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Douai
Oblate
October 2002
No 17 Part 2
Two Books: Benedict’s Way & Radical Hospitality both by Lonni Collins Pratt & Fr Daniel Homan OSB.BOTH these books are co-authored by a monk and a lay woman associate of St Benedict’s Priory in Oxford, Michigan, a monastery belonging to the Sylvestrine Benedictine Congregation. Fr Dan is the Prior and has a ministry of giving retreats for young people at the monastery guest house, Lonni, a journalist and author by profession, is married with five children and two grandchildren.
St Benedict is enjoying enormous popularity today. It is strange that in a world which appears highly materialistic and non-religious, St Benedict is better known than at any other time in history. There are probably more books about monasticism available now than ever before. There are many similarities between the world into which St Benedict was born and our own day. Violence was becoming common, the established order was being challenged, everything was changing fast. St Benedict provides a rudder to steer by through the turbulant seas around us. The authors write: "Benedict’s message is for all of us, not just monks. And it will transform us if we are ready to give up our own way, if we have come to realize that ‘Thy Kingdom come’ means ‘My Kingdom go’! "
The first of the books, Benedict’s Way, published in 2000 is designed as a resource for a personal retreat, a retreat based on the Rule of St Benedict, which can made while away for a few days, or at home taking a little time off each day.
The starting point is that the Rule was written to enable people who were strangers to each other, but who are genuinely seeking to find God, to live together in harmony, something which faces every Christian. An underlying principle is "go against the cultural norm"; something all Christians have to do, something which the Rule is full of practical advice about.
There are thirty short chapters each on a topic from the Rule: Listening, Prayer, Work, Possessions, Responsibility, Friendship, Pleasure being just a few of the titles. Each chapter is prefaced with two or three quotations from St Benedict, followed by a short section from another author; then follows a few pages of personal testimony or comment, and a concluding prayer. It is stated which of the two authors has written each chapter; occasionally a chapter is co-authored. To illustrate te topic of each chapter, its author tells a story from personal experience either at the monastery or elsewhere in life, and then some practical suggstionsare made. For example the chapter on Possessions concludes: "Consider your relationship to ownership. Do you find yourself defending your right to own? Are there times when you have wondered if your possessing and spending are out of control? There is such a thing as responsible ownership - if we ‘hold lightly’ what we own." Sound advice in today’s world where we are constantly assailed by advertising to acquire and possess more, larger and better.
The chapter on Reverence talks about respect for all things. There are two delightful stories to illustrate the topic. One about the care Br Antony takes in buttering toast for the guests, the other about loving care taken by a elderly arthritic nun, Sr Becca, in preparing the utensils for making breakfast each morning. Both these stories illustrate St Benedict’s teaching on the care of tools, which are to be regarded as the ‘vessels of the altar’, and the respect for the people who will use them. This is something that is particularly relevant for today’s ‘me first’ and ‘throw away’ society.
Leadership is another topic which affects all of us, since everyone has some leadership role. St Benedict’s is the servant leadership model. We use our authority to empower others. This is a lesson the world desperately needs today. The responsibility of being a leader means we listen to people and care about their lives; we are servants. For St Benedict leaders are ‘with’ not ‘over’ their subjects.
The second book, Radical Hospitality, Benedict’s Way of Love, published in August this year, is written rather differently, it is not stated who wrote each chapter, events are narrated in the third person, even when it is clear which one of the authors is writing, a practice which can be a little disconcerting.
The underlying premise is: "Hospitality is at the centre of what it means to be a monk." St Benedict instructed monks to welcome the divine in the stranger. All Christians need this approach. Our lives are necessarily intertwined with each other. We are for ever reacting with other people. We cannot ignore other people, still less treat them as objects to be avoided or used for our convenience; the Christian must always see Christ in the other.
This book has ten chapters, all considerably longer than those in Benedict’s Way, but each one using real life stories which are laid alongside St Benedict’s Rule. Hospitality is all about making room for the other, it is a question of having an open heart, and a willingness to listen. Prejudice is quite contrary to hospitality.
