The Cistercian General Chapters
(OCSO and OCist, September and October 2022)

Dom Jean-Pierre Longeat, OSB

President of AIM

The Cenobitic Life

and Balance of Communities

One of the main features of our life is the nature of the cenobitic life. We live in community and together witness to the reality of the Body of Christ. In this there is something profoundly mysterious, for even if the human being is a social animal it must be acknowledged that the common life is not automatically easy. St Benedict attaches a great deal of importance to this problem.

Cenobites are those who life in common in a monastery and fight under a Rule and an Abbot. They are formed by a long period of testing in the monastery. Thanks to the support of many brothers they learn to strive against the demon. They resemble a fraternal army. In their behaviour they are free of worldly customs. They are enclosed not in their own sheepfolds but in that of the Lord. Their law is not the satisfaction of their desires. (RB 1)

They live their life with a stable link to their community, and normally within the monastery itself. This provides a preliminary portrait of the cenobitic endeavour according to St Benedict in the first chapter of his Rule.

At the beginning of his Rule Benedict concentrates on personal conversion. Community is one of the means of this conversion to experience the way of charity. But throughout the Rule, and especially towards the end, there is an opening to the specifically community dimension as a good in itself. If this community dimension is so important we must attempt to provide some means to advance it and notably to achieve the difficult balance of life which enables each individual to reach an appropriate position according to the personality of each member.

Functions and Persons

In every community the abbot has a role which it is almost impossible to fulfill. He is the vicar of Christ. That means that he must continuously point to the true father, Christ, who is delivered as the Word of God by his teaching and his example. Much the same may be said of those who exercise other responsibilities in the community. One of the difficulties of our community life is to join the function which an individual plays and the way that individual himself or herself behaves. This is so true that someone who has no such office may have a complex about it or experience a real jealousy, consciously or unconsciously. It is as if such a person did not exist in the eyes of others, so great is the temptation to think that one is perceived uniquely by the grandeur of the office held. But the inverse temptation also exists, namely first to live one’s own life and exercise the responsibility only as an added extra. This is the best way of attributing to oneself too subjective a power as a way of seduction. It is a great illusion to present the personal interrelationship between abbot and community in this register. It seems to me important that one of the principal qualities of officials should be honesty in taking on a responsibility without, of course, denying what one is, but putting this at the service of what one has to do. In practice, the abbot must be a constant reminder of Christ. Because of this honesty he can exist according to his own personality, given to him by the Lord without too great a concentration of all kinds of comments which inevitable concern his behaviour and his activity. In this way it is possible to avoid an imbalance between the personal aspirations of the monk in charge and the legitimate aspiration of other members of the community, since all are called to put themselves genuinely at the service of others, without hiding behind their official personality or pushing themselves forward by imposing a personal stance.

It remains to define what is meant by honesty. St Benedict describes several aspects: to foster a double teaching by actions rather than words. Elsewhere St Benedict says that the abbot must be the first to apply the Rule in its totality. He must be chaste, sober, merciful; he will always have before his eyes his own weakness and he will not break the bruised reed. He must not be turbulent or restless. He must not be excessive or opinionated, neither jealous nor suspicious. In this way he will perhaps be able to avoid acceptance of personalities, loving one more than another, preferring a freeman to one coming from slavery – or other social or cultural categories, for, slaves or free, we are all one in Christ and bear the same arms in the service of the same Lord. He will give evidence of the same charity towards all. He will consider how difficult and laborious is the charge of souls, and will adapt to the characters of many in the tasks which he distributes. He will behave with discernment and moderation, and will remember the discretion of the holy patriarch Jacob who said, ‘If I exhaust my flock in driving them too hard they will all perish in one day’ (RB 64).

This honesty of life is a difficult task, but it is the key to a free existence according to the will of God. If ever as abbot I find difficulty in experiencing such a liberty of life, the root cause is lack of honesty. If this word ‘honesty’ seems insufficient, it comes from St Benedict, who writes in chapter 73,

‘This Rule which we have just written will suffice for observance in monasteries to ensure a certain honesty of behaviour and a beginning of monastic life. Whoever you are, hastening towards the heavenly homeland, accomplish with the help of Christ all this little Rule, written for beginners. In this way you will, with the protection of God, attain to the highest summits of virtue of which we have been speaking. Amen.’

Dialogue

St Benedict wants everyone to find his place in the community by giving his opinion. This is the sense of chapter 3, On Calling the Brethren to Council. ‘What leads us to say that all the brethren should be consulted is that God often reveals to the youngest what is better.’ But this consultation must be done with great wisdom: ‘the brothers will give their opinion in all humility and submissiveness.’

In fact this dimension is not always easy to put into practice. On the one hand, questions relative to the life of the monastery are many and cannot all be debated. This is anyway why the council exists. On the other hand, it is fairly rare to find a community where all the members are good at listening to one another. One is too conscious in advance what will be the view on a particular question – to the extent that certain views are not sufficiently taken into account.

Nevertheless everyone in the monastery has a special place. Each one has a unique intelligence, nourished by a different experience and a different life. One is completely natural, with no complexes, and speaks whatever comes into his head without too much reflection. Another is able to reflect on the principles involved, another on the practical consequences of a decision. This mutual listening is crucial for community life. It has a place not only in Chapter meetings but must preside at every moment of life. It is often noticeable that some keep away from community life because their opinion is not sufficiently heard. Everyone wants to express something, such is the originality of human nature. If it cannot be achieved in the group where one lives the person stands side and sometimes looks for a more sympathetic audience. Those who think they have something more interesting to say than others must make an effort to be patient in order to hear something which they think is less appropriate, but which is still useful. In this way each can play a part in this dialogue which is an element essential to love. Of course everything must be done with discretion and discernment. It is not a matter of random comments to random people on the pretext that one simply needs to express an opinion.

Obedience

A consequence of mutual listening is obedience, the quality of listening, one to another:

It is not only to the abbot that the brothers must render obedience. They must be obedient to one another. They will know that it is by this way of obedience that they will go to God. (RB 71)

Is anything more beautiful than a community where the brothers or sisters, regardless of their age, milieu, early formation, obey one another? Rather than eying one another as they indulge the temptation of external power which leads to nothing but incomprehension, conflict, even deep injustice, it is wonderful to try to listen in every sense of the word, to serve one another and to find in this a real mutual service.

It is unfortunate that often we regard one another with a certain jealousy. We all have different gifts, so why should we want to possess the gifts of another rather than bring to fruition our own gifts which are always infinitely precious for everyone? One person has a superb gift for welcoming guests, another for organization, a third for singing or teaching, a fourth for accompanying others through a bad patch, a fifth for a fruitful silence or putting up with illness in holiness, giving a good word, driving a tractor, repairing a car or driving it perfectly. Some know how to write books, others how to make a splendid dish in the kitchen or keep a place tidy. None of us is without qualities or gifts, but they are at the service of the community only when one accepts to use them for that and develop them, and especially when the community recognizes them and welcomes them.

This means that no negative stance is acceptable in the common life. We too often hear judgments on others, even sometimes rejections. The more one refuses, the deeper becomes the chasm. Love is the measureless hope of the confidence despite all the temptations to refuse. In this way one may obey positively, welcome one another, love one another, recognize one another and pardon, build one another up and find a good balance in an open community where the impossible becomes possible for an amazing witness and the spread of the Good News: Christ has broken the wall of hate. This is the true joy of conversion of the heart.

Lectio divina

Dom Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori

Abbot General of the Cistercian Order (OCist)

‘And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.’

(Luke 17:15-16)[1]

Perhaps it is this phrase that could suggest to us with which spirit we are called to initiate our General Chapter, seven years since the last one, while meanwhile the world has suffered and is suffering a serious pandemic, a fratricidal war that puts the whole world in danger and great political and economic instability. Every one of us will have a different reason, every one of us has his or her own ‘incurable disease’, ‘leprosy’, ‘thorn in the flesh’, it doesn’t matter what. That which must unite us is that each one of us has his or her reasons to return ever again to Jesus, to adore him and to thank him. And it is this that makes us come together again.

To return, to adore, to thank. We learn from the healed leper these three grand dimensions of life and faith in salvation. Jesus, at the end, says to him: ‘Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.’ (Lk 17:19). It’s as if he is saying that the returning to Him, the adoration and the gratitude are the dimensions of a faith that saves us, that welcomes from Christ not only health, that which sooner or later is lost again, not only then the solution of our immediate problems, but the salvation of life, salvation forever.

Health did not suffice the healed leper: he understood that the miracle was a sign of something far greater and more precious: it was the sign of Christ the Savior, it was the sign that the Savior was present and loved him. That’s why he returned to Him. Health wasn’t enough for him: he desired Christ, he desired to encounter again and evermore the Lord and Savior of life.

The other nine healed lepers returned to their normal lives, certainly with joy. But is only this the meaning of life? Is it worth the trouble to be in good health only to outlive disease and death for a little more time? Christ offers us much more. Christ does not offer us only health, only the solution to our problems, our difficulties and sufferings. Christ offers us himself!

For this, faith saves us, because faith leads us to cling to Christ, to return always to Him, to His presence, to His love; to recognize Him our God in adoration; to recognize Him as the inexhaustible source of our joy, that makes us praise and thank God always and for everything.

To return to Christ, to set off from Christ, means also to recognize that His presence that heals and saves us is tied to a place, and that if we truly want to encounter Him we have to go where He is.

Even Naaman, the pagan commander that God healed from leprosy by means of the intervention of the prophet Elisha, understands that he must bring back with him the earth of Israel, upon which to place himself for prayer to the true God. This earth is the symbol for us of the Church, of the community of people and of communities in which to us is given always to encounter, to adore and praise the Lord. This holy land is the place of our vocation, it is our community, it is the Order. Our Cistercian founders understood from the beginning that the Cistercian charism, nourished by the charism of Saint Benedict, would always be tied to the sacred earth of the communion between the monasteries born from the new monastery of Citeaux. And that the main way to return to Christ on this earth was the meeting of the General Chapter.

For this we do not have to return to meet in the General Chapter as if we convened a parliament or organized a congress, but with the awareness to find ourselves together on the sacred earth of the encounter with the Lord Jesus who saves us, who gives us His Holy Spirit and renews us in the universal fraternity of the children of God the Father.

The General Chapter will go well and will renew the life of the Order if in these days the Holy Spirit will open our hearts to listen to Jesus who repeats to us: ‘Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.’ (Lk 17:19).

[1] Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit At the Opening of the General Chapter of the Cistercian Order (October 9th, 2022).

Perspectives

Dom Bernardus Peeters

Abbot general (OCSO)

 Speech at the Opening of the second Session of the General Chapter of OCSO

After the first Session of the General Chapter OCSO the new Abbot General asked the abbots and abbesses of the Order to express their dreams of a monastic life such as that to which the Pope is calling us. In answer, 138 dreams from superiors and communities came back to the Generalate from the 157 monasteries of the Order. This represents a participation of 87%, which is very remarkable. At the opening of the second Session of the Chapter Dom Bernardus made a presentation of these responses. We give here a large extract. This concerns in the first place the Trappist Order, but can be applied more generally to the Benedictine family in general.

[…]

After reading all your dreams, I felt like St. Benedict in the tower of Monte Cassino, searching and waiting for that which God's voice in its goodness has to tell us: the way to life! (RB Prol 19-20). Looking out over all the corners of the world, the Lord, I think, opened four windows for us. The four windows will help us to make our dreams come true.

I have tried to re-read your dreams from the three words of the upcoming Synod of Bishops: communio, partecipatio and missio. I did add a fourth one: formatio. This last one I will explain later, but for now it just shows that synodality belongs to the essence of the religious life and that this obedience to the Word of God and to one another not only founds communion, calls for participation and leads to mission but that it also requires a continuous conversion that needs a solid on-going formation. These dreams were a small beginning to the synodal process in our Order. Synodality, however, is not a one-time event but is a lifestyle.

One of you dreamed, ‘without too many illusions,’ that at the upcoming part of the General Chapter ‘the word “synodality” will not come up at every turn of phrase in the reports and interventions. One question seems important to me: in the concrete life of our communities, won’t the so-called “synodality” stifle what may remain of Benedictine obedience in our communities?’ Indeed, let us be careful that synodality does not become a buzzword, devoid of any substance.

‘To speak of a synodal style, then, means becoming aware that the ecclesial renewal of which there is so much talk… touches the depths of the Church’s experience and is not limited to interventions amounting to no more than ecclesiastical make-up. [...] It is, after all, an expression of the Church’s need for a profound reform in our way of being and living as Church in the face of a real change of era for Christianity and for the entire world.’[1]

This profound reform cannot happen without the ongoing conversion that is based on our obedience to God and to one another.

Before we look through the windows of these four dreams, I want to emphasize that no tower can be built without a good foundation. On this foundation, fortunately, we all agree. None of us dreams about any other foundation! That in itself is worthy of a congratulation! A superior aptly expressed the foundation this way:

‘I dream of a Christocentric Order, passionate about the absolute of Christ. An Order restless and unsettled by following Christ.’ (Latin America)

On that foundation the tower of our Order is built and four windows open, through which the light, in which we may see God’s light, radiates. On that foundation are four dreams which I briefly summarize here and will elaborate on later:

1. We dream of an Order in which monks and nuns, of diverse cultures, share a common vision on the contemplative identity, ‘collaborate and give mutual help in many ways, having due regard to their healthy differences and the complementarity of their gifts’ (Cst. 72). Unity in diversity is cherished there.

2. We dream of an Order in which all are able and willing to participate, which is flexible in its structure, with open, transparent communication at all levels and with great respect for the individual, baptismal vocation of the brothers and sisters, the local communities, and the regions, without losing sight of the whole.

