Monk?

Well, the new academic year has begun, and that means, as Library Director at the seminary, I’ll have less time to devote to ‘Monk?’. On top of this, I’ll be attending classes full-time at The Landscape Institute in Cambridge, and working only three full days at the seminary. All this means there may be longer than desired gaps between posts. It’s my hope and intention to continue posting without interruption, but if there are gaps you know the reason. Peace to all.

Tim McFadden
Your ‘Monk?’ blogger

A brother came to Abba Theodore and began to converse with him about things which he had never yet put into practice. So the old man said to him, ‘You have not yet found a ship nor put your cargo aboard it and before you have sailed, you have already arrived at the city. Do the work first; then you will have the speed you are making now.’ (The Paradise of the Desert Fathers, Benedicta Ward, trans.)

Abbey of the Genesee - Gatehouse and Church

“The hairs on your head are far easier to count than your feelings and the movement of your heart” (St. Augustine, Confessions 4.15)

The whole of the monastic life is founded on desire, the desire to know oneself and the God who knows us all. St. Augustine makes it very clear though how difficult a journey it is when he says it is far easier to count the number of hairs on your head than to achieve anything close to communion with self and God.

But you know the truth is we don’t achieve anything when it comes to the life of the spirit, because it is the Spirit who does the doing not we with our programs for growth. Don’t mistake me; we do figure into the equation, just not in the way many of us want to. We want to be in control and in charge of the itinerary don’t we. It usually takes repeated turns in the wrong direction to finally figure out that if we don’t let go of the steering wheel we’ll just keep going ’round in circles. Some of us never do let go…

We don’t have to figure everything out though and that should, if we accept it, be a source of liberation, and is itself a profound step toward self-knowledge. That’s really what humility is all about; simple, but not easy, and a step we must repeat frequently throughout life.

If the desire is there then we can do some things to facilitate God’s work in us, opening our heart to our true selves, and freeing us to be more truly with Him, Who is always and everywhere with us. I suggest as a first step a retreat, preferably at some monastic site where you will not be disturbed and where the process can begin, if that’s the place you’re at, or, where it can loosen up the soil of a difficulty you may be experiencing in your journey toward the truth. The silence, the supportive community of monks and of the other retreatants, and best of all the uncluttered time to be without the accouterments of your everyday life.

The Abbey of the Genesee is the monastery I know best, and I highly recommend going there for retreat. It’s a great place to meet God and hand the keys over to Him! Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions about Genesee’s retreat program, or just visit their retreat page on their web site.

A soldier asked Abba Mius if God accepted repentance. After the old man had taught him many things he said, ‘Tell me, my dear, if your cloak is torn, do you throw it away?’ He replied, ‘No, I mend it and use it again.’ The old man said to him, ‘If you are so careful about your cloak, will not God be equally careful about His creature?’

Please pray for the soul of Br. Roger of Taize who was murdered in the monastic Church at Taize Tuesday evening, August 16, while leading a prayer service. The act was committed by a woman who most people described as unstable. Remember also the community of Taize, an ecumenical monastic community founded by Br. Roger after World War II as a sign of unity and peace. Lastly, please remember the woman who committed this terrible crime that she may seek forgiveness from God. It’s a sad day.

“Man’s conscience is like a spring,” the Fathers say, “which, the deeper you hollow it out, the more greatly you cleanse it. If, however, you cover it with soil, in little time it will be lost.” (The Ancient Fathers of the Desert: Section 1, V. Rev. Chrysostomos, trans.)

Fr. Thomas of Genesee - 99th Birthday

Concupiscentia, a word we seem to have forgotten; and what does is it mean - concupiscence? Perhaps the best description I have come across is from the book The Joy of Being Wrong: Original Sin Through Easter Eyes, by James Alison (A Crossroad Book, 1998), where he says concupiscence is not a sin, but the effect of sin, Original Sin (another half-forgotten term). It’s the state we all find ourselves in, even after Baptism, the state of disordered desire, of wanting things that hurt oneself, and pull one further and further from the things we really want but have forgotten and no longer feel so intently.

Every dimension of the human being - intelligence, sexuality, will power, affectivity, memory, way of being involved in history, sense of time, consciousness, and conscience - is radically distorted in all of us. (Alison, p.222)

This is what St. Antony, and the long train of monks throughout history knew in their being as they followed and continue to follow their Master, Jesus, into the desert. They knew that Christ’s radical act of surrender needed to be repeated in their own life by joining him in a personal act of surrender. This distortion that is pulling away at all of us can be overcome, because Jesus showed usl the way to overcome it - surrender not to the Law but to Him, to love, and this is what the monk sets out to do.

Because this rift within us is so profound an equally profound act is necessary for the monk and this is accomplished again by his vows, his pledge to follow the monastic way of fasting, simplicity, silence, solitude, and prayer. And the great irony, which we seem to have forgotten, is that this difficult path is the path to real honest-to-goodness joy. You ever see an old monk smile? Joy is what you see, the effect of a deep, transformative process that has worked its way on him over the many years. It’s like looking into the face of the future.

Why don’t more us realize such a future is possible? That brings us back to where we started - concupiscentia…

Abba Nilus said, “Prayer is the seed of gentleness and the absence of anger.”

Monks off to Vigils

Monks typically rise early in the morning, while most of us are still comfortably at rest in our beds. At the Abbey of the Genesee they rise sometime before the first service of the day, which begins at 2:25 AM, and is known as Matins, or more commonly as Vigils. It is the first of seven times the monk will gather with his brothers for the sole purpose of praising God, and it begins the sanctification of time, which the monk does on behalf of all people, everywhere.

Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall proclaim your praise

With these words the monk’s day begins with the admission that he is helpless to even open his mouth without the assistance of his God, and that his only desire is to praise Him who makes it possible. Humility and gratitude are the two pillars of monastic spirituality, they keep him grounded and channel God’s gift of joy to him.

The cloister is dark and free from the sound of voices, as the monks individually make their way to the church, only the sound of their footsteps and the rustle of their cowls heard in the silence. This is the heart of the Great Silence, when the community refrains from talk and when, after Vigils, each one repairs to his cell to commune with God, each in his own way. Here, when the birds have not yet begun their song, is the heart of the monk’s day, the reason for his very exisence.

There is a fine reflection on the Liturgy of the Hours, of which Vigils is the first, at the Abbey of the Genesee’s web site.