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Messages
from Father Benedict, O.S.B.
  Benedictine Hospitality In her book “The Cloister Walk” Kathleen Norris, a Protestant married woman describes her experiences living within a Benedictine monastery. She admitted that what had attracted her to the cloister is the vastness of the spirit of hospitality in this archaic community living. The Benedictine spirit of hospitality opens her to a God who takes her in totally without any prejudices. Through the serenity and the spiritual comfort she experienced in the cloister her desire to learn about the word of God grew more deeply. Norris wrote: “For a long time I had no idea why I was so attracted to the Benedictines, why I keep returning to their choirs. Now I believe it's because of the hospitality so vast that it invites all present into communal lectio, a hospitality so vast that it invites all present into communion with the text being read. I encounter there not a God who rejects me because I can't pass some dogmatic litmus test but one who invites me to become part of a process, the continuing revelation of holy word.” (p. 217) The hallmark of the Benedictine hospitality is its genuine openness to serve those who knock at the door of the cloister seeking assistance. Saint Benedict taught his communities that the seekers have to be treated as Christ from the moment of their arrival. It is Christ who visits our individual cloister through the new challenges life brings. In order to be able to deal with those challenges properly one has to give enough time and space to pray and explore the nature of such challenges. They might be sent for the individual spiritual growth and ultimately the growth of the community. Living hospitality authentically opens a door for personal and communal growth. The rhythm of the life in the monastery provides time and space for personal and spiritual growth. Giving the time and space for others to pray and for growth is the best offer that the monastic community gives to those who seek refuge in it. In your own life probably you have come across someone who needs your attention, your time, or maybe an affirmation from you. As a Benedictine Oblate and a Christian you are asked to offer that refugee a space in your life and a part of your time to minister to that need. That person is Christ at that moment for you. As Christ taught us: “What so ever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.” Benedictine hospitality is a way of life that immerged from authentically practicing charity within the monastic community. The special bond between the community members and their superior is expected - because this bond is the loving relationship which shaped the custom of the community. With all the idiosyncrasies of each individual in the community one thing that will give them hope and help them to endure is knowing that they are being loved for whom they are. When you know that the love you experience comes from the superior and members of the community and not a mere exercise of another monastic custom, it makes all the difference in the world. Imagine how a guest who comes to your hometown, home or maybe your own parish seeking help may be elated when he/she sees the world differently just because you give him/her a chance. Benedictine hospitality is an openness to accept the other “without counting the costs.” The secular connotation of “individual right” “Equality” and “Fairness” sometimes jeopardized the authenticity of the Benedictine hospitality. Living hospitability in the monastery is decided by the needs of others. For example, monks have to sacrifice if one of their brothers need the funds for a medical procedure that is very expensive – Those who have more needs would have more attention and care. When the basis of justice in the Benedictine communities became being misunderstood, the cheap notion of “ Individual right” “Equality” and “Fairness” crept in and watered down the true meaning of hospitality..
As Benedictine we are being called to be hospitable with our time, gifts,
talents, opinions, etc. St. Benedict called us to serve each other and
those who come to us for our support. Kathleen Norris is one of many
persons who find God and the gifts that were given to her, simply because she
was given the time and space and all the support she needs by the sons and
daughters of Saint Benedict.
