paxabbey at The Abbey of Our Lady of Exile, Mount St Benedict, Tunapuna, Port of Spain 00014 TT - RETREAT
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RETREAT |
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| Fr Clyde Harvey shares with the monks during our Community Retreat |
Rev Fr Clyde Harvey, Parish Priest of Rosary Church in Port of Spain, led the Community during its annual Retreat held from Monday 06 to Friday 10 July 2009. He drew extensively from his experiences in Parish Life and often used comparisons between Parish Life and Community Life. As a backdrop to his reflections, he proposed Robert Wicks' book, "CROSSING THE DESERT" for our table reading. It is a book that plummets the depths of desert spirituality in helping the listener to "embrace the freedom that humility offers" and to "let go". These themes were to be amply referred to in the sessions that Fr Clyde guided us through.
In the opening session, he encouraged the monks to tap into the long line of monks and others who have been instrumental in shaping this monastic community and the lives of each monk. It was an exercise to claim our history and to identify those who have assisted us along the journey of life. We were each given a handout with selections from the alternative opening prayer for Mass for various Sundays in the year. As a springboard, Fr Clyde reflected on the prayer for week 14: "Father, in the rising of your Son death gives birth to new life. The suffering he endured restored hope to a fallen world. Let sin never ensnare us with empty promises of passing joy. Make us one with you always, so that our joy may be holy and our love may give life." We must be life-giving, in the midst of the struggles that we encounter.
On the following day, Fr Clyde developed the "Spirituality of Communion" as presented by Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte" for the close of the Great Jubilee of the year 2000. The great challenge facing us in the present millennium, according to the Pope, is to make the Church "the home and school of communion." This applies equally to our monasteries (ecclesiola). Before we can work on external structures of community, we first must foster a "Spirituality of Communion." Quoting from the apostolic letter, Fr Clyde developed this theme and applied it to our life in Community at Mount St Benedict. At times we develop external structures of Community that can serve as masks of Community. Fr Clyde challenged us to determine the masks of Community that we wear. "How do we invite those who aspire to join our community to see the vision?" he asked. Fr Clyde developed the four aspects of this Spirituality of Communion: 1) It indicates above all "the heart's contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us." It is essentially Trinitarian. For this reason, Fr Clyde thinks that Christians do themselves a disservice by calling themselves "Christians" - we are more clearly "Trinitarians". Through the grace of our Baptism we enter into the Dance of the Trinity. "I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them." (John 17:26). 2) It means having the "ability to think of our brothers and sisters in faith within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and therefore as 'those who are a part of me'. This makes us able to share their joys and sufferings, to sense their desires and attend to their needs, to offer them deep and genuine friendship." One who does not have a capacity for genuine friendship should not become a monk. You must have at least one brother in the Community whom you can call your friend. Fr Clyde developed the theme of St Benedict to confide in another as a way of honesty and humility (Rule of St Benedict Ch 4 vs. 50). 3) "A Spirituality of communion implies also the ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it and prize it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for the brother or sister who has received it directly, but also as a 'gift for me'." This is a wonderful manifestation of true community. Fr Clyde looked at ways in which we can foster this in our own monastic community. 4) "A spirituality of communion means, finally, to know how to 'make room' for our brothers and sisters, bearing 'each other's burdens' (Gal 6:2) and resisting the selfish temptations which constantly beset us and provoke competition, careerism, distrust and jealousy." This is brought out beautifully in the Benedictine understanding of HOSPITALITY. In order to live these four aspects of a spirituality of communion we must exercise a radical honesty with no illusions. This must be done in a climate of prayer. Fr Clyde encouraged us to uncover the masks of communion that we wear and seek for that radical honesty at all times. Ultimately we will be led to that complete freedom which St Paul refers to in his letter to the Galatians: "After all, brothers, you were called to be free; do not use your freedom as an opening for self-indulgence, but be servants to one another in love, since the whole of the Law is summarized in the one commandment: You must love your neighbour as yourself. If you go snapping at one another and tearing one another to pieces, take care: you will be eaten up by one another."
Later that day, Fr Clyde developed the other side of the monastic way, the way of apartness - the monk as the one who, like Jacob, struggles with God, ALONE. He took his cue from the reading at Holy Mass, where Jacob wrestled with God. "He took them and sent them across the stream and sent all his possessions over too. And Jacob was left alone." And it was while he was alone that he wrestled with God. Jacob represents the monk ("monachos"). God will take them over the stream, but the one who is left alone, is the one who is left for the struggle and that is the monk. Jacob is the paradigm of the monk. And the struggle is both a task and a gift. We must imagine ourselves standing alone, like Jacob, and struggling with God. Ultimately, the struggle is always a struggle alone. And the struggle is not with self. The struggle is with God. The more you struggle with yourself, the more you will tend to lose. Fr Clyde encouraged us to look at some of the ways in which we, as monks, struggle alone. One of the unique features of monastic formation is that it is a life-long process which happens in the round of daily living. It happens over time in the rhythm of the life. And it is there that the struggle happens.
