A Taste of Lectio

As supper begins on our second monastic day, I have an announcement.

It seems we are not finished with our "days."  We shall be having a third, and this one will be all about lectio.  That is:  we'll look at the monastic practice of lectio from as many "angles" as we can possibly manage.  We'll read about it, share the fruits of it in our lives, and most of all - we will hopefully be encouraged toward the practice of it. 

The hope - and certainly the prayer - is that, throughout the routines of our third "day," we will be drawn into an immersion in lectio.  After all, to be immersed in lectio is to be immersed in scripture.  And to be immersed in scripture is to be immersed in God. 

With this in mind, our supper refectory reading is again from Praying Scripture for a Change by Tim Gray.  As I am recommending this book, I hope the publishers would not mind my quoting from it here (perhaps they would consider this a "review").  The book is also available from Amazon.com.

"Some might say 'Lectio Divina was invented by and for monks.  Can it really be practiced by ordinary people living busy lives?'  The answer to such a question is given by Pope Benedict XVI. Since the start of his pontificate in April 2005, Pope Benedict has strongly championed the use of lectio divina for everybody.... Pope Benedict said:  'if lectio divina is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church - I am convinced - a new spiritual springtime.'  In those words, the Holy Father is echoing Vatican II:  'The Church forcefully and specially exhorts all the Christian faithful... to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:8) by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures...  Let them remember, however, that prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and man.'..." (Tim Gray, 2009 Ascension Press, p. 37).

"In contrast to meditation techniques aimed at emptying the mind, Christian meditation makes full use of the intellect in an effort to understand God's Word and to hear God's voice (p.62)

''Lectio (Latin for 'a reading') divina ('divine') literally means 'divine reading,' and refers to the reading of Sacred Scripture in the context of personal prayer."  (p. 26)

"A Carthusian monk named Guigo... begins his book (Ladder of Monks): 'one day when I was busy working with my hands I began to think about our spiritual work, and all at once four stages in spiritual exercise came into my mind: reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation.  These make a ladder for monks by which they are lifted up from earth to heaven.  It has few rungs, yet its length is immense and wonderful, for its lower end rests upon the earth, but its top pierces the clouds and touches heavenly secrets.'" (quoted by Gray on p. 27)

"As you practice lectio divina and read and meditate on God's Word, your mind falls in love with the truth."  (p. 96)   

Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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My Vespers

While our Sisters and Brothers in monasteries are chanting Vespers (usually between 4:30 and 6:00 pm), we who live out "in the world" may well be in the busiest time of our day.  The world, at Vespers-time, is right in the middle of "rush hour."  It is when many are leaving work, pouring into roads and trains to make the journey home.  Some of us are preparing an evening meal, knowing that growling tummies will not be soothed if we hide away in prayer corners to sing and chant praise.

So we do what must be done.   Many times we're content to be exactly where we are.  Sometimes, however, the grass can look greener inside the monastic fence, and I will admit that "rush hour," for me, is a time when my own grass can seem seriously withered. This is due in large part (for me) to a kind of physical and mental lagginess that tends to hit in late afternoon, and has for as long as I can remember.  It's the time of day when I'm tired, draggy, and most likely to feel - well, grumbly.  Through the years, I've learned that I am not the only person to feel washed out at that time.  Yet this is when people have to get themselves home from work, food must be prepared (sometimes by the same individuals who have just plowed their way through traffic), and children may need a bit of extra referee-ing.

When the body is exhausted and the mind is reeling from a day's work, even the humdrum tasks of late afternoon can seem immense.  "I remember reading," said our friend Rose some time ago,"that obedience to one's superior is more meritorious than all the self-imposed mortifications, fastings and prayers.  Then I realized my superior is really my vocation as a wife and mother.  Therefore, my duties and responsibilities of motherhood must come first.  And, done with the right intentions (as St. Francis de Sales says, 'for the greater glory of God'), all my actions are lifted up in prayer."

Those in a cloister come to Vespers out of obedience.  They gather to pray when they feel like doing so, and when they do not.  

When my day starts to bend toward evening, it is time for a particular kind of "Vespers."  It's a time when I can offer my duties, my care for those around me, any rush-hour hassles I may face, and even my own dragginess, to God.  

By being made into an offering, these can become my evening prayer.

“When you use the analogy of the grille of God’s will and imagine yourself protected by it, you really do see things in a new light. I think a perfect example of this was when I placed myself there on my 40 minute drives back and forth to work, battling very unpleasant traffic. Suddenly it didn’t matter if everyone seemed to try to push me out of the way - I was alone with God and nothing else was of any concern.” (from our friend Jane) 

God “can say to someone driving that car bumper to bumper, ‘I will lead you into solitude and there I will speak to your heart. (Hosea 2:14).’” (Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Poustinia, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame IN, 1975, p. 22)

"Some people might think it contradictory to speak of 'contemplative' in the same sentence as 'mother of a very large family.' But it is the contemplative spirit that has helped me survive the chaos that is natural when raising a number of children.... The cloister in my heart is a place of refuge.  It is a place where I can retreat from the world no matter where I am; in the middle of a crowded mall, or in a busy grocery store, or in my own kitchen." - Rose

© 2012 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org      


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Reconciliation

On a regular basis, those in a monastery have the Sacrament of Reconciliation made available to them.  We who live in the world, however, have to take an extra step toward receiving such a privilege.  As a general rule, we must go TO where this is being offered. 

Perhaps we can think of it as mortification in advance.  

Our Sisters in a monastery, meanwhile, have a scheduled time when a priest comes to them.  In our "monastic day," perhaps that time can be right now.

In thinking of this, I decided to re-post (with a bit of minor editing) something I wrote on this subject for the Breadbox Letters blog this past Lent...

“When you want to write on a blackboard," wrote Charles de Foucauld, "you must first wipe off what is written there.”  

Several things occur to me as I read this.  First of all:  chalk is not permanent.  Nor are my sins.  Once the “board” has been erased, the original mistakes can no longer be read. 

Second:  a blackboard cannot be erased unless something is done.  Someone has to actually take action and clean the board.

Third:  a chalkboard eraser is not a steel wool pad.  It is soft.  It’s made to clean the board, not harm it.  If a blackboard could feel, I doubt it would cry “ouch.”

“God,” wrote St. Gregory the Great, “scourges our faults with strokes of love, to cleanse us from our iniquities.” 

Strokes of love.  Not lashes, but strokes of love.

Jesus wants to erase every one of my sins.  He knows I cannot do it on my own.  He has given the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a loving, healing Eraser.  I pray for the grace to “confess my sins, do penance, and amend my life."  May Our Lord write what HE wants on my life; may He make it totally His own. 

© 2012 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org     


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A Direction of Intention

Midafternoon and the bell rings again.  The office of None is beginning, and residents of the monastery gather from all corners to take their stations in chapel, in prayer.

But what if one of the nuns is responsible for, say, caring for a Sister in the infirmary?  What if Sister Anne is ill with a tummy bug that won't hold off its dire effects until Sister Maria R.N. returns from chapel?  Sister Maria would certainly be excused from one way of serving God in order to stay with Sister Anne and thus serve Him in another.  

As we live for God in the midst of the world, we have many moments like this one of "Sister Maria."  We do not leave our baby alone in his highchair in order to go off, find a quiet corner, and kneel to pray.  No, we pray while we tend to the baby.  And having made the intention to give this day and all its duties to God, we realize that God accepts our care for the baby AS prayer.  We don't leave our family's dinner unprepared, we don't run out of a meeting in our office at work, we do not let stacks of laundry sit unwashed while we pray.  We do the necessary tasks of life, and even if we forget to pray AS we do them..... if we've made the intention of offering them, we can trust that God accepts our gift.  

We have probably offered God our whole day, perhaps using words like these of St. Francis de Sales:  "My God, I give You this day.  I offer You, now, all of the good that I shall do.. and I promise to accept, for love of You, all of the difficulty that I shall meet.  Help me to conduct myself during this day in a manner pleasing to You." 

Amen. 

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© 2012 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org     
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Loving With the Strength of Our Arms

Afternoon, and it's worktime again.  Everyone in the monastery has a particular assignment.  Gardening, cleaning, cooking, bookkeeping, and in many cases doing some sort of work to bring income to the Community. 

We probably all know a few of these monastic endeavors.  In order to enable our Brothers and Sisters behind the walls to continue their lives of prayer, we may have purchased (just to name a few) ...  












Vestments
http://vistyr.org/our-work/chantal-artisans











Coffee
http://www.mysticmonkcoffee.com/store/storefront.php



And what about our own time of work?

As I go about the tasks of this day, am I doing my job(s) for the love of God?  It can be a tough question, for the truth is:  I've developed a HABIT of slotting prayer into prayer time, leisure into leisure time, work into work time.  Like nickels and dimes dropped into a coin sorter, the moments of my life get categorized into little neat rows.

Habits are hard to break.  By the grace of Our Lord, however, I am convinced that they can be broken.  I'm quite certain that, if I just start to cooperate, the power of Christ is able to transform even me, so that one day all I do could be done for the glory of God.

"If the fact that God sees us were fully impressed on our consciences, and if we realized that all our work, absolutely all of it, is done in His presence - for nothing escapes His eyes - how carefully we would finish things and how differently we would react!"  (St. Josemaria Escriva)

"Let us love God, but with the strength of our arms, in the sweat of our brow." (St, Vincent de Paul)

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