Showing posts with label Rule of St. Benedict. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rule of St. Benedict. Show all posts
Saturday, October 06, 2007
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Poem in Ruah: A Journal of Spiritual Poetry published by Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, California USA. http://popruah.opwest.org/ My poem, "Poetic Recitation on the Rule of St. Benedict" is on page 30 in this 2007 edition.
My call by God led me to become a Benedictine Oblate. It has been 12 years, including postulancy. Sometimes I feel as if I must abandon myself to Christ in the spirit and life, to go down the path of the Way and meet God on the mountains he's offered me, by grace.
Swami Abishiktananda was swept away by God. As is said on the back cover of the book, "The Life of Swami Abhishiktananda: The Cave of the Heart,"
"This is the moving account of the extraordinary life of the French Benedictine and Indian sannyasi, Henri Le Saus/Swami Abhishktananda, whose search for the Absolute carried him beyond the boundaries of established religion."
As Father Henri Le Saus writes in a letter:
"You are free, instead of being jammed together in trains or buses. There are enchanting solitudes and wonderful times of silence. Think of it, no noise of engines, no motor-horns, no trains, no radios or loudspeaders, etc. The solitude of Shantivanam is nothing compared to it. You cross hills and valleys, climbing up and down. Sometimes you follow beside a river, one of the streams which join up to form the Ganges, along a narrow valley beside the swift torrent...sheer cliffs on either side, maybe 500-1000 metres high. Then with the Ganges, you descend towards the plain. The Himalayas open up, hills are less high, the Ganges spreads out, divides up and enters the plain to make it fertile."
From the book, The Life of Swami Abhishiktananda: The Cave of the Heart, by Shirley du Boulay, published by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, p. 171.
Christ was swept away by God. (See the quote below.)
It is a powerful and awesome thing to be caught in the hands of the great God of our Bible. Mary was swept away, by obedience. I think to myself and say in prayer that I dare to think of being swept away. These can be powerful calls for any of us. But Christ's call was awesomely special, as is noted in his mountain experience by the writer Brother Ramon SSF in the book, "The Prayer Mountain."
"Many things were happening on the mountain of transfiguration, but as the Collect reminded us, the shadow of the Cross had fallen across Jesus' path. After his baptism, driven in the wilderness, he had rejected the worldly and ambitious ploys to gain power or win favour. It had become clear to him that his path was that of Messiah for Israel, then the very word had to be emptied of its military and nationalistic accretions. He had already understood that such a Messiah would tread the path of suffering, and in some mysterious way that suffering would be redemptive. This was the basic impulse that drew him towards Tabor."
Prologue of the great Text of The Rule
by Peter Menkin (2001)
Savoring the words of meaning
in The Rule is an offering
for understanding
"...let us open
our eyes to the light..."
and come to know language--arise from a sleep
--to listen.
Saint Benedict!
Awakening heart and mind, in His goodness
stirring the fear of God, King, Christ the Lord
through the words of "...this message of mine..."
notes the sloth
of disobedience is in us. Calls to ears that listen
"Run while you have the light..."
inviting all to the voice of the Lord;
call delightful, what is more?
Recently, I learned through my agent Kelly Morris in Ohio, that two print publications will print poems of mine in Fall, 2007: Ruah: A Journal of Spiritual Poetry will print, "Poetic Recitation on The Rule of St. Benedict," Western Quarterly will print a poem (can't remember the title), and the web site Sacred Journey has a poem posted. I am pleased to be noticed.
The godliness of living a Gospel life when it comes to The Rule of St. Benedict, the nature of the author’s intentions and set of mind, the understandings of The Rule itself, are a few of the rewards one gets from Terrence G. Kardong’s, “Benedict’s Rule: A Translation and Commentary.” One thesis of Father Kardong’s is, “…the Rule teaches a dynamic spirituality.” A book for those interested in living a Gospel life, some areas touched upon by this book include, “progress and growth” in the religious and spiritual life, what’s referred to as ongoing conversion in the life of faith, and humility.
The book suggests looking towards continued reading of “…the teaching of the Bible and Fathers.” This last a recommendation of the Rule, and the book “Benedict’s Rule” an endorsement and recommendation of St. Benedict’s little book for beginners.
