramparts, different fantasyversions of the self can flourish: omnipotent, undeserving,ideal, grandiose, hated… but ‘safe’.

The only trouble is that this course of action is always goingto backfire. If the defences behind which we seek protectionare high or impervious enough, then we shall lose contactwith others, with ‘reality’ and – tragically – with our Self.There can be no health when a barrier is impermeable.

When we become convinced that parts of life, parts of our-selves, parts of the human race must never have contact,when we believe that one side is acceptable and the Otheris definitely not, then the unhealthy walls get built. We lookto Palestine, to Belfast, to Berlin and we see the truth of that.If we are brave enough we can see it too when we look intoour own hearts.

CROSSING THE BOUNDARIESWe know (many of us from agonising personal experience)what catastrophe follows from the transgressions which sim-ply ignore boundaries. Abuse and violence at the personaland collective level destroy lives. In the exploited child, thevictim of rape, the innocent bystander killed by a missile, wesee the continuing crucifixion of the Body of Christ. But theimage of the Cross also shows us another way that we canlive with, and through, boundaries.

Even more than Beckett’s Everymen, Vladimir and Estragon,we see in the crucified Jesus the supreme example of limita-tion. What could be more limiting than being nailed to a

piece of wood in a public place, all boundaries crossed, alldefences down? And yet…… The mysterious revelation of theCross seems to be that the total acceptance of this apparentlycomplete loss of freedom and power (these limits) is transfor-mative. By assenting to being completely local and particular(nailed to this cross, here and now, with this unique pain anddespair but not closing the heart) Jesus manifests Christ,the universal. In this unifying field all boundaries are crossed,but through love, not out of fear. With this kind of crossing,there is the possibility – the assurance – of growth.

At a personal, psychological and emotional level, our firsttask in life is to establish healthy boundaries (rather than sim-ply have them set for us). We can’t transcend or let go ofsomething that we don’t yet have. Going further though, wemight challenge ourselves by affirming that it is our life’s taskto know our limits, limitations and defences, and to work totransform them into boundaries. And then to dare to go be-yond them. Paradoxically this is done, not by shedding allgravity and expanding into the shiny ether of an unrealheaven, but by assenting to being here, now, and sitting onthe ground with our own unique shape, our unique unsatis-factoriness, our limits and limitations.

I remember the first time that I was introduced to the practiceof Christian contemplative prayer over twenty years ago. JimFinley (who had Thomas Merton as his novice master) wasleading a Christian Zen retreat in Los Angeles. His final in-struction to the group as we prepared for our first meditationsession was this: “Sit and experience your own crucifixion”.At that moment (a moment that has never ended) I under-stood, in the heart rather than the head, why this was some-thing worth doing.

It’s a strange and counterintuitive message: voluntarily choosethe extreme restriction of meditation (no movement, nothought, no sound, no sight) and the Kingdom of Heaven willbe yours. But this Kingdom is utterly beyond our capacity tounderstand or possess. And as soon as we seek guarantees(I’ll experience my crucifixion as long as it definitely leads toresurrection) then we are lost again. Resurrection is not ourline of business. It comes, when it comes, as Grace, the benign dissolution of all limitations.

Of course none of this, as The Cloud of Unknowing usefullyreminds us, can be grasped by thought: “By Love he can becaught and held, but by thinking never”. And once againBenedict provides the central clue: “Prefer nothing to the loveof Christ”.

What’s on our side in making this real is the fact that medita-tion, with its steadfast tolerance of everything that seems un-satisfactory, is – above all – a work of love. The discipline ofthis work promises to guide us beyond all boundaries.

Jim Green December 2013

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If I stand back a little I am surprised that I am actually writingthis contribution for Via Vitae. It is not something I have donebefore. I would have had some fear and pride to expose my-self – as I felt – to all these people. However here I am sharingsome of my life as an ordinary novice oblate (still).

The first idea of contributing came to me when I heard of arequest to write a book review. I love reading books. How-ever I soon learned that there wasn’t a book as such waitingfor me to be reviewed. I had to pick one myself. Which oneto choose? I was already reading a book, but that was pub-lished 20 years ago; nobody was waiting for a review onthat book.

When I was struggling with this a totally unrelated big eventwas happening in my life at the same time and somehow thetwo brought me to a different perspective.

The last few months were difficult and painful as my bestfriend and buddy Diana was entering the last phase of herlife on earth. She was given only a short period of time toprepare for her death because of her fast moving illness. Iwas very privileged to have been able to share these last fewmonths with her in all their beauty and pain. When I visitedher in the hospice we sometimes just spoke about ordinaryeveryday things, other times the experience of her impendingdeath or we sat in silence together holding hands, quietlymeditating.

