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Nov 2007
St Andrew
30/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Feast of St
Andrew, patron saint of Scotland, Romania and Russia.
The Andrew of the Gospels is an attractive character,
with an easy-going generosity. He brings others to
Jesus, sees the need for loaves and fishes to feed
the crowds around Him and is prepared to stay in the
background while Peter, James and John occupy
centre-stage with Him. One can imagine Andrew being
the kind of friend whose company one would enjoy
without any complications, and on whom one could rely
for commonsense and kindness. Not spectacular
qualities, perhaps, but very engaging and worth
trying to emulate.
Work
27/November/2007 Filed in: Chapter Talks
St Benedict's
chapter on manual labour, which we begin reading
today, is a remarkably straightforward expression of
the value of work. Not for Benedict the false
"mysticism" that informs some writing about work
(usually from those so fascinated by the subject that
they can sit and look at it for hours). Instead, we
have an honest recognition that work needs to be done
and is an essential
ingredient of
the spiritual life. That is not always easy to
accept. How many a fledgling monastic vocation has
foundered on being shown a broom or a hoe! In the
monastery, we do not choose our work: it is given to
us; and sometimes, seemingly impossible things are
asked of us (see chapter 68). What matters is that,
whatever our task, we accept it as the perfect means
of forming in us dispositions pleasing to God. Our
whole life is to be a search for him. No point in
wanting to be rapt in choir if God is waiting for us
among the soapsuds in the scullery.
Bells
26/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Reading
today's chapter of the Rule, I was reminded how
important bells are in Christian culture. We have a
small brass ship's bell here in the monastery, which
we ring to announce the times of Office and meals.
Over the way, St Mary's has a little tenor bell that
is sometimes rung for the Angelus, while at St
Augustine's they have a proper peal (note the Green
Monster appearing in the prose) which is allegedly
one of the heaviest in the country to ring (my
information on this point comes from an avid
bell-ringer who visits us occasionally.) All the old
bells hanging in belfy and tower were once anointed
with chrism, the most special of all the oils used by
the Church, to set them apart for their work of
service. A bell is more than just a lump of metal: it
is an invitation, a summons, a sacramental.
The End of the Year
25/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
The end of
the Church year is upon us, and today we celebrate
the feast of Christ the King. It is a very modern
feast, and addresses a peculiarly modern problem. It
was instituted by Pius XI in 1925 to combat
secularism and the totalitarian ideologies that
resulted in Nazism on the one hand and Stalinism on
the other, with all the gradations of horror in
between. It would be a mistake to believe that all is
now for the best in the best of all possible worlds.
Lucifer is an angel of light still, though the light
he sheds is the antithesis of that shining from the
Light of the World. Today's podcast reminds us that
we must still do battle with evil, but Christ has
triumphed and the promise he makes is one of
paradise.
Podcast
Podcast
A Wren
23/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Looked out of
the kitchen window and saw a wren going about her
lawful occasions, bright as a penny — or should I
say, farthing? What enchanting birds they are, always
so dapper and droll. As we lament (rightly) the loss
of so many species, can we not also wonder whether
future generations will be gladdened by the sight of
birds and beasts as yet unevolved?
Catholic National Library
21/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
To London
yesterday, to see Cardinal Murphy O'Connor and the
Trustees of the Catholic National Library before the
official launch of the Appeal to ensure that the
future of the library and St Cecilia's can be
assured. Fascinated by a number of statues, fountains
and gates erected since our last visit and about
which it would probably be wiser (though less
interesting) to say nothing. Ruskin may have been
wrong in his view that no great art has yet arisen
save among a nation of soldiers, but it is difficult
to see some of our latest public monuments as great
art. Does that make one a philistine or an old fogey
or merely brutally frank?
What's in a name?
19/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
We are
sometimes asked what various monastic words mean,
especially those we use on this web site. The next
section to go up will give a little information about
St Benedict, his Rule and kindred subjects, but we
can clarify some of the basic jargon here (with
apologies for some of the simplifications adopted).
Nuns (Latin = moniales) live in monasteries and do
not physically undertake work outside their
monasteries, such as teaching or nursing. They are
usually called "contemplative" or "enclosed", because
the main focus of their lives is prayer and work
within the environs of the monastery, which is known
as the enclosure. In the U.S. such nuns are usually
called "cloistered", and the enclosure is called
"cloister". This is probably much easier to
understand as the word "enclosed" tends to suggest
everyone is imprisoned or, as one young enquirer
suggested, caged like dangerous animals! There are
various types of enclosure. Here at Hendred we have
monastic enclosure, which means we are able to
welcome guests and visitors into our library and
other ground-floor areas. The rest of the house is
private and can be entered only by the bishop of the
diocese, the Head of State and what canon law calls a
"qualified layperson" — the doctor, the plumber and
suchlike. Note for the curious: we are still waiting
for a visit from H.M. the Queen.