A reader interested in St. Benedict’s Rule will find this 600 plus page work, published by The Liturgical Press a scholarly work. It can be used as a text for reading, as in study, or as a reference work (so I think). The book speaks of St. Benedict’s sense of moderation, and his humility, an earmark of the book about the Rule itself, and a hallmark of the author who is a monk and priest.
Father Kardong writes at the very beginning of the book in a dedication that the work is, “To my brothers of Assumption Abbey who taught me how to be a monk and who freed me for the work of writing this commentary on the Rule of Benedict.” This is a book for monks in the monastery, and also for lay people and Oblates of St. Benedict. This is a book for church goers. This is a book for people who practice the work of God, the daily office.
One needs to have patience and perseverance to read it. One needs to take this book as it comes, not hurry it along, and in many places reread both the Rule as translated by Father Kardong, and his commentary. A retired Episcopal priest, who used to give retreats for the laity introducing The Rule of St. Benedict, suggested that I read the book without a sense of time or looking towards the end of it. He thought the work a book to be savored.
Father Kardong has many good thoughts and suggestions; certainly his commentary is beneficial for the interested reader. That is not a statement too obvious to be made, for this is a worthy book by a wise and educated monk.
I will find a good quote from Terrence G. Kardong’s writings, but first this description of the book from the preface by Father Kardong says he has produced “…a double-deck commentary with detailed philological material in notes and discursive material in the overviews.” This is his interpretation of the Rule. He notes that much is experiential. For me, this added merit to the book. His commentary is part of his life experience and work. An attribute that adds to the authenticity and authority of, “The Rule: A Translation and Commentary.”
The famous words of the Rule begin, “Listen, O my son, to the teachings of your master, and turn to them with the ear of your heart.” After all, the Rule is a religious book, and religion is for the heart. These words for the heart have been around 1,500 years. What is meant by these few words of the Rule is made commentary in another quotation: “Let us open our eyes…is a possible allusion to the Transfiguration, where the drowsy disciples are startled by the shining forth of Christ, and instructed by the voice from heaven (Luke 9:32).”
At a preached retreat in Big Sur, California USA, at Immaculate Heart Hermitage, Brother Bede explained that the Rule is a holy book, an illuminated work that keeps on giving, like the Bible. I remembered his instruction when approaching “Benedict’s Rule” and considered that the writer Father Kardong also approached it as such. This itself is an important point, for the work presented is exemplary.
In his commentary on the last part of the Rule, he writes, “…that observance of the Rule [Biblical theme of the Rule] itself is not enough; the Rule, like the Law, is to be ‘fulfilled.’” Though many believe the Rule is a way to perfection, and asks for that perfection, a serious consideration is that the Rule is also a book of love. Kardong believes it is mainly a book about love.
A major theme of the last chapter, love is described in the commentary: “…for the love that is preached in the penultimate chapter is essentially communal and public…selfless love for the other is a better way to end the Rule than the theme of ‘perfection.’”
It is the love in community; love for and of one another, the love that God offers and gives, that is central to living the Rule of St. Benedict. This alone is worth the price of admission. For as the monastery is a school for living, so the Rule offers a school for living the Gospel in ongoing conversion in one’s life. “The Rule of St. Benedict” is a book inspired by the Gospel and written by a great holy man, Benedict of Nursia (St. Benedict).
--Peter Menkin, Easter 2007
This review appears on the website Amazon.com.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
A poem (again, a poem) about God in one's life: The Rule of St. Benedict...turning to God in vigil...
Most recently, I have begun a vigil for a woman who is nearing death. I visit a nursing home health care unit weekly, and a woman I have known for a while is refusing to eat, apparently too old now to live. This disturbs me, and it has been going on for some time. No one could do anything about it, including doctors and nurses. What do I do? How do I react? I chose to turn to God and a vigil.
I called it my vigil, but when I mentioned it to others they suggested some prayers (for it is their vigil, too). I chose to turn to God, and this poem is about a way of turning to God.
Poetic recitation on The Rule of St. Benedict by Peter Menkin
Attend with the ear of your heart
Listen in the silence
at night or daytime
through trials and living.
This Rule brings God, the Lord
closer: do so to me.
Labor of obedience:
Before beginning a goodwork, pray earnestly.
