Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists)
Four Conferences on
THE CISTERCIAN GRACE TODAY: CONFORMITY TO CHRIST
given at the Mixed General Meeting of 19991. Mother Paul Smets of Soleilmont, Belgium
2. Dom Patrick Olive of Sept-Fons, France
3. Dom Joseph Boyle of Snowmass, Colorado, U.S.A.
4. Sr. Lily Scullion of Glencairn, Co.Waterford, Ireland1. Mother Paul Smets of Soleilmont, Belgium
I have been asked to say what conformity to Christ means to me. I shall try to do so very simply.
We read in Genesis: "God said: 'let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness' " (Gen. 1: 26). "Man was made in the likeness of the One who made him", says William of St. Thierry(1).
He is "an image of the true nature of God" (Wis. 2: 23) . Speaking of this nature St. John exclaims "God is love" (1 Jn. 4:8). He also says: "The only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, has made him known" (Jn. 1: 18) He became one of us, taking our form to reveal the Father to us, to lead us to him and allow us to "find again our natural affinity that had been deformed by sin(2)" Christ is the way. In him "man is called to transform image into likeness by means of grace, in the full sense of participation"(3).
"Man does not conform himself, he is conformed"(4). And "his love is made to receive form, to become from God a love with the features of God himself, who is love"(5). Conformity to Christ is, therefore, a grace to be received, a gift to be welcomed. It is in the order of being before giving dynamism to our moral actions and changing "our heart of stone into a heart of flesh". It unceasingly tends to unite being and doing. It belongs to each one to find, "under the inspiration and fire of the Spirit, a way that is personal and therefore incomparable of being with Christ"(6), who is the Alpha and Omega, the perfect Image of the Father and the living Head of the Church.
Baptism brings mankind into the Body of Christ. "As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" says Saint Paul (Gal. 3:27).
Before seeing how conformity to Christ comes about in religious consecration, in the Cistercian charism and more specifically in the abbatial office, I should like to point out the work of the Holy Spirit acting in humans independently of all link with the Church and the sacramental life.
I think of man, disfigured by sin, living in the greatest indifference and ignorance of his dignity as son of God and yet retaining like a watermark the features of the divine image.
I think of Mahatma Ghandi, the courageous apostle of non-violence, who wrote: "Since I have rejected the sword, I have now nothing else to offer those who fight me except the weapon of love"(7).
I think of the Dalaï-Lama who, in his own words "breathes in all the brutality and persecution his people are made to suffer, and simply breathes out compassion".
I think of our sincere Moslem brothers, and of so many simple people of our de-Christianized regions of Europe who, without knowing it, radiate a goodness, patience, and mercy that have their source in Christ.
How does the Christian, incorporated into Christ by baptism, consecrated to God by religious profession, come to grow in the conformity of his life to that of the Son of God? His Holiness John Paul II, in his post-synodal apostolic Exhortation on the religious life, expressed it this way:
"Consecrated persons not only make Christ the whole meaning of their lives but strive to reproduce in themselves, as far as possible, 'that form of life which he, as the Son of God, accepted in entering this world.' By embracing chastity, they make their own the pure love of Christ and proclaim to the world that he is the Only- begotten Son who is one with the Father (Jn 10:30, 14:11). By imitating Christ's poverty, they profess that he is the Son who receives everything from the Father, and gives everything back to the Father in love (Jn 17:7, 10). By accepting, through the sacrifice of their own freedom, the mystery of Christ's filial obedience, they profess that he is infinitely beloved and loving, as the One who delights only in the will of the Father (Jn 4:34)(8)".
The consecrated person, drawn by Christ, wants to be moved more and more by the sentiments that animated Christ Jesus.
" This Model, Christ", as Mother Blanca tells us, "will be all the more completely assumed by us, and we by It, to the degree that it is contemplated, discerned, touched and obeyed. It will be necessary to remain so much in his presence that the Power that flows from his Person can keep doing his work in us. That is how his influence as Model can transfer into us his own form, as if by osmosis. At the same time we, on our part, need to offer him our active passivity, our welcoming silence, full of hope in his transforming action"(9).
This leads us to speak of configuration to Christ through the Cistercian charism. Our Constitutions say: "Christ is formed in the hearts of the sisters through the liturgy, the abbess's teaching and the fraternal way of life" (C. 3.2).
It is in the liturgy, and especially the Eucharist as from a source, that grace pours into us. The liturgical life is an opening to God, who calls us to celebrate Him all day long in faith and love. Together we glide in, we lose ourselves in the great priestly prayer of Christ and unite our poor praise to His to the glory of the Father.
Let us also mention the values of the Cistercian life which are solitude and silence, personal prayer, lectio, work, etc. These values well lived favour a climate of true recollection which makes us act "in the awareness of the presence of God, under his eyes, with gratitude to him and attention to our neighbour"(10). It is, according to Maximus the Confessor, "to keep the mind attentive to God in great reverence and love,... to count on God in all our actions and in all the events of our life"(11): unceasing prayer that permeates, pacifies and embraces the whole being.