"You make room in your heart, room in your life, room in the moment for one person, with no strings attached." "Hospitality allows us to grow into the human family and share space, share material, resources, and ourselves." "Hospitality may involve a major change of attitude and lifestyle for you."
The importance of boundaries is stressed. "Boundaries do not exclude the other; in fact, if you become a person with actual boundaries, you are better able to give to other people because you do not feel diminished by such giving." Without boundaries, we are left open to exploitation.
One of the chapters is entitled Making room for yourself. That is important; everyone needs to receive as well as give, and needs to be able to receive in order to be able to give. "Opening up to others does not mean you let someone trample all over you. It does not mean you let people rip chunks off you. It does not mean you cease to take care of yourself or do what you need to do to remain emotionally, physically, and spiritually healthy. We can give simple kindness without losing ourselves."
And that is the crux; in order to be able to give a simple kindness, we need to care for ourselves so that when the need arises we can be a companion to others in their sufferings. Important advice is that we don’t have to provide the answers to pain; it is sufficient to be available to others: "be available with eyes wide open. Know it is going to interrupt your well-planned life." The authors give powerful examples of this actually happening. St Benedict knew that guests did not arrive according to a time table. He knew big exceptions had to be made to the well-ordered life of guest masters to welcome guests, but he also was wise enough not let them upset the whole monastery.
The final chapter of the book sums it all up: Listening: The Deep Truth of Hospitality. Listening is a characteristic of Benedict’s Rule. The monastic is called to be a listener. Listening is not so much intellectual as a deep attentiveness to all of life. It is by this attentiveness that we can be open and available to others in their need.
Both these books are highly recommended for all oblates. Although written for lay people, they would also be useful for monastics themselves.
Benedict’s Way, an ancient monk’s insights for a balanced life by Lonni Collins Pratt and Fr Daniel Homan OSB Chicago: Loyola Press 2000. ISBN 0-8294-1376-6
Radical Hospitality, Benedict’s Way of Love by the same authors. Brewster Mass: Paraclete Press 2002 ISBN 1-55725-309-9.
Copies of both books have been ordered for the Abbey Bookshop but they have not yet arrived.‡
The Sacramental Life of a Catholic Worker by Liza Apper, Obl. OSB
"CHRIST, be our light! Shine in our hearts. Shine through the darkness. .."sang Elizabeth, her beautiful alto voice harmonizing with the other Catholic Workers and volunteers every Friday evening during Vespers, the evening prayer of the Divine Office, at the St. Benedict Catholic Worker House. Elizabeth’s whole being, as she sang that song, resonnated with the love of Jesus. She had come to know, receive, and give the love of the risen Christ in right relationship (between God, self, and others) through the people she encountered in our Catholic Worker community, people who are committed to embodying the spirit of the risen Christ and to putting, as Karl Rahner wrote, "the saving presence of Jesus in history." In other words, people living and becoming the good news of Jesus and spreading the good news of the risen Christ (life, death, and resurrection) through the Catholic Worker in that continuing, unfolding mystery known as the Church.
Elizabeth, who had previously lived as a homeless alcoholic for 15 years on the streets of downtown Fresno, was a member of the St. Benedict Catholic Worker community. Elizabeth shared life with our Catholic Worker community for almost a year and a half, journeying home to her Lord on December 30, 2001 after a battle with lung cancer. During the time that Elizabeth lived in our community, she became for me the presence of the risen Christ, Christ’s light in my life. My friendship with Elizabeth gave me an experience of the risen Christ mutually present and active in relationship. Through this mutual friendship, I became more aware of the presence of the risen Christ and of that presence working in me through my ministry as a Catholic Worker.
Elizabeth came to the Catholic Worker community so damaged by life on the streets that she was at first unable to boil water to make tea. Eventually she began to heal through the unconditional love and acceptance of everyone in our community. She became famous for her ‘Okie Breakfast’ as she called it - making a full southern breakfast (biscuits, gravy, sausage, and eggs) from scratch. She also taught our youngest child, Francesca, to make banana smoothies, grilled cheese sandwiches, fried chicken, and corn bread. On many a night, Elizabeth and Francesca blessed us with their edible creations. Elizabeth, who was loved unconditionally in right relationship by those of us in the Catholic Worker community, now could give that love to others - transforming everyone she encountered as she had been transformed. Elizabeth and her relationships within our community became a 'word' as Bernard Cooke would say, that was constantly created by God. We all were experiencing, personally, the presence of God in friendship.
