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COMMUNITY NEWS ITEMS
This summer saw a variety of projects going on, for both the community as a whole and for individual monks. Br. Benet's book "View From a Monastery" has been selling well. Some of us were tracking its results at the internet's Amazon.com bookstore. It was fun to see Br. Benet "climbing the charts" during June and July.
For some monks, it was a time for continuing education. Fr. Matthew attended the University of Notre Dame and completed his Master of Science in Administration. In late August, Br. Michael started a two year program in Monastic Studies at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota.
Our vocation situation continues to show promise. Br. Novice Stephen Bierle expects to make his first profession of vows in September, while Br. Novice Leon Smith continues in novitiate. God willing, we may have three or four men starting their novitiate in late September. I hope all our friends will continue to pray for our monks in temporary vows, novices and candidates.
Our associate program also saw a number of men visit us through the summer. We have had associates from all parts of the United States and even foreign countries. We recently had a young associate from Slovakia.
Camp Mahpiyato saw plenty of use all summer long. Fr. Larry organized and ran several camps, and a number of outside groups used the facilities to hold camps they organized themselves. Our dog Gertrude loves children and always wants to take part in any group that includes young people.
Fr. Larry and campers
Summer campers busily exploring
the camp ravine.
Campers enjoying the attentive protection
of Gertrude. |
GREENHOUSE GETS NEW SKIN
One work area that doesn't get much attention in the newsletter is our greenhouse. All of the flowers used to decorate the altars in our church are grown right here at the abbey. Br. Gene took care of the greenhouse and houseplants until his death last fall. Since then Br. Chris has been in charge.
One reason there have not been many pictures of the greenhouse here is because it was constructed of fiberglass panels that frankly, were not very beautiful to look at. When the greenhouse was built, fiberglass was the only affordable choice, but the panels became weathered and discolored with age. Over the years, building materials have improved to where we were able to replace the fiberglass with a new synthetic surface. The new skin is a double layer of flexible polypropylene. It allows more light through than the old fiberglass, and holds the heat better in cold weather. We expect the new covering to save energy and expense. The new covering was put in place this summer with the help of some friends.
NEW MISSION STATEMENT
Since this past spring, we have been working on revising the abbey's mission statement. Our exiting mission statement had been adopted several years ago. Since the nature of our community work had changed considerably since then, we felt it necessary to bring the statement up to date.
The community met several times throughout Lent, and agreed on the statement that appears below. We are continuing our process of preparing a strategic plan based on these
statements. This will require us to set goals that arise from the statements, and then come up with strategies to meet these goals. So far, we have identified three broad areas where we need to plan: Community building, which involves attracting monastic vocations and forming new members in monastic spirituality, Personnel needs, to identify specific jobs we need to fill with monks or hired employees, and Church needs, deciding how we can best serve the Body of Christ.
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THE VOW OF OBEDIENCE
By Fr. Matthew
When I started working on the newsletter last year, my first article was a short discussion of the vow of stability. I had intended to write more on Benedictine topics, but other things always managed to fill each issue. Finally, I have the chance to explain more about the vows that Benedictine monks take. Some of you are already familiar with monastic customs, but we have gained new readers recently who may appreciate an explanation of some basics.
Anyone who joins a religious order is required by the Church to take vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience. Benedictine monks also take additional vows of stability and conversion of morals. Stability means that a monk is always a member of a particular monastery, and conversion of morals is a commitment to growing in holiness.
To an outsider looking in, the vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience may seem very difficult. In reality, they are only intensified versions of challenges that most people meet during their life. For example, someone does not have to take a vow of poverty to experience material wants. Likewise, some people find it difficult to remain faithful to their spouses at certain times in a marriage. These challenges in family life are not unlike the challenge of living religious vows.
In a similar way, all of our readers have some experience of obedience. As children we were
expected to obey our parents, and parents today no doubt expect the same. As adults, most of us have a
boss who supervises our work. Everyone can see the need for this kind of functional obedience. Many kinds of work can require a person to follow instructions carefully. Perhaps some of you have served in the armed forces where obedience can be more strict than anything found in religious life. St. Benedict thought of obedience as something like what is practiced in a family, with the abbot taking the role of father. In Chapter 68 of St. Benedict's rule, he states:
If a brother is requested to do something difficult or impossible he should, at first, accept the command meekly and obediently. If he sees that the task is beyond his means, respectfully, calmly and humbly, he will tell his superior the reason for it. He will not be proud, resistant or contradictory. If the superior keeps to his decision despite the brother's reasons, the brother in charity will do as told, trusting in God's help.
While Saint Benedict states how important obedience is, he also makes it clear that obedience takes place in the context of a respectful and familiar relationship. The monk who is expected to obey also has the right to speak about problems, or reasons why the commands may be impossible to carry out. This two-way communication is an important part of monastic obedience. Without it, serious problems arise. When a monk does not communicate effectively with his superior, small problems become larger without reason.
If a monk does follow what St. Benedict recommends, i.e. he obeys but also communicates, one of two things will happen. The monk and the abbot together will learn either that the request was God's will and leads to good results, or the request was mistaken and needs to be changed.
Someone may have the idea that a vow of obedience means commands are obeyed instantly, silently, without any question. I suspect this mistaken idea comes from people confusing the strictness of monastic discipline with the strictness of military discipline. It is true that both ways of life have a type of discipline and obedience, but the two types are quite different as they serve different purposes. Military obedience is meant to function on a battlefield, where issues of life and death are at stake. A battle situation could arise where a serious order would be given and must be obeyed immediately, without time for discussion. |
But the demands of a battlefield are quite different from those of everyday monastic life, or at
least they should be. An interesting story comes to us from ancient Chinese literature about how strict obedience without understanding can lead to disaster. This true story, comes from the ancient text The Art of War by Sun Tzu, which is still used today in management and leadership training. In this tale, the emperor wanted to test his favorite general's ability to command and train soldiers. The emperor jokingly ordered the general to take 180 of the royal wives, and teach them to perform military parade maneuvers as well as any soldiers of the kingdom. The general accepted this challenge on the condition that he was given absolute authority to enforce commands.
The general divided the women up into platoons and squads, placing senior wives in command. The military drums were sounded and the general gave a command, but the wives all burst into laughter. The general faulted himself for not making the commands clear. He instructed the wives in detail on what was expected of them, and the seriousness of his orders. Again he gave a command, but again the wives all burst into laughter.
At this, the general ordered the wives in command positions to be beheaded. The emperor, who until now had been watching from a distance in amusement, sent word that he was no longer entertained by the joke and wished the general to stop. The general replied that the emperor had already given him previous orders that he was bound to obey. So the general had the senior wives beheaded, and moved others into their positions. Then the military drill was resumed, and the wives all marched as perfectly as any soldiers, not making a single sound. The general drilled them for a while, then sent word to the emperor that the troops were now fit for inspection. The emperor angrily refused to come, and ordered the general back to camp. The general replied that the emperor was a man of words but not actions. Everyone ended up angry, especially the wives.
This little story says much about obedience. If the emperor had understood how seriously the general took his position, the tragic results could have been avoided. Before a superior asks a subordinate to do something, he should understand exactly what he is asking, and understand the person who is being asked. He should also think about third parties who will be affected by the order. This holds true in any organization, and especially in a monastery. An abbot needs to know his monks: their strengths, weaknesses and temperaments.
This doesn't mean that living a vow of obedience will always be easy. In fact, monks grow as human beings by sometimes taking on work that they never expected. We can look back on our lives and see how God helped us to accomplish things we never thought we could do. This is one way that God's grace works through obedience, by showing us how we can work for the greater good without following our own will.
If there is a problem with obedience in monastic life today, it may have something to do with a lack of opportunities for this kind of grace through obedience. Monks generally obey their abbots today, but something seems to be lacking. The structure of most abbeys and a high average age means that monks are less likely to be assigned work outside of their personal "comfort zones". Younger monks may find themselves assigned to jobs that the monastery needs to support itself, but the jobs lack a clear apostolic or religious purpose. The younger monks then wonder why exactly they left jobs in the world to take very similar jobs in the monastery.
The vow of obedience seems to work best when the monastery has a clear sense of how it is serving the larger Church, and when individual monks can see how their work fits in with the community's mission. Two thousand years of Church history show that Christians willingly obey and endure hardships, if they see that their obedience is helping to build God's kingdom.
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