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Aug 2007
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
26/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Strange that
anyone should think it odd that Mother Teresa
experienced spiritual dryness, or call her a
"hypocrite" because she went on smiling while
struggling with temptations against faith. Not only
great saints but pretty well all believers must
expect to experience something of the same. Scant
comfort when one is going through it, of course; but
the purification wouldn't be real if one didn't find
it devastating. As St Teresa of Avila said, it is no
wonder God has so few friends when he treats them so
badly. Or perhaps, not badly, just bafflingly.
Journey's End
25/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
We all have a
tendency to indulge in "what ifs" and "if onlys". At
one level, that is a perfectly natural expression of
our hopes and fears. When we are young, or at least
young in heart, our dreams can inspire and shape our
whole lives. But the "what ifs" and "if onlys" can be
a way of not really facing up to things. How many
have tried to bargain with God for the life of a
loved one or failed to do something because "the
native hue of resolution/ Is sicklied over with the
pale cast of thought"? Like the Fourth Wise Man, who
journeyed endlessly in search of his new-born Lord
and failed, as he thought, to find him, though he met
him often enough on his travels, we can be so
concentrated on the journey's end that we do not
recognize the importance of the journey itself. As
Boethius remarked long ago, God is the journey and
the journey's end. We must find him here as well as
hereafter.
Retreat
24/August/2007 Filed in: Chapter Talks
Very soon we
shall be in retreat. You may wonder why contemplative
nuns should need a retreat. Isn't monastic life
itself a continual retreat? I think the answer may be
found in St Benedict's chapter On the Observance of
Lent. There we have an excellent guide to what a
retreat should be, written long before our Jesuit
friends made life complicated and introduced one or
two slightly foreign notions. Like Lent, a retreat is
a time for purifying our lives of all that is not God
or falls short of his glory, an opportunity to review
our lives and make the changes which at other times
we are too busy or indolent to make. It requires some
effort on our part, but the emphasis is not on some
kind of muscular attempt to take the kingdom of
heaven by storm. It is more a change of focus.
Benedict exhorts us to give ourselves more completely
to prayer, to wash away the negligences of other
times, to stint ourselves of some legitimate
pleasures, but to do all joyfully, "with the joy of
the Holy Spirit". Our lives can be busy and
distracted, with apparently irreconcilable demands
pulling us this way and that. The doorbell or
telephone rings, the email pings through the ether,
the letter lands on the mat, and we know we must do
our best to meet the need. A retreat is a privileged
time when we may enjoy, so to say, a sabbath with
God. So, to your prayer and your reading, please add
a little rest, a little leisure, sheer delight in the
presence of God and the beauty of his
creation.
Contrasts
21/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Yesterday we
celebrated St Bernard, the most attractive of all
Cistercians (and they have more than their fair share
of engaging saints); today Pope Pius X. They were
both so different, as the times they lived in were
different, yet both were controversial in their own
day and even now historians continue to argue. They
are wonderful examples of flawed human beings
attaining holiness. Personally, I think Bernard was
magnificent when he was angry, but I wasn't the butt
of his anger and can delight in the way he whips and
whirls his words. Again, I am grateful to Pius X for
his attempts to revitalize the Church's worship (his
encouragement of daily Communion and plainsong, for
example) while I can sit comfortably on the hedge
about other aspects of his papacy. Best of all, I am
glad I can call on the prayers of both.
Grasshoppers
19/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
It won't make
the headlines, but seeing the first grasshopper of
summer is cause for rejoicing. The fact that it is
sheltering from the rain inside
the house
seems inevitable. Its brilliant green is like a shaft
of sunshine on a grey day.
Seek His face
18/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
In a week
that has seen so much sorrow in Iraq, Peru and
elsewhere, it is not surprising that some people have
challenged us about the usefulness of our way of
life. Monasticism only makes sense if you believe
that God exists, that he may be sought and found, and
that searching for him is a worthwhile enterprise.
The more one seeks God, the more one realises that he
has been seeking us all the time. We can choose many
different ways of escape and evasion, some of them a
little more successful than others, but ultimately
each of us will stand before him and know how deeply
he has loved us.
