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Benedictine Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010!

! A!Way!of!Life

The Benedictine Oblate Community of The World Community for The Contemplative Oblate Today

Sometimes people ask me – what led you to become a Benedictine ? Before I answer I usually think of the desert father whose reply to the question ‘what is a monk?’ was this - ‘ a monk is one who asks himself question equally honestly in several different ways. Here today I would ask you ‘why did you become an oblate’?

The Benedictine life has perhaps the greatest range of manifestations of any religious order in the Church – from missionaries and educators, to farmers and . As St Benedict says early in the Rule ‘there are different kinds of ’. He says the coenobites are the best but also that the whole Rule is only ‘a little rule for beginners’ who are being trained for the ‘single-handed combat’ of the desert of solitude. He seems to see solitude in some form as the goal of ARTICLES IN monastic life. Only experience reveals what solitude means in terms of the individual vocation. THIS ISSUE The multi-dimensional approach to monastic identity explains the rich diversity and adaptability of the Benedictine charism over 1600 years. And all these different aspects of The Benedictine identity apply equally to . Contemplative 1 -7 What draws a person to become an oblate? How do they live at different stages of Oblate Today their lives – as young parents or working professionals and later in retirement? What does it The Congress – 7 mean to be an oblate today at a time of great crisis in monastic history when many a personal view are closing or struggling to survive? I would like to explore some of these questions within the challenging theme of this Congress and especially through the Houston Oblate 10 understanding of contemplation. This will lead us to look at the praxis of realizing this, the Community practice of meditation. The Oblate Traditionally Benedictine life has been seen as ‘mixed’ – that is neither solely contemplative Path – My First 10 nor active. Monks are meant to earn their own living. are not mendicants. This Step distinguishes them from Franciscan and Buddhist monks. Again, this mingling of the contemplative and active dimensions of the Christian life has stimulated a great diversity of Final Oblation 10 expression. The Cloud of Unknowing says that ‘no life is completely contemplative or completely active’. That is good Benedictine common sense. And perhaps there is an even deeper A Reflection – meaning in merging contemplation and action, as this is what Jesus seems to mean by the ‘one My Final 12 thing necessary’ in the Martha and Mary story. Jean Leclercq used to say: was Jesus a monk? If Oblation so, should we not all be monks? If not, do we have the right to be a monk? This tension of identity is at the heart of the Benedictine life and the Gospel and indeed of human life itself. Canada 13 Even the bi-hemispheral structure of the brain illustrates this tension of complementarities. It is a tension that Benedict handled wisely and brilliantly in his Rule. Monks and oblates live it Book Corner 13 out differently by their obedience to the same Rule. In Loving 14 In a secular age like ours, filled with conflicts and confusion and with shifting ideas about the Memory meaning of religion and spirituality, the Benedictine wisdom accumulated in many eras and cultures has immense potential and value – provided we are ready to grow with the times. The Editorial 15 monk is like a tree planted beside fresh streams – rooted in stability and so able to grow, to be Contacts 16 like a Kingdom-tree in which the birds of heaven come to roost, to be continuously converted. The growth needed today is a recovery of the contemplative energy of the Rule.

1 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010! Recovering the contemplative dimension channelled a specific monastic form of contemplative prayer to the world, was led to form a new kind of Peoples’ search for spiritual experience in our time often Benedictine community based on meditation, the ‘pure leads them to leave the Church. Many feel that prayer’ of the desert tradition. This has since taken shape has little to offer except rituals, moralistic certainties, rules both as a ‘ without walls’ and in a particular new and conformity. Yet monasteries are often an exception to form of Oblate life. Including meditation in the Office and this rejection of ‘religion’ in the West. Perhaps this is why liturgy was one of John Main’s great insights. This is what the present urges monasteries to renew Europe and he said about it: create a ‘civilization of love’. retains a genuine fascination and represents a real alternative way of life. The Each of our four sessions of meditation is in phenomenal popularity of the film ‘Into Great Silence’ community. It is difficult to overestimate the clearly reflected this. importance of this physical and spiritual being together. Shared silence is a self-authenticating faith in God’s Since the there has been a presence among us. Learning to meditate in common is widespread recovery of contemplation in the mainstream of the greatest of our exercises of communal love. In the church’s life, faith, and prayer. The these moments we hold open with and to others the marginalization of contemplation that followed the most precious part of ourselves – the heart where our separation of prayer and theology after the 12th century, its treasure also is, our faith in the presence of Jesus.2 increasing ‘specialization’ in cloistered communities and the suspicion with which it has often been held since the 16th It is a hopeful sign that each of these three very modern century have all diminished dramatically. People of all and prophetic monks remained within the monastic walks of life – in many forms of vocation – practice serious institution and the church. But, in order to achieve their forms of contemplative discipline in their prayer that vision they were pushed closer to the edge. Is not this itself formerly would have been seen as strictly ‘monastic’. a lesson for us as we consider the contribution of Benedictine spiritual culture to our world? Monasticism by In Vita Consecrata, John Paul II pronounced on this re- its very nature, like Jesus, is marginal. It gives most when it emergence of contemplation into the mainstream of is closest to the edge. This is certainly how it began – in the ecclesial life very clearly: desert and as ‘flight from the world’ and from ecclesiastical hierarchy. Desert monks dreaded to be made priests. Even in the simplicity of their life, cloistered Benedict himself was not a priest and was cautious about communities, visibly represent the goal towards which introducing clerical status into the lay-structure of the the entire community of the Church travels. As an monastic community. Living on the edge is hard to sustain. expression of pure love that is worth more than any By the end of the great ‘age of monasticism’ in the 16th work, the contemplative life generates an extraordinary century monks had largely been assimilated into the apostolic and missionary effectiveness. 1 institutions of church and state.

No opposition between contemplation and action here. Great spiritual flexibility and freedom from status was often Since the Council every Pope has called on monastic orders to be found in the monastic life of the oblate or lay . to renew their contemplative life and to share it with the But this had become devalued by an excessive emphasis on . , Griffiths and John the clerical status of the ‘choir monk’. When John Main Main are three of the many prophetic figures in this originally entered the monastery he asked to be . process. Yet, let us remember that their prophetic vision led The dismissed this by saying it was an impossible them to unusual and even disturbing insights and option for a professor. The weakening of the experiments. Contemplatives tend to rock the boat and spiritual influence of monasticism is connected to its loss of challenge complacency. marginality and the confusion of the monk with the and of the monastery with religious and secular institutions. How contemplative is Benedictine life? – The prophet’s response The high price of this institutional respectability and acceptance by the centres of power in the church was the Merton was quite critical of his monastic culture for its lack decreasing quality of contemplative experience. Medieval of contemplative depth. He was more popular outside the monastic culture is one of the great achievements of as ‘Thomas Merton’ than within it as ‘Fr Louis’! western civilisation. But how contemplative was it really? Griffiths felt he had to leave his English monastery and go to and immerse himself in its spiritual experience in order to ‘find the other half of (his) soul.’ Main, who !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 John Main, Monastery Without Walls, The Spiritual 1 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, Letters of John Main, Canterbury Press Norwich 2006, p.29

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Research shows that the big monasteries were often more crisis of our time that this Congress is considering, then we like prayer-factories while the deeper centres of spiritual life must examine more closely this question of how we pray in were more likely to be found in the small and the Benedictine life. In the process we may discover granges at the edges of the monastery’s political empires different priorities from those we have come to take for and estates. granted.

