One of the newsletters to which I subscribe is the Forum Letter, published monthy by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau. Each issue begins with its trademark practice of printing an excerpt from a great Christian thinker in the first paragraph of the monthly letter. Frequently I copy out the quotations in my journal. Perhaps because this month's opening quotation has to do with things Celtic, I thought I'd like to share with you the following quotation:

It is not, I think, being unduly pessimistic to suggest that we are entering another Dark Age. The threat now comes, not from savage tribes like the Vandals, Goths, and Huns, but from the brutalizing pressures of advertising and the mass media, the crudeness and violence of much popular music and entertainment, and the inexorable rise of the consumer society, with its rampant acquisitiveness and selfishness. If the churches are to make any kind of effective stand for the Christian values which are increasingly under attack, it is surely by following the example of the Celtic monasteries and becoming little pools of gentleness and enlightenment, oases of compassion and charity in the ever extending desert of secular materialism. This will not be an easy calling. It will mean modern Christians becoming like the Celtic monks and pilgrims, never feeling quite at home or at rest in this world, ever seeking their place of resurrection and constantly invoking God’s presence and protection against evil forces. But we will also have much to help us on our way: the inspiration of music, art, and poetry, the refreshment of nature, and the companionship not just of fellow pilgrims among the living, but also the whole host of heaven, that great company who have already traveled that way before us. The Celtic Way by Ian Bradley (Darton Longman & Todd Ltd., 2004)

This morning I received an email note from Virgil Brewer saying that his son Oliver will be in Kentucky in early August. As I understand things, Oliver is planning or is now studying to be a priest in the Episcopal Church; part of his recent ministry is renewing the Church's appreciation for Compline, the night prayer of the Church. Here is the note Virgil sent to me:

Dear Andy,

Oliver called and said he would be able to meet with the group on the weekend before or after his week at St. Meinrad, August 3 and August 10! He is participating in a week long course in between August 6-10! He certainly appreciates your support of Compline and would enjoy speaking to the group!

I wrote back to Virgil with this reply:

Dear Virgil,

So good to hear from you from you, Virgil! Right now I'm in Georgia and won't be back in Kentucky until late August. As a group, Virgil, we're not meeting during the summer; our next meeting is with Sr. Judy Yunker from God's Dwelling Place Monastery at the end of September. Near the end of October we're planning a retreat at the monastery. This doesn't mean that some of our group wouldn't be interested in meeting with your son, but I suspect that most of our group will still be on our summer travels, vacations, and outings when your son Oliver is in Kentucky with your family. However, inasmuch as I may be wrong, I will post a note to our blog ask that anyone in our group reading that message who would like to meet with Oliver to find out more about his Compline Project in New York City to please contact you and make some arrangements for a get-together.

Andy

If any of you would like to meet with Oliver, let Virgil know; his email address is virgil.brewer@eku.edu. Be sure to include Oliver in your prayers. We wish Virgil Oliver God's blessings with his compline project and his preparation for the priesthood.

Oblate Work

As some of you may know, a few of us within Columba's Companions are working with Sister Judy Yunker, OSB, in order to become oblates associated with God's Dwelling Place Monastery, a Benedictine community, in Martin, Kentucky. Becoming an oblate means that we need to read and study The Rule of St. Benedict and work through (meditate, reflect upon, write about, and share understandings) a series of lessons that we receive from Sr. Judy. I received my first lesson several weeks ago, and as a slow student, I've only been able to send my responses to her sometime last week, hoping that she's received it by now. Importantly, I'm wondering if anyone else among you has been working on one or more of the lessons. If so, I'm also wondering if it might be helpful if we create some spaces here at http://www.prayingdaily.blogspot.com/ to share concerns, resources, and whatever insights the Holy Spirit may provide. If you think you'd like to engage in such conversations, please add a comment to this posting and let us know. If we get one or more of us interested, we go ahead with some sharing.

23 July: Bridget of Sweden

Hi, everyone!

