Last week in the midst of our preparations for the great Solemnity of the Lord's Nativity, we paused to celebrate the funeral of our Brother Leo.
The procession through the Abbey cemetery.
Brother Amadeus assisted by Brother Francis prepares the body of our deceased Brother for internment.
In these last Advent days we chant the "O Antiphons" at Vespers, begging the presence of Christ using seven different titles. We often use nicknames for those who are dear to us. So it is fitting that we chant Jesus' "nicknames," titles that recall who he is for us: Wisdom, Lord, Flower, Key, Radiant Dawn, King and finally Emmanuel, the name that means God is with us. Always surrounding us, within us, closer to us than we know, Jesus our Lord longs for our presence even as long for him.
The Lord’s approach is so often unremarkable, so quiet that we need to keep watch, that is the essence of our life as monks. For we are always learning God's way of doing things, how he moves in silence and obscurity. Hidden first of all in the warm womb of a very young, virgin mother; he then lives a hidden small town life as a carpenter and wandering preacher. Then in the excruciating hour of his death on the cross, all his beauty and divinity will be obscured by the blood and spittle of his passion. And even after his resurrection he will sneak in quietly through locked doors and whisper to his disciples, “Peace.”
Today we remember Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of our Land. Each year on this day we set up a special shrine in the transept of our church with her image adorned by flowers and two candles that are illumined throughout the day. She is our Mother and our Refuge in all tribulation. We are greatly consoled by her words to Saint Juan Diego in 1531:
Here is the Abbey's cloister garth in early summer- a secret garden surrounded by the four cloisters. This garden enclosed is a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her beauty and fragrance set apart for Christ alone, a place where He could nestle and grow. On this Solemnity of her Immaculate Conception we celebrate her chosenness. We rejoice in the Virgin Mary's privilege, for she reveals the breadth of our human capacity for God, the breathtaking beauty of our availability to all that God wants to accomplish in us.
Today we remember Saint Francis Xavier, one of the first companions of Saint Ignatius Loyola. They always remained close friends and exchanged letters while Francis Xavier was on mission in the Far East and Ignatius stayed in Rome. One letter from Ignatius to Francis Xavier concludes poignantly, "I shall never forget you. Entirely your own, Ignatius.” Imagine the deep friendship between these two saints. We hear an echo of the words of our own Cistercian Father, Saint Ælred of Rievaulx, “God is friendship.” Indeed it is through the love of those we love, that we may learn what God is like.
In the unseasonable warmth and brightness of these early Advent days, we are reminded of Him for whom we wait- the Dawn from on High, Jesus, the Sun of Justice.
Tonight at First Vespers in the fading light of eventide, we will begin our Advent watch. In these darkest days of the year, the shortest days, we will light the first Advent candle and recall the Lord's endless desire to come to us. We will recall our desperate need for Him, our only Hope and Deepest Desire. And so we will try to make more room for Christ in these Advent days, a place in our hearts, in our community where Hope can grow and flourish, as He did in the secret darkness of Mary's womb.
Focusing on gratitude we lifts our hearts this day. Amazed like Mary at the marvels the Lord has done for us- in little ways, in great ways, through joys and difficulties- we are filled with wonder. As Fr. Abbot reminded us in his homily this morning, there is no entitlement. All is gift- God's gracious desire to care for us with "love beyond all telling." The Lord is always, always with us, accompanying us as we accompany one another on the pathways of the Kingdom. Our wonder at God's gifts fills us with gratitude. Wonder and gratitude move us into deeper contemplative love.
The month of November is dedicated to special prayer for the faithful departed. On All Souls Day we processed through the cloisters in the predawn darkness. We paused in the south cloister chanting psalms as the Abbot and his assistants went into the cemetery to sprinkle the graves of our deceased brethren with holy water. The Abbot reminded us as we began the Liturgy that we pray for the dead because we "need to." For the departed "life is changed, not ended;" they have have entered the great mystery of Christ's resurrection. As we beg the Lord in prayer to draw all the faithful departed to himself, we remember our love for them and our connectedness with all those who have gone before us in faith.
Since He loves us first, out of His great tenderness; we are bound to repay Him with love; and we may cherish exultant hope in Him. 'He richly blesses all who call upon Him.' Yet He has no gift for them better than Himself. He gives Himself as prize and reward: He is the refreshment of the holy soul... 'The Lord is good to those who seek Him.' What will He be then to those who gain His presence? But here is a paradox, that no one can seek the Lord who has not already found Him. It is Your will, O God, to be found that You may be sought, to be sought that You may all the more truly be found.
This Fall is different. We are told that the torrential rains and gale-force winds of Hurricane Irene played havoc with the way that the leaves normally change color. Many of the sugar maples that are usually so vibrant simply lost brown leaves. Hurricane Irene was brutal. Many tree limbs were broken; the Abbey's library basement flooded, and we watched volumes of Plato and Merton floating by side by side. And now we are experiencing the last of Irene's meddling. Nonetheless a fine range of subdued but lovely golds and a few patches of deep red are noteworthy. It just takes a bit more effort to notice.
At Spencer, as all through the ages, great care was taken that the monastic buildings would be beautiful, to reflect the glory of God and draw the monk heavenward. The harmonious disposition of spaces was meant to express Saint Benedict’s vision of a harmonious community as presented in his Rule. And indeed for us Cistercians this would mean in addition a certain austerity and visual sobriety expressed in unadorned interior spaces and non-figurative grisaille glass. Great attention was given to proportion and the effects of light on bare walls. Our Cistercian forebears believed the monastery should be a cloistered paradise- where the monk could regain the innocence of Adam and Eve in Eden before the Fall.
All great architecture has its antecedents. The barn at Great Coxwell in Oxfordshire, England located on one of the Cistercian Abbey of Beaulieu’s most significant granges, is dated to the late 13th or early 14th century. It seems to have been the inspiration for Spencer’s church and chapter house. The exterior with pitched roof extending down to low side walls is certainly reminiscent. And our chapter house’s open timbering on the interior seems to echo the interior of the Great Coxwell barn.
The Great Coxwell Barn
This morning as we concluded Lauds the window of Our Lady was blazing in the glow of the sunrise; Mary illumined by the Radiant Dawn, the Sun of Justice, who is Jesus her Son. Baptized into Christ Jesus our lives are meant to glow with His presence. The mysteries of the Holy Rosary- joyful, sorrowful, glorious and luminous- are the mysteries of our own lives. As we pray the Rosary we beg Our Lady to draw us closer to Him who is Our Light.
We are told that Saint Francis decreed that his friars must not have pockets in their habits. How he wanted them to be poor with the poor Christ! How to depend on Jesus alone for all we need? How to cling to Him, a Treasure always ready to hand and heart?
Each day during the Divine Office and especially during Holy Mass we join our praise with that of the angels- Michael
Gabriel
Raphael
Dom Damian our Father Abbot is away in Italy for the General Chapter of the entire Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance. The abbesses and abbots of our Order from around the world gather every three years to discuss the state of the Order and to hear about each other's monastery. As our Constitutions state:
The cowl is worn by the solemnly professed monks; the cloak is worn by novices and simply professed brothers. In the warmer months we do not wear cowls or cloaks in church. But as mornings get chillier, we await the prior's announcement which appeared on the community bulletin board last evening: "Resume Cowls and Cloaks for Vigils, Lauds and Mass."
In the liturgical celebrations of this past week, we honored the triumphant Cross of Christ and Our Lady's Sorrows. Somehow it is the Church's intuition that these aspects of Good Friday deserve our special attention and remembrance. The Cross is key to our freedom in Christ, our release from the clutches of sin and death forever. We need no longer be afraid. Standing with Our Lady by her suffering Son, we are in solidarity with all the suffering members of his wounded Body. We remain there meditating in sorrow but also in hope. Jesus now risen from the dead has turned our mourning into gladness. We promise to be hope for one another in him.
In addition to prayers of intercession and a special tolling of the Abbey bells after communion during yesterday's Mass, our tribute for 9/11 included an arrangement of small candles in the sanctuary. Their flickering was like soft prayers.
The American Bishops have agreed to permit the gradual implementation of musical settings of the Order of Mass from the new Roman Missal beginning in September 2011 to “give time for communities to learn the various parts of the new translation in a timely fashion and an even pace.” And so we gathered this morning in the Abbey church under the direction of our Fr. Gabriel to learn eight new settings of the Holy, Holy, Holy and the acclamations at the Mystery of Faith (Memorial Acclamations). In October we will learn new settings of the Glory to God. We are blest to have Fr. Gabriel in our midst. He is an expert in Gregorian chant performance, and he himself composed many of these new settings in chant mode. This is an opportunity for us monks to deepen our "understanding of the Sacred Liturgy, and to appreciate its meaning and importance in our lives."
Photographs of Abbey grisaille glass by Brother Daniel. Quotations from the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Liturgy is our life and our joy. Seven times a day we gather to pray the Hours. And for the celebration of the Eucharist on solemnities there is much preparation. All we do is worth our effort. It is our business to spend our time and energy in the work of praise.