3. We dream of an Order in which all its members and communities are people and places of a generous commitment to God, Church and world that gives justice to its ‘hidden mode of apostolic fruitfulness’ (Cst 3.4). It expresses itself in a humble handling of all the gifts of God’s creation. ‘That God may be glorified in all things!’ (1 Peter 4.11)

4. We dream of an Order that knows how to enthusiastically form its members in ‘the philosophy of Christ’ (Ratio Institutionis) and ‘the language of the Gospel’ and equip them with the right means to achieve the final goal of their vocation

The dream of Communion

‘The Cistercian way of life is cenobitic’ (Cst. 3.1). Called together by the voice of God, we live this communion in a concrete form of living together, in which the search for unity with God and with everything that lives and breathes is central. Everyone in the Order is important! Every brother or sister is a bearer of the same seal received in baptism and confirmation, and confirmed in monastic profession. By virtue of this gift, all of us, without exception, are co-responsible for communion with God and with one another. Looking through this window we hear dreams about the mutual relationships in the communities, in the regions, between men and women in our Order but also between old and young and between North and South, East, and West.

‘I dream of a community where no one condemns the other but where all are listened to. I dream of a community where we value each other for who we are - God’s children - rather than using each other for ourselves or for the survival of the structures’. (Europe)

‘We dream that there will be more relationships between our monasteries so that the Order will be more like a big family. For some years now we have been experimenting with sending one of us in turn to the founding house and we would like to continue this experience, with other communities perhaps, and in the form of exchanges: one of us leaves for a year and a senior one comes to us for several months and helps us with the formation’. (Africa)

‘The question is how to pass this personal desire to the community, to the Order. I recognize that it is a challenge because we are people of diverse cultures and very different formation. But we have a common strength, our Cistercian identity or charism, which is not a museum stone, but a living reality. A reality that challenges us from many sides to name but a few: aging, decrease of vocations, closing of communities.

The dream surpasses us, surprises us and, without falling into false illusions, we are called to create communities where simplicity, joyful fraternity, the joy of living prayer, the encounter with the Lord in his Word and the sacraments, make us feel and live in fullness the mercy of God, in the style of Mary, queen and mother of mercy’. (Latin America)

‘One Order: I was impressed from the start at how monks and nuns collaborated, and now, with a single chapter, our Order’s way of operating is unique. It’s something to be grateful for, to maintain, and to develop for ourselves and perhaps for the church.’ (North America)

‘My dream: “Evangelical Relationality”. At the level of the AG’s ministry to the Order there would be a Committee of Elders (sempectae RB 27) which would be appointed by the AG to advise him on more complicated pastoral issues that end up on his desk. This committee would not reside in Rome but would meet regularly through a sophisticated computer communication room at the Generalate. They would be selected for their long ministry and creative response to many pastoral issues, and could be made up of active or retired superiors. The main purpose of the Generalate would be to facilitate and offer resources for the pastoral commissions of the regions. In more difficult cases these Commissions could avail themselves of the Committee of Elders. The movement of consultation, authority, and responsibility would become less linear & more circular (Mutual Obedience RB 71) drawing on more members of the Order for the pastoral care of communities in special need’. (North America)

‘I dream of more pastoral care for each other. We are reacting too much like autonomous houses. We cannot help or we are not willing to help each other. We do not ask for help. If there is a real problem, we find it difficult to help.’ (Asia)

The dream of participatio

All of us have the right and the duty to participate in the life of our communities, the regions and the life of the Order with its various structures (cf. Cst. 16,1). A participation rooted in our Benedictine tradition in the vow of obedience. The structures have been given to us throughout the tradition not as museum pieces but to allow each time to be of service to the life of the people of God (cf. Evangelii gaudium, 95). We must therefore have the courage to really listen to one another in order to discern what the Spirit has to say to us. Only in this way can we have the courage to act as the Spirit leads us.

Looking through this window we hear the dreams about the functioning of communities, regions and the General Chapter. Sometimes creative dreams about new ways that nevertheless try to remain faithful to the old and at the same time are entirely new.

‘I think, at the Chapter level, that a more considered discussion of the topics would ensue, as each participant would have listened to the opinions of many others beforehand, to have listened to “what the Spirit is saying to the churches,” so to speak’. (Rev 2:7) (Asia)

‘I dream that the General Chapter becomes a forum that is predominantly pastoral and theological’. (Europe)

‘Can approving legislation be pushed down to regions rather than spending so much time at the General Chapter at it? Could a synod of representatives from the Regions approve things after regions have hashed them out? Can important decisions that affect houses of the region be dealt with at the local level?’ (Africa)

‘I wish our regional meetings and general chapters were a little less focused on legislative and practical issues, and more focused on sharing our experiences, our struggles, our hopes, vision, and dreams - all by way of trying to read the signs of the times’. (Latin America)

‘I dream that it may be possible to re-envision the functioning of the General Chapter so that it may truly become a holy conduit for the Holy Spirit and a life-giving vehicle for revitalizing our Cistercian Order and allowing it to fulfill its God-given vocation and function within the church and, simultaneously, offer hope to our struggling and suffering world. (Latin America)

‘I dream of an Order that frames itself in such an image of the Church and that radically chooses for equality between monks and nuns and consistently goes that way and looks for new forms (matres immediatae), denounces inequality (what will happen to the legislation of the monks if no exemption from Cor Orans is obtained, will they be in solidarity?) and that this becomes a permanent point of attention at the General Chapter...

I dream of regional meetings as sanctuaries to share together, to think, to dream about monastic life, in all honesty and vulnerability... With a lot of attention and time for this process....’ (Europe)

The dream of the missio

The mission of our Cistercian life is described in the Constitutions as ‘a hidden apostolic fruitfulness. It is the contemplative life itself that is our way of participation in the mission of Christ and his Church and of being part of the local church.’ (Cst. 31)

Looking through this window we hear dreams of a renewed meaning of our lives for the church and the world. Dreams that center on caring for the common home (Laudato Si’) and all brothers and sisters, ‘fellow travellers sharing the same flesh’ (Fratelli tutti, 8).

‘I dream that abbeys become pioneers in the field of sustainability and ecological living and that bold choices are made in that field.’ (Europe)

‘At the ecological level, the rural environment in which we live offers us a framework conducive to this ecological conversion process, which is becoming urgent, and for which we must find very concrete ways to make it happen in our behaviors. Encouragement and practical suggestions would be welcome, now that the pandemic seems (?) behind us, which will allow us to review details in community practices and in the hotel business, where guests are also very motivated for this approach. It remains to be personally involved, and also no doubt with the diocesan service for integral ecology, in this openness to risk, to change, to disturbance, to novelty, which is to say, simply to more confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit in the “yes” of each day.’ (Europe)

‘The “Church going out” of which Pope Francis speaks to us, avoiding “self-referentiality”. I think that, for us Cistercians, we can translate this in this way: first of all, to have our gaze, our attention, our thinking, turned towards God, towards the Paschal mystery of Christ and all that it implies (lectio, prayer, contemplation) and then towards the people, towards humanity (desire, intercession). Not to be self-referential either as a community. We tend to focus too much on our own community, to put too much time and energy into “looking in the mirror”, and this is sometimes encouraged by certain structures, for example, the regular visitations every two years’. (Latin America)

Ecology, however, is more than care for creation. It is also our care for an entirely separate ecosystem that is our Cistercian life. Silence and solitude are an important feature of that ecosystem, and many feel the pressure that modern means of communication have on this ecosystem. They dream of becoming more aware and better at handling these means so that we protect and preserve the ecosystem of the common home that is our Cistercian life.

‘I dream of an ecodigital monastery; a monastery where there is a balance between openness and seclusion; an ecosystem of balanced silence, images and words; a monastic ambience monastery free from the bad influences of excessive sound, words and images. I dream of a sincere reflection in the Order on the influence of the Internet on our lives. That we are willing to face the problem of addiction. I dream of a contemplative life in this world but not of this world’. (Europe)

The dream of formation

Although formation is not a key word of the upcoming Synod of Bishops, I add this word here. Many dreams touched on this topic and also in the synthesis reports of the diocesan phase of the synodal process, which the bishops’ conferences around the world sent to the synod's secretariat, it is striking that the desire for formation among the people of God is great. The transmission of faith between generations in a family or in a religious community is no longer evident. We lack insight, language, formation and even faith to pass on life. This also affects the passing on of the Cistercian charism.

The role of the community, the region and the Order in the process of formation is to help each brother and sister to assimilate the essential elements of the Cistercian way of life. (Cst. 45.3) We should be eager to offer generous mutual assistance in making this formation a reality for everybody. (Cf. St. 45.3)

Looking through this window we hear the dreams of a good equipping for all in the Order, not only the one in initial formation but for everyone, even superiors. A formation that is more than philosophy and theology but that also helps the communities to live on the material and economic level

‘That a good monastic formation takes place in the community or communities that promotes the value of tradition and dialogue with our present society. This may certainly happen in cooperation between communities, in the Order or with other religious or non-religious institutions.’ (Europe)

‘I remember a common formation program between a nun’s and a monk’s community. I dream that this can happen again. Sharing about our experiences – like the Experientia program. Two or more communities can send their sharing to each other by post or email. I desire a common program of formation for all the communities of the Order. I desire to deepen my knowledge of the Cistercian charism.’ (Asia)

‘We have access to the Order’s history and patrimony like no former generation. A lot of the groundwork that makes this possible is the result of collaboration within the Cistercian family and with lay experts. The wealth of material available now for education/formation is stunning. A certain anti-intellectual attitude I encountered when I first joined the Order has diminished. Nonetheless, there is still a tendency see interest in this area as secondary to the necessities of daily life.’ (North America)

‘We speak often of a crisis of leadership in the Order. My dream is that we will continue to explore ways to develop the qualities of leadership through our formation programs, the qualities of self-awareness, co-responsibility, followership, good zeal, self-sacrifice and life-giving communication skills. The desert fathers seemed good at this.

My dream is that every member of the Order be enthusiastic and desirous for vibrant initial and on- going formation to strengthen our common vision in order to give life to our communities and the Church’. (North America)

‘In our Cistercian Order today we are experiencing two major forms of precariousness: one is the lack of vocation and ageing in the west and the other is the lack of well-trained personnel in our Cistercian root in Africa where vocation to monastic life is currently booming. These two realities threaten the existence and fidelity of our Order; in order words, they favor the extinction and watering of our order respectively. The solution to this precariousness is formation of synergy between the west and Africa. … I therefore acknowledge the importance of synergy for the survival and growth of our Order in the synodal process within each community, in inter-monastic communities and between the west and Africa. The west should be able to help in the formation of personnel in Africa and Africans should be able to supply vocation in the west despite the disappointments of some Africans who were sent for studies or to fill the gaps of vocations in the past. We should not on that account be discouraged. The formation of synergy … presupposes what Luke Timothy Johnson termed “communication” as opposed to “closing up” when one symbolic world interacts with another in a pluralistic society, where each group’s self-identity is respected. The monastic community that closes up will die.’ (Africa)

‘To help the communities of Africa. On-going and initial formation: To get local teachers from other Congregations who will stimulate our Christian life hence to integrate our monastic life.

Can we get a school (Cistercian Fathers, Benedictines Fathers, and other studies)? This will allow the synodal process.’ (Africa)

‘That courses and conferences and other training resources in the Order be translated into different languages and offered to different regions.’ (Latin America)

‘I dream of the creation of the same mentality favoring courses and exchange of professors and formandi in the different communities. I dream of the establishment of a monastic school -online- accessible to all monks and nuns, to strengthen our ongoing formation.’ (Latin America)

Conclusions

Again, this is just a small sample of all your dreams! It does not do justice to the rich content, but it does show me personally where God's voice is heard. At the end of this conference, allow me to draw some lines towards the future. After all, dreaming was necessary to hear the voice of God, to experience where God wants to lead us. After all, after seeing, discerning comes a time of action.

Your dreams challenge me in the time ahead to:

to give priority to the revitalization of the contemplative dimension of our charism. Everything in our lives should be an expression of this dimension, including even a structure like the General Chapter. This contemplative dimension should have consequences in communio, participatio, missio and formatio. (I will consider the proposals regarding the functioning of the General Chapter, among others. A renewed discussion about the separation from the world, the private use of means of communication, the handling of money and property etc.)

-To give priority to the promotion of communion among us through open and transparent communication at all levels and using modern means of communication. (Proposals related to the (online) sharing of information, spiritual life, work, mutual aid, ecology etc.)

-To give priority to the fostering of participation of all members of the Order to find with creative fidelity to the tradition new ways that will make the governance structures in the Order more open and flexible, seeking better and equal representation from all parts of the world and between monks and nuns. (Proposals related to the Abbot General and his council, Mothers Immediate, statute for the accompaniment of fragile communities, functioning of the regional meetings, central commission, council of elders, etc.)

-To give priority to a better understanding of our mission in the Church and the world. (Proposals for sharing information on best practices; to promote the study of our Cistercian tradition and the meaning for today; searching the boundaries with the local and universal Church.)

-To give priority to deepening of the integral formation of the whole Order, to enkindle the flame of our first love, and to give more attention to the needs of individual regions. A closer cooperation between the Abbot General, his council and the General Secretary for Formation is of great importance in this respect (proposals for an (online) school of Cistercian life, offering online courses, specific formation for superiors, cellarer, novice masters, chaplains, more attention to formation regarding abuse, addictions etc.).

There in that tower, together with St. Benedict, enjoying that one bright ray of light in which all the dreams of the world converged, I did sigh: ‘the harvest is great, but workers are few’. Yet I will not be discouraged by this and ask you all to work with me to realize these priorities. As I said, now is the time to act and to see how we can turn the priorities into concrete actions. I am counting on your help in this, in prayer and deed.

The dreaming among you as superiors was a small beginning of the synodal path in the Order. The process continues and it must become a lifestyle at all levels. Some of you have also taken up my request to dream in your own communities. I hope many will follow. Let your brothers and sisters dream! Dream about their own lives, the lives of their communities and the lives of the Order. Dare to dream to hear God’s voice so that you can discern what matters and what you are asked to do. What is even more important, however - and this is ultimately the purpose of the synodal process - are these words of St. Bernard:

‘We have formed, dear brothers, a gathering or synod of bodies (synodum corporum), but it remains for us to form a greater synod: the union of souls (coniunctio animarum). Indeed, it is not praiseworthy to be united in body, if we are divided in spirit; it is useless to gather in a place if we are at odds in our souls. ... Where two or three are gathered, God is amid them (Mt. 18:20), if they are well gathered in the name of Jesus, that is, with the love of God and neighbor: with them it is good to dwell together (Ps. 132:1)”.[2]

May we do this under the protection of Mary, Queen of Citeaux!