June and I are spending the week in Destin, Floria, a nice enough place, but terribly monocultural: white uninterrupted sand beaches (void of sea vegetation, few birds, no hermit crabs, and so on). The place is the darling of postcard photographs with their emerald seascapes, but has little or none of excitement of the real world with all its grandeur of God's whole creation. In short, it all exhibits a remarkably protracted vision of the creation. There are lots of shops and boutiques for those consumers caught up in our American cultural imagery. And I admit that here I am in a Barnes and Noble, clicking away on my laptop in a Starbuck cafe, an empty cup of house brew on the table. So it's more than a bit hypocritcal to carry on too much. June and I are here as guests, taking morning walks along the "perfect" beach, taking the open morning times to pray and read. In fact, on Saturday I bought a copy of Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows and have been reading it with considerable delight (it's quite a page-burner).

Today the Church commemorates Birgitta (Bridget) Birgerstotter of Sweden, a favorite among Lutheans and Episcopalians. Do visit this short biography and thank God her witness to the Truth, her commitment to the poor among us, and her willingness to stand up and speak to the so-called temporal authorities.

On July 11 we remember St. Benedict and his contribution to the Church. Although The Rule of Saint Benedict was written over fourteen hundred years ago, its witness to the vitality of Christian living still fires the vision and lives of thousands of Christians today. Those praying the morning and evening prayers of the Church have much to learn from Benedict's Rule.

If you are interested in reading the Rule, here are two good translations:

The Rule of Saint Benedict, ed. Timothy Fry, O.S.B.

Saint Benedict's Rule: A New Translation for Today in The Benedictine Handbook.

If you want a good scholarly edition, go for The Rule of Saint Benedict: In Latin and English with Notes.

And here are three good books on The Rule of St. Benedict; after each title is a short review written by a reader; the reviews are from http://www.amazon.com/:

Norvene Vest, Preferring Christ: A Devotional Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict.

Though targeted for an audience of Benedictine oblates, or lay associates of Benedictine monasteries, Preferring Christ will find a welcome among any serious seeker on the spiritual journey.

Written 1500+ years ago, Benedict's Rule is still a fresh commentary on the applied Gospel and Christian living. Because of its monastic context, the Rule is often bypased by all but the most intense disciples. Vest has written a beautiful, practical commentary on the Rule that can be applied by anyone looking to live the Good News. Herself an oblate, Vest comments not out of theorhetical platitude, but out of lived experience.

The book is laid out with the text of the rule, commentary, and space for the individual to write their own reflections. The text of the Rule is a relatively new translation by Dom Luke Dysinger, O.S.B

Brain C. Taylor, Spirituality for Everyday Living

I just finished this book last night, and I found it to be very inspiring, and insightful. The author is an Episcopalian priest, married with family. He really brings an interesting insight to the Rule of Benedict coming from someone who is a pastor by profession and a parent. I found the book to be a concise quick read, and the page layout was just fine. For Oblates or those wishing to become Oblates add this book to your reading list. The author being someone who is married with children lays out simple ways for the laity to incorporate The Rule of Benedict in everyday life. I am Catholic and I did appreciate the neutrality

Joan Chittister, OSB., Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today.

This is a book for everyone, to inspire and uplift all readers and to provide guidance to everyone for how to develop a spiritual life. It is full of lucid observations such as her distinction between praying people and spiritual people "There is nothing easier than to lead people down the path of prayer forms without ever asking them what goes on inside them as a result. At the end, consequently it is possible to get a praying person; it is not alwyas possibel to get a spiritual person. Praying people get their prayers in and wait for God somehow miraculously to deliver them from their private deomns. Spiritual people expect the demons. What they look for is a way to find God even there."