Monastic Silence:. Silence has been practiced in every monastic tradition for centuries. Silence is the moment when man and the reality of God merges in prayer. Benedictine monastic silence is not a vow but an important elements of the custom of the monastery. Monastic silence forms an attitude of mindfulness of God’s presence and fraternal communion. Sometimes we rush through life trying to accomplish many goals without recognizing how many feet we step on, and the needs of those whom we called our loved ones. Having a moment with God alone once a day or once a week can be a time of self evaluation, a time of appreciation of having God and others in our lives. Some monastic candidates find silence at the beginning of their monastic training to be difficult but practicing it genuinely drawn them deeper into the peace within the heart of silence. Silence is a state of being. To enter into this state of silence one has to make a deliberate choice in order to come totally into this transformation. Silence does not refers to the lack of physical noise but the interior transformation into a more peaceful state of mind and soul. In the midst of the state of silence one can listen and see people, situations, circumstances and things as they really are, and also identify and accept our own strength and weaknesses. For some people silence is very irritating and discomforting simply because silence eliminates our response to distractions from outside ourselves and focus on the inner turmoil. A very good friend of the monastery visited us every other week during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He stored some of his stuffs down at the RV park . He told me many times that he wished to do a silent retreat here. And finally he was brave enough to do that silence retreat. He started on a Friday night for two nights. He did not show up for breakfast on Saturday so I went to wake him up. I found out he was not there. I received a call from him later that day. He apologized for leaving without letting us know. He said that he could not stand one night in a house without television, phone ringing, kids running around, and a wife to chat with. Silence can be very scary if we are so used to outside distractions. Outside distraction keep us from facing our deeper interior needs. Facing our interior spiritual and emotional needs, our inside hurts and problems is not a comfortable thing to do. But if we keep visiting and revisiting our interior needs and wounds in our quiet moments alone with God in prayer, we will be gradually healed, and silence become a time of healing and comforting. It is in the practicing of silence that we come to learn about the power that is hidden in the darkness of nothingness. As we learned from the creation of the world in the book of Genesis, God created all things from nothing. This means that God created everything from himself. In the very depths of nothing there is everything. When we say “things,” this refers to God’s created creatures, and the rests of nature. And “no-things” means they were not created. The only uncreated is God himself. We were created from “no-thing” because God is the only no-thing (uncreated). And within that “no-thing” (God) there is everything. In the depth of nothingness there is everything. In the midst of silence one who practicing it can encounter everything and find great light. The theology of silence and nothingness, if you may, expresses that the richness we experience in life all emerged from and uncreated God who is mystery not fully comprehensible but encountered, his reality both inside and outside of ourselves in a real way. Silence can take one into the light within the realization that he/she is nothing and he/she has nothing and only through that realization of our nothingness that are we being filled with everything that we need for our salvation… In Christ Monastic Prayer: One of the Popes declared that the monastery is the heart of the Church, simply because of the emphasis on prayers. I cannot imagine living a good Christian life without prayers. Prayer is the utmost need of Christian community living, because God and his people come together to celebrate life by sharing each other's love. Abbot Thomas Keating proclaims that prayer is a relationship with God, like dating. Every time one goes into prayer that person opens up her/his mind to explore God and at the same time God explores that person in a very personal way. The more we pray the more we learn about our God and vise versa. When prayers become the most important interior activity of the monk, nun, and oblate, a radical change surfaces in their lives. The loving relationship between God and his creature forms the heart of the Church who is you and me. Ultimately, the heart of the Church is not the monastery itself but the people who are serious about their prayer lives. They are the ones who keep our journey back to God going. The most important prayer of the church is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The highest and most profound meaning of prayer is the union of God and his creature as we consume the totality of our God in the Eucharist. The eternal impact of that prayer is our becoming more and more like Christ in the way we live our lives. The Eucharist is also the fulfillment of all the prayers throughout our salvation history, starting from Abel's sacrifice, Noah, prayers of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets of the Old Testament. The Eucharist is the consummation of the prayers of the Old and the New Testament. It is in the humanity of Christ that the word of God becomes human. In other words, the prayers of all humankind and that of God merge and become one in the personhood of Christ. Therefore every time we eat and drink his precious body and blood, we are no more listening only to the prayers of our ancestors in the Faith but we are consuming them all, and those prayers become our flesh and blood, and also spiritual source of our salvation, cleansing our sinfulness and making us fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. Our whole Christian life has to be the most beautiful prayer offered to God by the Church. The aroma of a perfect Christian life is the sweetest fragrance of the holy sanctuary of our Heavenly Father. WE ARE THE BEST POSSIBLE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH. In Christ 
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