Posted on by Kurt Bodling

stresses of silent retreats

Note:
A little longer quote for today: Some people hunger for silence and solitude, at least in theory. The Franciscan monastery in Washington, DC offers an opportunity to try it out a day at a time in a small purpose-built hermitage in 4 wooded acres on their city property. It doesn’t always play out as hoped. This gives one some things to think about if you find yourself imagining how great it would be to ‘get away from it all’ for a while. The source profiles 2 women who did short personal silent retreats, and summarizes their difficulties. Some extracts follow:

Quote:
“What do we complain about more these days than the tyranny of constant stimulation? Our attempts to tune out the outside world — the occasional radio-less drive to work, the concerted decision to leave the phone at home for a few hours — are often ineffectual. It has come to this: True solitude is such a rarity in our modern lives that we have to buy it — or, in this case, rent it for $70 a night.

“But it turns out solitude isn’t that simple. Although participation in silent retreats is on the rise, many of those preparing to spend time at the hermitage said they were so unaccustomed to unstructured time alone that they made to-do lists — then feared they were doing “solitude” wrong and scrapped them.

“What is silence? The absence of noise? Achieving inner peace? Knowing yourself? Being able to hover above your own thoughts and observe them without judgment? Halting the constant hunger for accomplishment in a society absorbed with getting ahead in measurable ways, with doing rather than being?

“Silence isn’t the end; it’s the means, experts say. And its absence from our culture isn’t a small thing.

“The challenges posed by silence are well-known to those who study and teach it. Some retreats encourage people to train — to refrain from checking their BlackBerrys for a few hours at a time before coming, for example. Others ease people into silence over a couple of days instead of all at once.”

Source: Boorstein, Michelle. “Silent retreats’ rising popularity poses a challenge: How to handle the quiet.” Washington Post 12 December 2012

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

being not doing

Note: This Camaldolese abbot really shows Scripture at the center and core of the Christian spiritual life. All the spiritual disciplines, practices, and exercises spring from and revolve around the Word of God. Scripture itself is the source and norm. Lectio isn’t merely another spiritual practice, way to pray, thing to do. He calls it “a way of being.”

Quote:
“Lectio divina is a ‘spiritual exercise,’ a way of living, thinking and praying that involves one’s whole being and spiritual progress in human life. Spiritual ‘exercise’ in the monastic tradition is not a spiritual ‘retreat,’ but the spiritual orientation that transforms my being every day. In this light, monastic life is an ongoing spiritual exercise. Lectio divina, then, is a way of being that deeply changes how one lives. It is the traditional center of monastic life.”

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, page 47.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

trinitarian root of contemplation

Note: Word and Sacrament are the foundation of the Christian spiritual life. So say the Camaldolese and the Lutherans. Christianity is not a works righteousness religion. And, importantly, the spiritual disciplines are not works righteousness practices.

Quote:
“But who is this Jesus Christ? Our response to this question is the spiritual life, a life animated by the Spirit. Monastic life is ‘spiritual’ not because monks pray so much or perform asceticisms, but only because they seek the Father in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Therein lie the roots of monastic contemplation.” (p. 49)

and this “seeking God”? on p. 48 he explains that “It is Christ who draws near to us, who seeks us out and enters into our lives” (as on the road to Emmaus); that “We are not yet with him, but he is with us. … Only the grace of the Word and the gift of the eucharistic bread open our human eyes to the contemplation of the risen Lord.” So this isn’t us seeking Him before He seeks us.

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, pages 48-49.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

centrality of lectio divina

Note: At least in monasticism – and we could make the case that it is also so among all Christians – lectio divina is a core principle, the sine qua non of the spiritual life.

Quote:
“Lectio divina is the center of monastic life because it is how we seek the Father through, with, and in his Word by the Holy Spirit. It is that daily exercise of prayer that opens our hearts to receive God’s Word in loving movement of the Holy Spirit. Lectio is fundamentally an exercise of receptivity–a practice of silence, concentration and prayer that allows us to remain in Christ’s love. For this reason, lectio divina is the one thing necessary in monastic life. It gives significance to our search for God.”