Fraternal life, this life of prayer made concrete, plays an important role in our formation. A single calling unites us, but the responses are different, since each one has his own path, his own particular grace. The essential thing is to belong entirely to Christ, to give him first place. To let ourselves be fashioned each day by clashes, joys, mutual edification is painful but constructive. We can truly speak of fraternal "communion". It is good and encouraging to perceive the action of the Spirit in each person. I think of that venerable sister whose smile and shining eyes radiate peace, and of that other one whose weary hands never stop telling her beads, of the generosity of the one who is entirely given to her community task and of the brand new enthusiasm of a young sister... Someone has spoken of the attractiveness of the fraternal life. It is true, a community is a deeply beautiful thing! Are not those men and women who live in community signs of the brotherhood that the world so painfully tries to achieve? Don't they become effective channels of intercession for the Church and the world by the patient listening and help they give to those who knock at the door of the monastery?
When he speaks of the abbot's teaching, Saint Benedict wishes it to be given through his actions even more than through his words (RB 2:12). To live in Christ, to be conformed to the Gospel - as he expects of his monks - is thus the first requirement of the abbatial service. If the teaching flows from experience it will be more authentic and will bear more fruit. If the gaze he turns on the community is lit up by that of Christ it will be full of kindness and mercy.
Reading again chapters 2 and 64 of the Rule of Saint Benedict, I was struck by his insistence on the care the abbot must have for those whom the Lord has entrusted to him. "He has been given the care of souls" (RB 2:34). Faced with the daily experience of our limitations, we have to employ all the means possible to our human and spiritual personality and all the riches of grace to make our sisters grow in knowledge of the faith, in the joy of giving and in the unity and liberty of love. It is not always easy:
- to sustain in each one the desire to put nothing before the love of Christ
- to awaken the sense of co-responsibility
- to reconcile different sensitivities
- to gather opposing opinions into a common vision
- to encourage or establish programs of reconciliation and dialogue.Fortunately, Christ promised to be with us to the end!
We also have recourse to those monks and nuns who have gone before us in the Cistercian way of life. Their writings, full of light and fire, stimulate us still today. Listen to Bl. Aelred advising his sister who was a recluse: "Let your love be fixed on Him alone"(12)
"Break the alabaster vase of your heart and pour over the head of your Spouse all your devotion, love, desire and affection, everything you have, adoring the Man in God and God in the Man"(13).
Beatrice of Nazareth reminds us, "This is above all the work of love: to desire the closest union and the highest state, where the soul surrenders herself to the most intimate union"(14).
We think of the wise recommendation of Saint Benedict: "Whatever good work you undertake, beg the Lord by most earnest prayer to bring it to perfection" (RB Prologue). For "Prayer is the drill that digs a deep well from which God may spring forth"(15). The prayer of the Lord for each one of the sisters entrusted to our care is what should be most important to us and should turn us most naturally to Our Lady, our Mother. "She desires to form her Only- Begotten Son in all her sons by adoption. Although they have been brought to birth by the Word of truth, nevertheless she brings them forth every day by desire and loyal care until they reach the stature of the perfect man, the maturity of her Son"(16).
With Saint Bernard and for the whole human race we repeat, " Look to the Star, call upon Mary"(17).
And so day by day, in spite of our slowness and helplessness, our doubts and darkness, we go forward reminding ourselves that, although our action is necessary it is of secondary importance. The Spirit's work in us is more important: his grace that raises us up and his gratuitous love that arouses our love. Now "love is the likeness of God in the human person, and it is this very conformity that makes us one spirit with Him"(18). This conformity, says Saint Bernard, marries the soul to the Word (Song: 83, 3).
Isn't this the ultimate goal of our life while waiting to reign with Him, the Risen Christ, in the Kingdom of the Father?
2. Dom Patrick Olive of Sept-Fons, France
For a monk to question himself on his identity is an exercise fraught with ambiguity. Is he looking for a reason for his existence, does he want to deepen his self-knowledge or does he simply wish to take stock of his situation at a certain moment of his life? We could also ask this of the monastic community. When it tries to define its identity, is it because it feels it is losing it, is it to understand it better, is it to strengthen its cohesion or its dynamism? Speaking here I do not intend to answer these questions. If however my suggestions bear some elements of a reply they won't have completely missed their point.
Conformed to Christ by the grace of baptism, we can say with St. Paul (Eph. 4:24) that this grace makes us new persons and we can say that at the same time it makes us sons (cf. Rom. 8: 14ff). To be precise, it is by reconciliation with God our Father that we are made new persons in the image of Christ. It is reconciliation with ourselves that makes us capable of becoming truly sons in the Son, while reconciliation with others makes us capable of being truly brothers in Jesus Christ.
For us, this conformation-reconciliation is achieved in our implementation of the call we have received, in the vocation to the monastic life in the school of Cîteaux. The "Cistercian grace" will give a particular form and colour to our way of becoming new persons, sons and brothers. I would like to take hold of this Cistercian grace that constitutes our identity at the place where it springs up, as close as possible to its historical source, which is the Rule of Saint Benedict. I consider this grace first of all as a manner of living the Rule with faithful intelligence. Doing this will enable us to develop at the same time the necessary creativity and a courageous prudence which is free from naivety. In these conditions life according to the Rule will be for us the sure road to conformity to Christ.