[1] Mario Cardinal Grech, Synodality as a style. In Sequela Christi, XLVII 2021/02, p. 72-73.

[2] Bernard de Clairvaux, Sententiae III, 108 (pour cette citation je suis reconnaissant à dom Yvon-Joseph du Val Notre Dame qui l’a portée à mon attention !)

Perspectives

Pope Francis

Speech of Pope Francis to the members of the General Chapter of OCSO

16 September 2022

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

I thank the Abbot general for the words of greeting and introduction. I know that you are carrying out the second part of your General Chapter, at the Porziuncola of Santa Maria degli Angeli: a place so rich in grace that it surely has helped to inspire your days.

I rejoice with you for the success of the first part of the Chapter, held in the same place, during which the new Abbot General was also elected. You, Father, immediately set out to visit the twelve regions where your monasteries are located. I like to think that this ‘visitation’ took place with the holy care shown to us by the Virgin Mary in the Gospel. ‘She got up and went quickly’ says Luke (1:39), and this expression always deserves to be contemplated, in order to be able to imitate it, with the grace of the Holy Spirit. I like to pray to Our Lady who is ‘in a hurry’: ‘Lady, you are in a hurry, aren’t you?’. And she understands that language.

The Father Abbot says that on this trip he ‘collected the dreams of the superiors’. I was struck by this way of expressing himself, and I wholeheartedly share it. Both because, as you know, I too mean ‘dreaming’ in this positive sense, not utopian but planning; and because here it is not a question of the dreams of an individual, even of the superior general’s, but of a sharing, of a ‘collection’ of dreams that emerge from the communities, and which I imagine are the object of discernment in this second part of the Chapter.

They are summarized in this way: a dream of communion, a dream of participation, a dream of mission and a dream of formation. I would like to offer you some reflections on these four ‘paths’.

First of all, I would like to make a note, so to speak, of method. An indication that comes to me from the Ignatian approach but which, basically, I believe I have in common with you, men called to contemplation at the school of Saint Benedict and Saint Bernard. In other words, it is a matter of interpreting all these ‘dreams’ through Christ, identifying ourselves with him through the Gospel and imagining - in an objective, contemplative sense - how Jesus dreamed of these realities: communion, participation, mission and formation. Indeed, these dreams build us up as persons and as communities to the extent that they are not ours but his, and we assimilate them through the Holy Spirit. His dreams.

And here, then, opens up the space for a beautiful and gratifying spiritual search: the search for the ‘dreams of Jesus’, that is, for his greatest desires, which the Father aroused in his divine-human heart. Here, in this key of evangelical contemplation, I would like to put myself in ‘resonance’ with your four great dreams.

The Gospel of John gives us this prayer of Jesus to the Father: ‘The glory that you have given to me, I have given to them, so that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me, so that they may be perfect in unity and the world may know that you sent me and loved them as you loved me’ (17:22-23). This holy Word allows us to dream with Jesus the communion of his disciples, our communion as ‘his’ (see Ap Ex Gaudete et exsultate, 146). This communion - it is important to specify - does not consist in our uniformity, homogeneity, compatibility, more or less spontaneous or forced, no; it consists in our common relationship to Christ, and in Him to the Father in the Spirit. Jesus was not afraid of the diversity that existed among the Twelve, and therefore we do not have to fear diversity either, because the Holy Spirit loves to arouse differences and make them a harmony. Instead, our particularism, our exclusivism, yes, we must fear them, because they cause divisions (see Ap Ex Evangelii gaudium, 131). Therefore, Jesus’ own dream of communion frees us from uniformity and divisions, both of which are ugly.

We take another word from the Gospel of Matthew. In controversy with the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus says to his disciples: ‘As for you, do not be called “Rabbi”. You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called “Master”; you have but one master, the Messiah’ (23:8-10). Here we can contemplate Jesus’ dream of a fraternal community, where everyone participates on the basis of a common filial relationship with the Father and as disciples of Jesus. In particular, a community of consecrated life can be a sign of the Kingdom of God by witnessing a style of participatory fraternity between real, concrete people who, with their limitations, choose every day, trusting in the grace of Christ, to live together. Even current communication means can and must be at the service of real - not just virtual - participation in the concrete life of the community (see Ap Ex Evangelii gaudium, 87).

The Gospel also gives us Jesus’ dream of an all-missionary Church: ‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age’ (Mt 28:19-20). This mandate concerns everyone in the Church. There are no charisms that are missionary and others that are not. All charisms, insofar as they are given to the Church, are for the evangelization of the people, that is, missionary; naturally in different, very different ways, according to God’s ‘fantasy’. A monk who prays in his monastery does his part in bringing the Gospel to that land, in teaching the people who live there that we have a Father who loves us and, in this world, we are on our way to Heaven. So, the question is: how can a person be a Cistercian of strict observance and a part of ‘an outgoing Church’ (see Ap Ex Evangelii gaudium, 20)? You are on the way, but it is a way out. How do you live the ‘sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing’ (St. Paul VI, Ap Ex Evangelii nuntiandi, 75)? It would be nice to hear it from you, contemplatives. For now, it is enough for us to remember that ‘in any form of evangelization the primacy is always of God’ and that ‘in the whole life of the Church it must always be shown that the initiative is of God, that “it is he who loved us”’ (1 Jn 4:10)" (see Ap Ex Evangelii gaudium, 12).

Finally, the Gospels show us Jesus who takes care of his disciples, educates them patiently, explaining to them, on the sidelines, the meaning of some parables and illuminating with words the testimony of his way of life, of his gestures. For example, when Jesus, after washing the disciples’ feet, says to them: ‘I have given you an example so that you too may do as I have done to you’ (Jn 13:15), the Master dreams of the formation of his friends according to the way of God, which is humility and service. And then when, shortly after, he affirms: ‘I still have many things to say to you, but for the moment you are unable to bear the burden’ (Jn 16:12), Jesus makes it clear that the disciples have a path to follow, a formation to receive; and he promises that the Formator will be the Holy Spirit: ‘When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth’ (16:13). And there could be many evangelical references that attest to the dream of formation in the heart of the Lord. I like to summarize them as a dream of holiness, renewing this invitation: ‘Let the grace of your Baptism bear fruit in a journey of holiness. Let everything be open to God and, to this end, choose Him, choose God always anew. Do not be discouraged, because you have the strength of the Holy Spirit to make it possible, and holiness, after all, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life (see Gal 5:22-23)’ (see Ap Ex Gaudete et exsultate, 15).

Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for coming and I hope you conclude your Chapter in the best possible way. May Our Lady accompany you. I cordially bless you and all your confreres around the world. And I ask you to please pray for me.

Perspectives

Sister Ainzane Juanicotena, OCSO

Monastery of Quilvo (Chile)

What is most life-giving

in the Order today

‘We have received the spirit of sonship

and we cry out Abba, Father!’

(cf. Rom 8:15)

Everything that is life-giving is an undeserved gift, and the greatest gift I have received from the Order, the most life-giving, is the gift of Filiation.

Like every gift that comes from the hands of God, we savor it, through the awareness of being sinners, poor, forgiven and redeemed. Welcomed back to the Father, like the prodigal son (cf. Lk 15:11-32), or, like the girl to whom he said: talita cumi (Mk 5:41) or like Lazarus taken from the tomb (Jn 11:44); the Father welcomes us through the Son, who in his mortal days exclaimed: no one takes my life from me, I give it freely, and who in suffering learned to obey (cf. Jn 10:18. Heb 5:8).

Now we live in the midst of a global crisis in which life has been turning in an almost unsuspected way towards a chilling bleakness: a world of war, pandemics, hunger, death, hatred, a world of extreme selfishness, disintegrated and disintegrating.

The world of technological communications has also spread its wings and instant attractions and the information offered is fast, flimsy, abundant and diverse. We do not manage to process all that is offered; then, new offers come along, and we begin to mimic the pre-established way of behaving in society. We stop thinking! We stop wondering about the supernatural and the reason for things. We become numb, we get confused, we are always missing something and we become exhausted. We become the society of tiredness, we become indifferent, we lose the taste of life, we prefer not to have problems, we do not take chances, and we close ourselves to the idea that life is received. Yet, at the same time, there is a yearning desire in the human heart that cries out for an encounter with God. That recognizes that we have received life and therefore we can transmit it, because no one gives what he does not have... and only if we transmit it, life remains in us and expands towards others. Because we are the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26). We carry a seal within us that cries out yearningly for this encounter with its Creator, a continuous movement dwells in us that goes towards the meeting point, between God and me, through a relationship between a You and an I, therefore, our life is made for others and only through others can we find ourselves.

Concretely we are called to look, to fight for the life of God and to serve it in others, in each brother of Community with that Cistercian anthropological optimism that affirms with its vitality that the last word on man will never be sin but the gift of God, his being the image and likeness of Him.

Whether we are aware of it or not, every human being bears this seal because God created us and we are his children. This is the deepest desire of the human heart, to be fully before God, to cling to Him with all our freedom.

The life begun by a piercing desire, situated in a concrete space and time –today– begins to take shape through the awakening of our close relationship with God, of the gift of filiation that we have with Him. Filiation received through the Son, Jesus Christ who left his seal imprinted in each one of us, in each atom of our being and in all Creation. A seal that cries out for its Creator and makes us children forever.

Community of Quilvo. © AIM.

We are children of God, that is the indelible seal, but the relationship I have with God, the gift of being a child of God is formed through a relationship with specific people, in a particular place.

The contemplation of Christ, the direct relationship with Him, in LISTENING, as an encounter with the Living Word, is the basis for living the relationship with the community, the Abbot and the Order with FAITH and OBEDIENCE. Supported by the tradition of the Order, by the customs of the House, by the continuity of life, by the concrete witnesses who have given their lives for us and those who are giving their lives today, we live the gift of giving our lives to God in our relationship with others. My life given to God is given through love for my sisters and my gift received from God is received from their hands, my relationship with others reflects my relationship with God and vice versa.

The gratuity of the gift received, the knowledge that I am loved by God, is my guarantee; nothing is lost when everything is offered. It is only through this thanksgiving that my life becomes tasty or colorful. Recognize me beloved daughter: free, poor, sinner, in need of forgiveness and of love.

The common life with a view towards a single goal, Christ, is a school of wisdom, it is a powerful energy and it is the novel response to the individualism that so much concerns us today. It is the most authentic expression of our being made for relationship; only through others can I truly see who I am and thus walk towards Christ. The mirror of all others allows me to recognize myself, to situate myself in a reality, to illuminate my path to know where I am, and it gives me the light I need to live the conversion that God asks of me and that I can only develop through others.

The strength for this impulse of conversion is to recognize that I am miserable and to know that I am mercified and sustained by Christ through my sisters in Community. Recognizing this, in the concrete instances of life, acts as a springboard that impels me to live the gift of OBEDIENCE as a response to a love received.

This path of obedience Christifies me, because it is the way of being of the Son Jesus Christ, it is our ‘way’ of loving, the condition of our full realization. Obedience is our prayer, and for this to be possible, it is necessary to kneel before the mystery of Christ made Flesh, whether it is by living it in the divine office, by listening to it inlectio, by gazing at him in silence, or by responding to the work that is asked of me every day. This is the Way, the support, the source of our faith in the Son of God made Flesh.

And for this to be possible, it is necessary that obedience be accompanied by a joy, a joy that is neither plastic, nor false, nor of show, where I appear to be happy, but inside I rot, not exempt from suffering, but a joy that is always paschal, made of the cross and glory of each day. If obedience is not lived in a joyful way, it is not true obedience. It must start from the root of being children, heirs and loved; and as children, we are free, happy and willing to respond to this love in the fullest way as Christ did and taught us, through obedience.

The confidence, the certainty of being a daughter of God, living in a concrete time and space, where every second is a new rebirth to full life with Christ, it is the breathing of our organism, the beating of our heart. To live in his presence, to enjoy the day-by-day of the journey and the Community that God gave me, cultivating joy in us and in those who come; to help them to recognize their personal and communal desire for happiness and truth, which does not stop at good norms, nor at the greatest number of sisters. Rather, it goes beyond that, seeking the quality and depth of the relationship with Christ, the fruit of a common feeling and will, to walk the path of the present fullness, and thus be able to go together to eternal life (RB 72,12).

It is not a question of success, or of slavery to the ‘spiritual fruits’ of the path of the Community, nor of death, or of the life of this Community, but of a perfect conformation to the Will of God. Without this awareness of the joy of living towards God, we become arid, tasteless, listless. We lose the spark! Of the desire for life and for living as true Christians, and we become filled with bitterness, which is the enemy of life. Because he who truly lives is ready to die. How often do we cling to our securities and schemes, so as not to die, and we forget to want to live? We must live desirous of accompanying Christ in his passion until the resurrection.

There must be an imminent joy in our hearts to live life with an openness to newness, recognizing ourselves as free and thus open to receiving and granting forgiveness. To open myself to new ways, new approaches, self-evaluate and see that those things that once gave life may no longer give life. Eliminate prejudices, take risks, dare, innovate, never limit myself, to see myself in others, to be young with the young, children with the children, venerate the elderly. Always look for life... Let yourself be made by others!

How many times do we cling to our own criteria and are unable to let in the new grace that God gives us in every event? How many times do we cling to ourselves and are unable to see the good behind the actions of others? How often do we cling to structures and forget that the structure must serve the new life that the Holy Spirit infuses into our walk? How much pain is there in the world and I... how many times do I not sympathize with the sister next to me?