Elizabeth taught me many things about life and death. One of her favorite songs was, 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Your Life', from the Jack Nicholson movie, 'As Good As It Gets'. It became a sort of theme song for the months ahead. Every time we travelled to and from her chemotherapy, she and I would be singing that song. St Augustine once wrote, singing to God is like praying twice. Well, whenever we sang that song it was during a time of need (help with depression, dealing with the effects of the cancer, nausea from the chemo, tiredness) and we were literally calling out for the intercession of God. We sang it in hopes of reaching God - and we did. At those times we both experienced the loving care of our God and the assurance that God-is-for-us.
As Elizabeth lay dying, lovingly encircled by members of her beloved community, we sang some of her favourite “Jesus songs,” as she called them. Francesca kissed her forehead and told her how much she loved her. I held her hand and prayed aloud, asking God to bathe her in his radiant light, making sure her path was straight toward him. The last faces she saw were the ones who had given her unconditional love and acceptance and with whom she had returned that love, the Catholic Worker community.
Since the founding of the St. Benedict Catholic Worker in 1997, we have learned the sacramental meaning of the words, "serving all in front of Fresno County Jail." We have learned that following Jesus, being God’s presence, and facilitating God’s spirit means service - service for all and by all. Everyone, from correctional officer to homeless person - all are members of that inclusive Body of Christ and all are transformed by the sacramental ministries (soup line, shelter, detention ministry, pastoral counselling) of the Catholic Worker.
The sacramental ministry of this Catholic Worker blossomed in the unconditional love and acceptance of friendship (right relationship) that Elizabeth and I shared. It was a relationship that began as an encounter between a homeless alcoholic woman and a Catholic Worker in front of Fresno County Jail. And it became a relationship that spoke of the presence of God, that allowed both of us to live, love, and walk in the confirmed belief that Christ is our light!
Reproduced by permission
‡St Benedict Catholic Worker, Fresno, California
The St Benedict Catholic Worker is a community serving the poor, the incarcerated, and the homeless in Fresno, California. It carries on the vision of Benedictine Oblates Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin who founded the parent movement on May 1, 1933. The St Benedict Catholic Worker itself was founded by Benedictine Oblates Liza and Bryan Apper in 1997.
Since then, the SBCW has served meals in front of Fresno County Jail. These meals are prepared in a woefully inadaquate and very small kitchen. The SBCW also provides hospitality for homeless women. Their current facility is an extremely small three bedroom house. They have housed guests in the den and the living room due to inadaquate space. They are bursting at the seams and need a larger building to continue the work and attend to the growing needs of those they serve. They have therefore launched an appeal to raise $250.000 for a new facility, called ‘Loaves and Fishes’, to serve better those forgotten by society. We will include them in our prayer intentions. See web site: http://www.stbencatholic worker.org ‡
The Catholic Worker Believes...
* The Catholic Worker believes in the gentle personalism of traditional Catholicism.
* The Catholic Worker believes in the personal obligation of looking after the needs of our sisters and brothers.
*The Catholic Worker believes in the daily practice of the works of mercy.
*The Catholic Worker believes in Houses of Hospitality for the immediate relief of those who are in need.
*The Catholic Worker believes in creating a new society within the shell of the old.
Peter Maurin ‡
Return to Part 1.
Douai Oblate is the Newsletter for the Oblates of Douai Abbey. It is published at Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berks, RG7 5TQ, phone 0118 971 5338, fax 0118 971 5303, e-mail oblate@douaiabbey.org.uk October 31, 2002
Go to Oblates Page : To Douai Oblate May 2002.
Douai Abbey Registered Charity No. 236962
03/11/02(GH)
Gervase Holdaway OSB, Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berks. RG7 5TQ