I shall say a few words about this journey with regard to the community first of all, then with regard to the abbot and lastly regarding those who enter on our life. Speaking of grace, I shall inevitably speak of temptations, and if I mention concrete situations, it goes without saying that this is by way of illustration and not as examples to be followed.
The Community
The collection of persons of assorted age, temperament and origins, which normally constitutes a Cistercian community, is a challenge to the laws of ordinary common sense. Instead of automatically levelling out the difficulties which seem capable of it, in our search for a visible homogeneity - such as grouping together persons of the same generation, or those with similar points of view or a common history, - it could be said that a mischievous roll of the dice infinitely multiplies differences, even contradictions, as if to invite us to look further (higher, deeper?) for the motive of our presence together in one place. Certainly, as St. Benedict clearly shows us (cf. Prologue), it is the grace of vocation that brings us together, but we can only understand this by placing it in the context of the more radical grace of our renewal in Christ by baptism. There also need to be concrete means of expressing and establishing a true fraternity. I would give first place here to the customs of the common life that make fraternity specific and channel and orient the emotions. If these customs are badly lived they cause sclerosis, but if we know how to use them they are a real means of renewal. However, if a community of monks does not break up at the first clash of opinions, if it successfully resists the persistent attacks of the forces of disintegration which work on it from inside and outside, this is primarily and principally because it realises that it is made up of men who, in spite of their miseries, are deeply (perhaps, indeed, at times a little too deeply!) renewed by Christ. These new men, although dependent on the old man who lives in them, know that what unites them is greater than what divides them and that life is stronger than death. They live in Hope, badly or sadly but nevertheless truly. They thus overcome all obstacles which the "wise" might think would crush them. The vitality of a community is without doubt a sign of the growth of the Cistercian grace in it, but perseverance in trial is the sure sign that the brothers are growing in conformity to the Christ of the Passion and Resurrection.
Living under a Rule and an abbot, Cistercian monks accept to see their divine adoption "in the image of the Son" (Rom. 8: 29) realised in their relation with the abbot, and in a certain sense discerned by it. This involves both opportunity and risk. It involves opportunity, since this relationship makes possible a more precise and clear perception of the filial relationship with our God and Father, which could otherwise remain merely theoretical. It involves risk, since either by reacting to the ever-present danger of paternalism or by misplacing the accent on sentimentality, we could fall into a caricature of filiation which will sooner or later be rejected, or into a so-called autonomy which in fact hides a difficulty of living balanced relationships. It is clear that we have here a wide field for growth in conformity to Christ, that is, to nurture a correct relationship with the abbot which will give rise to balance on a personal and community level. It means keeping a balance free of both tension and neglect, since through it there is a grace that develops or becomes weaker in each person.
The Benedictine model of community has been understood differently at different times. Today we are accustomed to consider the monastic community as a fraternity and not as a group of autonomous individuals who must rub against one another as little as possible, or as a reproduction of the Roman type of "familia". This is unquestionably a contribution of our times. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to imagine that the passage from a human fraternity to fraternity in Jesus Christ is something "natural". There again, though a human fraternity can offer a field which is favourable to grace, it can also close the door to grace. An author once made the distinction between "psychic" communities and "spiritual" ones (i.e. that are open to the Spirit of God). If we wish to become more and more conformed to Christ, we cannot escape a conversion of our fraternal life. We have to welcome without fear all that our human riches can muster to promote our relationships, but also to accept a love that cannot be sustained by feelings. Little by little we have to acquire a true personal autonomy, to prove that fraternal love is received as well as given with the hope that no rupture is total and that we can always deepen fraternity through it.
The Abbot
It is clear, at least I hope it is, that the abbot like all the brothers has to become a new man in Christ. Fundamentally he does so by taking the same steps as his brothers. However, the service he renders in the community offers him, and in a certain sense imposes on him, ways that may or may not be for his growth. The new man grows interiorly and then influences others. It could be that this influence remains quite weak, but it is very important for the abbot that it not be too weak! The brothers need to know that the abbot is fragile and tempted as they are. They also need to see that he is doing his utmost to make his actions correspond to his words. Effort and continual interior renewal are needed to reduce to the minimum his facade of good behaviour, to eliminate his artificial attitudes and his droned clichés, to develop a real freedom from fashions - even spiritual ones. It is a despairing program if he relies on his own resources, but it becomes a road of growth if he opens himself to the grace that makes all things new and unifies the heart.
To be a father while remaining a son is for the abbot an unstable balance, which he is not always sure of keeping as well as he ought. It is not easy for him to discern how to occupy a position of authority without ceasing to recognize his dependence. It is very difficult to find a middle way between the paternalism denounced above and the abdication of his basic responsibilities. If the abbot is not conscious of being a son in the Son, if he has not a filial attitude to God his Father, how can he in his turn exercise paternity without suffocating others? Either he may behave as a domestic tyrant (thank God the race seems to be extinct or on the road to extinction!), or he may leave everything to be done by others, confusing delegation with irresponsibility. Moreover, if relations between himself and the brothers never go beyond material matters or mere friendliness, he will not be able to find the right attitude, which is only possible in a spiritual context. There is a vast terrain here for continual conversion that contributes as well to the balance of the members of the community!