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, page 49.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

theologians all

Note: And building on yesterday’s post about theology, it’s not just ‘Everyone a Minister’! (ISBN 13: 9780570031840) And it never was.

Part of being a priesthood of all believers is that we all are (need to be) theologians. At least to some extent. Certainly some more and some less, depending on our spiritual gifts, but all as we are able.

Quote:
“This is the work of theology: to comprehend the mystery of the Christian faith. And every Christian is called to be a theologian, that is, to endeavor to penetrate God’s mystery. For this reason, without theology we cannot do lectio divina well.”

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, p. 49.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

paean to theology

Note: I always cringe a little when I hear preachers say “I’m no theologian, but….” It makes me wonder to myself why they’re even up there. Didn’t the congregation call/license/hire you to be their theologian-in-residence and interpret the Word of God in their midst?

What they are generally trying to do, I think, is to distance themselves from academic theology which can sometimes be dry, boring, and even quite wrong in its attempt to be innovative. That ploy, however, can make theology as a whole an object of contempt and even ridicule among the congregation.

Rest assured that there’s still a place for theology in today’s world. All Christians need at least some theological knowledge so that they can work with the heart wisdom gleaned from Scripture through the spiritual disciplines. Every one of us is a theologian. Some of us are just better trained and more skilled at it than others of us.

Quote:
“Theology is the main requisite for entering into and embodying Christian wisdom. We read the Scriptures, but without theology, we understand only the letter and do not enter into the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We read the mystics, but without theology, we do not understand the profundity of their spiritual insights and enter into mystical experience. We have authentic moments of silence, meditation and prayer, but without theological exercise, our life will not become doxological, permeated by prayer and thanksgiving. Theology is the way to enter into God’s mystery.”

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, pg. 50.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

mystical wisdom builds up

Note: The “wisdom which cometh down from above” (see James, chapter 3) is edifying personally, communally, and universally. That is, it builds us up as individual believers; it builds up the Church; and it builds up the cosmos.

I also resonate to the phrase “an open meadow where wisdom comes to dwell.” Open meadow reminds me of the green pastures in Psalm 23. Wisdom makes me think of so many parts of Scripture, but how about now focusing on Jesus (remember the “O Wisdom” antiphon from Advent?). And to dwell recalls John 1:14 where the Word dwells among us. Putting that all together in the context of the quote for today: Jesus comes to dwell with us and give us nourishing rest in the fruits of our practice of the spiritual disciplines.

Quote:
“Mystical wisdom’s external coordinates are time and experience, while its internal coordinates are method and comprehension. But together–time, experience, theological method and comprehension–constitute an open meadow where wisdom comes to dwell. Wisdom is a gift of the Spirit. Only mystical wisdom, given by the Spirit of God, recognizes and sees the work of the same Spirit–the upbuilding of the kingdom of God. The presence of the Spirit is a ‘silent word’ within us and among us. We hear the sound it makes, remaining in amazement at the Spirit’s creative freedom.”

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, pg. 51.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

practical results of the mystical experience

Note: Christian mysticism isn’t woo-woo airy nothingness. (Well, possibly some fringe segments are, but not real contemplative mysticism.) There’s actually something practical or useful resulting from mysticism: the knowledge of the connectedness of all creation, both with the rest of creation and with the Creator. That’s – among other things – a motivator toward works of mercy.

Quote:
“Mystical wisdom sees the unity of divine wisdom beyond creation’s polarity. It gazes at the ‘background’ that comprehends all–that ‘primordial communion,’ the realm of the Trinity where, in loving freedom, Father gives himself to Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

“Mystical wisdom is the joy of a global cosmic vision. It is an ‘ordered’ gaze that perceives, by intuition, all things–bringing them to light. It contemplates the true loving power of God, the strength of reconciliation and love’s order.” (p. 52)

Source: Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, pg. 52.