Bonnevaux
Dearest Sisters and Brothers in our Holy Father Benedict,
Today we are celebrating the Feast during our Bonnevaux Summer School. We have invited our local neighbours as well and with them, this afternoon, we will hear from the residents in our community what they have learned by living here about the contemporary wisdom of Benedict. As I walked up to the midday prayer in the Barn today with an oblate who comes regularly to volunteer, she told me in a few words what she finds and what brings her back, ‘above all it’s the rhythm of the life. Everything is carried in that rhythm and given depth and meaning.’
Our general experience of life today is not rhythmical but very disjointed, unpredictable and disruptive. Finding how to live in the rhythm of obedience, stability and continuous conversion of heart won’t immediately solve all the world’s problems. Nor does our daily rhythm of lectio and meditation make life trouble-free. But it opens and keeps open, the inner spring of peace, hope in the joy of the Spirit and this means we can cope – and more than cope – we can turn hardship and even conflict into enriching and enlightening things. Benedict’s wisdom is grounded in the ordinary but it produces extraordinary fruits:
Let us open our eyes to the divinising light and our ears to the voice from heaven.. Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days? If you hear this and answer ‘I do’… let peace be your quest and aim… and even before you ask me I will say, ‘Here I am’. What dear brothers and sisters is more delightful than this voice of the Lord calling to us. See how the Lord in his love shows us the way of life.’ (Prologue)
Isn’t this call to true human life just the word of wisdom that, as Benedictine monks or oblates, we should circulate in times so often bedevilled by hopelessness and a lack of confidence in our ‘magnificent humanity’?
As I was wondering about becoming a monk, John Main asked me if I was prepared for what I was going to find? I thought he was referring to what I would be giving up and saying goodbye to. He smiled and said, ‘no that’s not what I mean. Are you prepared for the joy?’ My life as a monk has not always been easy – whose is? – but his question awakened me to its true meaning, the true quest.
A few days ago, I went to pray and have lunch with the monks of Ligugé, the oldest monastery in Europe, which is a short distance from Bonnevaux. After lunch I sat with the community in the garden over coffee as we discussed our life, shared news and laughed together. As I drove back, my car had a puncture on a remote road, teaching me to accept whatever comes. As I waited for help, it also gave me time to remember the words of St Aelred of Rievaulx in ‘Spiritual Friendship’.
The day before yesterday as I was walking around the monastery with the brothers sitting in a most loving circle, I marvelled at the leaves, blossoms and fruits of each single tree as if I were in the fragrant bowers of paradise. Finding not one soul whom I did not love and, I was sure, not one soul by whom I was not loved I was filled with joy that surpassed all the delights of the world.
Well, of course, maybe not every day, or to the same degree, but this is the wisdom of Benedict about what we should be prepared for and what is the true magnificence of human life.
We are renovating the small chapel at Bonnevaux. When we removed the 19th century plaster the beautiful old stones of the 12th century were revealed. We also found the deepest foundations dated back to the 6th century. In the picture you can see the frame of the door that led from the old church, now gone, from the cloister. We are part of a great tradition, a river of wisdom that has never run dry and always find new outlets. Our commitment to obedience, stability and conversation, to lectio and the pure prayer of the heart is what makes our own community of love a truly Benedictine monastery without walls but with interior doors leading to the room filled with divinising light.
Happy Feast and may celebrating it help us to share the wisdom of Benedict generously with all.
With my love