Although the abbot has to find his right place as father, he is and remains a brother to his brothers. This is the point to make clear, and it is not easy! Brother does not mean "buddy" and there is still a great temptation to think that we could abolish all difficulties by making them the same. We have to say first of all that distance is a necessary component of the relationship and thus it is only insofar as each one keeps his clearly defined place that we will avoid confusion and the uneasiness that results from it. Only this clarity of the situation will protect the abbot from respect of persons, that pestilence of relationships (RB 34). Certainly he can be free in his personal relationships, but not to the extent that it affects the whole community. The grace of a true fraternity is fragile and precious. Its usual traits are peace, patience, simple joy and kindness. If the abbot radiates these he grows together with his brothers in conformity to Christ who is gentle and humble of heart.
Obviously, time is needed to establish these behaviours. There is a French saying: "Time does not respect what happens instantaneously". This is true for the personal attitudes of the abbot, and especially for his relations with his brothers which are counted in years, ages or even decades.
Those who Enter the Monastery
It sometimes happens that unbaptised persons come to the monastery. Whatever problems such a situation can pose in other ways, I see in it a concrete illustration of the deep continuity between the Christian and the monastic vocations. The new man we put on at baptism finds a powerful means of growing and becoming stronger in the call to the Cistercian life. But often those who come to us, even persons who have been baptised, have only a limited awareness of this continuity. So they have to discover what they are - with their own riches and limitations - and this does not happen without suffering. This discovery is only useful and even possible if it is carried out in the light of grace. To see the old man and the new man living together in ourselves demands both faith and clarity. It is the one who has been redeemed and saved who recognizes and accepts his misery and his good qualities. Without this clarity and an intelligent growth process one runs the risk of despair and disappointment. To help a modern person to enter our life, and therefore to become more of a new man, involves much patience, clear-headedness and selflessness. We sometimes share in a true adventure of grace, but also in disasters that are painful for all concerned.
We are often - even very often - confronted by persons whose course is "stormy". Family, experiences, acquaintances, in each area we find grave obstacles. It is difficult for them to realise that a relationship with God the Father that makes us his sons is possible. They have few points of reference that are not negative. The very words are a snare since they do not apply to comparable realities. Are we to give up and think that our vocation has no future in a society like this? In my opinion this would be to sin against Hope. Certainly, we need to use our imagination to find ways whereby the grace which has caught up with these persons can continue to carry them along in our life. My experience here is that it is in no way a matter of "lowering the price" in order to sell a "commodity", but, what is more difficult, of discerning whether our vocation truly corresponds with God's designs for these persons just as they are. We see here the importance of what St. Benedict calls "a senior who is skilled in winning souls" (ch.58). The vocation of every Christian is to become a son and it is this that makes him a balanced person. For those whom God leads to us, the Cistercian monastery can truly be the way to achieve this.
It is not surprising that a community can attract persons who are in need - often cruelly in need - of true relationships, either to take them out of an individualistic isolation or to escape being suffocated by a false community. But becoming a brother is no easier than becoming a son. To pass from an attitude of one who benefits positively from the common life to one who shares in it actively demands an effort and a self-transcendence sometimes unknown to those from whom it is required. Here again we can see that fraternal life is a gift on another plane than that of our own efforts or of a good education. Without neglecting either of these, we must keep alive the awareness that we have been made brothers rather than having made ourselves brothers. It is true for those who are already in the community and even more true for those entering. However, it is not easy to make them realise this. To be conformed to Christ they too must agree to receive the gift and be shaken up by it in order to make true progress.
Conclusion
These few notes thrown together here have approached the question only from a very limited angle, the description of a few concrete situations. We should add the teaching of the spiritual authors of our tradition, the role of the liturgy and of work, etc... I just hope that I have shown that whatever stage we have reached in Cistercian life and whatever position we occupy in the community, there is only one profound dynamism that can inspire us, namely to receive and to seek this grace of conformity to Christ which makes us what we are, Benedictine monks and nuns in the Cistercian tradition. It seems to me that herein lies the true source of the unity of persons, of communities and of different communities with one another. Here too, in my opinion, is what guarantees the fruitfulness that our way of life has always offered and the attraction it can still exercise today.
3. Dom Joseph Boyle of Snowmass, Colorado, U.S.A.
"Lord Jesus, who are you and who am I?" I often use this question to focus myself as I enter into quiet prayer. Just who is this Christ that we seek to be conformed to? The mystery of Christ is so vast and rich that no single line of thought can do it justice. Yet, key for me is that Jesus Christ was and is the place of God's presence among us…Emmanuel - God with us.
The Dutch theologian Eduard Schillebeeckx referred to Christ as "the sacrament of encounter with God".
When I reflect on the theme "Cistercian Grace today: Conformity To Christ," it seems to me that we are called individually and collectively as a community to be the sacrament of encounter with God…In union with Christ to be a place of God's presence in the world.
This affects all aspects of our life.
In worship we are united with Christ, as all creation comes to consciousness in us and is able to praise and celebrate the Creator. We pray the very psalms that Christ prayed, we join Him in His Eucharistic prayer to the Father. In Snowmass, partly because of the small size of our community, our liturgy does not have the splendor of liturgies in our larger communities. Nonetheless, it has a simple grace to it, the prayer is real, and Christ's presence fills the silences. Our singing is sometimes accompanied by the singing of the coyotes outside and our chapel's clear glass windows let in the grandeur and beauty of nature surrounding us.