Dedication of the Church
17/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Feast of the
Dedication of the Church at Hendred. The liturgy of
this feast is so rich, yet sadly, few beyond the
confines of cathedral or cloister ever experience it
to the full. Here at Hendred the church is looking a
little sad. The unlit candles in the consecration
brackets are a reminder of what is not taking place:
no lights, no incense, no Mass, no celebration of St
Mary's building as an image of the Church as Bride of
Christ. All is silent and still, but it is not an
empty silence. The red glow from the tabernacle lamp
is as sure as ever: the Bridegroom is here, and
tonight we will sing a Salve Regina into the
darkness.
Our Lady's Assumption
15/August/2007 Filed in: Chapter Talks
Today's
solemnity is not the oldest feast of Our Lady, but it
is the patronal feast of all churches dedicated to
Mary without any other specific title; and it is a
feast which puts before us the theology of Mary and
the Church in a way no other quite manages. As Christ
is "the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep",
so Mary is the first-fruits of his redemptive work,
an image of the Church as she will be when all is
made new. No wonder that the liturgy should be full
of joy and hope. The Alleluia for today is one of the
most lyrical pieces of chant we ever sing, arching
upwards as the windows of Chartres arch upwards, in
boundless delight. Let us pray that our "minds will
be in harmony with our voices" as we sing the praises
of the Mother of God.
Feast and Fast
14/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
One of the things the Catholic Church understands so well is the need for light and shade, feast and fast. Tomorrow we celebrate Our Lady's Assumption, which will be a feast in the refectory as well as the oratory; so it is appropriate that today everything is a little low-key, in culinary as well as liturgical terms. We are invited to "taste and see that the Lord is good" as the psalmist says, and it is better if our taste-buds have not become jaded.
A Doggy Tale
12/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
This morning
a lovely old Border terrier turned up at our door, a
little the worse for the rain, collarless and
half-blind. She was offered a drink and a fragment of
crumbled biscuit, then we set about finding her
owner. In a village, there are three sources of
information: the church, the pub and the village
shop. It was too early for church, the pub is
somewhere we never go(!), so that left only the
village shop; and of course, we had the answer within
minutes. Star was duly reunited with her owner.
Neighbourliness is something we take for granted when
we are blessed with it, and lament when we live as
strangers to each other. I could not help thinking
that unless we make the effort to be good neighbours,
we cannot expect others to be neighbourly to us. The
village shop knew that Star was lost and helped us
find her owner. Being neighbourly to a dog may not
sound like much, but in England it is a good way of
making new friends.
Mary the Mother of the Church
11/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
One never
knows where one is going to end up recording a
podcast. Today's offering was done in the cellar in
an effort to escape the noise of combine harvesters
and lawn mowers. Perhaps the tomb-like echo was
appropriate, for this week the Church will be
celebrating the Assumption of Our Lady. Mary and the
saints are a great encouragement to us who are still
on the way to holiness.
On Working Too Hard
10/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
A perverse
thought as I did battle on the road this morning. If
wasting time is a sin against poverty, working too
hard is a sin against common-sense. Not many people
think of folly as a sin, but that is what Jesus
called it. Perhaps we should place it among the sins
of omission, and they are not much fun, are they?
Whoever thought to himself/herself, "Oh bliss, oh
joy, oh rapture! Today I won't drive carefully/settle
my milk bill/say my prayers." No, we enjoy the sins
of commission, but the sins of omission leave us
cold. The trouble with working too hard is that it
might do exactly that: leave us cold.
St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
09/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
August is a
month of light and shadow, especially when one lives
according to the liturgy. The great feast of the
Transfiguration will be forever linked with the
terrible bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the
glorious Assumption of Our Lady is ushered in, so to
say, by the death of Maximilian Kolbe as a martyr of
charity amidst the waste and shame of Nazi
persecution. Today's feast has a particular poignancy
because it highlights the way in which war crushes,
or attempts to crush, all that is noblest and truest
in human nature. St Teresa Benedicta, so talented
intellectually and spiritually, a daughter of Israel
and of Carmel, met a squalid and brutal death with
her sister Rosa because men and women less gifted,
less generous, were consumed with hatred and the lust
to destroy, or were else too weak or scared to stand
up for what was right. The decisions most of us face
are not life and death ones, but we still need
courage to prefer truth to falsehood. Doing the right
thing can indeed be costly, so let us ask the prayers
of St Teresa Benedicta.
St Dominic and the Web
08/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
This is a
good day to respond to some of the comments made by
web site users. St Dominic was always ready to engage
in discussion, and if he were alive today, no doubt
he would be making use of everything the internet has
to offer to get his arguments across. First, a reply
to those who wonder why certain items have not yet
appeared. The absence of material on the Press is a
sign of work in progress. The Veilpress pages will
probably be among the last to go up because we are
cudgelling our brains how best to convey Fine
Printing and its sister arts on a web page. One of
our projected online stores will be devoted to
printing, so please be patient if you are dismayed by
the jollity of the present Giftware. We are also
exploring ways of archiving podcasts and including an
occasional extended podcast, possibly even a video
podcast: at the moment, the only affordable solution
seems to be via an external podcast site, the link to
which will be posted in the sidebar. Finally, we are
at work on a FAQ and more information about St
Benedict, the Rule and kindred subjects. It all takes
time, but our aim is to keep the site as simple and
useful as possible which means gradual growth rather
than a once-for-all launch of a "completed" project.
If you have any constructive suggestions to make,
please do so.
Beauty in a Beanflower
07/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Funny how things we take for granted can suddenly surprise by their beauty — the humble beanflower is a case in point. This would be an excellent day to look with fresh eyes at everyone and everything around us. Recognizing the beauty/good in others has a good effect on us, too.
The Transfiguration
06/August/2007 Filed in: Chapter Talks
As
Benedictines we can take special joy in this feast
because it became popular in the western Church
principally because of the influence of Cluny. It is,
of course, a feast which has much to teach about
contemplative prayer. With Peter, James and John, we
too must make our way up the mountain into what
Gregory of Nyssa called "the dazzling darkness of
God". Like the apostles, we too must expect to
experience confusion and fear; and there is every
likelihood that our response to grace will be as lame
and and blundering as Peter's. If God chooses to
reveal something of himself, to grant us, so to say,
a glimpse of his divinity, we will want to hold on to
the experience. But we know that that is not the way
of Christian prayer. We cannot contain God or tie him
to our littleness in the way that we would like. If
God allows us to taste even a little of his
sweetness, let us rejoice, give thanks and make our
way down the mountain to immerse ourselves once more
in the tasks of everyday life. Here we must walk by
faith, not by sight.
St John Vianney
04/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
St John
Vianney was "very unpromising material" for a priest,
but he allowed God to transform him and became a man
of rare compassion and spiritual insight. He is a
fine patron for all parish clergy. Today's podcast
says something about this work of transformation and
looks forward to the beautiful feast of the
Transfiguration on Monday.
Unanswered Prayer
02/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
We all have a
tendency to create God in our own image and likeness,
and sadly there are times when prayer becomes a kind
of test that God must pass before we will condescend
to believe. "I will pray for such and such; and if
such and such doesn't happen, then I will not
believe" — as if our believing or not believing could
affect God's existence. Even if we do not put God to
the test in quite so blatant a manner, we can treat
him as a kind of "Fairy Godmother" who will magic
away our worries and ensure the sun shines on our big
day, provided we send up a barrage of requests or
repeat the right formulae. God is so much bigger than
that. Our faith must be bigger, too; because the
experience of most people, most of the time, is of
apparently unanswered prayer. When we pray we come
into the presence of God in a uniquely close and
transforming way. As the writer of the Letter to the
Hebrews remarked, "It is a terrible thing to fall
into the hands of the living God." Terrible, yes, but
the end for which we long.
Garden Party Photos
01/August/2007 Filed in: Jottings
The weather
on Sunday was perfect, OSBand played superbly, and
everyone seemed to enjoy the afternoon. The first
collection of photos can be seen in the Hospitality
section of the web site. We are extremely grateful to
everyone who helped in myriad ways to make the event
a success. We were able to raise over a thousand
pounds for the work of our Charitable Trust. It will
be put to good use.