We need to learn (as the Son learned) (cf. Heb. 5.8-9) from every event and from others, with all that is new and different that it brings, to recognize that the other is a contribution to my life. I must be a source available to all, to be receptive and a receptacle, living open to others, loving them at every moment. Yet, without romantic fantasies of good that canonize our evil hiding our need for conversion, but with reality. Without criticism, without complaints or resistance, but with lucid mercy, valuing ourselves and not allowing ourselves to be carried away by the evil they have done. But believing in the good will and desire of good that there is in each brother that God has placed at my side, accepting them and loving them wholly and happily as they are.

And thus, letting myself be made and formed by others. Only through concrete people, with concrete names and faces, can I let myself be formed by God. Only through the human mediation of others can I let God act in me and become incarnate in me. The other is the sacrament of God’s will in my life.

To live in filial obedience, concretely and according to the charism of our Order, in a community, under a rule and an abbot (RB1,2), with an eye to eternal life and with the savory seasoning of faith as a rule of life in our monasteries. Divine filiation becomes flesh thanks to these 3 fundamental pillars.

- Community: it is the place where I can let myself be made by the Lord through others. It is the Body-Church where the ENCOUNTER with God takes place, where we are all members and Christ is the head. Our own Community is the Body of Christ, it is the monastic Church that lives in communion with the universal Church.

It is the place where I receive forgiveness and daily life, it is the place where my misery comes to light, where I experience my weaknesses, my limitations, my sins, and where I know that I am supported; I recognize that I am loved in spite of my poverty. It is the place where I can spread my wings towards Christ through service to others, through work and self-giving.

- Abbot (Abbess): This is the person who takes the place of Christ in the monastery (RB2,1), it is the Abbot (Abbess) of the Community who lives to serve them and the community forms its Abbot (Abbess). Purity of heart is essential in my relationship with my Abbot (Abbess), the truth with myself in order to live this relationship, to recognize my bitterness, my darkness, my inconsistencies, my lights, my achievements and to be able to be transparent with it and to know that I am a child of this concrete person as a Representative of Christ.

- The Rule: It is the vital structure of our life; its form is Christocentric and gives us the concrete means to live the Gospel. To live, not to comply!

Because all our actions radiate for the whole world. A shining that does not depend on our merit or counter-merit, but on the Encounter with Christ, as Psalm 33.5 says: ‘look to him and you will be radiant...’

The radicality of our life to live in the encounter with Christ, from a human point of view, in a concrete time and world, places us in an encounter with our brothers and sisters of the present. In the here and now that looks towards eternity. All the elements of our life converge in this reality of today. Doing what I have to do and to be where I have to be, that is our offering, that is our prayer.

In our Order we can feel these aspects. Spiritual Paternity and Motherhood are lived by supporting and engendering each other, but they are also always a challenge.

The filiation that we must render to Christ at every moment is a living witness within the Order, the relationship with the Abbot General, the Mother House, the Father Immediate, the Daughter and Sister Houses, the interdependence of one with the other, where the breathing of one’s own and of the common heart is always Christ. We are children of a specific community, which belongs to a concrete Order, which is governed by a solid structure, where what always predominates is this filial and loving union that we have among us. This expresses the reality of being begotten, of receiving the identity, the face from the hands of Another. Who takes the place of Christ.

This filiation is not sentimental, but evangelical, therefore, it is a path of faith, much deeper than appearances.

The love of Christ for each one of us, recognizing that we are loved by God and recognizing God’s love in others, living it in the eternal present of the daily reality, is the most precious gift we can enjoy, life itself. Living rooted in the present reality with the clarity of being immersed in a transitory life, whose final destination is God.

We came to live with Christ, and death to self is the condition for living, life is always renewed, life is bubbling and new, always a gift to be thankful for, because the greatest gift God gave us is life and our capacity to enjoy it gives us the peace to assume consciously and happily the meaning of our freely chosen destiny, as a response to a love that loved us and chose us first (1 Jn 4.19).

Only by growing in ourselves can we help others to grow in Christ and develop a spiritual fatherhood and motherhood, as a response to being daughters and sons of God.

We must truly live in a world beyond, where dreams become reality, to see already in the present glimpses of God’s love which will be complete in the life to come. That is to live united to Christ, with our gaze on Him, facing with that light the everyday, looking towards a total Christification with Him, with everything and with everyone.

To be grateful for what we do not deserve, to forgive what we have already been forgiven and above all to love always and at every moment with the love that only a child of God can understand, the love of Christ.

May the Virgin Mary guide us with her motherly love to an intimate, audacious, lively and grateful union with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Perspectives

Dom Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, OCist

General Abbot

 Opening of the General Chapter of OCist

We find ourselves here again after 7 years since the last General Chapter. They have not been easy years to pass through, marked as they were by the Covid-19 pandemic, by the increasing fragility of our communities, by some dismissals of superiors after grave irregularities and abuses of power.

In the formation of our General Chapter, many faces have changed: 7 Abbot Presidents have changed, and we have one more Congregation, that of Saint Gertrude the Great. Abbot President Eugenio Romagnuolo, of Casamari, unfortunately departed from us, as a victim of Covid, as early as April 2020. There are about 43 new superiors (a good half of the members of the General Chapter), among whom are 7 administrators. 13 communities have lost the status of being sui iuris for various reasons. There is for now only one superior of a new sui iuris monastery, that of Phuoc Hiep in Vietnam. Great figures as Superiors of the Order have concluded their faithful service. Mother Gemma Punk of Regina Mundi tendered her resignation after 75 years as superior. Now we know that she ‘reigned’ longer than Queen Elisabeth! Mother Rosaria Saccol, of San Giacomo di Veglia, left the abbatial post after 51 years and returned in holiness to the Father on 23 November 2021. Mother Irmengard Senoner of Mariengarten has just recently finished her 39 years of abbatial service.

Beyond those I have mentioned, I would also like to mention the superiors who have returned to the Father’s House in these years: Abbot President emeritus of the suppressed Congregation of Mary Mediatrix of All Graces, Dom Gerardus Hopstaken; Abbot President emeritus of the Congregation of the Holy Family, Dom Jean Lam; the Abbot President emeritus of the Congregation of St. Bernard in Italy, Dom Ambrogio Luigi Rottini; Mother Consolata of Frauenthal, Mother Assunta of Santa Susanna, Dom Bao of My Ca, Abbot Christian of Rein, Abbot Denis of Dallas, Mother Presentación Muro of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Mother Agnes of Kismaros. Another sorrowful loss for the Order was the untimely death of Fr. Sebastian Paciolla, on 22 June 2021.

In these seven years, the members of the General Chapter with the right to vote have dropped from 100 to 87. The members of the Order, notwithstanding the countries and certain communities in Europe and the United States that have enough vocations, have dropped from about 2500 to 2217.

As I said to the Holy Father when I met with him last 13 June: ‘We are having a harder time walking, but we are walking more closely together.’ Francis responded to me by citing an African proverb: ‘If you want to walk fast, walk alone, but if you want to walk safely, walk along with others.’

Yes, I think we are walking more closely together, but not always and not with everyone. In the end, with this General Chapter we will see whether I told the Pope the truth or a lie. I hope you will not make me have to go to confession!

What should the purpose of the General Chapter be? The Carta Caritatis repeats it to us from 903 years ago: ‘Let them treat of the salvation of their own souls; if something is to be emended or added to in the observance of the Holy Rule or of the Order, let them so ordain it, and let them reestablish among themselves the good of peace and charity’ (CC 7.2).

In this, it takes back up many apostolic exhortations, like that which St. Paul addresses to the Ephesians:

‘I therefore urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. […] Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.’ (Eph 4.1–6,15–16)

Pope Francis, with all his exhortations to revive the synodal nature of the Church, helps us rediscover our Cistercian charism, precisely as a ‘journey together’ of communities that are joined by one and the same vocation, by one hope, one faith, one charity. In my letters and in some conferences in these last four years, I have sought to stimulate among us this synodal awareness of our vocation and mission, independent of the differences of observance and style of life that we live out in our individual communities and Congregations. What has helped me a great deal in this has been finding myself participating in various Church meetings: the 2018 Synod of Bishops dedicated to the youth, the February 2019 meeting in the Vatican on the topic of abuses in the Church, then the beginning of the synodal path for the whole Church on 9 and 10 October 2021, a path that will culminate in next year’s Synod of Bishops. I was also encouraged in this by the surprise of being elected to the Executive Council of the Union of Superiors General and by the even greater surprise of being elected vice-president of this Union. It is not a task that requires much work of me, fortunately, but it helps me be more attentive to the heartbeat of the universal Church and of the world. I tried to make the Order share in this awareness. I realized how much the other religious Orders are attentive to our monastic experience and sensibilities when they confront problems and especially in living out the Church’s mission. It is important for us to be aware of this, since it is not so much the role of abbot general that makes me capable of this work, as it is the vocation that I share with each of you.

In his discourse on the occasion of the beginning of the synodal path, exactly a year ago, 9 October 2021, the Pope said:

‘The words “communion” and “mission” can risk remaining somewhat abstract, unless we cultivate an ecclesial praxis that expresses the concreteness of synodality at every step of our journey and activity, encouraging real involvement on the part of each and all. I would say that celebrating a Synod is always a good and important thing, but it proves truly beneficial if it becomes a living expression of “being Church”, of a way of acting marked by true participation. This is not a matter of form, but of faith. Participation is a requirement of the faith received in baptism. As the Apostle Paul says, “in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12:13). In the Church, everything starts with baptism. Baptism, the source of our life, gives rise to the equal dignity of the children of God, albeit in the diversity of ministries and charisms. Consequently, all the baptized are called to take part in the Church’s life and mission. Without real participation by the People of God, talk about communion risks remaining a devout wish.’ (Address of His Holiness Pope Francis, 9 Oct 2021)

Participating in the Church’s mission

‘All the baptized are called to take part in the Church’s life and mission’, Pope Francis says. I would like to underline this phrase, because it makes us realize that meeting each other and working together is not a task only for us, but must be inspired by a universal purpose. Of course we must, as the Carta Caritatis asks us to, treat of the salvation of our souls, ordain what is needed for the observance of the Holy Rule or of the Order, correct and increase the life of our communities and re-establish among ourselves the good of peace and charity (cf. CC 7.2). But if in all this we do not think of the mission of the whole Church, that is, if we do not think of the salvation of the whole world, all our work on ourselves will be narcissistic, sterile, will not bear fruit, not even for ourselves. Because from the very beginning our Order kept itself united and worked on its own conversion ‘out of a desire to help all the members of the Order and all the children of holy Church – prodesse illis omnibusque sanctae Ecclesiae filiis cupientes’ (CC 1.3). The sons of the Church means the whole of humanity. We are called to be fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of the all humanity. Not humanity in the abstract, but the humanity that, in the world today, is born, lives, works, suffers, dies. We must not feel like we are sterile and useless if we do not have vocations or if we have to close some monastery. We should feel like we are sterile and useless if we live out our vocation without this passion for the whole human race.

The Pope always speaks of a ‘Church going forth’, that is, of the missionary passion that makes the whole Church strive to reach every sheep that is disoriented and far from the flock of Christ. We too, respecting the more contemplative or more apostolic characteristics of each of our Congregations and communities, must find and revive this missionary irradiation, to stay alive and above all happy with the joy of the Gospel. As the Pope again writes in Evangelii Gaudium:

‘Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel’ (EG 20).

At times we become gloomy and discontent, irritable and capricious, simply because we forget about the world’s suffering, we forget the pandemic, poverty, war, hunger, the meaningless life of so many men and women, and of so many young people. We forget the innocent pain of so many children, the insecurity in which so many families live, the economic and social difficulties that confront lay people. We forget the persecuted Christians, we forget the martyrs. We forget the migrants. We forget the sadness of sinners who do not encounter the Redeemer. In the end we forget all the sheep lost without a shepherd, that is, we forget Christ’s compassion for humanity (cf. Mk 6:34).

How often, when I have found myself along with some of you confronting the problems that are never resolved, in which the conflicts, the claims, the disobediences, the infidelities grow ever sharper, have we said to each other: but what does this have to do with the salvation of the world and hence with Christ who came to live, suffer, die, and rise to save us?

But it is comforting to see that the majority of communities and persons live with this missionary awareness, and this makes their life great and radiant, even and especially when the circumstances, conditions, or health, constrain us to reduce our action. Who loves much, even if he can do nothing, acts as God!

Many brothers and sisters have, so to say, a ‘heart that goes forth,’ that is an ecclesial, missionary heart, even and especially when they can only pray, and especially offer everything for the salvation of the world. I rejoice to see a little bit everywhere in the world how so many young people in our communities have this universal sense of our vocation, and this fills me with hope.

It is with this hope that I begin our General Chapter, on which we have already invoked the Holy Spirit, and we shall continue to invoke him, making an epiclesis over all that we will live out, say, think or try in these days, so that all may be offered to the Spirit, so that Christ the Redeemer, the Mercy of the Father, become incarnate there, as he did in the womb of Mary, Mother of the Church, Mother of Cîteaux.

Meditation

The Exemplary Character

of Monastic Life

Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the participants

in the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for Institutes

of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life

(20th November 2008)

[…] Recently too (cf. Address to the world of culture, Paris, 12 September 2008), I desired to highlight the exemplarity of monastic life in history, stressing that its aim is at the same time both simple and essential: quaerere Deum, to seek God and to seek him through Jesus Christ who has revealed him (cf. Jn 1:18), to seek him by fixing one's gaze on the invisible realities that are eternal (cf. 2 Cor 4: 18), in the expectation of our Saviour's appearing in glory (cf. Ti 2:13).