In lectio divina and quiet prayer we grow in our consciousness of our union with Christ and open ourselves to His Spirit working in us…the Spirit that transforms us into the image of Christ.
In our Cistercian community relationships we become the presence of Christ for one another. At our last General Chapter we examined the theme of the monastery as Schola Caritatis and found the love of Christ flowing through all the dimensions of our community life. In our caring for and being cared for, in our forgiving and being forgiven, the life of Christ flows through us. "Seniors love the juniors, juniors respect your seniors." In practicing this admonition from St. Benedict we offer to society an example that can heal the increasing division between generations in our modern world. At Snowmass, in our respect for the unique process of growth in Christ to which each member of the community is committed, we strive to nurture a freedom in each member that will be conducive to a mature responsibility as a Cistercian monk for the vitality and Christ-centeredness of the community's direction.
Cistercians are also the presence of Christ in our relationship with the full body of Christ, which we embrace and support with our loving prayer and which we receive with hospitality, receiving them as Christ, and receiving them as Christ would receive them. In our hospitality Cistercian monasteries provide an environment for guests and retreatants to be drawn into the presence of God and into encounter with God. It seems to me that is why so many people are coming to our monasteries for retreat and liturgy these days. Hopefully these people carry the peace and love they find back to their own communities.
We also hope to be the presence of God for our neighbors. I think of our brothers at Atlas and the deep bond they had formed with their neighbors in that farming community, a bond so deep that the brothers chose to stay in that place with those neighbors even if it were to mean their deaths. As I understand it they did not feel the need to preach explicitly about Jesus, sufficient if the people around them could experience Christ's love through them.
Cistercians seek to be the place of Christ's presence in our relationship with the environment where our farms, ranches, orchards, and lands are stewarded with deep respect for the Creator and for His designs, continuing God's care for the world…His care for His creation. We are becoming more reflexively or self-consciously aware of this stewardship today. The truth is that this stewardship of the land has always been a part of our Cistercian tradition where our monasteries were models for good stewardship. Today we have a heightened sensitivity for how our actions are affecting the well being and future of our human family and our whole planet. This stewardship in partnership with the Creator also shapes our response to the prevailing ethos of so many today, especially in the wealthier countries, namely consumerism: the continual purchase of new products in a throwaway culture. Our stewardship hopefully exemplifies a healthy alternative for living simply on the land.
I began this paper with the prayerful question that I often ask myself, "Lord Jesus, who are you and who am I?" This question normally serves to focus and silence my inner being, but once in an age an answer emerges to the question - from wherever it is in a person that such answers come. On one particular occasion when I had just become abbot and was wondering what I could do to bring back some of the spirit of the "good old days", I was sitting quietly while this question was echoing in the back of my mind and suddenly I heard inside myself the text of Revelation, "Behold, I am He who makes all things new." I had to laugh since I was focused on bringing back the old and Christ was turning me a full 180 degrees around so that with Him I could face the new. Of course we reverently carry the core of our tradition into the new with us, but still the challenge of being with and in Christ as He makes all things new is what we face today.
To conform to Christ in this way--being the place of God's presence--requires that we more and more take on the mind and heart of Christ; Christ's way of seeing; Christ's way of loving. This we do both individually and as community.
Individually to do this requires that we be deeply nourished by lectio and prayer in all of its forms, but especially I would underline (at least from my experience and that of my community) the transformation that comes from quiet, wordless contemplative prayer. I see in this a connection with Jesus going off alone to pray at night to be nourished at the fountain of Divine Union. Sometimes, in the early morning hours, I find my consciousness being focused by the prayerful question: "Lord, what shape do you want to take in me today?"
Collectively to take on the mind and heart of Christ requires not only that the individuals in the community be deeply committed to their own process of transformation in Christ, but also that the community itself be able to discern together what is the special and particular presence of Christ we are to be in the world today in our unique situations. Being mindful of St. Benedict's phrase that God often reveals what is better to the younger, it is so important that we learn to listen to one another, each and every one in the community, pray over these things, and discern together on how we will live this Christ-life in our concrete, day by day situations. I see the work that many of our communities are doing to improve the communication skills among the members as a helpful tool in this process of working together to know and live the mind and heart of Christ.
In our time of rapid and radical social and cultural change this personal transformation and communal listening and discerning are especially necessary. To be the presence of God in the world today in conformity with Christ is a deep challenge to each one of us and each one of our communities. It is critical today to be in touch with and reflect what is essential in a world where the essential is often lost sight of and where materialism and moral confusion are wreaking havoc. This can only flow from an ever-deeper communion with Christ.
We are blessed in this Chapter to be gathered here at Lourdes, the place where our Mother Mary spoke to St. Bernadette Soubirous a century and a half ago, a place where heaven and earth met, a place where God's healing presence touches so many. Hopefully our communities also are places where heaven and earth touch and God's healing presence comes alive in us and through us. Then are we truly conformed to His Christ, our Emmanuel.