On Wednesday morning, Fr Clyde took us on 'a tour' of the "Workshop of the Monastery", where we spent time examining "The Tools for Good Works", chapter four of the Rule of St Benedict. He saw them as extensions of the self and bound up with proximity to others. It is the Stability in the community where we use our tools. He asked us to pay close attention to Basil Hume's Pilgrim image or model of Church. Fr Clyde was inspired by a Conference on Benedictine Spirituality, "Shaping Holy Lives" given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in which he used Benedict's description of the monastery as a workshop and presented it as a key to holiness. This brought back memories of Fr Ildefons to Fr Clyde, who as a seminarian was often invited to the actual workshop of Fr Ildefons, where he applied his craft. Holiness is a set of habits which are spelled out in chapter four of the Rule. These habits have to do with controlling the tongue, not passing on blame, getting up in the morning and not gossiping. It is a life's work. Stability is the key. Fr Clyde asked us to examine the language of our community. What language do we speak? If our language is "grievance", then we will eventually destroy ourselves and our community. Nicholl comments in reference to the circulation of the blood in a body: "what you receive is what you give, what you put into the circulation." "If you put in grievance, you will get back grievance". We need to put positive input into circulation. We must set the currency of goodness and kindness circulating through the community. What is the common language of our community? This we need to examine. How we relate to each other is the key to harmonious living. The manner in which we exercise authority is key here and Fr Clyde referred us to chapter twenty-seven of the Rule of St Benedict, where the Abbot is seen as one journeying with the wayward brother: "The abbot must exercise the utmost care and concern for wayward brothers, because it is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick..." As a young seminarian, Fr Clyde had consulted our Fr Odo van der Heijdt, who was his spiritual director at the time. The advice of Fr Odo to Fr Clyde has stayed with him over the years: "You are never static in the spiritual life - you are either going forward or backward. - make your choice!" The practice of the precepts of chapter four of the Rule of St Benedict on "The Tools for Good Works" will guarantee that one is always moving forward on the way of holiness. And because the workshop where we are to toil faithfully at all these tasks is the monastery and stability in the community, Fr Clyde underlined the essential task of the Benedictine monk to live and share this ideal of stability with others.
On Wednesday evening, Fr Clyde devoted the session to an examination of the values and virtues that are special to the Benedictine monk. He quoted Fr Henry Charles, who often spoke about VALUES as ATTRACTIONS. He asked us to examine what attracts us. According to Fr Henry Charles, the reason why so few persons express an interest in the priesthood or the religious life is precisely because they do not see anything there that attracts them. As one entering and becoming part of a Benedictine Community, one is making a choice for a particular set of values. Based on his own reading of the Rule and the Spirituality of St Benedict, Fr Clyde listed ten core values of the Benedictine monk: Prayer, Work, Community, Hospitality, Peace, Obedience, Stability, Humility, Stewardship, and Monastic Poverty. Each of these values was written on a piece of paper, and each of the monks was asked to pick one. There followed a beautiful sharing of insights and reflections from each monk. This proved to be very beneficial and edifying. It was a session in which Fr Clyde led us in a journey to remember these core values that we, as monks, have committed ourselves to live out each day of our lives - the core values that attracted us in the first place, and those that will continue to attract others to this monastic way of life.
BENEDICT AND THE FUTURE OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: This was the theme for the morning session on Thursday 09 July. Also, BENEDICT AND THE FUTURE OF THE CARIBBEAN was part of the discussion. Whereas there are no overflowing requests for admission to Benedictine Communities today, there is indeed a growing awareness of the value of Benedictinism, both in the context of the values spelled out in the Rule and the witness of a group of Benedictines living together in community, such as at Mount St Benedict. The present preponderance of books and articles exposing the Rule of St Benedict as a way for men and women to live authentically in the world is an indication of the possibility that the Rule has a power to transform our present day society. The growing increase of interest in the Oblate Movement is an indication that Benedict is offering a way of life that may yet transform our secular culture. The growing number of persons, not formally Oblates, who feel the need to be associated with the monastery in a variety of ways, tells us that our way of life is offering hope and meaning to persons in diverse ways. People continue to be inspired by the lived tradition of the Benedictine monastery and continue to draw from the well of its spirituality. Several retreats hosted by a Benedictine monastery in the U.K. for business men testify to the relevance of the Benedictine way. A recent television series about Benedictine life based on Worth Abbey and hosted by the BBC proved to be exceedingly popular. Five men had been invited by the monks to live for a period in the Benedictine community and their experiences all brought them to a deeper appreciation of the value of the Benedictine way of life.
Using as a springboard a speech at Sant' Anselmo in Rome by Archbishop Rowan Williams entitled "Benedict and the Future of Europe", Fr Harvey re-iterated some points there and added two others with the context of the Caribbean in mind. Fr Harvey outlined five aspects of the Rule of St Benedict which could challenge some aspects of our present societal malaise and offer it a kind of spirituality for transformation for the future. The five aspects of the Rule of St Benedict as a response to our present religious vacuum are as follows: 1) Time: The Benedictine understanding of a rhythm of prayer, work and study must be offered to the wider society as a question especially at a time when there is such emphasis on dead-lines (including the 20/20 vision) and as if progress could be achieved in a fixed time-frame. In the Caribbean context our rhythm is based on sound. But sound can be oppressive. The post-slavery mentality tells us that work is drudgery and is oppressive. The Benedictine community can offer a Theology of Work that is more positive - as expressive of the creativity of the human. Work is an expression of Creation. And the beautiful line from the Prologue "our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love" must be the manner in which all work is accomplished. The British Dominican theologian Ernst used to say that the creation of a meaningful culture was the whole process by which the world to which humanity belonged became the world that belonged to humanity. The image of the Caribbean as Sand, Sea and Foliage, embraced by Rhythm should not only be for the tourist. It is a realty that we must embrace and claim as our own. Can we hope one day for a monastery by the beach? Culture has to be more than the round of producing and being entertained. It must be the context in which humanity is allowed to grow. Can we turn our "liming" into contemplative moments? The structuring of time in the Benedictine monastery is a potent reminder of the balances we risk losing in a culture obsessed with production and consumption. We need the rhythm - the balance - the wholeness. What does it mean to be human in the Caribbean today? 2) Obedience: The Benedictine understanding is that we need to suspend a purely individual will or perception for the sake of discovering God's will in the life of the community. The abbot has to discern the needs and the common calling of the community. The abbot has to listen and attend with intense concentration to the specific requirements and gifts of the individual members of the community. So the abbot himself is subject to the Rule. The abbot must listen to all, especially to the youngest in the community - a wonderful paradigm for leadership in secular circles as well. 3) Participation: There can be no community if some live at the expense of the others. All must participate and the Rule provides for this participatory pattern of living. Today many persons feel ignored and this breeds violence. We will not solve the crime situation unless we build community. The Benedictines created community before there were libraries and farms. We have created Nations and now we are thinking of building community. We have done it the wrong way. GAYAP is an attempt to create a sense of community and belonging. 4) Poverty: This is of particular importance to our Caribbean context. How can we live more simply? Simplicity of life is the key. We need to befriend the poor. And when we do so, like Sister Diane Jagdeo, we become ashamed to label them as "the poor". They have become our friends. 5) Presence: The Mount is a presence in our midst - a presence for transcendence. Pilgrims come to the Mount to look down and experience a different perspective. The Mount is a place of encounter. Our history of slavery and indentureship has left us with a low self image. The Mount is a place of encounter and healing. Hospitality and openness can bring about trust and healing.
These five Benedictine aspects are the questions which the Mount must place before the wider society to enter into a deeper way of human living.
In the Evening, Fr Clyde devoted the session to the question of ageing, especially as it applies to priests and religious. He underlined the importance of "letting go". Ageing can be a humbling experience. As we come to terms with the reality of ageing in our lives, he outlined the first moment of awareness, the second moment of entering into the experience consciously, the third moment of declaring it, and the final moment of rejoicing in the reality. As religious, we need to practice the virtue of inclusion, to include the aged as much as possible. It is also necessary to see ageing as a value beyond "usefulness." For the individual monk, it is essentially a task of self-discovery.
The final day of our retreat, Friday 10 July, was devoted to Reconciliation and Renewal of Vows. Fr Clyde led us in a very meaningful morning service of reconciliation at which he again came back to the Tools of Good Works, which St Benedict outlined in chapter four of the Holy Rule. We also saw a video clip in which two handicapped dancers (the male had one leg and the female had one hand), synchronizing their movements in a most gracious manner. That is community - each one is handicapped, but the dance must go on and we always complement each other.
The closing Mass for the Retreat was held at 5:00 pm at which Abbot John presided. The monks renewed their vows, committing themselves once more to the witness of monastic life in the Caribbean.