Christo omnino nihil praeponere [prefer nothing to Christ] (cf. Rule of Benedict 72,11; Augustine, Enarr. in Ps 29: 9; Cyprian, Ad Fort 4). These words which the Rule of St Benedict takes from the previous tradition, clearly express the precious treasure of monastic life lived still today in both the Christian West and East. It is a pressing invitation to mould monastic life to the point of making it an evangelical memorial of the Church and, when it is authentically lived, ‘a reference point for all the baptized’ (cf. John Paul II, Orientale lumen, n. 9). By virtue of the absolute primacy reserved for Christ, monasteries are called to be places in which room is made for the celebration of God’s glory, where the mysterious but real divine presence in the world is adored and praised, where one seeks to live the new commandment of love and mutual service, thus preparing for the final ‘revelation of the sons of God’ (Rm 8:19). When monks live the Gospel radically, when they dedicate themselves to integral contemplative life in profound spousal union with Christ, on whom this Congregation’s Instruction Verbi Sponsa (1999) extensively reflected, monasticism can constitute for all the forms of religious life and consecrated life a remembrance of what is essential and has primacy in the life of every baptized person: to seek Christ and put nothing before his love.

The path pointed out by God for this quest and for this love is his Word itself, who in the books of the Sacred Scriptures, offers himself abundantly, for the reflection of men and women. The desire for God and love of his Word are therefore reciprocally nourished and bring forth in monastic life the unsuppressable need for the opus Dei, the studium orationis and lectio divina, which is listening to the Word of God, accompanied by the great voices of the tradition of the Fathers and Saints, and also prayer, guided and sustained by this Word. The recent General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, celebrated in Rome last month on the theme: The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church, renewing the appeal to all Christians to root their life in listening to the Word of God contained in Sacred Scripture has especially invited religious communities to make the Word of God their daily food, in particular through the practice of lectio divina (cf. Elenchus praepositionum, n. 4).

Dear brothers and sisters, those who enter the monastery seek there a spiritual oasis where they may learn to live as true disciples of Jesus in serene and persevering fraternal communion, welcoming possible guests as Christ himself (cf. Rule of Benedict, 53,1). This is the witness that the Church asks of monasticism also in our time.

Let us invoke Mary, Mother of the Lord, the ‘woman of listening’, who put nothing before love for the Son of God, born of her, so that she may help communities of consecrated life and, especially, monastic communities to be faithful to their vocation and mission. May monasteries always be oases of ascetic life, where fascination for the spousal union with Christ is sensed, and where the choice of the Absolute of God is enveloped in a constant atmosphere of silence and contemplation. As I assure you of my prayers for this, I cordially impart the Apostolic Blessing to all of you who are taking part in the Plenary Assembly, to all those who work in your Dicastery and to the members of the various Institutes of Consecrated Life, especially those that are entirely contemplative. May the Lord pour out an abundance of his comforts upon each one.

Copyright 2008 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Current questions

Isabelle Jonveaux

Sociologist

The Prevention of Abuse in Female Communities

Questioning the structures of communities

The subject of abuse, notably by priests on children is overwhelmingly omnipresent in the Church. The question of the abuse of nuns and religious has needed more time to become visible in the media. In Europe it is essentially with the documentation of Arte[1] in 2019 that this subject has entered the awareness of the general public. The struggle of religious sisters against these abuses with regard to the Church dates from long before this, meeting many difficulties. As a sociologist of monastic life I have been confronted in the course of my enquiries in Europe since 2004 and in Africa since 2013 several abusive situations. But such abuses do not normally begin with sexual aggression but are prepared by spiritual abuse.

Not being a psychologist I do not work with victims or direct cases of abuse. My questions concern the structures which make such abuse possible. I seek to throw light upon the structural elements which open the door to such consequences, often invisible. It is obviously not relevant to consider that all feminine communities are open to the same risks, but rather to identify the modes of functioning which can facilitate the abuse of authority, spiritual or sexual.

1. The structures of feminine communities

I have identified five levels of structure whose combination makes possible forms of abuse and eventually encourage silence from the victims.

Internal structures of authority in feminine communities

In the course of my enquiries I have established clearly that structures of authority are stricter in feminine than in masculine communities. Authority is much more centred on the person of the superior. It has often happened to me that when I asked a sister for something, for example an interview, to receive the answer, ‘I must ask the abbess’, while men were more often able to give me a direct answer. This structure of authority leads to what the Cistercian Michaela Pfeifer calls ‘a hospital mentality’,[2] where the sisters no longer feel in charge of themselves but abandon all their adult will to the superior. Why is obedience lived differently in communities which live according to the same rule, e.g. that of St Benedict? The American Benedictine sister Shawn Carruth shows that obedience has developed in the Church as a properly feminine virtue, associated with humility, within a patriarchal structure:

‘Obedience is given to the patriarchal structure by giving it to those who understand power as control. Silence keeps women from expressing our own reality and our own understanding of the world’s reality. … Humility enjoined upon women teaches us to accept a subordinate position and the label of incapacity placed upon us by patriarchal presuppositions.’[3] 

The more severe structures of authority in feminine communities would in this sense be a residue of masculine authority on feminine monasteries.

Institutional hierarchical structures and systems of accompaniment

Because of the hierarchical institutional structures in place, the majority of feminine communities are under the authority of masculine figures. Many of them are directly under the jurisdiction of the bishop. In certain mixed orders the feminine communities are systematically accompanied by masculine communities, while the masculine communities are always accompanied by masculine ones. These authority-structures concern equally decision-making and management of goods. In addition, in certain dioceses the use of religious sisters is regulated by specific contracts where the sister is paid less than a brother or lay person in the same job.

Relationships between masculine and feminine communities

Relationships between masculine and feminine communities may be seen in the events of daily life, notably the difference of status accorded to masculine superiors. For example, at a celebration in an Austrian Benedictine monastery to which representatives of neighbouring monasteries were invited, the abbots were seated in choir with the monks, whereas the prioress of the neighbouring monastery of Benedictine sisters found herself with some sisters in the assembly. It still remains rare, as a Benedictine monk regretted at interview, for sisters to preach a retreat for monks, although the great majority of retreats for nuns are preached by men. Besides, it is frequent, including in Europe, that apostolic sisters serve masculine communities in household and kitchen, which directly implies inequality. Certain feminine communities have even been founded for this purpose.

Relationships between sisters and priests

In certain feminine communities, notably new communities, the figure of the priest remains an incontestable authority. This means that when a priest behaves inappropriately no questions are asked. Thus an Austrian sister of a new community (since departed) told me that when a priest visited a community the sisters had to abandon everything they were doing in order to be at his service.

Spatial structures and organisation of space

Spatial structures can facilitate abuse or the silence which follows it, notably the space where sisters meet priests, but also the way in which the authority of priests is handled in the Church. I have been able to observe, for example, in a new community an elevation of about two metres for the presbytery above the choirstalls of the sisters, while other feminine communities on the contrary have rearranged their chapel to introduce a greater equality between the priest and the sisters, and between the liturgy of the Word and that of the Eucharist at the altar during Mass.

2. Sisters in the religious structure

The second level of interrogation concerns the place of the individual sister in these structures. The structures of authority and obedience operate at three levels: intellectual, spiritual and corporal.

a. Intellectual level

The abuse of authority thrives especially when the level of knowledge is unequal. In my enquiries I have identified a significant inequality in the access of monks and nuns to studies. The most important access for brothers to study is first linked to the function of priest, which implies at least five years of study of philosophy and theology. Thus in Austria 95% of Benedictine monks have at least the degree of Master. Nuns have more difficulty of access to study and formation either because certain orders have historically cultivated a refusal to study out of humility (e.g. the Poor Clares) or because the stricter enclosure of feminine communities makes access to studies outside the monastery more difficult. The lack of intellectual formation and of knowledge can lead to different forms of abuse. A Trappistine sister in Africa who had received training in psychology said to me in interview:

Sometimes, since we do not know our rights there are certain abnormalities… I have seen in the life of the monastery certain things which the abbot imposes which are not normal. Sometimes it is the young person who is in the right. But because the abbot does not have a firm grasp of his rights, the young person has to undergo difficulties. But in the case of the teacher one sees clearly that sometimes there are certain things tolerated which should not be tolerated.

Lack of knowledge of the definite rights of the professed sister, the novice or the superior can lead to abusive situations which are not identified as such by the victim. Studies or other formations can contribute to avoiding these.

b. Spiritual level

In feminine religious life spiritual authority is in the hands equally of the superior and of the priest in charge of the spiritual accompaniment of the sisters. Spiritual abuse comes into play mainly when abuse of authority is justified on religious grounds. In the case of communities of sisters this form of abuse occurs notably when the priest accompanying the community or particular sisters is an uncontested authority and the accompanying priest or confessor is imposed by the superior. Centralisation of spiritual power in a monastery of sisters on a single priest presents an additional danger of spiritual abuse.

c. Corporal level and intimacy

The bodily level of intimacy in the structures of authority of feminine religious life is the most critical in the occurrence of various forms of abuse. Renunciation of possessions implies in a large proportion of monasteries the absence of any personal bank account. In various situations monks and nuns receive pocket-money to buy what they need locally or can ask for what is needed. Enquiries have shown that a situation where absolutely everything is received and/or requested are more frequent in monasteries of sisters. It is also more frequent that nuns have to ask in writing for what they need from the bursar or sometimes the superior. This system becomes more problematical when it touches the intimacy of individual sisters. The Austrian sister already mentioned said that for ten years she had washed without soap because only one type was available and she could have no other. The question becomes even more intimate when it concerns menstrual health. The same sister reported that only one type of hygienic protection was offered and that it was not possible to request any other. Similarly a Benedictine in Kenya who accompanies spiritually a community of sisters which I have studied said that the sisters were obliged to ask in writing for anything they needed. Those who did not dare to ask for products for menstrual hygiene had to manage with what they could find, despite the risk to their health incurred. Control of the body and its intimacy constitutes a form of ascesis which is not only more plausible but also runs close to being an abuse of authority. The body and its intimacy are therefore particularly central for the risk of abuse of authority in monasteries of women, and can lead to a dispossession of their bodies which can open them to other forms of abuse.

Conclusion

This has been a rapid panorama of different levels of structure of feminine communities which can – once again it is not a question of considering these systematic, since abuse is perpetrated by particular persons – lead to abuse of authority, spiritual or sexual. The prevention of different kinds of abuse, committed in a manner internal to the community, or by priests or religious on sisters, must pass through interrogation of these structures. Most of these structures have been inherited from centuries of male domination in the Church, and the spirituality of obedience and exaggerated humility in monasteries have had a tendency to diminish free will. Interrogation of these structures therefore means on the one hand throwing light on deviations, and on the other on their effect on recruitment and the work of particular communities to readjust these structures and thus reduce the risks.

[1]  Arte is a Franco-German distance chain.

[2] Michaela Pfeifer, « Le renoncement conduit-il à la liberté ? Réflexion systématique sur l’ascèse dans la RB », Revue de spiritualité monastique, vol. 68 (1), 2006, p. 11.

[3] Shawn Carruth, “The monastic virtues of obedience, silence and humility : a feminist perspective”, The American Benedictine Review, 51(2), 2000, p. 126.

Testimony

Dom Robert Igo, OSB

Abbot of Ampleforth (United Kingdom)

The Grace of Making a Foundation

and the Experience of Return

When I was asked in 1995 to go to Zimbabwe and make a monastic foundation, I had five good reasons why I was not the person. Thankfully I listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit and said ‘yes’. If I had listened to the voice of doubt and fear, I would have missed the greatest grace of my life. Four years of careful investigation by the Ampleforth community led the brethren to take a step in faith, yet few probably fully appreciated what that decision would mean, not least those who were asked to go and make the foundation. There are no books that clearly outline the basic ground rules of making a monastic foundation. It really is a journey in faith.

Foundations are far from easy and like giving birth they are messy, painful, full of fear and anticipation, but at the same time they are life-changing. What has 25 years taught me? The simple and truthful answer is I have learnt more than I can say in a short reflection. The time in Zimbabwe opened my mind and my heart and deepened my Christian faith and my understanding of monastic life.

From the outset we went to Zimbabwe respectful of the new culture we were adopting. We learnt early on to be flexible and creative, leaving ourselves open to what daily experience presented to us. We were convinced however that we needed to be very clear about the essentials of our monastic vocation that we wished to share with others: A life of faith, based on the Word of God and guided by the Rule. A life nourished by the Divine Office and lived in a strong community which lived by the work of its own hands. We felt we had a seed called ‘monastic wisdom’ and that our priority was to listen and learn about the soil into which this seed was to be planted. Listening and a willingness to learn were key values.

Even before we set foot on Zimbabwean soil we had begun to go back to basics and look again at the different elements of the Rule of St Benedict. This corporate reflection led to us to a conviction that we needed to be a community who were ‘in formation’ so that we could become a community able to form others. For this reason, we placed great importance on forming ourselves into a genuine community of brothers, a family who not only prayed together but who worked together taking responsibility for cooking, cleaning, and maintenance etc. We believed that it was our life together that was the greatest tool of evangelisation. We decided that we would not accept postulants into our community for ten years, giving ourselves time to learn the language, culture and building together a family into which others could become a part.

Chapel of the Monastery Christ the Word, Macheke, Zimbabwe.

Trying to become such a community, while adapting to a different culture and climate was not always smooth or comfortable. It involved time, tolerance, mistakes, misunderstandings and perseverance. People do not necessarily become a community simply because they live in the same building side by side. We constantly reminded ourselves that the community came first and from that strong basis our apostolate would flow.

Thinking and reflecting on formation was a further gift. Through our reflection we realised we wanted above all to transmit life not just customs. I learnt in a concrete manner the danger of inviting people to become members of a group rather than taking people on a journey of discipleship. This common reflection was itself a vital formation of the community. Eventually our formation document ‘A Life of Transformation’ came to birth and in a real sense formation was ‘owned’ by the whole community and we were certainly enriched by the whole experience.

The third seminal experience was the relationship with the wider church and the locality in which we lived. Through the retreats in the monastery and elsewhere, through the sharing with our visitors and the trust that the bishops showed we felt part of the wider Church and therefore appreciated much more the challenges and problems that others face. That was equally true of the people in the surrounding area. Our charitable outreach, helping to finance children to go to school, feeding families in need, the little medical assistance we could give, enabled a real relationship with the local people to grow strong. People in the area knew the monastery and they knew the brethren. We had become part of their life.

A living journey of faith in a setting where faith was vibrant, alive, and growing was exciting and full of challenges, but it was not without its problems. Each day we had to put trust in God. What I have found on my return to Europe is a Church that often appears to be tired and ageing. A Church that seems to be bound by its infrastructure, which all too often determines its mission. A Church where the conversation is about falling numbers rather than future possibilities. Coming back to a monastery with a long and settled tradition, larger in size and facing a time of transition, has not always been straightforward. The contrast between a small evolving community that allowed for spontaneity and a sense of family to a community steeped in institutional ways of living has required me to be patient, humble and sensitive. Comparison is never helpful if it leads to giving preference to one thing over another. I have learnt to respect difference and to see it as an opportunity not a threat. I have always loved my community whether it be in Zimbabwe or Ampleforth. In fact, one of the greatest lessons I have learnt is that what is essential is the quality of our life together, no matter where we may be. The witness we give to faith and the care we give to one another is our testimony to the Gospel of life. My time in Zimbabwe in a young and developing monastery has allowed me however to dream dreams.

I dream therefore of a monastic family, not just a collection of monks who live in the same building. A family who are passionate about the Gospel and who enjoy a living encounter with Jesus. Disciples of Jesus whose life of prayer is a doorway that draws them and others into the great thirst for God and service to the world. A community of brothers who recognize the individual gifts, needs and limitations of each one of its family members caring creatively and practically for one another, working at building mutual understanding and trust. A community where love is not just a pious word but a lived and felt experience. Where we work to create a sense of belonging.

I dream of a monastic fraternity that is welcoming and is open to others, especially those who are searching for faith, meaning and purpose. Sons of St Benedict who see the faithful living of the vows as its prime tool of evangelization and who have a genuine mission to bring others into a relationship with Christ. A community that is a vibrant spiritual resource for the Diocese and beyond, and that looks for opportunities to celebrate faith together with a variety of people. A community that wants to be holy and encourage others to do the same. A community who wants to live life to the full.

This is what my experience of being in a foundation has brought to me, the ability to dream of something different and my experience of returning to where my vocation began, now as Abbot, is to humbly share this dream with others.

AIM Council at Ampleforth, November 2022. © AIM.

Great figures of the Monastic Life

 Sister Marie-Paule Bart, OCBE

Cistercian Bernardine of Esquermes

Sister Josephine Mary Miller

(1948-2022)

 Josephine Miller was born on the 16th April, 1948, in Exeter in Devon. When she was very young her parents moved back to the East coast and set up at Southend-on-Sea in Essex. It was this town, at the mouth of the Thames, which she considered her native country. All her life she remained strongly attached to it.

There were three daughters in the family, of whom Josephine was the second. She was preceded by Elizabeth and followed by Anne. All three were educated at St Bernard’s Convent High School at Westcliff-on-Sea. The school is run by Bernardine Cistercians d’Esquermes.

Her first contact with the Bernardines was when she was four years old, when she began at Lindisfarne Preparatory School, a little primary school also directed by the Bernardines. By her own word she was very young when she first desired to become a religious. At the age of 18, in September 1966, she entered the Bernardine noviciate in the monastery of Notre-Dame de la Plaine in France, a foundational experience which she describes thus:

I entered the noviciate in France just after the Council, when people were hardly beginning to talk about aggiornamento and even less about inculturation. Being English and very young, I was unable to judge what was monastic and Cistercian and what was French style of life, which could and should change. I was lost, with a novice-mistress both very wise and very holy, but at least three times my age. Our conversations were pretty brief! Nevertheless the Lord took me in hand; he enabled me to discover the Advent antiphons and then the ‘O’ antiphons, then the responses of Vigils of Christmas, in Latin, and I was on my way. My love of the liturgy, then of the Bible, then of monastic life dates from that experience.

In my opinion what I have described was a very Cistercian experience, even if I was completely unaware of this at the time. The Lord took the initiative; he revived a faith which was beginning to falter, and gave me a first experience of spiritual joy; he taught me to taste and savour the Word of God without neglecting the intelligence, even if that was not the starting-point. It was a Cistercian experience, human, spiritual and very simple.[1]

An experience on which she was to build throughout her life, patiently ploughing the furrow, with perseverance, in all simplicity.

Effectively, Sister Josephine Mary loved monastic life with her whole heart, simply and authentically. She loved the liturgy which nourished her daily, the readings, the antiphons and the prayers were firmly anchored in her memory and shaped her daily life. She took part in this community liturgy as chantress (she was endowed with a fine voice) and as leader. That is why she took a determinant role in the liturgical renewal of the English Bernardines in the years after Vatican II. Her faith was deep and her spiritual life was nourished by her passion for the writings of St Bernard.

If she maintained a certain reserve in community Sister Josephine Mary held a natural moral authority, at the same time appreciated and respected by the sisters. She paid great attention to people and was a good listener. Sisters, oblates, other monastic superiors, clergy of other confessions sought her counsel, appreciated her accompaniment and valued her support.

With a natural gift for languages, she taught first at St Bernard’s Convent, Westcliff-on-Sea, then at Slough, until her election as Prioress General in 1990. A great pedagogue, a good teacher, a fine guide, she knew how to draw the best out of others, giving them confidence at the same time as being exigent with them. From 1978 she served the Order at novice-mistress at Slough from 1978 to 1990, Prioress General from 1990 to 1998 and Prioress at Hyning from 2008 to 2020.

As Prioress General she carried the delicate burden of restructuration in France, consequent on the diminution of vocations, the closing of a professional Lyceum, withdrawal of the community at Cambrai and transfer of the school to the diocese. In England also it was necessary to accompany the discernment which led to withdrawal from St Bernard’s Convent Grammar School at Slough, transferred to the diocese, and to the implantation of a community at Brownshill in Gloucestershire. The same story in Japan; as the community was ageing, the time came for the transfer of the schools to another Congregation and to establish the community elsewhere.

Still more difficult: the care of the communities of Goma and Buhimba at the time of the events of 1994 in Rwanda, then in the course of events in 1996 the flight of the sisters from Buhimba, with some of them remaining impossible to locate for several weeks, so far from the Generalate. She also accompanied and supported the search for a new place in Africa and the foundation of Notre-Dame de Bafor in Burkina Faso. At the end of her mandate she accepted the wishes of the sisters in Japan that the Order should found a new monastery in Asia so that the charism of the Bernardine Cistercians should remain in that continent and that the monastery of Japan, disappearing, should still give life by planting a seed elsewhere. The next Prioress General completed the task.

Looking back over these years Sister Josephine Mary wrote:

It was a very lively time. Our faith and our hope were put to the test, often very roughly, and we can be pretty sure that it will go on like this. We needed to search, to discover progressively and together the paths which we need to take. We could easily drop our hands and become discouraged. It seems to me that the Lord is rather inviting us to hang on, to pray more, to purify our faith, to be confident, to build together something very modest but authentic.[2]

The different services which were asked of her, first in the community and the Order, then further afield beyond their frontiers, enabled her to share generously and fraternally the fruits of her experience in the monastic world: contributions to conferences and sessions, animation of communities, accompaniment of communities in the course of many regular visits both for Cistercians and for Benedictines, member of many commissions for help, conferences at the session of Benedictine and Cistercian formators in Rome, ten years on the Council of AIM, including five years on the Executive Committee.

For her the communities were to live open to the diocese, the universal Church, attentive to changes in the world. As a woman of faith, well rooted in Christ, she looked lucidly at the changes of our era without defeatism. This is what she said to the monastic superiors of the Island Region in 2003:

This evolving situation, which seems to us menacing, is in fact a great grace,[3] if only we have sufficient faith to see it this way. We are obliged to redefine our priorities and ask ourselves how, concretely, we can put our search for God into the first place in our daily lives.

In other words this means to recognise that across what we are experiencing as losses, God is inviting us to accept more explicitly the values of the Kingdom, values which our world needs to see.[4]

After eighteen years as Prioress General she was appointed Prioress of Hyning in England. There she continued the same sort of service: responsible for the Commission charged with the revision of the Constitutions of the Order, President of the Union of Monastic Superiors of the United Kingdom (UMS), accompanying several communities in the course of discernment of a new future, apostolic Visitor of a Belgian Community, etc.

In 2018, while she was still Prioress and active in the service of the Order and of the Church, she was diagnosed with a cancer. From the beginning she was told that it was incurable. She accepted this with lucidity for the last four years of her life. Courageous and relying firmly on the Lord when she was carrying heavy responsibilities, she remained the same during her illness. Her strong faith in the Resurrection and her peaceful acceptance of the will of God throughout her life helped her in the final weeks. Her rich and strong personality had become simpler and gentler during her final term of office, a culminating point in her service in the school of the Lord’s service. She died peacefully on 16th February, 2022, at the Hospice of St John in Lancaster, ready to meet the Lord whom she had loved, desired and served so faithfully.

[1] Conference given in May 2000 in Lérins (France) on the theme: ‘Formation’.

[2] Introduction to the Report to the Chapter in 2002.

[3] Underlining is ours.

[4] ‘Chaos and Peace’ Lecture given at the Islands Region Monastic Superiors Meeting Hawkstone Hall - England, October 2003.

Great figures in Monastic Life

 Fr Réginald-Ferdinand Poswick, OSB

Abbey of Maredsous. Vice-postulator of the Cause of the Blessed

Blessed Dom Columba Marmion

(1858-1923)

The Benedictine community of Maredsous had the privilege of having among its members its 3rd abbot (1909-1923), recognised as ‘Blessed’ by the universal Church at the time of the great Jubilee in 2000.

Joseph Marmion, an Irishman born in Dublin in 1858, was first of all a priest of the Dublin diocese, after brilliant theological studies in Rome. Attracted to Maredsous by a Belgian companion of his studies he was enchanted by this monastery which formed a figurehead of the Catholic renewal at the end of the 19th century. He entered Maredsous in 1886.

From 1899 he was sent to reinforce the team of founders at the abbey of Mont-César in Louvain/Leuwen. There he developed his gifts as a preacher and spiritual director, notably becoming the confessor, confidant and friend of the future Primate of Belgium, Cardinal Mercier. As abbot of Maredsous (elected in September 1909) he handled all the problems of a great monastery in full process of expansion with delicacy. From 1917 a written version of his spiritual conferences was published under the title (in English) of Christ the Life of the Soul. This was followed by two others, Christ in his Mysteries and Christ the Ideal of the Monk. These writings were to have a considerable influence in the spiritual formation of seminarists, clergy, religious and devoted laity, thanks to a presentation of the Christian faith centred on the person of Jesus Christ and well anchored in the holy Scriptures. The heart of his message was to take seriously the truth that the baptised Christian can become immediately and genuinely the child of God in Christ Jesus.

After the war of 1914-1918 he created, with the abbey of Mont-César (Louvain) and the abbey of Saint-André (Bruges) the Belgian Benedictine Congregation of the Annunciation, distinct from the German Congregation of Beuron, which had founded Maredsous (1920-1922). Dom Marmion presided at the celebrations of the half-centenary of the foundation of Maredsous on the 15th October 1922, but he died in the flu epidemic on 30th January 1923.

His process of beatification was opened in the diocese of Namur in 1957. His body was transferred from the monastery cemetery to a side chapel of the abbatial basilica in 1963. It was at the time of a visit to this tomb in 1965 that an American woman received the miraculous favour of a cure of cancer. The beatification of Dom Columba Marmion by Pope John Paul II took place in Rome on the 3rd September 2000. The liturgical celebration of his feast was fixed by Rome for the 3rd October.

More and more pilgrims come to invoke him at his tomb or pray through him anywhere on the planet. An annual publication (Le Courrier du Bienheureux dom Columba Marmion) keeps those who so desire abreast of information, publications and events concerning this personality who has been proposed for public veneration by the Church.

Extracts from Christ, the Life of the Soul:

‘I will send you the Holy Spirit’, promised Jesus to us, ‘he will recall everything I have said to you’ (Jn 14.26). The Spirit of Truth ‘recalls’ the words of Jesus. What does this mean? When we contemplate the actions of Jesus Christ, his mysteries, one day what we have so often read and re-read without being particularly struck suddenly takes on a supernatural relief that we have never yet known. The divine word, the Holy Spirit, which the liturgy calls ‘the finger of God’, bores into our soul to become a light and a principle of action. If the soul is humble and attentive, this divine word does its work, silent but fruitful.

The Source of Interior Peace

I long that you should be able to acquire calm and peace. The best way of acquiring this calm is an absolute resignation to the holy Will of God; that is where peace lies. Try to desire nothing, to attach your heart to nothing without presenting it beforehand to God and placing it in the Sacred Heart of Jesus in order to want it in him and with him.

One of the main reasons by which we lose peace of soul is that we want something and we attach our heart to some object without knowing whether God wants it or not. And then, when some obstacle to our desire presents itself, we are troubled and leave conformity to the holy Will and lose our peace.

When we are faithful in consecrating each day by a significant period of time, according to our aptitude and duties, to spending time with the heavenly Father, to receive his inspirations and listen to the ‘calls’ of the Spirit, the word of Christ, the Verba Verbi (the words of the Word) as St Augustine calls them, flooding the soul with divine light, opening the soul to it to drink at the sources of Life. Thus the promise of Jesus Christ is realised, ‘if anyone is thirsty he should come to me and drink. He who believes in me, from his breast will flow springs of Living Water.’ And, adds St John, ‘He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believe in him were to receive’ (Jn 7.37-38).

History and Patrimony

Sister Hanne-Maria Berentzen, OCSO

Monastery of Tautra (Norway)

The monastery of Tautra:

from old ruins to a modern monastery

‘Welcome back’, said the townspeople when we arrived at the old monastic island of Tautra in February 1999 to found the first Cistercian Monastery in Norway since the Reformation in 1537.

‘We don’t know what a monastery is, but if it is to be, it must be here’, said the mayor of our town when in 1992 he heard of a Support Group for a future Cistercian Monastery in Norway, praying every day at 6 pm for its realization.