4. Sr. Lily Scullion of Glencairn, Co.Waterford, Ireland
From my own point of view and my own experience
The concept of listening is central to Cistercian spirituality. The start of all spiritual movement is found in the heart. "Learn the heart of God through the Word of God!', was a quotation given to me by Sr. Eleanor R.S.M. that stirred up the desire for God within my heart. I began listening to the inner voice and heard the question, "Am I doing what God is asking of me?". In seeking discernment with a Dominican Sister, I experienced a woman with a tremendous capacity to listen - a listening with one's heart. It was like being in the presence of God and so I was happy to follow her advice when she said;
"Lily apply for the Youth Leader post in Ballymurphy
and if offered the Job, take it and stay there
until God gives you a sign."I got the job and worked and persevered there for almost three years. Ballymurphy is a Belfast ghetto area and an I.R.A stronghold in the seat of the 'Troubles' in the 'Six Counties' of Northern Ireland. It was a painful and difficult experience. Often as a form of escape, I would apply for other posts, but in the end remained working with the poor of the area.
In order to survive I turned to Jesus in the daily Eucharist who gave me the strength and courage to continue working and to cope with the pain and suffering that this entailed. One night, in the silence and solitude of my bedroom l had an experience that I can only liken to that of Jacob wrestling with God(19). I wrestled all night with God. I was physically helpless. I felt the closeness of His presence and I was afraid : afraid of what was going to be asked of me; afraid of losing my identity if I let Him take over my life; afraid of being alienated from my friends and from the 'normal' people of my everyday life. I was filled with a humbling fear when I thought of my sinfulness, the many times I had played hide and seek and the many times I had blocked Him out of my life. Now there was no escape. I felt surrounded, overcome, overwhelmed by His powerfulI presence. It was an experience of dying - face to face alone with God. Realising yes, I must let go and enter into this freely and accept the reality of the situation.
This letting go is not easy, it is a time of pain and of struggle. Is this not the persistent condition of our lives? The perspiration, the pain, the fear were all very real as the wrestling, the bargaining went on. The night was dark and long. Dawn came and a gentle voice spoke these words.
"Lily, it is enclosed life I want of you. "
I was shattered, confused, bewildered, and scared. What did this mean? I was reminded of the words of the prophet Isaiah: 'I have called you by your name, you are mine'.(20) To be called by name is a very powerful, touching and moving experience.
It is impossible to describe what happened in that intimate encounter with the Lord. When I came to the point of being still and present to this experience, I realised it was the Lord who spoke to me and amidst tears of sorrow, joy and gratitude, I responded saying :
"Yes Lord, You have allowed me my way for all these years, so now, Lord, it is over to You, do with me what You will. I don't have a clue what You are asking of me, but I give You all I have and trust You to lead me wherever you want me."
With this I experienced a great sense of inner freedom and peace. When morning came I was still shaken by the experience and I knew life was going to take on a new direction. I did not need to consult anyone. He had spoken clearly and 1 had yielded to the magnetic attraction of God. In my heart
I felt an inner strength and courage to trust in his unfolding of the journey ahead of me. I could say that the Lord took possession of me. I was filled with a new confidence and openness to follow through the response and commitment I gave him in that very intense and intimate encounter.
On the 21st May 1980, I met Sister Agnes of Glencairn and through her I experienced the gentleness of Christ which aroused my curiosity as to the lifestyle behind such a disposition.
I set out to visit Glencairn at the end of June to see how pressed flower cards were made. On the last two hours of the journey I could feel an inner conflict emerging. An inner dialogue started up. The reality that I was going to spend a weekend with nuns became overpowering. So much so, that on arrival at the Abbey entrance gate, I turned the car and began my journey home again. Aftrer an hour of retreating, I stopped, I knew 1 had to keep my appointment and turned around once more. Outside the Abbey doors I was confronted once again with the word 'Enclosed' which I hadn't given any thought to since my encounter with the Lord. The bargaining ended with my decision to stay the night if there were no grilles. There were no grilles. I was snared, I had to stay the night. In fact I stayed for the weekend and enjoyed seeing the making of the cards and working in the garden.
On my journey home I was caught by an inner peace which resulted in my handing in my notice at work that evening and writing a letter to Glencairn saying I was coming to join at the end of September.
From the beginning of my novitiate I was taught to focus on Christ and it has been my experience that when I take any focus off Christ, Cistercian life becomes difficult and to an extent meaningless.
I begin to follow my own desires, concentrating on the weaknesses of others and getting stuck in feelings of inferiority. All of this gives rise to conflict and pain. For me, this focusing on Christ which demands discipline in order to live in and through the Spirit of Christ, has meant the daily carrying of the cross of my humanity.
Giving time and space to be with Christ in silence, prayer and solitude did not come naturally to me. Before coming to the monastery, I lived a very active life as a full time youth worker, amidst the bombs, the bullets, the relentless noise of army helicopters overhead and the screaming of armoured cars, tanks and guns and the sufferings that resulted from this. Coming to terms with the silence and peace of the monastic environment was my first hurdle, as you can well imagine. It all demanded patience with myself and others with me.
I slowly grew to appreciate the value of silence and solitude, and to realise that what at first seemed a waste of time e.g. lectio and prayer, were all a means to enable the spirit of Christ to transform and shape me.