The book is written in reference to a Christian document, but the guidelines are not exclusive for Christians. Chittister's view, based on her interpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict, is that spirituality can not be developed in a vacuum, only through prayer, or only through attending church, or only through working with people, but that needs to be honed through balancing all aspects of life. Balance is the key. She elaborates on different facets of life that one should listen to and conduct attentively in order to realize enlightenment. She does not offer exact perscriptions for what dosage of each component a person needs, because the requirements depend on a person's individual situation and needs. Among these components are daily spiritual reading ("lectio") with an attitude of seeking "not so much and attempt to know God in history or Jesus in Israel as much as it is an attempt to know God in my life and Jesus in me;" contemplation, as "not a vacation from life.Contemplation is the pursuit of meaning...Those who find the will of God every where and feel the presence of God any where are the real contemplatives;" spiritual prayer; applying the gospel to all decisions in life such as what you buy and how your work; developing a sense of community with your neighbors, your colleagues and your family(a key center piece of which is a family meal).

Benedictine spirituality focuses much on interactions of people with each other and their environemt; listening to God's voice and learning to recognize it in every one you meet, and every event that occurs. It is an ideal framework for people today who do not live as hermits because it is based on the idea of a members of a community receiving reinforcement from the group for their weeknesses and sharing their strengths with the group. A community can be found any where. I found the book beautiful and inspiring and would recommend it to any one who is looking for a resource that will help them with spiritual growth and the art of discerning God's voice. The tone is easy and converstional, and provides a flexible blue print for the pursuit of spirituality in any type of life style.

July 11: Saint Benedict

Hello, everyone!

On Wednesday the Church remembers and gives thanks to God for the life and witness of St. Benedict. We "western" Christians who pray the traditional morning and evening prayers have special reason to give thanks because Benedict did so much to help the western Church in her prayer life.

The Printery House of Conception Abbey in Missouri provides this information about St. Benedict:

Saint Benedict of Nursia lived in Italy from about 480 to 547 AD. He was not the founder of Christian monasticism, but he made an enormous contribution to it by writing his Rule for Monks, still used by a great many monasteries and convents around the world [and read profitably by many laywomen and laymen].

The only source of information we have about the life of Saint Benedict is The Second Book of Dialogues, written by Saint Gregory the Great, a Benedictine monk and Pope from 590 to 604. Gregory was born before Benedict died and had access to monks who knew him. However, the purpose of St. Gregory’s book was to educate and inspire believers, not to record biographical facts.

Most icons of Saint Benedict that have been produced over the centuries show him as a rather grouchy-looking old man. Our contemporary creation by Sister Mary Charles McGough shows the saint as a younger, more appealing figure.

In The Second Book of Dialogues, Pope Gregory the Great paints an icon in words rather than a realistic portrait of Saint Benedict. What matters for Gregory is not the particulars of Benedict’s life as an individual, but rather the "type" of the holy man realized in his life and actions. Benedict is presented as a lawgiver, a shepherd, a wonder-worker, a prophet, and an ascetic.

[This] reproduction of this icon of Saint Benedict is a realization of the icon painted in words by Gregory the Great. In his left hand, Benedict holds his Rule for Monks, the rule for monastic living followed by our community at Conception Abbey and by Benedictine and other orders of monks and nuns throughout the world. Benedict is the new Moses, a lawgiver.

Benedict holds in his right hand a pastoral staff or crosier, a symbol of the shepherd’s role his Rule for Monks expects of an abbot and spiritual leader. Benedict is the new David, shepherd and king of his people.

Perched on a thorn bush, a raven holds a piece of bread in its beak. From the Dialogues we know that this bread was poisoned and given to Saint Benedict by a jealous priest. The wonder-worker and prophet Benedict knew the bread was poisoned and commanded the raven to take it away. The saint felt the pain of the priest’s hatred, less for himself than for the priest. The obedient raven recalls the Old Testament prophet Elijah, fed in his cave by a raven for many years. Benedict’s charity toward the priest recalls David’s kindness toward his enemies.

The inclusion of a thorn bush in the image reminds us of Benedict’s ascetic nature. Tempted to sin against chastity, the saint threw himself naked into nearby thick bushes of brambles and nettles and so mastered his passions. In this he is the equal of the great desert fathers, especially Anthony, the first hermit.Church remembers the life and witness of St. Benedict.

On Tuesday evening, I'll post a list of books you might like to read about St. Benedict and the Rule he has given to the Church. Those of us who are studying to be oblates with the Dwelling Place Monastery will find this list valuable.