The Expectations of Others
18/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
We are
currently reading St Benedict's guidelines for eating
and drinking (you can listen to today's chapter in
the Prayer Box on our Vocation page). As always, I am
struck by two things: the flexibility of the Rule as
regards detail — eat and drink what is available, but
in moderation and with an eye to frugality — and the
concern that a general rule should never be allowed
to make life difficult for those who are elderly or
infirm. This kind of sanity is often lacking in
"religious people", whose fervour sometimes outruns
their commonsense. It can be even more lacking in
those who have no religion themselves but are quite
sure how those who claim to be Christian should
behave. How often have you heard someone say, "As a
Christian, you should/shouldn't . . ."? (It tends to
be worse for nuns as the list of things we apparently
should and shouldn't do in order to live up to the
standards others expect of us is amazing, but that's
another post.) In the meantime, please pray for the
Sisters of Bethany in Boston diocese. Their convent
was owned by the diocese, which is now bankrupt, and
they have been given until 31 December to find a new
home. A case of the sins of the Fathers being visited
on the Sisters. Sad all round.
The Importance of Listening
17/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Benedictines
tend to have a special love of music. They are not
necessarily good performers, but they should be good
listeners since the very first word of the Rule is
"Listen!" On 22 November we celebrate the feast of St
Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. It will have
extra-special resonances here in the monastery
because we keep it as a day of special prayer for the
work of St Cecilia's Guild, and for all visually
impaired people. Today's podcast reminds us that the
work of the Guild was begun by one very generous lady
and is sustained today by the generosity of
many.
St Gertrude the Great
16/November/2007 Filed in: Chapter Talks
St Gertrude the
Great is one of those Benedictine saints who are
too little known in the British Isles. Born in
1256, she entered Helfta as a child oblate at
the age of five — like St Bede the Venerable —
and also like St Bede, was placed under the care
of another saint, in her case, St Mechtilde. Her
early life was devoted to study but at the age
of twenty-five she experienced the first of that
series of revelations or visions which, in the
words of her biographer, turned her "from being
a grammarian to being a theologian". It is worth
pondering that phrase. Whatever we think of the
more extraordinary manifestations of grace in
her life (and British Benedictines, by and
large, are slightly uncomfortable in the
presence of the extraordinary), we too need to
become theologians in the truest and best sense:
we are all of us called not merely to think
about God, to read and write about God, but, as
the psalmist says, "to taste and see that the
Lord is good". Tasting and seeing. All of us.
Now there's an extraordinary thought.
(Note on the illustration: this statue of St Gertrude the Great comes from the choir at Arouca, Portugal. It is wooden, painted to look like stone, and was done in the eighteenth century by a sculptor from Braga. The last time I saw it, Portugal was in the throes of a revolution.)
A New Look
14/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
The second
stage of our web site make-over has now been
implemented. We hope you like the, er, crafted look.
It begs the question: how far should monasteries
accommodate themselves to contemporary demands for
constant variety. When St Maximilian Kolbe began his
attempt to revivify the spiritual life of his
contemporaries, he had no qualms about insisting that
his printing house should use the very latest and
best equipment. He was simply taking forward ideas
inherent in the adoption of printing as the
technology of communication. The internet has become
one of the most important communication technologies
of today, but we need to be discriminating about how
we use it.
Feast of All Benedictine Saints
13/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
It is
fashionable to laud "diversity". One has only to look
at some of the saints who have been formed by the
Rule of St Benedict to see a spiritual diversity at
work which knocks the secular equivalent hollow (but
I speak as a partial observer). And if one widens the
scope of the definition "saint" to embrace those who
have not been formally canonized but whose lives are
an inspiration to others, the diversity is more
striking still. We can place a cloistered nun like St
Gertrude or St Mechtilde beside the oblate Dorothy
Day; a cloistered monk like St Aelred or St Bernard
(Cistercians, of course) beside a wanderer like St
Benedict Joseph Labre. There's even a chance God
might make saints of you and me.
Remembrance Sunday
11/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
A day to
remember; a day to pray; but will we ever learn the
lesson? War begins in human hearts, very like our
own.
Mid-November Feasts
10/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Mid-November
is rich in feasts. On Friday we had the Dedication of
the Lateran Basilica; today we have St Leo; tomorrow,
were it not Sunday, we'd have St Martin; and on
Tuesday, we'll celebrate All Benedictine Saints. Each
feast has its own special take on sanctity. The
liturgy for the dedication of a church, for example,
speaks of the holiness of the living stones that make
up God's temple; St Leo wrote splendidly about the
Incarnation and the holiness of Christ's humanity; St
Martin was the first to live the "white martyrdom" of
the monk-bishop in the west; and the sheer number and
variety of those who have been led to holiness
through the teaching of St Benedict is a great
encouragement to those of us who are hobbling along
in their footsteps. Newman saw holiness as one of the
essential notes of the Catholic Church, but as
today's podcast reminds us, he was not the first to
make the connection.