The experience of the human dimension of community living can be life giving or death dealing depending on how we perceive various situations. As a Catholic growing up in the 'Six Counties' of Northern Ireland, in order to have a sense of identity, I learnt at a very young age to hold my ground and to be direct and frank about my feelings on issues important to me. These traits gave rise to a lot of misunderstanding with others in the Glencairn community. Sometimes I was perceived as being aggressive, while I perceived myself as honest and straight forward. Arising from this, I experienced alienation and felt alone. This caused much pain and suffering. Reflecting back on this I realise that the root cause of this conflict came from a cultural difference. This resulted in an experience of deep darkness for me. It was like being in a deep and bottomless dry well. Nobody seemed to understand what I was going through. When I shared this experience with a confessor, his response was "It is rather early to be going through the Dark Night." So I was left to stay with it. During this time I identified strongly with the passion of Christ.
I gradually emerged out of this darkness into light by being accompanied by my Novice Mistress who journeyed through it with me. I experienced her patience, gentleness and respect which was mediating for me the patient, gentle respectful presence of Christ. This was the dawn for me.
The Rule of Benedict is Christocentric : Benedict tells us again and again 'To prefer nothing to the love of Christ',(21) 'To hold nothing dearer than the love of Christ'.(22) Benedict encourages us to be constantly aware of God's Presence in our daily lives and this for me is manifested in relationships with others, in the beauty of nature, in manual work and in the Liturgy. The living out of this is what I think our Abbot General, Dom Bernado, is inviting all of us to, when he speaks of the mystical dimension of our Cistercian charism in his recent Circular Letter :
So at this hour of human history, at this moment of cultural transition we monks and nuns must turn our lives with a new decisiveness towards the Mystery, so as to be mystically transformed by it. Our Christian Mystical experience is in the last analysis an experience of being reformed and conformed to Christ.(23)
Part of this reforming and conforming to Christ begins in the Novitiate. We do not always respond to the call of Christ in our everyday setting, so we stumble, retreat and fall into darkness in our effort to come into the light. From time to time we are ambitious, full of pride and our wills are stubborn and require a lot of melting through the steps of humility. St. Benedict points out in our Rule that 'The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience which comes naturally to those who cherish Christ above all'.(24) I think this obedience is the core of 'Conformity to Christ' in Cistercian life. Obedience and love cannot be separated. Christ loved and because he loved, 'He made himself obedient, even to accepting death, death on a cross'.(25)
St. Benedict opens his Rule with the words, "Listen carefully my child to my instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart."(26)
Thus the importance of listening to this Rule and its insights into life, with feeling, i.e. 'with the ear of the heart'. In this way we learn to hear what God wants in any given situation and with the grace of the Holy Spirit we make ourselves ready to open our hearts in loving response to this call. This is obedience, the willingness to listen for the voice of God in our daily lives which will wrench us out of our own little worlds. As human beings we often fail to listen and hear the voice of Christ. At times some of us may experience the absence of Christ more than His Presence, as we move along our journey.
In the following ways I experience His presence in my life. For example in my nineteen years as a Cistercian Sister, I am constantly uplifted when I see the Sisters happy and fulfilled in Glencairn. I think of the late Mother Imelda Power R.I.P who inspired me greatly by the warmth and joy she exuded and her very real faith amidst the ups and downs of daily life.
My community is composed of forty Sisters, some of whom are elderly and infirm. Despite this they are in the Church ready to sing praise to God at four a.m. on a cold winter's morning. Because of these qualities of commitment to prayer, joy and faith which are incarnated in the lives of the Sisters, the wider Church is constantly beeing drawn to Glencairn to unburden their anxieties and worries to a kind and listening ear, to request prayers and often to participate personally in the Liturgy of the Hours.
The younger people too, are inspirational, as they bring with them vitality, freshness and enthusiasm for the life. They also show a lot of compassion towards our elderly Sisters which in turn reminds me to ask myself if I am taking my Sisters for granted.
My family and my personal friends visit the Abbey and are energised by participating in our Liturgy and I in turn benefit from the constancy of their faithful friendship which both challenges and supports my call to monastic life. While the richness of this Liturgy has the power to energise and comfort me, it also calls for commitment, selflessness, selfgiving, discipline and fidelity from me and from each member of my community.
I am also blessed by the geographical setting of Glencairn situated in the picturesque countryside of rolling hills and bordered by the River Blackwater (The Irish Rhine). I am sure many of you will associate with me when I say God speaks very forcefully through nature, as I marvel at the wonder of His creation.
My early formative years were at times spent with 'Garden of Gethsemane experiences'. One specific area of suffering was centred around a clash of personality with my Superior and obedience in this situation did not come easy. My prayer was that of Dom Marmion : "Lord you have brought me here. If you want me to stay it is up to you."(27)
Often when I was going through this darkness, my novice mistress's words, 'To have Christ is everything.... Thank God to be in Glencairn", gave me food for thought and helped me through the struggle and to realise, yes my calling is greater than my suffering. This suffering was rewarded on my Solemn Profession day with a tremendous sense of peace and the grace of being able to commit myself totally to Christ in the way of Cistercian life. A few years later, I experienced the joy and freedom of a reconciliation between the Superior and myself.
