The Oblate retreat, February 19-21, 2016, brought together 66 Oblates of Holy Wisdom, women and men from near and far, to learn from the sisters about the ways justice is expressed in Benedictine life through listening, right relationships and public witness.
The following reflections come from a presentation given by Joanne Kollasch, OSB, on February 19, 2016 (pictured above).
There are many ways to hear God’s voice if we are silent and listening, if we are able to “welcome one another with the courtesy of love.” (Rule of Benedict, 53:1) What follows are some thoughts on listening as a key response of Benedictine Christian spirituality in the struggle for justice. For Benedict, loving justly is integrated in the Christian life, so we will “Listen carefully to one who loves us.” (Rule of Benedict, Prologue)
It seems evident that a response to Benedict’s call to justice needs to begin by being attentive, listening for God’s call in my life: “Today, if you should hear God’s voice, harden not your heart.” (Rule of Benedict, Prologue). Simone Weil writes in Gravity and Grace that attention is the same thing as prayer; it presupposes faith and love.
We know Benedict spent three years in solitude in the cave at Subiaco. There he prayed and listened, primarily to sacred scripture and to nature all around him. (The Rule of Benedict is filled with quotations from scripture.) At the request of shepherds who asked for instruction on the Christian life, Benedict left the cave. Shall we say, he heard a call from God? He certainly listened to his own experience, the request of the shepherds, and responded.
Sister Aquinata Boeckman, OSB, scholar of the Rule of Benedict, writes that Benedict’s most important choice was not to enter the cave but to come out of the cave. We, too, can learn to listen to hear God’s call to justice through prayer and the everyday experiences of our lives, as did Benedict. Benedict then put that learning into living: establishing small monasteries and, with his monks, restoring the land through digging, planting, and building. Benedictines have a long history of attentiveness to nature and caring for the earth.
An example of listening from an experience that I know first-hand: In the 1980 symposium of the 1500th anniversary of Benedict and Scholastica here at Holy Wisdom (at that time known as St. Benedict’s Center), one of the participants, a Methodist campus minister from Oshkosh, said to me during a break: “You Benedictines, it’s all about community for you; what kind of community do you have for me?”
Whoa! A few days later, a professor of medieval history noted that in the 1500 year Benedictine tradition one can find almost any form of Benedictine community one looks for.
I said to myself and Sister Mary David, if that statement is true, why can’t there be an ecumenical Benedictine community in our day? And so began our theme “Community for the 80’s,” which gave birth to the Community of Benedict, Bingen Community, Sunday Assembly Community and our Oblate Community-a community of communities, all ecumenical, with women and men. This is the spirit that eventually led to the sisters’ ecumenical Benedictine community of Christian women.
It’s very hard to talk about a Benedictine call to justice in the abstract. Benedict prayed and listened to his experiences. The sisters listened to and prayed about their experiences.
Take a few moments of quiet time to get in touch with an experience you’ve prayed about and listened to: within or without an explicitly Benedictine flavor. Who knows where good seeds have been planted and into what they may grow.
In the Prologue, Benedict states he intends to establish a “school of the Lord’s service.” A monastic community is to be a place of learning, a place of listening, a place to break the power of violence, a place of wisdom. Inspired by the monastic tradition we are all called to create and continue to live in an atmosphere of Christian spirituality-in our homes, places of work, in social gatherings, in our churches-wherever we find ourselves. In all these settings, in the tradition of Benedict we listen to our own experience; we listen to one another; we listen to the signs of the times, to nature, to the scriptures, to the mystery of God-with-us.
Thus we enter the “school of the Lord’s service.” And it is in this school of Christian spirituality where Benedict would have us learn justice, I believe. This school is primarily one that educates the heart rather than the mind. This school is non-threatening, where seekers with questions of all kinds are welcome, where newcomers and guests can learn to serve God and God’s people. It is this non-threatening environment that draws people especially to a monastery. By using the term “school,” Benedict suggests that this learning to serve Christ is life-long. There is always a new and deeper experience and a different manifestation of what God would have of us.
To conclude, our “school” is our ordinary life of everyday experiences supported by our spiritual community. In this community:
- We are challenged to pay attention, to listen with the ear of our heart; admitting the words of the other into the heart’s chamber, where they may be digested and made food that nourish the inner life. This listening will dictate our own word and action in response.
- We listen to our tradition-the monastic tradition.
- We share with others the insights God has given us.
- We re-learn when we forget.
A Call to Justice is a good theme for Lent as we return to God with all our heart-“we” individually and “we” together. As Benedict writes near the end of the Rule of Benedict, “may God bring us all together to eternal life.”