Understanding the historical problem of the contemplative element in Benedictine life forces us to look closely at the Rule – what it has and what it doesn’t have. There are many elements in the Rule that allow us to see it as part of the Eastern mystical tradition of the monastic life from which it came and which Benedict looked back to with reverence and even a certain nostalgia.

Benedict’s emphasis on ‘peace as the quest and aim’ of the life has often been reduced to a local and domestic security (no small thing in a world where things are falling apart). But he understood it more in terms of the ‘hesychia’ of the desert – the silence and stillness of heart in which contemplation arises. The opening of the heart to the abbot echoes the relationship of disciple to master in the Desert For example, Benedict does not speak much about the monasticism to which he looked back as a golden age. Mass. Probably it was not celebrated daily in his Benedict emphasises the constant need for control of communities. This does not mean he did not love or revere thoughts – the guarding of the heart that is at the core of the mass or see it as an essential and formative part of the desert ascesis. And he saw spiritual progress in terms of the monastic life. Nor does he speak about a method of stages of humility. The Rule is geared towards achieving the contemplative prayer – although he says that all forms of state of contemplation, a way of preparing for the coming prayer should be prayed in a contemplative way, - that is, of the Kingdom of heaven at an interior level. If the with attention and mind and voice in harmony. But he does Benedictine life does not mean a direct path to point, beyond himself and the Rule, to the great contemplation what on earth is it for? Education, social practitioners of the inner life within our tradition for more work, a quiet, secure life without responsibility, an escape detailed instruction on what he himself does not speak without a return, a taking without giving? These are indeed specifically about. the dangers of monastic life. This issue is handled with refreshing and radical clarity by But what does Benedict say specifically about how to the eminent Benedictine scholar of the Rule of St Benedict develop and maintain this state of contemplation? Are the and of pre-Benedictine monasticism, Adalbert de Vogue in of the monk and his lectio divina enough? Benedict his essay ‘From John Cassian to John Main’. He identifies himself seems to say ‘no’, when he says that the full what he calls a ‘lacuna’ in the Rule and says that John observance of the life is not contained in his ‘little rule for Main’s contribution to modern Benedictine life offers a beginners’. He does not speak about particular forms of genuine way to fill the missing link. prayer apart from those of the daily Office and lectio divina – although he refers to the personal prayer of the monk being The role of mediator played by Cassian in Main's story extended beyond prescribed limits, by the direct action of is interesting in several ways. First of all, in the the Holy Spirit. The life he regulates for in the first seventy- historical dimension it offers an example of having two chapters of the Rule is designed to create the optimum recourse to a pre-Benedictine author to enrich and conditions for contemplation. But then comes the all- correct the post-Benedictine tradition. As Baker had important last . Here, for those who want to go already done - but somewhat differently, as we shall see further into contemplation, he simply but decisively points - Main returns to a source of the Rule to supply for a to other authorities – especially to John Cassian whose lacuna in it which is left open or imperfectly filled by 3 Conferences he had already drip-fed into the monastic those who make use of it. formation by having them read daily at mealtimes.

Contemporary and contemplative !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 Adalbert de Vogue, From John Cassian to John Main, in I would like to suggest that if Benedictine monks and John Main: The Expanding Vision, ed. Laurence Freeman, oblates, today are to contribute to the spiritual and social Canterbury Press, Norwich 2009

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John Main had become a monk in the 1950’s and was told In his Tenth Conference of Abbot Isaac, Cassian describes to give up the form of simple, non-conceptual and image- the reasons, the theology and the stages of this way of free meditation that he had originally learned in the East – prayer. The reason is to control the problem of distractions. essentially the ‘monologistic’ or prayer of one word that he The theology is the poverty of spirit to which the ‘single was introduced to and later called the ‘mantra’. Later, while verse’ leads and deepening union with Jesus in the glory of headmaster of a Benedictine school in Washington DC and his Resurrection. The stages illustrate the fundamental at a very busy period of his life, he was approached by a ascesis of the monastic life and indeed the achievement of student fresh from the ‘trail of the mystic East’ with a its primary goal – the purity of heart by which the vision of simple but pointed question. Was there anything in God is reached. that corresponded to the meditation practices of the East? In helping this young seeker – with From this moment of discovering Cassian’s teaching on his very contemporary question about experience – John meditation, his ‘how to’, John Main’s sense of the monastic Main was led first to Augustine Baker and then to Cassian. life was transformed. He continued as headmaster for a few Here he recognized a method of contemplative prayer that years. He then established a lay community – proto-typical Benedict would have known, that we find in the medieval ‘oblates’ – at his monastery where he led them in an tradition and that is enshrined in the Orthodox church as intensive formation grounded in meditation and the ‘prayer of the heart’. This is what he called Christian integrated with the familiar forms and structures of daily meditation. Benedictine life. His vision had a destiny. It expanded to become a ’monastery without walls’, The World De Vogue notes that Latin Christianity did not retain a Community for Christian Meditation. Within this parallel to the Jesus Prayer of the Eastern Church. With community, over the past thirty years, a new kind of Cassian’s formula or mantra, however, there was indeed a Benedictine Oblate Community has developed. More parallel method and one to which Benedict pointed. But it recently, and still emerging within the Oblate Community, a became largely forgotten or neglected in Benedictine residential Oblate identity has formed. This allows for an monasticism. John Main’s recovery of it, according to de oblate to make final oblation and at the same time to Vogue, is an evolutionary moment of significance for our commit to residential life in a stable Oblate community for time. He points to an irony in monastic history. Benedict renewable three-year periods. In 2007 The World adopted Cassian’s mantra “Deus in adiutorium meum Community and The WCCM Oblate Community received intende” (O God come to my assistance) as the opening of canonical status during the 25th anniversary of John Main’s the Office, perhaps as a reminder of what the Office is death. His insight that ‘meditation creates community’ has preparing us for. been proven true by the development of this global spiritual family. Cassian's role as liaison in this matter is all the more essential as Latin monasticism has not produced a At what level do monk and oblate become one? phrase analogous to the Jesus Prayer, nor has it even used any other Christian mantra in a sustained way. It is John Main did not think that this form of meditation, the something strange and cause for regret that the Deus in oratio pura or pure prayer of the Desert monks, was the only adiutorium recommended by Abbot Isaac has as far as way to pray, or even the best. He took it for granted, we know not been used in the West in the way the however, that as it did not replace other forms of prayer, it author of the Conferences suggested. No echo has would only enrich lectio and sacramental prayer. His come to us of a school of spirituality which cultivated it contribution to the contemplative renewal of Christianity as a phrase for continual prayer. Instead of this has been recognized by the monastic world. To Bede unceasing, personal practice at which Cassian aimed, Griffiths John Main was the ‘best spiritual guide of his we find only examples of liturgical or ritual use, time’. De Vogue saw him as bridging Christian to the non- whether in the Rule of St. Benedict himself or in his Christian world as Cassian had bridged Latin and Orthodox contemporary and countryman Cassiodorus or in the churches. But his teaching has been more widely practiced Franco-Celtic monasticism of the following century. outside the cloister. Only a few monastic communities have 'These do witness indeed to the fact that the message recognized what de Vogue understood as the ‘lacuna’ and of Abbot Isaac was heard: the verse he recommended learned what John Main understood when he filled it in his is greatly respected and its richness of meaning is new form of Benedictine community – the integration of perceived. But it is not used for continuous prayer. The times of silent meditation with the times of lectio, divine very end which Cassian had in mind has been lost sight office and mass. Many Oblates of course do this normally, of.4 integrating meditation morning and evening with their Office, lectio and daily routines. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4 ibid.

