An Annual Retreat and the Questions of Life

            From Sunday evening, July 29, through Friday afternoon, August 3 the community was engaged in our annual retreat. Our retreat director was Abbot Paul Mark Schwan, OCSO, (pictured below right with Sr. Aileen Bankemper, our prioress) from The Abbey of Our Lady of New Clairvaux in Vina, California. Fr. Paul was our first Cistercian retreat director and he was a delight and blessing to our
community.

            The title of the retreat was For what have you come? and Fr. Paul focused on some of the questions in the Rule of Benedict. He began by talking about the art of the question, particularly the questions God addresses to us in our daily living of the Rule. Each talk centered around one of the questions from the Rule:

•             What does the Spirit say? (RB  Prol  2)
•             Who is it who desire life and longs to see good days? (RB Prol 15)
•             What can be sweeter to us than this voice of the Lord inviting us, dearest sisters? (RB Prol 19)
•             Lord, who shall dwell in your tent or who shall rest upon your holy mountain? (RB Prol 23)
•             Do you not know that patience of God is leading you to repentance? (RB Prol 37)
•             How could you see a speck in your sister’s eye and not have notices the plank in your own? (RB 2:15)
•             For what page or what words are there in the divinely inspired Old & New Testaments that are not a most direct norm for human life? (RB 73:3)
•             Are you hastening toward your heavenly homeland? (RB 7:3)

            In each conference Fr. Paul’s unique approach was telling a story from the Gospels that he related to each question. He was good storyteller and didn’t try to draw direct parallels to the questions and the Gospel story. It was up to each of us to explore the Gospel and relate it to the question from the Rule. Sometimes that left us with more questions. As I listened I was reminded of the quote from Rainer Maria Rilke about the great questions of  life.

            Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves . . .       Live the questions now.

           Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the

              answer.

            Fr. Paul’s closing conference, entitled When does the journey end?, explored the Christology of the Rule and illustrated the centrality of Christ in the monk’s life.

            On Friday evening we had an informal discussion with Fr. Paul beginning with a brief video on the Cistercian life at New Clairvaux. We were impressed by the work of the monks’ hands—harvesting walnuts and plums for prunes. New Clairvaux also has a thriving vineyard which produces internationally acclaimed wines. The community has recently completed a capital campaign that allowed them to use stones from an 800 year old extinct monastery in Spain, brought to the US by William Randoph Hearst, to build a new chapel. Our discussion with Fr. Paul allowed us to understand the Cistercian life and charism better as it is lived in this young, diverse monastery. We now feel a connection with the monks at New Clairvaux and will always have an interest in their well-being and an affection for their abbot.

      Sr. Deborah Harmeling, OSB

Readings from the 2017 Reterat

            It’s been nearly two weeks since our annual retreat ended and perhaps these reflections are a bit late but I feel urged to say something about what affected me. It was, indeed, an honor to have Abbot Primate Gregory Polan with us. Several years ago when he was abbot of Conception Abbey, he had agreed to give a retreat at St. Walburg Monastery. Last year he was elected Abbot Primate, residing in Rome with lots of responsibilities. Nevertheless, he came to us and gave a blessed retreat which he called “Benedictines Living the Paschal Mystery.” Perhaps it is my age, but the tangibles that I have experienced helped me immensely to enter enter into and  remember what Abbot Gregory opened to us.

            When the retreat began, we received a paper with the topics of each of his talks along with a number of Scripture references which would have a strong and direct bearing on the message of each talk. Also each day Sr. Emmanuel Pieper, our artist, would display a beautiful word or phrase near the chapel to remind us of what Father had said or what we had read. The following are the topics of the lectures with suggested readings.

Listening to God’s Questions

            Gen. 3       Gen. 12:1-3     Job 38:1-3       Gen. 22: 1-3

Listening: the Heart of the Monastic Vocation

            RB Prologue   1 Kgs. 19:9-18     Is. 50: 4-5      Ps. 119:45

Holy Leisure: the Place to Listen

            RB 48:22-23   Gen. 2:3    Lev. 23:1-3

The Paschal Mystery and the Grace of Failure

            Jer. 20: 7-13    Phil. 3: 7-11     Prologue 50    Rule 72: 5     Ps. 147: 10-11

The Weight of Glory: Our Great Hope

            Ex. 19       2Cor 3:12-18          Is. 60           RB Prologue 7 and 5:3

Forgiveness and Reconciliation: the Heart of the Gospel

            2 Cor 5;17-21        Is 6:5       Luke 5:8

Prayer and the Paschal Mystery

            Mark 1:23-13  Matthew 4: 1-11  Luke 4:1-3  John 20:21-23 John 21:1-14

Living the Paschal Mystery with an All-Knowing God

            Psalm 139    Gen. 28:10-16

       I found the readings above a great preparation for each presentation and the basis of my recollection of what Abbot Gregory had said. The retreat ended several weeks ago but this information and the notes I took help me to remember a wonderful experiencing of listening, hear and taking to heart Living the Paschal Mystery.

                  Sr. Andrea Collopy, OSB

Editor's Note: Sr. Andrea has decided that this will her last blog post. She will still be writing Chronicles in our newsletter LEAVEN. We thank her for all her past contributions to this blog and know that we and our readers will miss her voice here.  

Of Time Made Holy

       In 1976 the Conference of Benedictine Prioresses published a statement by this name which stressed the importance of our public prayer, the Divine Office or what St. Benedict calls the Work of God. The document was reissued in 2001. All times are holy but our communal prayer gets special recognition.

     A time I consider more holy is fast approaching. (Does holiness have a more or less?) Our monastery will start its annual retreat this Sunday. It should be a time in which we give more attention to the holy of our lives. Beginning Sunday evening we will attempt to slow down and to alter our routine to give greater attention to our spirituality—a time to draw closer to God and as a result to each other. There will be fewer tasks and more quiet to enable extra time for private prayer, reflection, and input of a spiritual nature. We will have less talking and less noise. Our meals will be in silence.

     We are blessed by the presence of Fr. Joel Rippinger, a Benedictine monk from Marmion Abbey in Illinois I have read articles by Fr. Joel and have always thought it would be good to meet him. He is an experienced retreat director and is well versed in spiritual direction. Fr. Joel is a scholar of the history of Benedictines especially in the United States. (You may Google him to learn more!) Approximately 10 times over the following five days Fr. Joel will speak to us from his knowledge and his experience.

     I look forward to spiritual reminders and expect them to be laced with great stories  I expect a booster shot and should not be disappointed. I know from experience that the closing meal on Friday evening will be full of excitement, louder than usual. We will move into the future with more energy.

          Sr. Mary Rabe, OSB