All of us who live according to the Rule of St. Benedict celebrate one of his two feasts today (the other is March 21, which is also the anniversary of our foundation, 66 years ago). Here is an address from 1964 by Pope Paul VI:
Saint Benedict has the reputation of being the messenger of peace, the maker of unity, the master of civilization, and especially the herald of Christianity and the author of monasticism in the West. When darkness seemed to be spreading over Europe after the fall of the Roman empire he brought the light of dawn to shine upon this continent. For with the cross, the book, and the plow, Christian civilization was carried, principally through him and his sons, to the peoples who lived in those lands which stretch from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, and from Ireland to the plains of Poland.
With the cross, that is with the law of Christ, he strength¬ened and developed the institutions of private and social life. Through the "Work of God," that is, through the careful and assiduous conduct of prayer, he taught that divine worship was of the greatest importance in the social order. And so he sealed that spiritual unity of Europe in which the various nations of different ethnic origins and languages felt themselves to be united into the one people of God. And so this unity, learnt from so great a master, which the sons of Saint Benedict so faithfully strove to achieve, became the principal element in that period of history called the middle ages. All men of good will in our times must strive to recover that unity, which, as Saint Augustine says, is "the form of all beauty," and which alas has been lost in the vicissitudes of history.
With the book, that is, with the culture of the mind, this venerable patriarch from whom so many monasteries have drawn their name and their spirit spread his doctrine through the old classics of literature and the liberal arts, preserved and passed on to posterity by them with so much care.
And lastly, with the plow, that is, through agriculture, he changed the waste and desert lands into orchards and delightful gardens; and joining work with prayer in the spirit of those words ora et labora, he restored the dignity of human labor.
Not without reason, then, did Pope Plus XII call Saint Benedict the "Father of Europe," for he inspired the peoples of this continent with the love of order upon which their social life depends. We pray he may look upon Europe, and by his prayer achieve even greater things in years to come.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Brother Victor
Brother Victor, aged 91, died last night about 9:30. His last illness was brief; he refused to go to the hospital, preferring to be cared for here; our infirmarians made sure he was comfortable. We took turns sitting with him for the last few days and he died peacefully with his nephew and one of our novices with him.
When I entered 4 years ago, Victor was getting around on a motorized scooter. Each morning he would be in the kitchen, chopping vegetables for our lunch. He had been a cook years before; and our laundry man for a number of years. He entered as a lay brother. (Lay brothers were not ordained, followed a simpler round of offices, and concentrated on manual labor. In the renewal of monastic life following Vatican II, that status was done away with; the former lay brothers here continue to follow a simpler round of offices.) In the last couple of years, Victor remained in the infirmary, becoming ever more deaf. But he always greeted monks with a smile. I would often go up at suppertime when Victor would have his raw vegetables and canned mackerel; we would exchange smiles and greetings.
It is odd how familiar dying has become to me. I am now alert to various changes in breathing. When I sat with Victor on Tuesday evening, he was still fairly alert; he would turn his head and smile; his breathing was fairly even and frequent. By the following morning, his eyes remained closed and his breathing was slower and shallower.
We will receive his body at 5:00 this evening, take turns sitting with him in church, and have his funeral Mass in the morning, laying him in his grave with the 50 others in our cemetery.
When I entered 4 years ago, Victor was getting around on a motorized scooter. Each morning he would be in the kitchen, chopping vegetables for our lunch. He had been a cook years before; and our laundry man for a number of years. He entered as a lay brother. (Lay brothers were not ordained, followed a simpler round of offices, and concentrated on manual labor. In the renewal of monastic life following Vatican II, that status was done away with; the former lay brothers here continue to follow a simpler round of offices.) In the last couple of years, Victor remained in the infirmary, becoming ever more deaf. But he always greeted monks with a smile. I would often go up at suppertime when Victor would have his raw vegetables and canned mackerel; we would exchange smiles and greetings.
It is odd how familiar dying has become to me. I am now alert to various changes in breathing. When I sat with Victor on Tuesday evening, he was still fairly alert; he would turn his head and smile; his breathing was fairly even and frequent. By the following morning, his eyes remained closed and his breathing was slower and shallower.
We will receive his body at 5:00 this evening, take turns sitting with him in church, and have his funeral Mass in the morning, laying him in his grave with the 50 others in our cemetery.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)