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It is not surprising that this does not happen in most Remembering what Benedict points to beyond his own monasteries. The perception that silent prayer of the heart Rule can help monasteries to explore new forms of is the ‘personal prayer’ of the monk, whereas the Office and commitment within the community or parallel to it. The Mass constitute the collective prayer of the community is ancient form of oblation offers many examples that can be deeply set. There is, however, an older tradition that points adapted for modern circumstances. Benedictine life is not to community prayer as including both silent meditation supernatural. The Rule is very down to earth. So, we should and the Office. It would be unlikely that that this older not be surprised to see that forms of the monastic life that tradition could be recovered in existing monastic do not evolve and adapt will become extinct. The vow of communities with their long-established practices and conversatio morum has never been more relevant and deserves customs. But for newer manifestations of Benedictine life – our attention today even more perhaps than the often such as the oblate communities that both John Main and idolized vow of stabilitas. Bede Griffiths saw as emerging in the monasticism of the future - are more ready to integrate meditation with the In the past the cohabitation of the vocations of oblate and Office or lectio. They see them as complementary precisely monk in a monastery was normal. There were very creative because they see that they are distinct and different. variations and combinations. Some scholars claim that the Meditation is different from lectio, lectio from oratio… but richest periods of monastic spirituality coincided with an contemplatio is the goal of all prayer. increased diversity of forms of oblation. In that historical perspective of depth and variety we might foresee new, Meditating together is a powerful experience of faith and more flexible forms of Benedictine life evolving around love. It can deepen and heal the wounds and friction of oblate communities. This was Bede Griffiths’ strong community living. In a Benedictine community the experience of meditating together (as well as of praying the Office and celebrating Mass) creates a perception of personal and corporate union within the prayer of Christ. In Christ, at this level, there is neither monk nor oblate. Oblates yesterday, today and tomorrow

How does this experience of unity in shared contemplative experience affect the forms of commitment and common life of a Benedictine community? This is a real challenge. It can also create big problems. Contemplative experience creates a sense of unity and equality. Oblates and monks are one and equal in this contemplative dimension of the life. It enables them to love Jesus’ teaching on discipleship as a intuition and John Main had already begun some way of mutual service not a competition for precedence or constructive experiments in new forms of life obedient to about who can be closer to the teacher. the Rule and incorporating communal meditation.

This equality and unity is hard to live in daily life. The Rule, Four times a day we meditate together for half an hour however, is good at resolving such problems. It has helped – the ‘short time’ of prayer suggested in the Rule. Each many generations to solve their difficulties of adapting to meditation period follows the appropriate hour of the the times. After all, the Rule is good for learning how Divine Office. The Office, which we see as a form of different and often quite odd people can live together in communal lectio, is our way of preparing for the silence love. Monks can feel threatened in their identity by sharing of meditation by an attentive listening to the Word in community with other kinds of commitment. Often this scripture.5 cannot work. Certainly it cannot without shared contemplative prayer. Then again, oblates may not want to Communal times of silent meditation is not a new idea to be formally monks or live with them even though they do monastic tradition but it is rarely found today. Oblates love the Benedictine life. These are the kinds of challenges encourage the recovery of this custom – the opening to the of identity, vocation and meaning that we face in full spectrum of prayer - through their life in the world. The monasticism today. It is an aspect of what we call the ‘crisis meditating oblates of the World Community, for example, of vocations’ but which is in fact a crisis of perception. It have already embraced the discipline of twice-daily means can we adapt or do we cling to the death to old meditation before they begin the novitiate year. As they forms? The future of Benedictine life depends on first facing and then risking some new ways of living these !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! challenges. 5 Monastery without Walls, op. cit., p.27

5 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010! then learn to weave the Office and lectio into their daily in our time--the creation of residential communities of spiritual life a fruitful symbiosis happens in which the Word Oblates of St. Benedict who may minister to their leads to silence and silence empowers the Word. Cassian in fellows in a new monasticism to a world crying out for the 5th century already describes this marriage-relationship the silent, generous prayer which it has to offer. The between lectio and meditation in his Tenth Conference. He free and supple structure of oblature adapts well to a was surprised to find how the imageless prayer of the wide variety of religious temperament and social mantra led to a deeper reading of scripture.6 The modern circumstance. It seems to present marvelous and large oblate, living in the world can balance daily prayer and work opportunities for the life of intensive Christian (lectio, worship and the prayer of the heart) and bring to meditation and prayer; it is a rich inheritor of, and light the entire tradition of oblation and its potential for our contributor to, the life of evangelical humility and time. simplicity envisioned by Our Holy Father Benedict, a man of God for all times.7 It does not, then, really matter whether the oblate is living in the world or in a residential community. Grounded in Conclusion this balance and liberating discipline in their daily life the oblate soon becomes the witness and the teacher for others The contemplative dimension of the Rule has often been - a development common to all forms of Christian under-emphasized because Benedict seems to concentrate discipleship. on the challenges and structures of community life rather than on the interior journey. The oblate and the monk are, As Augustine Baker remarked in the 17th century, a certain however, enriched and made more flexible in their re-prioritizing of life activities may be necessary if a person respective vocations by remembering the full mystical wishes to live a contemplative life in the world. He import of the Rule. Seen in the light of Chapter 73, the mentions going out to dinner less often. We might add less mundane details of the Rule acquire a rich symbolic time in front of the television or online. But as Baker meaning that points to the goal of contemplation in every stressed, long before Vatican II, the call to contemplation is aspect of life: ‘so that in all things God may be glorified.’ universal. Recovering this contemplative dimension of the The goal of the monastic life according to the first monks Benedictine ethos in the oblate life could provide a model was simply ‘continuous prayer’. and influence for monasticism generally which faces so many difficulties today. A rediscovery of oblation may save The Life of Benedict reveals the as healer, spiritual and renew monasticism for our time. father and mystic. His vision of the whole world gathered together in a ray of divine light pervades the therapeutic A historical review of oblature may be very helpful in insights into the human soul – alone and in community – the reconstruction of monastic communities. We have which has made the Rule a major part of Christian wisdom seen how oblature has been remarkably responsive to literature. There is only one Rule for all forms of the spiritual needs of the times, and has always Benedictine life – for monks, and oblates living in the cherished the precious legacy of monastic prayer. world. It has no clerical bias and, like the desert tradition, Consider the variety of legitimate roles and functions does not elevate one form of vocation above another. The that oblature provided in the Cluniac familia, in large monk who clings to his status in distinction to others is not cenobia, in small priories, in eremitical orders. It has yet a free monk. The oblate who sees himself as less of a shown a remarkable elasticity--not shapelessness, but a disciple, because he is not a monk is not yet a free oblate. creative response to the needs of a particular situation What matters is to ‘truly seek God’. interpreted through a vital tradition. The Oblate may live for life in monastic communities as mortui mundo, This spirit of equality and fraternity is a direct fruit of having given himself and his property to the contemplative consciousness and pure prayer. It rings true community without reservation (a plenus oblatus, a with the modern mind. And it creates a contemporary and persona ecclesiastica). He may face the challenge of living flexible form of following Christ through the ancient "in the world" by the principles of the Rule in fraternal tradition of oblation. The Rule embodies the contemplative union and affiliation with the monastic community. dimension of the Gospel by laying the moderate, ascetical This is the option that probably most oblates in history foundations for the interior journey. Seen like this, new have taken. It allows for a diversity of accommodations forms of monastic life can be creatively imagined and to persons and situations. Perhaps it is now time to courageously risked. The oblate may live in the monastery consider yet another option which has recurred in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! history, and may have much to offer prayerful people 7 Derek G Smith, The Oblate in Western Monasticism, Monastic Studies 14, 1983 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6 Cassian, Conference 10.5

