Each day we had a morning and afternoon seminar with one of the monks. In one of our seminars I met Fr. Anthony. At the age of 86, he is the oldest monk in residence. He became a monk in 1948. As a monk he has visited the poor with Dorothy Day, prayed with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and discussed theology with Thomas Merton. It is hard to imagine that someone like Fr. Anthony has maintained the same daily schedule of prayer and contemplation for 66 years.
To live the holistic manner envisioned by founder of this order St. Benedict is to live knowing that "God does not demand the unusual, spectacular, the heroic," but rather "that I do the most ordinary, often dreary and humdrum things that face me each day with a loving openness that will allow them to become my own immediate way to God." This is the monastic way, yet it can also be the way for us. Benedictine spirituality is grounded in the idea that God's presence is everywhere, and that it is our job to seek it out even in the most ordinary, mundane of life. Indeed, we can learn to see God's graces in our life, even in the midst of the daily grind. We just need to look, God is there.
A swimmer plunges into the water stripped of his garments to find a pearl; a monk stripped of everything goes through his life to discover in himself the pearl- Jesus Christ; and when he finds him, he seeks no longer for anything existing beside him. (Issac of Turin)
O God, source of love, bright light out of darkness, order out of chaos, from death creating life. Open our eyes to see, our minds to know, that we may be transformed in Christ, the risen Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment