Essential Monastic Wisdom: Writings on the Contemplative Life
Category: Livres anglais et trangers,Religion & Spirituality,Christianity
Essential Monastic Wisdom: Writings on the Contemplative Life Details
"'Listen!' is the first word in the Rule of St. Benedict. Monastic life is a training in the art of listening, which begins in silence, develops in attentiveness, and is perfected in communication. . . . Silence is a dwindling resource in the contemporary world . . . and it is usually the first impression of visitors to a monastery. . . . The principal enemy of interior and exterior silence for most of us is our own tongue. Perhaps we fear the emptiness within us."-- from Essential Monastic Wisdom A retreat to this kind of disciplined silence, attentive reverence for life, and whole peaceful living is why Americans are signing on in droves to yearlong waiting lists for the chance to spend a weekend at a monastery. Discard the silly images of humorless Mother Superior and emaciated monks in hair shirts; what people are seeking in the monastic experience is the chance to peel away life's accessories and gaze consciously into the woods of their present life and the horizons of their future. There is something powerfully authentic about a spiritual tradition grounded in centuries of experience and not manufactured twelve weeks ago and marketed in a series of seminars.In Essential Monastic Wisdom, Fr. Hugh Feiss introduces you in one great omnibus to the rich history, traditions, and essential values of Christian monasticism. By exploring the daily activities in the monastery, the character traits that the monastic orders inculcate in their members, and the passions of desire and love that animate their lives, Fr. Feiss presents to us practical insights for balanced and satisfying living. Lessons drawn from fifteen centuries of monastic scholarship and reflection are arranged by topics such as prayer, hospitality, discernment, peace, leadership, and love. Brief essays at the beginning of each section provide a historical and theological context for the readings that follow and suggest how the lessons of the monastic way can provide guidance in everyday life. These texts reflect both the diversity and continuity of the cloister through the ages, from the pre-Benedictine reflections of Antony and Pachomius, St. Bede, the renowned Anglo-Saxon monk and scholar, and the medieval writings of St. Hildegard of Bingen and St. Gertrude to twentieth-century scholars such as Thomas Merton and Esther de Waal. Emphasizing those aspects of the monastic tradition with the most direct relevance to daily secular life, Fr. Feiss facilitates a conversation between these great monastics and contemporary men and women who might like to meet them.While Essential Monastic Wisdom is rooted in Christianity, the book is intended for all readers with an interest in the lessons and values of monastic life, regardless of their religious convictions.
[button]
Reviews
'Listen!'This is the first word of the Rule of St. Benedict.It is the first commandment in spirituality, as well as pastoral care, and should be in any good relationship.`Monastic life is a training in the art of listening, which begins in silence, develops in attentiveness, and is perfected in communication.'Many people have gone on monastic retreat to look for spirituality, to look for some enlightenment and wisdom, ancient and timeless yet hopefully accessible and useful. Many people come away from the monastery disappointed, for they never quite realise that the monastery is not where this wisdom is. The wisdom they seek is from inside.In this volume of the `Essentials' series Hugh Feiss has put together a worthy little tome the explores some of the mechanics and the principles of monasticism. He begins with a section on the ordering of the day: Prayer, Reading, Work, Mutual Support, and Hospitality. How many of us think in these terms? How many of us put cooperation and hospitality as side aspects rather than central necessities to our lives?Samples of the teachings on these are:--Prayer--Those who wish to pray quietly by themselves at times when there is no community prayer should simply enter and pray, not in a loud voice, but in tears and with full attention of heart. (Rule of Benedict)--Reading--Benedict wants us to do more than read the Scriptures. He wants us to study them, to wrestle with them, to understand them, to make them part of us, to let them grow in us through the work of traditional and contemporary scholarship so that the faith can stay green in us. (Sr. Joan Chittister)--Work--Just as the work of God, which mankind is, will not be exterminated, but will rather endure, so also human work will not fade away, because human work that is directed toward God will shine in the heavens...When God created human beings, he enjoined them to work on created things. And just as he will not come to an end--he will be changed into ashes but afterward he will rise--so his good works will be seen unto glory. (Hildegard of Bingen)--Mutual Support--Whoever knows himself knows all human beings....But whoever can love himself loves all human beings. (Antony, Letters)Give aid to the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick, bury the dead, help those in difficulty, console the sorrow. (Rule of Benedict)--Hospitality--When upright men and friends arrive, [the monks] can speak with them at suitable times about whatever is proper, even if it is outside the time for community conversation. (Louise de Blois, Monastic Statutes)These are brief glimpses into the five activities into which the Benedictine tradition divides a monk's day.Part two begins to develop a bit of the monastic character -- one of the vows most monks must take is that of 'conversion of life', which means the never-ending task of trying to conform life in the physical, mental and spiritual senses to one of community and conformity to the will of God. These involve (as Feiss has laid them out) Silence and Speech, Reverence, Humility, Simplicity, Discernment, Peace, Patience, Separation, Stability, Obedience, and Authority.Similar to the first section, each attribute here is supported with excerpts from the Rule of Benedict as well as other monastic writers, past and present. Rather than recount a section from each as I did above, let me give you a poem, from St. Gertrude, that sums up many of the monastic qualities:Dear Jesus...make me perfect in fearing you.Make me pleasing to youin humility of spirit,in sisterly charity,in chaste simplicity,in humble modesty,in purity of heart,in the guarding of my senses,in holiness of life,in ready obedience,in gentle patience,in spiritual discipline,in freely chosen poverty,in holy leniency,in maturity of conduct,in cheerfulness of spirit, andin all truth,in good conscience,in steadfast faith,in holy perseverence,in strength of hope,in fullness of charity, andin the blessed consummation of your cherishing-love:so that the thornbush of my heart may be converted into a paradise of all virtues and a red berry bush of total perfection, as if it were a field blessed by the Lord, full of all peace, holiness, and devotion.Benedict himself was almost entirely unconcerned with the 'success' of the monks -- the journey is the destination. He is concerned about mutuality and relationship, and a fullness of humanity. `For the glory of God, said Irenaeus, an early Christian writer, is a human being who is fully alive.'He concludes with a discussion of the Good, both desired and possessed in the monastic vision, inclusive of both Longing and Love, and a subtle warning that even monks cannot used the monastery as an escape.'The worst temptation, and that to which many monks succumb early in their lives, and by which they remained defeated, is simply giving up asking and seeking. To leave everything to the superiors in this life and to God in the next--a hope which may in fact be nothing but a veiled despair, a refusal to live.'- Thomas Merton
[button]