6 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010! or in lay communities of oblates that are probably closer in “Tradition is not what has been done but what is being lived form to the monasteries that Benedict himself knew. Or, in continuity with the past and in a hopeful thrust towards the oblate can continue in the more conventional form to the future. The word itself, traditio, means a ‘passing on’, a live in the world as a spiritual friend, associate or member ‘transmission’. Christian faith is effectively lost, though the of a monastic community. In whatever form of structures of Christianity may remain powerful for a while, commitment the oblate seeks God through prayer and work when tradition becomes archaic rather than a contemporary and makes peace his ‘quest and aim’. reappropriation and projection forward. What is being regained and passed on is not something that can replace In our modern confusion Benedict offers us a clearer the necessity of our personally experiencing it. The life of a understanding of the nature of these three spiritual tradition is precisely this multiple personal experience elements of life. Prayer is more than ritual and mental forming and awakening the ecclesial reality. Experience prayer. It needs to nurture and lead into contemplation – and tradition are inseparably integrated in John Main’s the prayer in which as Cassian says ‘all the riches of thought teaching and his insistence on the need for ‘personal and imagination’ are surrendered. Work means more than verification of the truths of our faith’.” making money. It is about service and the making of a just world that consciously and continuously awaits the coming John Main: The Modern Spirituality Series of the Kingdom. And peace is not just a passing state of !from The Preface by Laurence Freeman OSB mind, a temporary relief from stress and anxiety. Peace is the mind of Christ because ‘he himself is our peace.’

If the oblate today recovers this latent contemplative energy in the Benedictine life we could expect to see a greatly increased influence of the spirit of the Rule in our world. The Congress – a personal view This would affect not only monasteries but all the institutions of society: in the ways in which dialogue is I had a lovely time! It was, as one oblate put it, ‘like going conducted, the church is run and families raised. home to Grandma’s at Christmas and meeting all the Benedictine monks and oblates face the same challenges distant relatives’ - over two hundred of them from all over and so are equal partners in this work of seeking God the world - such was the sense of our gathering as through the wisdom of our Holy Father Benedict. Benedictine family. Indeed it was good to be in the company of oblates from so many places, all representing Laurence Freeman OSB their monasteries – some I’d heard of (‘oh, you’re from Talk to the Second World Congress of Benedictine there!’), many I hadn’t; great was the bond between us, born Oblates, , 3rd October 2009 out of common interest, familiarity and vision, great, too, Further reading: was the obvious witness of enormous love and warmth and loyalty to our own monasteries, the tug to our own spiritual John Main, Community of Love , Medio Media 2009 homes.

Laurence Freeman, The Selfless Self, Canterbury Press 2009 It was good to live and share our faith through the liturgy, though a challenge at times as we embraced celebrations in Paul T. Harris, John Main: A Biographical Memoir, Medio five languages... thank goodness for the commonality of Media 2009 Latin, used increasingly in the Eucharist, and through conversation, at times an even greater challenge as we (I) wrestled with languages that weren’t our (very poor) second, but we shared ideas and ideals and meals, the agape nature of which always won through.

It was so good to have walked the way of St Benedict as we joyfully and prayerfully visited those ‘oft heard-of’ Benedictine sites, the abbeys of Subiaco, Montecassino and Sant’ Anselmo – reflections on these places alone would be full of superlatives and could run to thousands of words. How wonderful it was to kneel in prayer in St Benedict’s cave at Subiaco and renew our in the presence of the relics of St Benedict at Montecassino! Magnificent too, and humbling, was the generosity shown to us – Congress group photo taken in the grounds of the Benedictine hospitality indeed: dining in the fine Salesianum of Montecassino and feasting in the at Sant’ 7 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010!

Anselmo as night fell on our last evening, and then being different – both religious and secular? How, it was serenaded by the Abbot , Dom Notker Wolf, on his asked, are we to build bridges and break down walls which keep flute (Brother Christian accompanying him on the piano – us separate and perhaps suspect of those who are ‘not the what patient humour he’d shown to us all week in the same as us’? How are we to envisage and build a chanting of the liturgy... dulcet-toned most of us weren’t); ‘civilization of love’ which was the dream of Pope Paul VI? what an end to the Congress, Abbot Notker making his concluding remarks and sending greetings, his ‘very best Our brief put forward the hope that this dream could be wishes, from the big heart of a small man to all oblates, realised by Benedictine oblates setting out together on the everywhere.’ road of dialogue with the world. I have to admit that I don’t care for the word ‘dialogue’; it seems a bit ‘fuzzy’ and I’m not It was so good to be at this wonderful Congress, the sure what it means. My dictionary offers the following: organisation of which was a mammoth task in the first conversation, chat, interview, discussion, exchange of place, and was to be heroically carried through with love ideas... all of which somehow miss the mark, for without an and generosity - and not a little patience and self-sacrifice - adjective –‘deep’, ‘warm’, ‘intimate’ – they seem cold, but whilst there. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been wait... what about this offering - ‘channel of present and thank all who supported me with their love and communication’... this surely opens the way of love and prayers and have taken interest. attention to others for it goes to the very heart of Trinitarian love – picture Rublev’s well-known in The object of the Congress, though, was not simply for us which the Three Persons of the Trinity incline their whole oblates to have ‘a lovely time’, but was surely to give us a being to the other. When we incline our whole being to sense of the wider Benedictine family to which we belong others, when we pay real attention to them, when we really and to focus our minds and hearts on the nature of Oblate listen to them with both our ears and heart – rather than vocation, a vocation which one of our Sisters described as putting ourselves in the centre – our thoughts, opinions, ‘prophetic’, for at a time when monastic vocations are advice, solutions – we may just... just... recognise that Other decreasing, those of the lay oblate are increasing. Within who dwells within them. this general objective, however, the specific one to be addressed at this Second World Congress was entitled ‘The As oblates we are mindful of the wisdom of St. Benedict religious challenges in the world today – the Benedictine when he begins his Rule with the instruction to listen: answer’. This was a tall order; at the end of our week could ‘Listen carefully, my child, to my instructions, and attend to them we even begin to think we came up with ‘an answer’... or to with the ear of your heart’. The importance of listening even begin the process of finding an answer; is it that permeated all our talks and discussions on inter-religious ‘answers’, like fruit, will grow slowly from good stock? dialogue: the need to listen receptively and not First of all, of course, we need to understand the question. judgmentally; to listen, not in order to negotiate or compete but to contemplate the other, an oblate from Hawaii, spoke The brief we were given stated that the societies in which of a beautiful phrase used in her culture, that of ‘listening we now find ourselves living are becoming ever more multi-ethnic, with fourteen hearts’. multi-cultural and multi-religious, as a result of which Christianity is challenged to open itself to a new situation which contains an ‘other’, Opening our hearts and listening to others, of course, tends meaning, that which was formerly distant, is now living on the to soften – to expand - the heart and it makes us same floor. We are now facing the challenge – and frequently vulnerable; might it be that society – Christians in society - the fear – of ‘difference’; who is this ‘other’? The ‘our’ in may see risk in this sort of dialogue with the fear of ‘isms’ the Our Father is brought home to us in a very tangible way getting the upper hand -relativism, syncretism, secularism which we might not have thought about that much in the and indifferentism - resulting in the view that it’s less risky past when churches did not live side-by-side with mosques to keep up a defensive and insular front... or a low profile, and temples and council literature did not come translated battening down the hatches. Such concerns are surely born in all those ‘strange and squiggly’ languages; we are now out of the fear that comes from not really knowing our own jolted into having to consider who ‘our’ means... who is our identity as Christians; there is therefore a real need for us to neighbour, whose neighbour am I, and are our attitudes know the tenets of our faith and ‘the reason for our hope’ consonant with the Gospel precept of universal (1 Peter 3:15-16), and to be firm and confident in following brotherhood? Him who is ‘the way, and the truth and the life’ (John 14:6); with such ‘armour’ we surely have nothing to lose but We need to address the realisation that ‘we’ are not the everything to gain. centre of the universe – that others have received gifts from God; this we may ‘know’ in our minds... but how do we So, how may we build those bridges and break down the know it and ‘live’ it in our hearts, in the depth of our walls which separate us so as to build this ‘civilisation of being... how are we to live and love as brothers and sisters love’? Many thoughts were shared by our keynote speakers to those who are ‘different’, to those who worship at of the different faiths and by oblates, but I would like to 8 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010! focus on the practice of contemplative prayer – or question is, how do we integrate these strands? If Martha meditation - as presented by Dom Laurence Freeman, has been called ‘the saint of stress’ because her anxiety over seeing it as a tool which enables us to incline our whole ‘doing’ lead to fragmentation, we may surely look to St being to recognise the presence of God dwelling in the Benedict as ‘the saint of integration’ because of his balanced other, a tool whereby we may both come to know the way, and so we, as oblates, seriously seeking Christ, have to beauty of our own identity but not let our own ‘me-ness’, seek balance, live our lives ‘in the world’ but take time away, ego – blot out God and the other. (1) to withdraw.

As Benedictines we pray the Divine Office which is In conclusion, any ascetic practice we take on must surely essentially vocal prayer, that is, mental, and St Benedict is have only one aim, ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus – “that in all prescriptive as to how to do this in twelve minutiae-filled things God may be glorified” (ch. 57), and if, in integrating chapters, we, as oblates, praying it as we can, in the meditation into our lives, we are able to be centres of circumstances of our lives. Indeed Benedict’s ‘minimum contemplation in which we rest in God, we may recognise Rule for beginners’ is filled with minutiae; it may seem Him dwelling in those who are, after all, not so different pernickety but in reality it contains the essence of a from us after all... for we are all made in His image; in beautiful spiritual teaching. It provides the means to get ‘knowing’ this in our hearts and minds we may indeed go along with others and to live regulated - and balanced - lives forward positively to build that civilization of love. in which ‘good zeal’ may be practiced which leads to preferring ‘nothing whatever to Christ’ (ch.72), this I had a lovely time at the Congress... and I unexpectedly preference enabling his followers to ‘walk in his paths by discovered …… ‘the pearl of great price’... the guidance of the Gospel’ (Prologue), ‘that in all things God may be glorified’ (ch. 57). The Rule, then, provides the Sue Thomson, U K., Email : optimum conditions for contemplative prayer, Benedict [email protected] alluding to this in his last chapter (ch. 73) when he points to ______the teaching of the holy Fathers. The Rule puts ‘stuff’ into place; it surely puts the ego in place, that which grows big (1) For a transcript of Fr Laurence’s talk, ‘The and becomes out of hand so that we fill the big picture and Contemplative Oblate Today’, go to www.wccm.org. not God or others –others who are ‘different’ to us - (2) One of our speakers reflected on a Buddhist’s members of our own communities, parishes or families... perception of the Cross in Western Christianity as being an or, in the context of our theme, those of different colours upright, representing ‘I’, that is ‘me, me, me’, with the or creeds or customs.(2) crossbeam being ‘your boss, Jesus, who came to cut your ‘I’ off’... This is not the place for a thesis on what constitutes (3) On different expressions of prayer, vocal, meditation

‘contemplative prayer’; (3) what does seem plain though is and contemplative, see the Catechism, nos. 2700-2724 that we have to exercise self-discipline so as to put ourselves into the position that we might contemplate and that is the work - the ascesis - of meditation. Fr Laurence’s teaching is in the Christian monastic tradition of the desert, of Cassian, referred to by St Benedict, and recovered by Dom John Main; it is simple... we only need to withdraw, sit still, be silent and say our sacred word interiorly for 30 minutes, twice a day, every day. In meditation we don’t measure our ‘success’; we put ourselves aside and enter that poverty of spirit where we come to union with Christ, where we are ‘all one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3:28), whatever our religion, culture or ethnicity.

We might baulk at such a practice for it is demanding; ‘what, sit still...what a luxury to be able to do that, when will I find time in my busy life...it’s alright for monks and nuns who have a timetable which allows for such...’ we might say, except we who know something of life in monasteries know that the framework might be in place but it’s no Paula Holmes, Trish Panton and Sue Thomson at easier, there are always things to do and minds are full of Montecassino clutter. There will always be tension between ‘doing’ and ‘being’; nobody’s life can be completely contemplative, the

9 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010! Houston Oblate Community preparation for this. I felt a deep inner joy within at having come to this moment. He gave gifts…so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4

On January 3, in the dark stillness of the New Year, WCCM Oblates in Houston gathered to begin again as a Community of Love. Each Oblate responded to the question, “What gift do you want to bring into the world in 2010?”

How would you have answered this question? Here are our responses. We want to:

! be at peace; to love what is. ! discern through stillness and listening deeply

! be filled with joy ! love ! love even more ! become; to find our own voices ! be present, sometimes in absence ! wait and to accept not knowing ! reach out and bring others to meditation ! be spontaneous channels of life ! be stubbornly hopeful

As we give these gifts to the world, God gives them to us. May all who receive these gifts, and all who use them do so to the praise of His glory as we grow in Unity and the grace- filled goodness of Oblate Comm-Unity.

Carole Keating - Houston, Texas, USA Email: [email protected] Niloufer Harben , Selangor, Malaysia Email: [email protected]

The Oblate Path – My First Step Final Oblation In taking the first step of postulancy on the first September, 2009, I felt blessed indeed to be making this commitment When I began the process of exploring a call to Oblation within our meditation group that meets weekly at St Mary's within The WCCM it came as a bit of a surprise. I say that , Kuala Lumpur. because as an Anglican Priest I thought I had fulfilled my ‘vocation’. Of course in one sense I had; but I also As we've been gathering to meditate for over a decade, realised, some years on, that something still felt to be their presence and support meant a lot. The music that led missing. us into the time of meditation, Raag Pahadi, played on the bansuri (bamboo flute) struck a deep chord within me. In thinking about the term 'oblation' as an offering, it spoke Poignantly registering the call of the Divine, it spoke also of to me of being called to 'offer' my life to God in a particular an indelible spiritual connection with India, the country of way. I realised quite soon that the path of Christian my birth, where meditation and interior silence are at the meditation, The Rule of St. Benedict and the process of heart of the contemplative life. After meditation, I read the oblation was touching something I had not felt before. words from the Chart and then signed it in front Early in the process of postulancy I spoke to my mentor of the group. It felt like the culmination of many steps. So about how I felt it had filled a space in me that was empty. much that had happened before seemed to have been a She responded by saying: "perhaps you were previously full of empty things and in learning, (and practicing) a way of 10 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010! emptying yourself you make space for Him to get closer to one another. I believe they have awakened in me a new you, and to love you in the way that brings a richer vigor to live these as fully as I am able. meaning to all other loving relationships." I know I have grown, and continue to do so, in my I feel that has spoken true of things for me throughout this understanding about community. Being part of this whole time leading to making my final oblation. I believe community has helped me to understand how I can relate to the practice of meditation in the tradition of The WCCM; communities in general more fully. It has opened me to the The Rule of St. Benedict and the process of oblation has relationships in the community connected with my work been giving new life to me and has allowed me to open the life. I don't say those relationships are always easy, but that's way for God to come closer and so enrich so many part of the issue of working at community life. I know this different aspects of life, including my vocation as a priest. will benefit me both in my working role but also in my daily life with all my relationships. I have certainly felt whilst testing my call to oblation that I have had tremendous support from my mentor and the Through all of this the path to oblation has given me a meditation community in general. I am conscious of the newness and an experience I want to share with others. It difficulty I have of getting to events due to my work role may not always be that they want to hear it yet but I am and often the long distances for the events which would keen to help them feel and experience something I believe mean needing to take time out which is simply not normally has brought freshness to my spiritual journey. available. However, I have felt that this gap has been I continue to follow my practice of meditation and to follow bridged by the contact I have had with my mentor and the Rule of St Benedict and the working out of my others at the oblate days in December. I am aware I may be commitment to Obedience, Stability and Conversion as fully as I fortunate in having had a positive experience of support can. Making the step to full oblation is for me the from my mentor but I have certainly felt that she has always culmination and affirmation of all I have and am committed been encouraging and affirming whilst making me think and to. reflect on the necessary areas relating to oblation. It has Stephen Gott been helpful to exchange email correspondence and to be Email: [email protected] able to ask advice or her thoughts where there were issues of concern. It has been a really positive part of the process ! for me in aiding me to think seriously and deeply about the call to oblation and what that has meant. Silent Meditation Retreat I feel it has been good to be able to share and exchange thoughts and reflections in an open way. There has always Led by Laurence Freeman OSB felt to be a sense of working at this together, which I feel is how it should be. Rather than it being a matter of one side and Giovanni Felicioni ‘having the answers’ and ‘testing’ me to see if I passed; instead it felt that it was a shared experience and we were Saturday 5 June – Saturday 12 June, 2010 exchanging thoughts and working through issues together, supporting and helping one another. I really believe the Theme: RETURN TO THE CENTRE mentor approach is of immense value to the work of the oblate community. Fr. Laurence will lead the retreat with a daily conference and evening contemplative Eucharist. Giovanni Felicioni will During my time of pondering oblation I have learned much lead daily yoga. This humane, typically Benedictine balance about letting go of self; though I know only too well there is is blessed by the beauty of the setting and the friendship of a great deal more of self to let go of. I believe I have grown the monastic community with whom the night prayer in my understanding of patience as I have waited through peacefully concludes each day. the process of becoming an oblate; something I am sure will be good news to many people who I work and live with. As The brochure with full details and registration form may be a parish priest I was familiar with oaths of obedience but downloaded from - www.wccm.org have come to value the concept as much about mutual obedience as that of authorative obedience. The value of Further information email - [email protected] or course is in mutual respect. At the same time I have learned so much about phone +44 ( 0 ) 20 7278 2070 stability and conversion. I love the contrast between stability and conversion. Yet at the same time how they open up to each other and bring each other alive. I see now what wasn't so clear once, that they are complimentary to

11 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010! A Reflection - My Final Oblation the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in one of her sonnets: June 7, 2008 “First time he kissed me, he but only kissed the fingers of this hand wherewith I write; And ever since, it grew more clean and white.” I began this journey of Studying the Rule of St. Benedict on December 2, 2006. Since then I have tried to remain faithful So too, the language of our spiritual life is a language of to the daily readings and meditation, and I have symbols: conscientiously worn the St. Benedict medal each day as a reminder of my commitment. “You have called us to find freedom in a love that knows no bounds.”

Today, Don has asked me to say a few words and I would This love is like the ocean. It is like the prairie. It is like like to begin by reading a prayer from the Benedictine Daily feeling we have in a relationship in which we are treated Prayer: A Short Breviary - tenderly and with respect, in which we are loved and we’d “Lord God, you have created us in your own image, to find freedom in like to go on in such a relationship forever. God’s love is a love that knows no bounds. Lead us further today along this path of like that. freedom, to which you call us, through Jesus, your beloved Son our Lord.” I would like to share one brief story about hands as symbols – What does freedom in a love that knows no bounds look like? I worked in courts and prisons and on the street for several years, nearly 25 years ago. One day I met a man named Ocean - I grew up by the sea. I am used to seeing the John. He had been doing 30 days in the old Nicholas Street ocean as far as my eyes could sea. It was a great expanse of Jail. Previously he had been in Kingston Pen for several water with no bounds. I appreciate, sometimes with tears, years for blowing up banks. how John Masefield felt when he wrote: “I must go down to the sea again, the lonely sea and the sky, I invited John home for dinner before he went to stay at the And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.” Salvation Army.

There is such a freedom when I am there that Jean, my wife, We were sitting in my living room and my young son, John, observes, “You are different when you are here.” who was then three years old, came into the room. He stopped momentarily when he saw the stranger but big John Prairie - In 1955 I spent the summer in Saskatoon and held out his hands and arms and John went to him. The visited 850 homes in a new sub-division and helped in presence of my young son brought forth tenderness in this starting a new congregation. The home where I lived looked bank buster and big John’s extended hands brought forth out over a vast field of wheat. Wheat as far as the eye could trust in my young son. I was very touched by this see. experience.

Remember the words of the old song: Finally, in the Anglican Eucharist there are words I have said hundreds of times: “And here we offer and present unto you Oh give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above, ourselves, our souls and bodies to be a reasonable, holy and living Don’t fence me in. Let me ride through the wide open spaces that I sacrifice... love, Don’t fence me in. Kneeling in the pew I always said these words with my Yes, indeed, we all long for freedom in a love that knows no hands outstretched in offering. In a sense I have offered bounds, pictured here by the ocean and the prairie. myself to God many times in this way and obviously he took me up on it, too. In my earlier years I worked with children a lot and enjoyed teaching them choruses about the spiritual life. One of them E.M. Forster once said, “We must be willing to let go of the life we had the following words: have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

Wide, wide, as the ocean, High as the heaven above, Deep, deep, as Today, that is where I stand. I am ready and willing to the deepest sea, is my Saviour’s love. I, though so unworthy, still am a continue to study and live by the Rule with its intention to child of his care, For his word teaches me, that his love reaches me, guide me in study of sacred writings, of worship and to Everywhere. work in this Community of Love in making real here the Kingdom of God. Clearly, the language of our feelings is a language of symbols. Catch the depth, the sacredness of relationship, in Ron Dicks – Ottawa, Canada. Email: [email protected]

12 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010!

“You have cared for and led the oblate community in Canada very generously and wisely over the years. We are all immensely appreciative of that and it is only right that we should graciously accept your resignation now that the time has come for it.” Don began meditating in 1979 and started the first group in Ottawa in 1980 and they continue to meet. In May of 1981 Don was received as an oblate by Fr. John. After the closed Don began organising meetings for the local oblate community and continued in this role then became the national oblate coordinator in late 2005 when Hilda Frost OSB resigned. At the John Main Seminar held in Montreal in 2007 I was delighted to meet Don after communicating with him via Final Oblation - L to R Ron being received by email for nearly five years. As our emails went back and Don Myrick forth I knew I could rely on Don’s experience, willingness and generous spirit. Canada I was sorry for Don and Therese when Don informed me that it was time for him to step down. I’m most grateful for Yesterday 12 Oblates of Ottawa met with Don Myrick, having worked with Don and wish him and Therese every Coordinator for Canada, to welcome Alan and Sandra blessing. Dickinson, of Kanata (near Ottawa) as oblate novices. Alan Fr. Laurence asked Polly Schofield if she would take on this and Sandra have been meditating for some time and were role and she has graciously accepted. Polly and her husband very happy to be taking this step. They discerned their call Mark were among the first oblates of the community in the to oblation with their mentor, Marian Charbonneau. Over early days of the priory in Montreal. The Canadian the years Marian has been a faithful and committed mentor community will continue to be nurtured and I look forward for many meditators discerning their vocation to the oblate to working with Polly. Trish Panton way of life. BOOK CORNER

JOHN MAIN The Expanding Vision CHARLES TAYLOR, PETER NG, SARAH BACHELARD, YVON THEROUX AND OTHERS Edited by LAURENCE FREEMAN OSB and STEFAN REYNOLDS

This book evolved from the proceedings of the 2007 John Main Seminar, organised by the Montreal Community. By re-presenting Christ’s call to renounce the desire for power by embracing simple poverty of spirit, John Main’s teaching Alan & Sandra with Don and Marian shows us how to remain spiritually alive personally, and to breathe new life into tired religious language and structures. Ron Dicks A quarter of a century after his death, John Main: The Email: [email protected] Expanding Vision celebrates a remarkable legacy of spiritual teaching for our times. Oblate Coordinator - Canada Together, the contributors reveal both why John Main’s Because of illness in his family, Don Myrick has found it influence and vision has expanded so widely and deeply, necessary to step aside as coordinator of the Canadian and why it continues to be so profoundly relevant to a oblate community. The following tribute to Don by Fr. world in search of peace, unity and the true understanding Laurence speaks for those of us who knew and worked with of human wealth. Don over many years: 13 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010! IN LOVING MEMORY “Benedictine simplicity gentles us into the arms of God. Benedictine community supports us on the way to God. ! Benedictine balance makes a wholesome journey possible.” Amen. “When someone we love dies and when we experience their dying we return to our own living with a clearer and Carole Keating – Houston, Texas, USA purer perception of the true perspective of life simply Email: [email protected] because we have participated in the death of one we love – in a death of a part of ourselves.

And death itself, especially the death of someone we have loved, teaches us what love teaches us. It reveals to us that the more deeply we love and enter into communion, so the more radically we must become detached and non- possessive.”

Community of Love: “Death - The Inner Journey”. John Main OSB We Loved June Goodbye June and Bill On October 5, 2009, June Holly entered into the full presence of God. Diana Halloran Her death was the peaceful end that she and Bill had always 27th November 1943 – 18th September 2009 talked about. It was what Fr. Laurence Freeman would call a “good death”. The Meditation and Oblate Community have been mourning the loss of Diana Halloran, Oblate and June always welcomed each of us and made SPACE for each Auckland Meditation Regional Co-ordinator, who died on of us and there was always a sense that there was more 18th September 2009. space if needed. As June became increasingly fragile, we, her Oblate community, drew closer, giving love and support to Diana was one of those people who was so ready for her and to each other. We stayed in close contact via e-mail meditation that when she joined the Massey parish group in and telephone. West Auckland, from day one she didn’t look back. She began praying the about ten years ago On Sunday October 4, in her hospital room, we gathered and when Fr. Laurence received her Final Oblation in 2005 around June for the last time. We made a circle that both meditation and the Divine Office were a regular part included June in her bed. We meditated together, June’s of her life. When I came to the parish in 2004 she asked if breath being the only audible sound. We celebrated she could join me in teaching meditation at our parish Eucharist, after which each person went to her with a school, and this became her real love. touch, a hug, with personal words lovingly whispered into her ear. As one of us said, “We loved June goodbye.” In June 2008 Diana experienced the death of her fourth daughter, Tiffany, and it was the courage and openness with We trust that the experience of companioning our sister and which she bore this loss that demonstrated the real fruits of friend to the end of her life was comforting to her, but what her meditation practice. She made no secret of that. At the we know for sure is that it has been comforting and time of her daughter’s death she herself had been diagnosed transformative for us. Our experience with June has turned with breast cancer and underwent surgery immediately our grief into gratitude, and it has crystallized our afterwards. The cancer reappeared in the first quarter of community, which is exactly what June would have wanted. 2009 but she remained active till the end. My lasting It has also created a deep sense of her continued spiritual memory of her was at the National Education presence with us. Convention, where we were giving a seminar on meditation Furthermore, it has given us a deeper understanding of our with children; the purpose of this work, she said, was to Oblate commitment: We live together and we die together. offer the children the opportunity of a real relationship with In community, we love each other in this life and, finally, we Christ. Diana had little formal education but she had no love each other into the arms of God. difficulty in speaking to diverse groups of people about the significance of this work, such was her love for it. In her commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, Joan Chittister captures this beautifully when she says, 14 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010!

One of the particular elements of the oblate commitment is: Throughout Mary’s life, her faith was a predominant theme “A sharing in some way in the work of the community to and she was an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist in pass on the Christian tradition of meditation”. To offer both Tasmania and The Entrance. Mary took her children the opportunity of a real relationship with Christ commitment to Oblation seriously and was involved in the was Diana’s gift to New Zealand. Diana is being sadly teaching of meditation and forming groups with Ernest, missed. RIP. where ever they lived. Peter Murphy, New Zealand Mary entered Eternal Life surrounded by the love and Email: [email protected] comfort of her family. Mary is survived by her husband Ernest, and their seven children, twenty three grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Ernest Lindfield, The Entrance, NSW, . Email: [email protected]

Diana Halloran Mary and Ernest Mary Lindfield EDITORIAL. 21st November 1928 – 25th November 2009 In 2009 we mourned the loss of three women of faith and Mary was born in the London suburb of Islington, commitment. They were great role models for us. In coincidentally in the same locality as St. Mark’s Myddelton expressing our gratitude for having known them personally, Square. or through hearing/reading of their work, we hold all whom Mary started meditating in 1986 with her husband Ernest they loved and who loved them, in prayer. when they were living in Tasmania. They found Christian It was indeed a wonderful experience to have Fr. Laurence meditation via a correspondence course on John Cassian speak at the Congress. The conversations around the table and another on the “Cloud of Unknowing”. Mary opened with him at meal times afterwards were appreciated for their up her home to others who wished to meditate with them. teaching opportunities as well as their social aspect. His At the time of leaving Tasmania for New South Wales in departure came all too soon, as some delegates were still 1999 there were active meditation groups in Devonport, hoping to meet with him. Sorrell and Wynyard. Carole Keating is now easing into the role of coordinating In 1992 Mary and Ernest attended the National Forum in the Houston Oblate Community tended by June Holly over Melbourne and in time were drawn to the oblate path. many years. We thank Carole for accepting this role and They were both received as oblate novices in 1995 and Fr. offer her our prayerful support. Laurence received their Final Oblation at Monte Oliveto in June 1996. Shortly after Ernest was appointed as the first The generosity of Sue Thomson in allowing me to include Australian oblate Coordinator, and as in all their enterprises, the article she wrote for her oblate community at Prinknash Mary supported Ernest in this role unstintingly until her is much appreciated. Sue was one of the delegates health declined in 2001. to that, Mary was actively from the U K who unexpectedly found ‘the pearl of great involved in the meditation groups they had started at The price’. New friendships formed through common bonds Entrance, just north of Sydney. When Mary was diagnosed bring their own life, energy and joy. with Alzheimer’s Mary responded to this news with a calm With love and peace, Trish acceptance and trust that it was part of God’s plan for her.

15 Benedictine Oblate Newsletter - No. 11 - January 2010! OBLATE JANUARY!2010! !! COORDINATORS EDITOR: ! Trish Panton U.S.A.: Greg Ryan P.O. Box 555 Email: [email protected] Pennant Hills, NSW Australia 1715 U.K.: Eileen Dutt Tel +61 2 9489 1780 Email: [email protected] Mobile: +61 409 941 605 NEW ZEALAND: Hugh McLaughlin Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] : Devis Maccarelli AUSTRALIAN DESIGN: Email: [email protected] Leon Milroy IRELAND: Rowena O'Sullivan PO Box 246 Email: [email protected] Uralla NSW 2358 Email: [email protected] CANADA: Polly Schofield Email: [email protected] Visit the Community’s Website at: BRAZIL: Carlos Siqueira http://www.wccm.org Email : !"#$o%@wccm.com.br Be sure to visit the Oblate pages regularly updated by Greg Ryan. !!!!!!!!!!AUSTRALIA and INTERNATIONAL"!!! Australia’s Website is on Trish Panton http://www.christianmeditationaustralia.org Email: [email protected] !!

Please notify the Oblate Coordinator in your country if you have changed !! any of your contact details. !! CONTACT DETAILS “The journey into the God who is Love cannot be followed in isolation. We cannot pre-determine the itinerary of our Each oblate coordinator or their delegate does their utmost pilgrimage or the conditions of our commitment. Indeed to keep accurate records of their respective oblate when we find ourselves planning our inner journey, steering communities. It is so disheartening when emails are a course so as to catch the sights on the way, it is a good returned and even more so when copies of Via Vitae are sign that we have yet to take our hand off the wheel. We ‘returned to sender’. have yet to let the God-driven direction reveal itself. We have not yet placed our centre of consciousness outside of All we ask is, could you please inform your oblate ourselves. Community is the context in which we learn to coordinator, listed above, if there are any changes to your do this. We learn directly about the truth and power of contact details. If you do this by email, could you please cc other-centredness. Fidelity to the community is our loving to me also. For those not connected to the internet, perhaps openness and freedom with others. It is the complement to you could ask someone from the community to send an our fidelity to the mantra. It is all about generous, email on your behalf if you do not have the phone number magnanimous poverty of spirit. or postal address of your coordinator. Monastery Without Walls: The Spiritual Letters of John Main. In our monastery without walls, it is essential to keep Edited by Laurence Freeman OSB, Ch. 6 connected. Please spare a minute or two to ensure that your contact details are up to date………………Trish !! 16