We are the Lords counted
sons and daughters.
The path offers good gifts,
open your eyes to the light.
Arise from sleep.
For All Who Suffer: O God, look with mercy on those who suffer, and heal their spirits,that they may be delivered from sickness and fear. Restore hopefor the desolate, give rest to the weary, comfort the sorrowful, bewith the dying; and bring them, finally, to their true heavenly home, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Poetic notes on the Rule of St. Benedict; an introduction...
For 12 years and more I have endeavored to follow the Rule of St. Benedict, a short text that says so much about man and living in relation to Christ. This is a Trinitarian God set forth in this little book. Here is a poetic note on the Prologue. My hope is that it praises God and praises the Rule.
Prologue of great Text of The Rule... by Peter Menkin
Savoring the words of meaning
in The Rule is an offering
for understanding"...let us open
our eyes to the light...
"and come to know language--arise from asleep
that reaches across centuries--to listen.
Saint Benedict!
Awakening heart and mind, in His goodness
stirring the fear of God, King, Christ the Lord
through the words of "...this message of mine..."
notes the sloth
of disobedience is in us. Calls to ears that listen
"Run while you have the light..."
inviting all to the voice of the Lord;
call delightful, what is more?
Short poem reflecting on The Rule for Summertime: "I Desire to See Good Days"... This poem is a reflection of my living by The Rule of St. Benedict. A brief statement in poetry, this revision from the Writer's Workshop on The Atlantic is improved from its original, yet remains to state how much I like the promise of seeking and living a life in God.
Today I visited acquaintances and friends at All Souls church in Berkeley, where we talked at lunchtime about our experiences with God, and the promise of a better life that our lives are offered.
The night before, I listened to a CD produced by Cowley Publications titled, "Guard Us Sleeping." Besides Compline, there were songs for the night and plainsong hymns of the seven seasons. I was comforted by the monks of the Society of Saint John of the Evangelist, and brought to a sense of reverence for and presence of Christ. Their website: http://www.cowley.org/ .
I purchased the CD at a good price through http://www.amazon.com/ . Here is the location on the internet at Amazon to purchase or read about "Guard Us Sleeping."
As you can see, I am putting internet sites in my journal, trying to be up to date with others by providing links.
Here is the poem of mine titled, "I Desire to See Good Days." It reflects on The Rule of St. Benedict, and I think is a good poem for Pentecost and Summertime.
I Desire to See Good Days
by Peter Menkin The sunlight, the hallowed
event of everyday living.
Reminder of Christ
around us, before us, above us.
Peace, I seek the Lord's love.
Set out on this
to see him
who calls.
On preparation and entry to contemplative prayer: a Poem...
Welcome to a more personal poem, written at an urban monastery, the study house of Camaldolese Monks. I wrote this poem with the thought of following the preparation and entry into contemplative prayer.
What better time to do so than on retreat in the year 2002 at Incarnation Monastery in Berkeley, California (San Francisco's Bay Area). I hope you like this memory of prayer, which appears to be relevant to my prayer life today. I say "appears to be" because every preparation and entry into such prayer is not the same. Yet it is similar enough for the poem to have validity today.
You can find this poem on my personal web page http://www.petermenkin.com/ . The page is not complete at this time, still a work in progress. It will contain many poems, some that have not been posted on the web previously.
On Retreat (revise) by Peter Menkin I: Preparation
Attend with the ear of your heart
Listen in the silence
at night or daytime
through trials and living.
This Rule brings God, the Lord
closer. Labor of obedience:
Before beginning a goodwork,
pray earnestly.
We are the Lords counted
sons and daughters.
The path offers good gifts,
open your eyes to the light.
Arise from sleep.
The Rule offers the voice
from heaven this day.
II. Prayer of request and confession
So much strife, the world
encroaches and wearies
with wearing. Stains.
Run on with life's light;
I seek this lightness
of being
that darkness and death
not overtake me.
The uncommon call, hear
his voice--do not harden your heart.
Mercy that gives and opens,
says receive these words, so offered.
Learn the fear of the Lord
in everyday living--even a moment in time.
Day star Benedict,
man of God speakingacross
centuries in holy words:
For a man or womanin days journey; arise
my soul and spirit to
join this way.
