Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists)
CITEAUX TODAY AND TOMORROW
Concluding Synthesis of the Cistercian Symposium on this theme
held at San José do Rio Pardo, Brazil, July 25-30, 1999
The official title of our meeting expresses its purpose well, explaining what we have tried to do during these five days together. We have seen the need to become more fully aware, as Cistercian monks and nuns, of the fact that we are at the crossroads of two historical periods of time. We have to look from where we are towards the future so as to discern as far as possible God's plans for Citeaux at the beginning of the Third Millenium.
It was in this spirit that we first looked at the past, especially the recent past. On the level of Cistercian history, we see that many differences between the members of the large Cistercian Family, especially the latter's division into different canonical Orders, come from historical events of the last 200 years. We are now beginning to overcome the lack of trust which has reigned among our Orders. We see that it would be wise to implement the suggestions of last year's Synaxis and intensify our collaboration, especially on the regional level. The present Symposium is a good example of this next step towards full Cistercian communion.
This look towards the past has also let us see more clearly the expanded development of social sensitivity at the present time. In spite of the fall of communism, we will have to be sensitive in the future to the social consequences of certain elements of Cistercian life. These elements include the possession and use of land, the type of work we do, the welcome given to visitors and, for the monasteries which have it, the parish aspostolate. Working together, as well as in communion with the local Church, will help the abbot and the community to discern what is best in each instance.
More than these exterior elements of Cistercian life, which come from the outside, we have been interested in the internal characteristics of our situation. A series of exceptionally good conferences helped us to reflect on how to discern the best paths we should follow in the future in different dimensions of our life: aspects such as the contemplative reality found in the different Cistercian groupings; the formation of new generations; our Cistercian culture of cenobitic humility and charity as opposed to a culture of unrestrained individualism and pride; the active role of Our Lady in Cistercian culture and the key role in it of the abbot's discernment, which must be totally ordered to the life of the community.
More particularly, we were struck by three conferences given by three of our sisters who come from very different geographical locations: Mother Agnes Timar of Kismaros in Hungary, Mother Martha Driscoll of Gedono, Indonesia, and Sister Marie-Pascale Dran, Novice Director at Chambarand in France. Each one based herself on her own experiences and gave us new light and a renewed optimism based on faith in God acting through the community and through the Cistercian grace. This helped us appreciate more fully the dynamics at work in several aspects of our life, which seem to be especially important and particularly difficult in the immediate future. The themes that these conferences discussed included separation from the world, poverty in an increasingly technological culture, greater collaboration between monks and nuns, different aspects of the priesthood of monks and the real possibility of converting the problems of our present candidates into graces of self-gift and inner transformation.
Faced with the new millenium and, even more, with the changes and tensions involved in moving towards a society whose features remain unclear throughout the entire world, we end this week of reflection with a new appreciation of two complementary realities. Both of them will be absolutely necessary in the future and have been the continual object of our attention, either explicitly or implicitly. The first of these realities is the Cistercian charism: that unmerited vocational grace which each one of us has personally received from the Holy Spirit, making it possible for us to respond to the voice of Christ who calls us to be, as Saint Bernard says, servants, friends and spouses of Him who is the only Spouse of the Church. Without this charismatic reality the other dimensions we have studied this week would be causes of frustration, not of transformation.
The second key element for the future is Benedictine discernment, analyzed for us by Dom Joaquim Zamith, OSB, Abbot President of the Brazilian Benedictine Congregation. The Rule of Saint Benedict leaves many elements of monastic life undetermined and open to the the necessary discernment of the abbot. This discernment is carried out above all in communion with the community, as described in Chapter 3 of the Rule. It includes interior discernment of spirits, as is seen in the chapters on the officials and the priests of the community, but it extends to all aspects of our life, from meals to work and even to the Liturgy. Given the fact that the futute of the world in which we live is not at all clear, and the changes are deep, the gift and the practice of discernment will be very important for each monastery. The most significant decisions will often be made on the local level and discernment is the necessary instrument for all concerned.
In this sense it seems right to apply to each one of our communities what Mother Agnes of Kismaros said of her own community:
"Our special characteristic is that we are all responsible for each other and each sister shares in this common responsibility. We are responsible for the monks and nuns of other monasteries, for Christians and for non-Christians. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, died on the cross for all. We have a shared responsiblity which is not the result of our own choice or of our own personal decision. It is because God has made the world this way."
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