Charitable Searching & Shopping
09/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
We have been
heartened by the number of people who have adopted
Easyclick as their search engine of preference in
order to help charity. Now there is another, which
uses Yahoo as its search engine and to us seems even
better. Take a look at Easysearch http://holytrinityoxfordshire.easysearch.org.uk/.
If you use it for some at least of your searches, you
can benefit us at no cost to yourself. Please also
keep in mind the Easyfundraising portal
http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/holytrinityoxfordshire
for your
Christmas shopping. If you go to your favourite
online store via that link, you will not pay
anything more, but we get a proportion of the
"referral fee", typically between 1% and 15% of
the purchase price. If you like the idea of
helping charity in this way but do not wish to
support us, please follow this link
http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/referral/3738
to sign up
at Easyfundraising and choose another good cause.
We ourselves are unable to give very much in the
way of monetary alms to other charities, but we
are glad to have found this way of helping
some.
A Buried Past
08/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
The south aisle of
St Augustine's church is currently being
replastered. Stripping way the old plaster
revealed a blocked up window west of the
entrance to the Eyston chapel. In this photo you
can see traces of the original wall painting,
which is probably fifteenth century. On Friday
it will be covered up again, so here is a
precious glimpse of something not seen for
centuries, and not likely to be seen again for a
few centuries more. Only a small detail, and
nothing to get an art historian excited, but
nice to have all the same. Was the painter a
village craftsman whose body lies in the
graveyard outide, or was he a travelling
craftsman from further afield. Who knows? The
anonymous nature of so much of our heritage is
something that appeals to me.
Torch Trust
07/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
To Torch
House, Market Harborough yesterday, to see the work
of the Torch Trust and, in particular, pick their
brains about the introduction of DAISY CDs at St
Cecilia's. Fascinating day, during which we learned a
lot (not difficult, when one knows very little to
start with) and were most graciously received by our
hosts who made us very welcome and took infinite
pains over our questions. Just before we left, they
interviewed us for Premier Christian Radio. To
discover more about the Torch Trust, go to
www.torchtrust.org
Gunpowder Plot Politics
05/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
I wonder
whether they will be burning an effigy of the pope in
Lewes tonight? This blog deliberately tries to avoid
any comment on "political" events because there are
many with better information and keener insight; but
5 November is a good day for recalling a time when
Catholics in England were treated with suspicion and
hostility. It makes one think about people who,
today, suffer the same fate for their religious or
political beliefs. Christians in the Near East do not
have a comfortable existence; lovers of democracy in
Burma and Pakistan, to name just two countries, do
not have a comfortable existence. And whatever one's
gripes or grumbles about Monday morning, there are
people in the Congo, Darfur, Mexico, so many places,
for whom today will bring pain and suffering of an
intensity and bleakness most of us will never
experience. Let us pray for them all and do what we
can to help. The thought that our work today might
just ease the plight of some unknown brother or
sister elsewhere in the world should transform the
day. Almsgiving is always better than
gunpowder.
Excommunication
03/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
We are
reading that part of the Rule commonly known as the
penal code — chapters which deal with offences
against monastic life and discipline. The penalty of
excommunication from table and oratory is harsh
indeed, for it implies separation from the community
at every important level. Today's chapter, on the
care the superior should have for the errant, is a
valuable corrective. Here we see the warmth and
humanity of Benedict's concern for those who fail to
live up to the high standards he sets elsewhere. The
language he uses is one of painstaking, compassion
for weakness, solidarity, confidentiality, prayer. A
good opportunity to examine our own attitude to those
who fail to live up to the high standards we set for
them?
All Souls
02/November/2007 Filed in: Jottings
Prayer for
the dead is an ancient Christian custom. In the
monastery we have many opportunities of remembering
those who have died but do not yet enjoy the bliss of
heaven. At the end of almost all Offices and after
every meal there is a prayer for the souls of the
faithful departed. Many people find the idea of
Purgatory difficult and prefer to think of death as
opening immediately on to paradise. Personally, I
find the idea of waiting, of being purified,
encouraging rather than the reverse. I'd want my
grubby soul to be reclothed in its baptismal purity
before I appear before my Maker; and I am humbled to
think that the living have this one last work of
charity to perform for those who have gone before: to
aid them with their prayers.
All Saints
01/November/2007 Filed in: Chapter Talks
This
beautiful feast of All Saints is a wonderful reminder
of what we are now, and what we shall be in the
future. Today we honour not only those saints whose
names we know, but also those countless other saints
whose holiness is more hidden. The communion of
saints is something we enjoy now, and we know that it
works on the horizontal as well as the vertical
plane. So, today, let us ask the prayers not only of
the great ones of the Church, but also the prayers of
those who have revealed to us something of God's
glory and compassion. Let us ask the prayers of our
friends in heaven and on earth, for each of them is
first and foremost a friend of God.