The spiritual climate of our day is characterised by the struggle for authenticity in human living. The quality of our relationships with one another is a measure of our relationship with God. As monks and nuns in community we are called to be an epiphany of 'Church'/ecclesia. In the ceremony of Profession the community acknowledge the importance of supportive prayer. Sharing with others is an essential aspect of our vows. The Constitutions speaking on participation in the common life, calls us to 'mutual care, mutual co-operation and mutual obedience'(28) and states, 'The Abbess is to govern the Sisters with reverence for the human person created in God's image ...'(29) I see this as calling us into a deeper communion with each other through dialogue where we listen to each other's truth. Sometimes when it comes to assessing situations, decision-making, drawing up House reports etc., a community may find itself in the dynamic of conflict where members become defensive, displaying their anger, ego-tripping, criticising and judging others. Unity is lost unless centred on a higher good. This requires mutual obedience where each person renounces his/her own will in service to the other. Where we open ourselves to the promptings of the Spirit, we are enabled to conform to Christ's will for us.
A group of Cistercians who were able to conform to the point of martyrdom were the Atlas Brothers. Theirs is a prophetic message for our generation. Reflecting on their lives as presented in 'A Heritage Too Big For Us', what strikes me is the extent of their unanimity. This group of monks who over a period of a few years, had continuously dialogued together in the face of imminent death, reached a common belief about what conformity to Christ meant in their given life situation. In their dialogue they had listened to and heard each other, and eventually became one effective member of the Mystical Body of Christ inviting their Algerian Brothers and Sisters to the Table of Love and Reconciliation. To become capable of being obedient even unto death, death on a cross is the highest form of freedom for a Christian. Just two thousand years ago Jesus did exactly that and opened up the way for us in and through the Paschal Mystery. Our Brothers of Atlas through their love, fidelity, humility and obedience arrived at that level of freedom and unity in the Spirit and thus were snatched up into the loving embrace of Our Eternal Father.
Yes, the Atlas community were an ordinary group of monks living out Cistercian Life in an extraordinary way, a way which radically conforms to Christ. Here is a description of the community in Fr Christian's own words:
"Our life as monks binds us to God's will for us, which is a life of prayer and simplicity, manual labor, hospitality and sharing with all, especially the poorest. These reasons for living are a free choice of each of us. They engage us unto death..."(30)
We, the first Cistercians to stand on the threshold of a Millennium have witnessed and shared in the grace of these lives given to 'God and Algeria'. With humble hearts, let us thank God for their lives, for our own lives. I pray that each of us will respond to that same reforming and conforming to Christ, that in moments of crisis and change, we may embrace the spirit of these words in Fr. Christian's Testament :
"I should like when the time comes,
to have the moment of lucidity
which would allow me to beg forgiveness of God
and of my fellow human beings
and at the same time to forgive with all my heart the one
who would strike me down."(31)
Return to Texts from the O.C.S.O.
NOTES
1. William of St. Thierry: Treatise on the Song of Songs, Cant.1. VIII: 94: Efficitur ad similitudinem facientis.
2. Ch. Dumont: An education of the heart, p. 215
3. O. Clément: The prayer of the heart, Oriental Spirituality 6bis, p. 49
4. J. Delesalle: "Being one spirit with God" in the Works of William of Saint-Thierry (typed Thesis) p. 210.
5. Ibid: p. 212
6. O. Clément: Questions about mankind, p. 50.
7. L.A. quoted in: "J. Pyronnet, C. Legland: Two weeks of Prayer with Ghandi, A New City, p. 76.
8. Vita Consecrata n. 16
9. Mother Blanca Lopez Llorena: Cistercian Grace Today: Conformity to Christ, Working Paper to help the
communities in preparing their House Reports for the General Chapters of 1999, Introduction p.1.
10. O. Clément: The prayer of the heart, Oriental Spirituality 6bis p. 59.
11. The Book of Asceticism, the Little Philokalia, quoted in: O. Clément: the Prayer of the Heart, Oriental
Spirituality 6bis p. 59.
12. Rule for a Recluse, 32 SC 76 p. 153.
13. Ibid. 31 p. 129.
14. The Seven Degrees of Love, trans. J.B. Porion, Martingay, p. 248.
15. J. Loew: As though he saw the Invisible One, p. 76.
16. Guerric of Igny: 2nd Sermon for Our Lady's Birthday, 3 SC 202 p. 493.
17. Cf. Bernard of Clairvaux: in Praise of the Virgin Mary, 2 17.
18. C. Dumont: Fervent Wisdom, p. 323.
19. Genesis 32: 26-32
20. Isaiah 43:1
21. R.B. Ch.4
22. Ibid. Ch.5
23. 1999 Circular Letter, Dom Bernardo; R.B. Ch.5
24. R.B. Ch.5
25. Phil. 2:8
26. R.B. Prologue
27. Christ the Soul of the Monk, Dom Marmion
28. Constitutions 16:2
29. Ibid. 16:3
30. A Heritage too big for us, Dom Donald Glynn, Nunraw
31. Fr. Christian's Testament as quoted in A Heritage too big for us