Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists)
NlNTH CENTENARY OF THE FOUNDING
OF THE MONASTERY OF CĪTEAUXBIRTH OF THE CISTERCIAN CHARISM 1098 - March 21 - 1998
The author of the Exordium Magnum makes the foundation of Cīteaux take place on March 21st, on the Solemnity of Saint Benedict, which that year, 1098, coincided with Palm Sunday. We all know that this date is more of a symbol than a chronological fact. That is precisely why we are interested in it: The New Monastery is a new flowering of the Benedictine charisma, a new springtide in the paschal mystery. (Exordium Magnum XIII)
The identity of a religious group such as the "Cistercians" lies in the interpretation given to themselves by the original group of founders and by the present members. This means that the primitive documents au~d the original experience have something to tell us, just as the contemporary documents and our life today do. The Holy Spirit, who spired the original charisma, also inspires the way that charisma has been lived and enriched in different times and places. Our identity is constituted by both the original charisma and the experience we now have of it.
It is in this sense that the readings chosen for our celebration today speak to us about following the poor Jesus, in order to enter into his mystery and into communion with him and with all other human beings. We must let this anniversary celebration enlighten our past history and make it fruitful, so that the past becomes ne\v life in the Risen Jesus. Let us look at this message and receive its grace by reflecting on the three readings we have just heard.
Sell all you have, then come and follow me
The Gospel speaks to us about a rich man who wants eternal life, but he is not willing to give up his wealth. The result is that he does not follow Jesus and remains in sadness. The text continues, telling us how difficult it is for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven At the end of the reading the Lord promises eternal life to those who have left everything to follow him. However, many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. (Mt 19:16-30)
This whole scene reminds us of a very significant passage in the Exordium of Cīteaux (1:3-4). It reads as follows
Since possessions and virtues do not coexist for long, a few wise and farsighted men of that holy community (Moles me) chose to commit themselves to heavenly things rather than to be embroiled in human affairs. From then on, because of their love for the virtues, they began constantly to think of the fruitfulness of poverty and how it produces manly qualities.
Our First Fathers were keenly aware that you cannot live or serve God without material goods. Nevertheless. the less we have, the better (St.Bernard, Ps.XC 5:2 - quanto strictius, tanto melius). The reason is simple: Temporal goods are licit if they are not loved, and illicit if they are. Whether they are loved or not, however, they are not of great benefit since they soon pervert and seduce the heart of their owner. (St.Bernard, Ep 462:7).
Purity of heart is not possible without getting rid of all superfluities and living in the simplicity of poverty. It lies in following and imitating the poor Mother of the poor Christ (Guerric, Pur 4:6).
But what does this mean for us today, in a world impoverished by its accumulation of wealth, by its bad distribution of it and by the atrociously bad purposes this wealth is used for. Without any false messianic pretensions or heroics, both the Gospel and our Fathers invite us to:
- Renounce material goods in order to obtain the greater, the only good: Jesus. -Eliminate private individual ownership which is a terrible vice.
- Work to earn one's daily bread and to share it with those who have no bread.
- Simplify our existence in order to enter by the austere way which leads to life.
- Share goods we have with those who are dispossessed of this world's goods.
- Prefer those human beings who have been most broken by our inhumanity.
The day that this Gospel poverty is freely embraced, transforms our communities as a whole, and spreads to all our structures and institutions, then we will really be able to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom, which is to live in the greatest possible solidarity with others, no matter what the cost, and save the life of all by losing your own.Then we can denounce the anti-Kingdom and its slogans: Get the most profit at the least cost for your own benefit.
If our witness of poverty gives a poor imprcssion, it is because we call ourselves poor but do not want to become poor. Yet -- it is the Lord who speaks -- only the poor and the little ones entcr the Kingdom and its mystery.
He led him into the cloud. Face to face he gave him his commandments.
The wise Ben Ceric medicated on the sacred history of his people. His wisdom flows from such medication. History teaches him how God works on those who belong to him. Knowing God`s Work leads to discovering his Being. Moses was a good man who found grace h. the eyes of all loved by God and by his fellow human beings. God showed him a part of his glory and let him hear his voice. He brought him into the cloud of his own mystery and there face to face gave him his commandments. (Sir 45:1.5)
The figure of Moses has always been rich in symbolic value as a model of holiness, ascent to God and mystical union with him. So it is not strange that for our Cistercian authors Moses praying on the mountain should be a symbol of monks and hermits (St.Bernard, 3 Sent I 18). Among those who follow the Lord in his entrance procession into Jerusalem there are some who are like Moses: Those who are in the rear can only see his back, like Moses... Those who beside him can look at him from time to time, but hurriedly and not continuously or perfectly... Compared with the others, the latter see him more face (o face, as is also said of Moses... But not even Moses had the full vision in this life (St.Bernard Palm S. 2:7). It is not surprising that a Cistercian of the second wave speaks as follows:
Joy, love, delight and sweetness, vision, light, glory: this is what God asks of us and what he made us for. True order and true religion consist in doing what we were made to do. So let us contemplate the supreme beauty, let us take delight in what is utter sweetness, let us fight tooth and nail against whatever is opposed to it. Let us orient all our activities to this end, our work and our rest, our words and our silence. (Isaac, Sermon 25:7)
The deformity of our spiritual being needs a total reforming before arriving at conformity to God in Christ. Union with God--it is not important how this union is expressed: as vision peace rest Sabbath or contemplation--is the first au~d final end of our monastic life. The mystical teaching of our First Fathers is the most precious part of their, and our heritage.
Our modern world thirsts for God. It is looking for his face and seems not to find it. If we have been faithful to the patrimony we have received if we have like Moses persevered in prayer as if seeing the one who is invisible, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb 11:27; 12:2) then we will indeed have something to offer and to share.
Through him we have access in one Spirit to the Father.
The Letter to the Ephesians which we has just been proclaimed to us announces that Christ has reconciled Jews and Gentiles to each other and with God. We can ask ourselves if Jesus the Christ does not also want to break down the dividing walls separating the members of the Cistercian family so as to make us into a single New Person.
We need to return in trust and confidence to the original inspiration which gave birth to us as a gift from God to the Church. We need to embrace without fear the legitimate variety of traditions which the Spirit has nurtured throughout our nine centuries of following Jesus. This is the only way we will be able to appreciate and wonder at the riches which were hidden in that initial gift of the Spirit. But that is only the appetizer meant to encourage us to seek an effective communion which we have to recover and keep establishing.
Let me end by paraphrasing St. Bernard: Today, dearest brothers and sisters, we have celebrated among ourselves a meeting, a synod of bodies (conventum vel synod um corporum). We should, however, form another, more important synod: the union of our souls. There would be not benefit in having a corporal association together with a spiritual separation. There is no reason to meet in one place -- even if that place is Cīteaux itself -- if we disagree in the spirit. No matter how holy it may be, the place serves no purpose without the union of spirits (3 Sent. 107).
Bernardo Olivera, ocso
Cīteaux March 21,1998