"I was brought up in a tradition that classified involvement with “worldly things” like competitive sport, the media and the world of arts and entertainment as something Christians should abstain from. The idea reflected the injunction that good Christians should be “separate from the world”… What I have come to realise is that Christians cannot cocoon themselves in cotton wool, be imprisoned in a monastery or live in a self-perpetuating community on some idyllic Pacific Island. Our calling is to live in this world, whether it is as a professional sportsperson, a talkback host, a top-billing musician, a model or newspaper publisher, so that people know we are different. Different but not peculiar. A person to be respected, but not ridiculed." (my emphasis.)
 |
| La Grande Chartreuse Monastery |
Firstly, monks and other religious are not “imprisoned” in monasteries and cloisters: they stay there of their own free will, dedicated to their God-given vocations. It has been said that if God means for you to enter religious life, no one and nothing will keep you out, while if he does not mean for you to stay in religious life, no one and nothing will keep you in.
Secondly, no one on earth is not “in the world”: we may try not to be “of it”, but we do not leave it until we die: this applies to those in closed communities, just as much as to those in urban and rural society. Contemplative monks and nuns are well aware of the world outside and its need for conversion and salvation: those are some of the things they continuously pray for.
Thirdly, Christians in monasteries do tremendous work for the Kingdom of God. Primarily, this comprises prayer, of which the world can always do with more. But monasteries have also contributed considerably to the world by preserving and copying the Scriptures and other books of knowledge, by educating generations of young people, and by making scientific discoveries and advancements. See How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization [1], particularly Chapter 3, “How the Monks Saved Civilization”.
Finally, to denigrate monasteries and a contemplative life has the danger of simultaneously devaluing anyone, e.g., our elderly, who may, by choice or because of ill health or disability, be isolated from wider society. The aphorism, “They also serve who only stand and wait”, applies here. Milton wrote this line at the end of his Sonnet XIX, reflecting that, even with his disability, he has a place in the world[2]. At one of the many ceremonies at which battalions of Britain’s Home Guard were stood down at the end of World War II, the Mayor of Redhill assured the participants that “they should have no regrets about not going into action against a ruthless enemy” and quoted Milton's great line[3]. In the Christian understanding, of course, the legions of prayer warriors are very much involved in “action against a ruthless enemy” in the spiritual battle. They have had notable successes, not least at the Battle of Lepanto[4].
In the fourth century, St John Chrysostom was concerned that some thought that the rigorous Christian life belonged only to the monks, and that laymen were to have it easy. He wrote[5]:
“You greatly delude yourself and err, if you think that one thing is demanded from the layman and another from the monk; since the difference between them is in that whether one is married or not, while in everything else they have the same responsibilities...In the 21st century, John has turned this round and considers that the layman has the higher calling. But St John also said, “The Holy Scriptures do not know any distinctions.” Indeed, St Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians that:
Because all must rise to the same height; and what has turned the world upside down is that we think only the monk must live rigorously, while the rest are allowed to live a life of mediocrity.”
“Each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another” (I Cor 7:7).
John Massam concluded by writing that:
“For me it is exciting that Christians at all levels are willing to stand up and be counted and in so doing be recognised as worthy role models.”
The roles of our fellow Christians who live in monasteries should excite and inspire us just as much as top sports people. They are extraordinary examples of devotion to our Lord and God. In his own words, they are “different but not peculiar”. And John should take his own advice and treat them as people “to be respected, but not ridiculed”.
To this end, I suggest readers investigate the Southern Star Abbey at Kopua, near Takapau, in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. This small monastery of Cistercian monks in the Benedictine tradition is flourishing in 21st century New Zealand. On their website[6] they say:
“Christian monasticism is the search for God through the creation of time and space in which the inner life may flourish. For the monks, the spiritual world becomes the primary reality in living.
Monastic life is one expression of Christ's abiding presence in his Church. It is a response to a particular call from the Holy Spirit to imitate and continue the intense union with God lived by Jesus.
The Gospel is the basis of all Christian monasticism and its supreme law. Monks seek above all to put on Christ, to be so formed by God's grace that they are progressively possessed by Christ's ardent love for the Father and his compassion for human beings.”
To me, this is a way of life to be admired and emulated.
[1] Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Ph.D., How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2005).
[2] John Milton, Complete Poems and Major Prose, ed. Merritt Y. Hughes (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing House, 2003) 167. And see http://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Sayings/Quizzes/Patience/They_also_serve_who_only_stand_and_wait_911.htm Accessed 31 August 2011.
[3] Alan Moore, “The Home Guard”, http://www.redhill-reigate-history.co.uk/homeguard.htm. Accessed 31 August 2011.
[4] Gilbert K. Chesterton, “The Battle of Lepanto and Our Lady of the Rosary”, http://catholicradiodramas.com/articles/the-battle-of-lepanto-gilbert-k-chesterton/ Accessed 31 August 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment