Our community could not exist
without the gift of the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit of the Father and the Son
can make communion possible among us: "being of the same mind…united
in heart, thinking the same thing.” The Lord has called us to a special charism
in the Church: forty-five men of all ages and backgrounds, living and working
together day in and day out, without wives and children, at all hours of the
night and day in church, obedient to a Rule and an abbot – this charism is
impossible without the Holy Spirit. It is all too easy to see what happens in
the absence of the Spirit – community life dissolves, discipline is
non-existent, a monastery becomes a home for numerous groups of sarabites
whose law is to do whatever pleases them. Only the Holy Spirit can keep this
from happening.
That is why Our Lord’s appearance to
the disciples on Easter night is so important for us. It is the final act of
Jesus’ hour, St. John’s version of Pentecost, in which the Spirit is given to
the disciples to overcome fear and create communion. The Lord’s glorification
on the cross culminates in this pouring out of the Spirit on his first little
community. He continued to pour it out on our Fathers of Citeaux, and he does
the same for us today. The Spirit reminds us of our charism as a cenobitic,
Cistercian community. As the Father has loved the Son; as the Son has handed all
things over to the Father; as the Spirit continues this divine exchange among
us, so now the Spirit draws us into this ever-deepening communion of
self-emptying.
What else does Jesus reveal to us about our charism of communion? First of all, it is a grace that enables us to live in peace, even in the midst of the hardships and obscurity of Cistercian life. “Peace to you,” the Risen Lord says, breathing out his Spirit. The Spirit casts out that false peace that the world gives and which the prophet speaks about, “‘Peace, peace,’ they say when there is no peace.” The Spirit convicts the world – and us – when we give a false peace, but he gives the fruit of righteousness to those who sow and cultivate true peace. We are to cultivate this peace by laying down our lives for our brothers.
Jesus then showed the disciples his
hands and his side. In this gesture the Spirit is reminding us of our special
calling to contemplate the Lord’s mission. Everything else must be at the
service of this. He labored with his hands and only completed his labors when
his hands were nailed to a tree. He bore within his heart his undying adherence
to his Father’s will until that heart was pierced for us so that his
faithfulness could be poured out on us. In our own humble way in the daily
tasks of our common life, we are to allow the Spirit to use our hands and our
heart to build communion.
Finally, Jesus says, “As the Father
has sent me, so I send you.” Our charism includes being sent forth as Jesus
was. The Spirit drove Jesus into the desert for forty days. He has sent us as a
community into the desert for a lifetime. It can feel like a wasteland of
howling desert where acedia abounds, where demons prowl, “Until the spirit from
on high is poured out on us. And the wilderness becomes a garden land and the
garden land is deemed a forest.” Jesus sends us out where the Spirit can
complete his work of purification and sanctification. The silence and solitude
of the desert is meant to become the home of men and angels for the sake of the
whole Church and mankind.
How earnestly we must thank God for the gift of the Spirit! Just as the disciples without the Spirit were unable to set out and proclaim God’s communion with humankind, so we could never persevere in our common life without the breath of the Spirit. Come, O Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of this community, and enkindle in us the fire of your love.