Sr Ina Andresen OCSO of Notre-Dame de la Coudre in Laval, France, had spent a year in Norway, feeling called to bring Cistercian life back to her country of origin. At a short retreat for the Solemnity of St Olav, Norway’s national saint, July 29 1991, she shared her vision when several people wondered how she was allowed to leave her cloistered life for this occasion. Everybody responded with a desire to pray every night at 6 pm for a Cistercian foundation sometime in the future, God willing.

The next year for the Solemnity of St Olav the new King and Queen came to our town Frosta to start their 2nd half of traveling the coast, greeting the people. (Frosta was the center for one of our oldest law-giving assemblies - from at least the 8th century). The mayor was to give the speech, and opening the newspaper that morning, saw the headlines: A New Monastery on Tautra.

No big news, just an architectural student’s choice of site for her diploma work. But in our region, that was a hit. A new monastery on Tautra? Really? The newspaper quoted the leader of the Support Group praying for a monastery: ‘We don’t know what a monastery is, we just pray that it will be one day’, she said.

That was enough for the Mayor. Some months later Sr Ina came to start living in an old farm house next to the ruins of the Cistercian Monastery at Tautra founded 1207 from Lyse, near Bergen. (Lyse was a foundation of Fountains from 1146) The next summer Sr Marjoe Backhus from Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, Dubuque, Iowa, came to join her. Their little monastic experiment ended a year later when Sr Ina became ill. But a seed had been sown. The Support Group had now a few hundred members who continued to pray, and Sr Marjoe’s abbess, Mother Gail Fitzpatrick, had visited Tautra and believed that God wanted something in Norway. Before her community in 1998 made a unanimous vote for a foundation in Norway, the town council of Frosta made a unanimous vote to support the nuns if they would come back to their town.

With their help we bought the property with small farmhouses on this little island in the middle of the broad Trondheim fjord, 20 minutes’ walk from the medieval ruins, supported by both the Catholic and the Lutheran Bishop of Trondheim.

The monastery of Tautra.

We were 7 foundresses, 5 from the mother house in Dubuque. Sr Ina from Laval and myself, also Norwegian by birth, from Mt St Mary’s Abbey, Wrentham, USA. Mother Gail asked us to wait a year before choosing an architect and starting the building process. This was important. Living in traditional Norwegian wooden houses made it clear to all of us that we did not want to build in brick or concrete, but in wood – and stone, if possible. The beautiful pink stones we saw in the walls of the ruins, were too expensive.

After working with 3 architects over several years, Jan Olav Jensen, who designed the monastery, chose to cover the façade with slate, which we could afford, a wooden monastery with a façade of slate.

Seven crowded years in the old houses were tough living, but made us one community. Crossing the yard between the houses for every office through the day, introduced us to the climate and the strong island winds. When our architect suggested 11 interior gardens in the monastery, we thought it a great idea. Economy reduced it to 7, giving extra light in the house, and keeping us connected. Working alone in the kitchen or wardrobe, you can look across the garden and see other sisters in their work-place.

We worked for a long time to agree on a suggestion for the design of the church. Again and again we said ‘No, not this one’ until the architect suggested a church with the shape similar to the barns of our neighbors, but with a glass roof over crossing beams, giving checkered shadows. Then we said ‘Yes.’ Our project manager warned us that it would be cold in the winter and hot in the summer. But we still said Yes. We wanted the church clearly to stand out, to be a beacon on this flat island. With the glass roof it reflects the many greenhouses in our town, being a spiritual greenhouse. Especially during the darkest winter months the play of the light through the beams reminds us of the medieval Cistercian architecture.

Interior of the Church of the Sisters, in wood and glass.

Queen Sonja of Norway had found interest in our foundation, and came to lay the corner stone in May 2003.

‘Do you know why I am here today?’ asked one of our friends in the Support Group.

‘We were six women meeting in August 1991, wondering what to do as a Support Group. Somebody said “ they sure will need money.” So we each laid 10 Norwegian crowns on the table and started a bank account.’

The Queen came back for the dedication of our church in 2007. Her support and the good will of neighbors and people from near and afar, together with our faithful friends in the Support Group, has been important for getting rooted in this town and this country.

When we became autonomous and six of us changed our stability to Tautra, Sr Ina found out her vocation was to return to Laval. One of the foundresses had returned to the motherhouse earlier, and over the years they sent two other sisters to join us. Three of those who have entered Tautra have made their solemn profession, and our present prioress, Sr Brigitte Pinot from France, changed her stability to Tautra in 2017, so we are now eleven solemnly professed sisters from six different countries. Seven other women from seven different countries have entered, but not persevered. Through their time with us they have greatly contributed to who we are, and hopefully have opened us more to a multi-cultural society. Counting our postulant, we come from seven different countries.

At a point when we were 12 in the community and had four women inquiring to discern their vocation, Sr Gilchrist Lavigne, who was the prioress at the time, found out that our monastery designed for 16-18 sisters was not big enough. When we built the monastery we received enthusiastic help both from our Order, from the fundraising of our motherhouse sisters, and especially from several German Catholic Donors, Bonifatiuswerk being the most important of them, and we could finish the building without taking any loans. When the idea of an addition for an infirmary and some additional cells came up, our financial advisers said it is very difficult to raise money for an addition. We prayed as before, and trusted God would help us if this was what we should do. In January 2021 we took over the new building dug into the ground in the hill towards the fjord, with a grass top keeping our lawn and the beautiful view of the fjord and the hills across. Also this time fully financed. The architect Runa Bjerke carefully made this new wing adapted to the older part of the monastery, yet clearly new and different, with wooden ebony façade. While Jan Olav Jensen chose long, narrow corridors connecting the different rooms, Runa Bjerke made broad and short corridors with extra high ceiling and sky-lights. It made a sense of space in this rather small addition of 4 infirmary rooms (nursing-home standard), dispensary, chapel, 4 ordinary cells, a living room which we never had before, with a small kitchenette, a laundry, exercise room, and – what we never had enough of: Storage space!

It is interesting to see how this new wing has changed the life of the community. In a small community we do not have much common work, which normally is a good means of getting to know one another. From the very beginning we understood that we needed to reach out to our visitors, inviting them to church coffee after Sunday Mass, and that we as a community would have common church coffee on Solemnities and on a Sister’s Feast Day.

Our refectory is long and narrow, since we all want to sit facing the fjord, loving that extraordinary ever-changing view. When we had our coffee breaks standing there, it was difficult to gather in one conversation. For the new living room we inherited a 6-seater sofa and table. This is now where we gather for church coffee, everybody included in the circle, and everybody taking part in the conversation.

From the very first year of our foundation our soap production, later expanded with other skin products – has covered a main part of our costs. Internet sales helped us come through the covid time without dangerous losses, although the guest house in periods was closed. The last 18 years we have had volunteers from all over the world living in our guest house for some months, giving valuable help with our work. One of our sisters accompanies them through their stay, and they are deeply grateful for this time in a monastic environment. The volunteer program has also given us vocations.

Our chaplain, Fr. Anthony of Roscrea in Ireland, has made a beautiful vegetable garden providing us with fresh vegetables year round. We also treasure the orchard and the many berry bushes on the property.

The beauty of our monastery and the interplay with the beauty around us is a daily source of joy and encouragement, and we are happy to share this with our volunteers, guests and visitors. Few churches in the Lutheran-dominated Norway are open except for services, and many are grateful to find a church that is open from four at night till eight in the evening. So much so that our town council in 2011 voted the monastery to be the most important thing that had happened in our municipality since World War II. And their reason was mainly that the church is always open for visitors to come and pray. We are grateful to see how many people come to share our liturgy and use the church for silent prayer throughout the day.

Meditation

Homily for the Memoria of St Aelred

Dom Henry Wansbrough, Ampleforth (United Kingdom)

Today is the Memoria of St Aelred, our neighbour at Rievaulx, 8 km away. We all of us, I guess, have a special affection for Aelred because of Rievaulx which we know so well. His greatest architectural achievement was the chapter-house at Rievaulx where one can imagine him delivering his much-loved homilies. So I want to say a few words about the work which is often considered his special written achievement, ‘On Spiritual Friendship’. At the very beginning of his work Aelred admits that he is heavily dependent on Cicero’s treatise on Friendship addressed to Hortensius, but Aelred’s work is specifically Christian. He begins, ‘Here we are, you and I, and I hope a third, Christ, is in our midst’, and one feels the presence of Christ through-out the book. There are fascinating differences from Cicero – or indeed from any ancient dialogue I have read – in that the interlocutor, the dialogue-partner, is not made to look a fool whom the leader is correcting, which is the norm in Plato’s dialogues of Socrates: Ivo, in the first dialogue, Walter (later his biographer) and Gratian in the second and third respectively, have their own good points to make. One feels that Christ is really present throughout, looking over Aelred’s shoulder. There is many a touch of warm and friendly humour (2.17 or 3.1), but especially a marvellous gentleness about the whole book, and appreciation not only of the Bible, of Cicero and Augustine, whom he has been reading from his youth, but of other opinions too.

He stresses constantly that true human love is an image of God’s eternal love. He even goes so far as to adapt St John’s ‘God is love’ to ‘God is friendship’. He is thinking for himself; so he adjusts Cicero’s statement that friends must agree on all matters, cutting out the ‘all’: it is important that friends should agree, but not necessarily on all matters.

There is no fear of friendship as there is in so much monastic writing a fear of ‘particular friendship’, and indeed one feels that for Aelred friendship is a vital part of monastic life. He says, ‘A man is to be compared to a beast if he has no one to rejoice with him in adversity, no one to whom to unburden his mind if any annoyance crosses his path or with whom to share some unusually sublime or illuminating inspiration’. He calls friendship ‘the medicine of life’ (as Sira 6.16 – and a string of quotations in 3.14), and considers that it would enhance many aspects of fraternal behaviour: ‘What, then, is more pleasant than to unite to oneself the spirit of another, and of two to form one, that no boasting is thereafter to be feared, no suspicion to be dreaded, no correction of one by the other to cause pain, no praise on the part of one to bring a charge of adulation from the other (2.12). Aelred thus sums up the spiritual advantages of friendship, ‘a man, being a friend of his fellow man, becomes the friend of God’. There are three kinds of kiss, the corporeal kiss by the impression of the lips, the spiritual kiss by the union of spirits, and kiss of Christ, when ‘the soul takes delight in the kiss of Christ alone and rests in his embrace’ (2.27).

I hope I may be forgiven for quoting so much from Aelred, even on his feastday, but the warmth and wisdom of his conversation on friendship increases one’s admiration for him and brings the reader closer to God.

Abbey of saint Aelred, Rievaulx. © AIM.

News

Report on the Session of Ananias

from the chronicles of the session

(cf. Website of the Benedictines of Vanves)

The fourth Session of Ananias took place from 7th September to 1st December. It had been planned for 2021, but the pandemic dictated a postponement. We were touched to note that the sessions have become well-known and are serving the communities well. We have received very positive feedback. The session was well attended and was a great success, as the reactions, both of the participants and of the members of the Office, showed.

The participants were called on to create a real fraternity during their three months of shared life: this is the necessary basis of everything experienced. The sessions are for living, not merely for information. This year, from the very first days, traditionally given over to presentations, the group grew together rapidly: the fact that many arrived after great difficulty, often most burdensome, linked to their communities and their countries, furthered the fraternal spirit which was very strong throughout the three months.

The welcome in the monasteries had a double aim, to keep the monastic framework during the three months and to discover different aspects of monastic life in Europe. The members began at La Pierre-qui-Vire (this has become a custom with our brothers of Morvan, whom it is not superfluous to thank once again), then at Pradines, Tamié and Aiguebelle. At the feedback the brothers and sisters unanimously regretted that the alternation of monasteries (monks/nuns and Benedictines/Cistercians) had not been observed, prevented by a series of accidents. The welcome from each community did much to mitigate this regret.

A word about the programme: throughout the sessions it was refined, but the main pillars remained unchanged:

• Monastic life and Gospel (disciples of Christ live by the Word)

• Liturgy, a monastic experience

• St Benedict

• History of monasticism

• Spiritual accompaniment

• Human development, psychology and spiritual life

• Community life

• Conclusion: return to monastic principles.

In addition, reflection on integral ecology coloured these months.

The participants were overwhemingly monks and nuns. From the beginning in 2013 some lay teachers – not always the same – have participated. As for the accompaniment of the group, Br Cyprien of La Pierre qui Vire was the leader. For the next session of Ananias we envisage a pairing of monk/nun, which was wisely requested by the participants.

The participation of Pastor Pierre-Yves Brandt, who joined us three times in the course of the session, was much appreciated ‘He taught us to communicate and to be free by basing our choices on the Word.’

Extracts from the Chronicles

The fourth session of Ananias (2022) took place from 8th September to 29th November (previous sessions 2013, 2015, 2018), in four abbeys, La Pierre-Qui-Vire, Pradines, Tamié and Aiguebelle, under the ordinary authority of Br Cyprian (PQV), Sister Marie (Martigné) and Mother Scholastique (Pradines). Twenty-four Ananists were welcomed, 16 nuns, 8 monks. Sr Elisabeth-Marie, a Poor Clare, also joined.

La Pierre-qui-Vire (8-29th September)

Everyone brought products of their own monastery. Expectations were varied and aroused enthusiasm beyond the charges and burdens carried by each. At the beginning of the session the projection of a documentary on the 40 martyrs of the fraternity of Buta (Burundi), because of the presence of two brothers from Burundi, was gripping and was followed by a lively exchange.

Abbey of the Pierre-qui-Vire, start of the session.

In each monastery times of recreations (music, dance, visits of Vézelay, Cluny, Taizé, Autun, Paray-le-Monial, Hautecombe, projection of films) and sharings had been prepared, and both rejoiced and enriched the participants. Similarly the common life of the group, which is one of the formative elements. But of course the lectures and working-groups were the most important elements. Sister Marie of Martigné presented the Cappadocian Fathers following on from Basil the Great, to help understand what it means to ‘please God’, an important term in monastic life, but especially so for beginners and those who have charge of formation in their communities. Then Br Patrick (PQV) laid out the panoply of bibliographical tools for formation in the liturgy and began with ‘What is the liturgy for me?’ The rich answers from the participants harvested many treasures. By reading passages from the General Presentation of the Roman Missal it was possible to see that the liturgy is an ‘epiphany of the Church in prayer’ (Pope John-Paul II), or by reference to the tympanum of Vezelay where the head of Christ is encircled by a motto, ‘Our head, Christ, is already in heaven, awaiting the arrival of the whole body’ (St Leo the Great, SC 62).

After this, Pierre-Yves Brandt, a Reformed Protestant pastor, gave some information, comparing the Institutions of Cassian and chapter 58 of the Rule of St Benedict. Br Jean-Louis (PQV) ran through the major stages of the history of monasticism. Abbot Luc (PQV) guided the group through lectio, comparing ‘Where our treasure is, there is our heart also (Mt 6.21) to the African proverb, ‘The fruits of tomorrow are the plants of today’.

The excursion arranged for this stage was to discover Taizé: Br Alois shows us the actual room of Br Roger. In the course of the two days the group shared in the celebration of the veneration of the Cross on Friday evening, the light of the Resurrection on Saturday evening and the Mass of Easter. The prophetic spirit of Br Roger, the care in the simplification of the liturgy to include young people and people less young, has continued since 1957/8.

Pradines (29th September – 20th October)

Mother Pierre-Marie, the Abbess, spoke about scripture and tradition, and about monastic poverty and work. She delved into the question of ‘happy sobriety’ according to Cassian, Pope Francis and the Rule. Br Bruno of Acey showed how to use the necessary tools for approaching a text and navigate the digital world, assuring that this does not separate the user from the spiritual life. Mother Hannah of the Priory of Loppem (Belgium) opened the question which each has to the Rule and its relationship to the Rule of the Master and to Scripture.

A visit to Sources Chrétiennes, celebrating its 80th birthday this year, introduced the participants to this Institute. Marie-Laure Chaieb gave a presentation of Irenaeus of Lyons, recently declared a Doctor of the Church. Sister Maria-Jose Arandia and Br John Chrysostome opened the theme of inculturation, stressing that every culture is called to pass from death to resurrection in Christ. Mother Marie-Madeleine devoted her intervention to spiritual accompaniment: always take Christ as the starting-point, with liberty and confidence.

Tamié (20th October – 9th November)

Julie Saint-Bris, Sr Siong and Br Michael Davide of Novalesa introduced the participants to the depths of the personality and its needs. Drawing on his vast experience, the retired Abbot Victor spoke about factors which divide or unite a community. Br Didier shared the life and work of Br Christophe, blessed martyr of Tibhirine, who had been very close to him.

Abbey of the Pierre-qui-Vire, start of the session.

Abbot Luc of Pierre-qui-Vire spoke of Evagrius Ponticus, and Sr Claire of Martigne-Briand spoke of Maximus the Confessor, worthy follower of Evagrius. The excursion was to the royal abbey of Hautecombe, which has been since 1992 in the hands of the community of the Chemin Neuf, a Catholic community with an ecumenical vocation. The meal was taken with young people of many nations, receiving a biblical and spiritual formation for some weeks or months. The Ananists were impressed by the openness of their reception, and the simplicity of their life, mixing modernity and respect for patrimony both architural and spiritual.

The Ananists with the community of the Chemin Neuf

Aiguebelle (10th November – 1st December)

In this stage fraternal life played a large part, under different aspects. Br Cyprian spoke of the joys, difficulties and attractions linked to fraternal life, such as the value of silence. Br Columba (En-Calcat) detailed how to pass from fear of the faith to confidence, from jealousy to praise. For Christian de Chergé, ‘The secret joy of the Spirit will always be to establish unity and re-establish resemblance while playing with the differences’.

Abbey Church of Aiguebelle.

Dom Mauro-Giuseppe (Abbot General of the Cistercians) spoke of the vows: they unite us beyond our differences by looking to Christ and by God’s sacred presence expressed in the rite of profession. With clarity and precision Abbot Pierre-André of Cîteaux explained the delicate balance between authority and obedience. Authority is at the service of the growth of the brother. Authentic obedience is lived in a climate of love, and motivates an authentic liberty and autonomy of the disciple.

Integral ecology was a scarlet thread through these three months. Elena Lasida presented the novelty of the encyclical Laudato Si’, its impact beyond Christians, its central idea and its environmental impact.

Such were the leading ideas of the teaching of this session. The essential remains hidden to the eyes of witnesses, but it lives in the hearts of each of the members.

Mother Marie-Madeleine Caseau, Dom Luc Cornuau, Elena Lasida.

News

DIMMID

Fr William Skudlarek, OSB

Secretary General

In June Fr William Skudlarek made a presentation, via video, at the Plenary Assembly of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. The topic of this year’s plenary session was ‘Interreligious Dialogue and Conviviality.’ His presentation can be found in the Videos section of the DIMMID website.

DIMMID’s ongoing dialogue with Shi‘a Muslims resumed in September at the Trappist abbey of Acey.

A new book on Shigeto Vincent Oshida OP is coming out from Liturgical Press in May. Title: Jesus in the Hands of Buddha. Author: Lucien Miller, retired professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Plans are underway to establish regional commissions for DIMMID in East and West Africa. There will be a Monastic-Muslim meeting in Nairobi, in June 2023. It will be primarily for monastic and Muslim women and will be followed by planning sessions in Tanzania (led by Fr Maximilian Musindai) and Senegal (me).

The DIMMID Commission for Great Britain and Ireland has been reactivated with Br Justin Robinson of Glenstal as its co-ordinator.

The European Commissions are planning to resume their meetings this summer, probably at Ligugé with a day trip to the center of the World Community for Christian Meditation in nearby Bonnevaux to discuss possible future collaboration.

Dr Mohammad Ali Shomali will be meeting with Prof. Bernhard A. Eckerstorfer OSB, rector of the Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo, in December to discuss the possibility of having Muslim students study at Sant’Anselmo.

Two Buddhist monks from Thailand are living and studying at Sant’Anselmo this semester. They are sponsored by the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

The Italian commission continues to be the most active of DIMMID’s regional commissions.

Plans are underway for the appointment of a new Secretary General.

News

The Association AMTM

Les Amis des Monastères à Travers le Monde

The Friends of Monasteries around the World

Secretariat of the AIM

The AMTM is an association (according to the French law of 1901) whose objective  is in collaboration with the AIM to help by prayer and materially the young monasteries living under the Rule of St Benedict which have been and are being founded across the world in less favoured countries.

The effect of monastic life, in each region where a monastery is sown, is to help agricultural and economic development. Often this represents a chance for the local inhabitants. First of all the monasteries have a spiritual influence, and enable populations which do not know Christianity to have some experience of it. The influence is also economic, from the capacity of the monks and nuns to transform places where they are set up by their work, and thus to be an example and a support in the neighbourhood. The AMTM has been supporting and encouraging this development for 50 years.

The Association held its most recent general meeting in the Priory of St Bathilde of Vanves on 29th January. In the course of the past year the AMTM has been able to support several important projects in Tanzania, in Poland (to welcome Ukrainian refugees) and on the Ivory Coast.

However, since the creation of the Foundation Benedictus, which harvests the funds assembled by the AMTM (to allow in all legality the expenditure of funds received) the function of the AMTM consists above all in stimulating, informing and communicating the various successful projects achieved by the Foundation. This provides an opportunity to widen the list of donors and achieve a greater presence in the social framework. The projects supported will be linked to developments in health, education and environment.

This fine service of the AMTM is calling for new associates. Please do not hesitate to come forward.

News

Some of the Projects supported by AIM

Secretariat of AIM

The Congregation of Benedictine Nuns of the Eucharistic King (Philippines)

In speaking of this Congregation we are pleased to give some news from Sr Mary Placid who has long been at the Secretariate of AIM at Vanves. Sister Mary Placid has in fact become president of this body recently organised into a Congregation of nuns.

In 1929, with the support of Bishop Santiago Sancho, Mother Edeltraud Danner, from the Congregation of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing (Germany), opened a house in the Philippines with the special purpose of bringing together two forms of life: contemplative nuns observing the enclosure and sisters carrying out charitable activities. In 1986, by decree of Rome, the active sisters became autonomous. The nuns became the Benedictine Nuns of the Eucharistic King (BNEK), whose Congregation was approved in 2021 and comprises about 100 sisters.

The Congregation includes three abbeys: Vigan, Cogon, San Rafael. In 2020, at the request of the Bishop of the Diocese of Tagum, the Cogon community sent seven sisters to found a monastery there.

The young Congregation held its General Chapter in the monastery of San Rafael (Calapan) from 25 to 30 September 2022, with 16 participants. The president, who visited Vanves at the end of 2022, is in good health and has taken on her responsibility with all the qualities which we know so well.

The Institute for Monastic Theology of the Association BECAN (Nigeria)

The Association BECAN (Benedictine and Cistercian Association of Nigeria) is a forum for continuing dialogue on the way of life for Benedictine and Cistercian monks and nuns in Nigeria, The Association has created a formation course for monks and nuns open to all the monasteries of English-speaking Africa, occurring during two continuous months in two years.

It was originally affiliated to the private university Madonna, run by the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit. The students were lodged at the Pilgrimage Centre Elele, run by the same missionaries, but it seemed opportune to find another location to help conserve monastic life during the course. A search for affiliation to an African Catholic Institute to deliver the courses and diplomas is under way. The association has decided to establish a place for formation in the guesthouse of the monastery of Ewu-Ishan.

The first formation session took place in August and September 2022 and was attended by 20 students. All the teachers are members of the association.

The Inter-Congregational Theological Studium (STIC)

Monastery of Mvanda (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

The monastery of Mvanda is organising the Inter-Congregational Theological Studium for members of Benedictine and Cistercian communities who have finished their noviciate. The studium is open also to other religious and to associated laity who wish to deepen their faith and knowledge.

The course is spread over three years and functions in three ten-day sessions per year. It concludes with an examination-session for regular students. The theme of the course is anthropology, fundamental theology, fundamental moral theology, canon law, patrology, Christian revelation and African traditions.

For the year 2022-2023 the sessions are programmed for November (philosophy), January 2023 (introduction to St Augustine), April 2023 (New Testament).

Benedictine-Cistercian Union of Mexico (UBCM)

The Benedictine-Cistercian Union of Mexico (UBCM) is composed of all the 13 Benedictine and Cistercian communities, masculine and feminine, canonically established in the national territory of Mexico, and is based on the principle of communion, solidarity and mutual service between the communities involved. It is therefore an organism of collaboration to promote the Benedictine life, help in the building-up of the Church, but also collaborate in the integral development of the Mexican people.

As a result of Covid, the formation-sessions proposed annually for the association were suspended for three years. Now that the restrictions have been lifted a session of five days occurred in July 2022.

Benedictine Sisters of Twasana (South Africa)

At the request of Mgr Thomas Spreiter OSB, Vicar Apostolic of Eshowe, the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing began to recruit local candidates with a view to establishing a community of sisters under the Rule of St Benedict. The first candidates were accepted on the 29th December, 1929. Sister Victorine Mandl, a Tutzing Sister, was charged with the formation of the candidates.

The Roman Congregation Propaganda Fide officially recognised the Benedictine community of African sisters, newly founded, in its rescript of 5th December 1933, which included an authorisation to open a noviciate. On 3rd January 1985 the sisters elected their first superior from their own members, Sr Johanna Ntuli.

The Motherhouse, Twasana, is 80km from Vryheid (Kwa-Zulu Natal). Beside it stand a secondary school and a boarding-house for girls, run by the sisters. The sisters have six other missionary houses. Many of the sisters have apostolates in the parishes and schools. They have a farm which caters for their needs but also helps the local population by offering them work or food at lower prices.

Beaucoup de sœurs ont des apostolats dans les paroisses, les écoles. Elles possèdent une ferme qui leur permet de subvenir à leurs besoins, mais aussi d’aider la population locale en lui offrant du travail ou de la nourriture à bas prix.

The formation-house built in 1999 threatens to collapse. The walls are fissured and the foundations are moving. The sisters have left the house for fear that it might collapse during a storm, very frequent in the summer. The young who are in formation are lodged in a building already occupied by other sisters, and there is not enough space for the two groups. The architects reckon that the house could be put on a solid basis by a framework and some other works.

Benedictine monks of Makkiyad (Kerala, India)

The Benedictine monastery of St Joseph at Makkiyad in the north of Kerala was founded in 1962 by five Indian monks who decided to leave Sri Lanka to establish a monastery in India. It belongs to the Sylvestrine Congregation. The Priory of Makkiyad has founded six monasteries Vanashram (Karnataka), Iritty (Kerala), Shivpuri (Madya Pradesh), Teok (Assam), Navajeevan (Andhra Pradesh) and Kizhakkumbhagan (Kerala) in 2022. The community consists of fifty-seven brothers, of whom eighteen are simply professed.

The community is in charge of certain number of educational activities in the school of the Holy Face and the St Joseph Institute of philosophy. The community also runs a retreat-centre frequented by thousands of people each year. The St Joseph Institute of philosophy has been affiliated to the Atheneum of Sant’Anselmo in Rome. At the present time it includes fifty students, young Benedictine monks, but also students of different dioceses and Congregations of the Latin, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankar rites destined for the priesthood. This offers them the opportunity of apprenticeship in different fields, thanks to exposition, pastoral ministry and other parascholastic and extra-scholastic activities.

The growing number of students makes it essential to enlarge the library. The current space cannot be enlarged, so that it is essential to move the library to another place. The old library will be converted into small rooms for individual retreatants. The walls and roof have already been re-made. It still remains to fit out the interior, paint, electricity, sanitation, air-conditioning, etc.

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