We had shared almost twenty years the ups and downs ofour lives. The easy part was that for the first 15 years we onlylived around the corner from each other. Five years ago Imoved out from the city to the country, a two hour drive awayand yet our friendship continued and evolved. My life in arural area at the foot of an old mountain range in the heartof Ireland was becoming simpler, more in tune with therhythm of nature and Diana loved coming to visit. She foundan inner stillness in the tasks of the land of sowing and weed-ing and the clamping of our heap of turf (putting the sods ofturf on top of each other into a dome like shape) broughtgreat joy to her. Diana who was almost deaf had a greatvoice and loved singing and her exuberant Alleluias oftenrippled and echoed over the fields. We always ended ourgarden days meditating together in the beautiful meditationroom which was especially built with love and attention bymy partner Tony.

Singing, writing her own poetry or lip reading the poems ofothers, often helped Diana dealing with the painful chal-lenges in her life. One poem of the 12th century mystic Hilde-gard of Bingen had a special meaning to her.

From the poem Rivers of Fire:

Again I am in turmoilShould I speak or must I be silentI feel like a gnarled old tree, withered and crooked and flakyAll the stories of the years are written on my branchesThe sap is gone, the voice is dead

But I long to make a sacred soundI want to sound out GodI want to be a young juicy, sap-running treeSo that I can sing God as God knows how.

O God, you gentle viridityO Mary, honeycomb of lifeO Jesus, hidden in sweetness as flowing honey,Release my voice again

I have sweetness to shareI have stories to tellI have God to announceI have green life to celebrateI have rivers of fire to ignite.

(From: Praying with the Women Mystics, selected, compiledand interpreted by Mary T. Malone)

As a hearing person I don’t know what it is like not to be ableto hear. However for Diana the loss of her hearing had also

silenced her voice, her true voice. A restless search took yearsand brought her to many places and experiences. Howevershe knew herself that “letting go” was her great challengeand this became all the more urgent in the last year knowingshe had only a short time on earth left. In her last few weeksI noticed some changes: she became more able to receivelove and letting it flow through and touch all around her. I


Not a Book Review. . .

— 15 —

don’t know if she fully succeeded in the task she knew shehad to do. How do we know? However I experienced herbecoming more at one with herself in that last phase of herlife and she died peacefully in the end.

Here was such a lesson of” letting go” for me too: it is okayto let my voice be heard, to reach out and be a little bitmore part of the community. Therefore, the urge to sharesinging out God and celebrating Diana with my voice withall of you in the global community became impossible toignore anymore.

What about the book review? Maybe that is not my taskat the moment. Most books, often beautifully written, haveoften one message: sit and meditate. The way to the heartand to letting go of self lies in stillness, silence and sayingthe mantra, not through reading books. I know from myown experience how often I am tempted to choose bookover silence.

So I sit and become stiller, still. And if the temptation be-comes too much.... there are always the psalms!

Thank you God for Diana, Alleluia!


Mieke [email protected]

Among the many miracles which made Benedict famous, the man of God’s teaching also

flashed forth brilliantly. For he wrote a Rule for monks that was outstanding for its discretion

and limpid in its diction. If anyone wants to examine his life and customs more closely, they

can find in the same Rule all that he modelled by his conduct. For the holy man could in no

way teach other than he lived. Gregory the Great's Life of St Benedict Dialogues XXXVI, 1:

St Benedict presents the Monks with his Rule

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice – - -

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

‘Mend my life!’

each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations – - -

though their melancholy

was terrible. It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice,

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do – - –determined to save

the only life you could save.

The Journey by Mary Oliver


END POINT

Rule of St BenedictChapter 36: On the Sick

Before all things and above all

things, care must be taken of the sick,

so that they will be served as if they

were Christ in person; for He Himself

said, "I was sick, and you visited Me"

(Matt 25:36), and, "What you did for

one of these least ones, you did for

Me" (Matt. 25:40).

NATIONAL OBLATE CO-ORDINATORS

USA: Mary Robison, [email protected]

UK: Eileen Dutt, [email protected]

NEW ZEALAND: Hugh McLaughlin, [email protected]

ITALY: Giovanni Foffano, [email protected]

IRELAND: Rowena O’Sullivan, [email protected]

CANADA: Polly Schofield, [email protected]

BRAZIL: Marcelo Melgares, [email protected]

AUSTRALIA and INTERNATIONAL:Trish Panton, [email protected]

VIA VITAE No. 18, January 2014

Editor: Dr Stefan ReynoldsGlenville Park, Glenville, Co. Cork, Ireland

+ 353 214 [email protected]

Graphic Design: Anne Dillon, USA

Documents

01/2014 Via Vitae