III. Place of retreat begins its Work
Quiet sounds of the house
reflect the Spirit resting
upon this place:
The birds talk
of here, hear them outside. Yet the quiet
envelopes with support
sinking to the bone.
Peaceful quiet, peaceful sounds.
Drench me arena,
a sanctuary amid
urban sounds: jet overhead,
passing car all these present
yet distant.
The tension of retreat:
subtle, strong, weak, resiliant.
I rest, await renewal again.
IV. Seeking the Lord
There is quiet, no hardsound--strong silence
of solitude and work.
This earthly strength
reveals heaven.Christ's spirit
rests on this place.
V. Waiting on the Spirit
Inner life jangles, twitches,
aware of soothing Spirit.
Waiting.Grace that underlines
living.
Ask for waters
that spring from abundance.
Quenches.
VI. Faith in God begins
Our meditation moves
to contemplation: today
let it be unto me;
so morning prayer starts.
I ponder my desire
for release from earthly pain,
find out about flesh again,
discovering the Spirit
holds other fruits: Wait
on the Lord.
Can one know, glimpse--the great yes
of vastness greater
than mountains and hills.
Creation, all being.
Spark, starburning bright,
the soul groans.
Notes in a poetic form on The Rule of St. Benedict; an appeal to pray and for peace...
For some time now I have been reading, praying, studying to learn to live by "The Rule of St. Benedict" as an Oblate of New Camaldoli, Big Sur, California (USA). When I started out in my postulancy, about 11 years ago, the reading list was long. It took me ten years to complete. I was a postulant for a year. (I continued on as an Oblate when postulancy ended.)
Then, after finishing the first list in ten years, to my surprise, the teachers at the monastery came out with a new list of books to read. I am now working my way through it. All this time I endeavored to live in the world according to The Rule, and the Oblate's Rule. This meant the Daily Office, reading of psalms, prayer, regular attendance at Church and partaking in the Eucharist as fully as possible.
I have come to the point in my reading of The Rule, where I am reading Adalbert de Vogue's, "The Rule of Saint Benedict: A Docrinal and Spiritual Commentary," and I understand it. I find value in it. Most recently, in studying and reading this book, I have been taken with the direction that Psalms are a form of prayer, that the reading of them is prayer, and that one needs to be in the presence of God. The monastic, which includes the Oblate, seeks God. This is the most important characteristic, to my mind, and from what the book says, what I think and was taught is confirmed. Good for me. Lucky me.
The poem for this posting is about The Rule, and it is five years old. Before placing it on my journal site (what I call a blog under creation), a note that there are many good books on living and learning "The Rule of St. Benedict" for laymen and women, for living in the world, and for putting into practice many of the teachings and disciplines of the rule. Send me an email, and I will send the titles of a few. Most of these books I read and own, I purchased through Amazon.com. They are readily available, most in paperback, and readable titles. Those that are hard to find are the more advanced ones, harder to find and took some difficult internet searching.
The poem, something of a prayer and a praise:
:
Poetic recitation on The Rule of St. Benedict by Peter Menkin - Jun 1, 2002
Attend with the ear of your heart,
Listen in the silenceat night or daytime
through trials and living.
This Rule brings God, the Lord,closer--even to me, do so.
Labor of obedience:
Before beginning a goodwork, pray earnestly.
We are the Lords counted
sons and daughters.The path offers good gifts,
open your eyes to the light.
Arise from sleep.The Rule offers the voice
from heaven this day.
More on book reviews by me, and links to them...Books about spiritual and God matters... A Mystical Portrait of Jesus: New Perspectives on John's Gospel (Paperback)
Here is the beginning of the Chapter "Love Gives All." Just two sentences that say so much: "The story of the crucifixion and death of Jesus is summed up perfectly in the words of John: 'Having Loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end' (13:1). This is a little like being reminded at Christmas time that Jesus will die on the cross. There is a mystery to the life of the man Jesus, part of it for me is that it was so short. We were given only three years of his ministry to look at for wisdom and saving grace. In this book Demetrius Dumm uses the text of John with his comments to help us as a guide through a reading of John.
The Oblate of St. Benedict (Dedalus European Classics) (Paperback)
The Author Joris-Karl Huysmans is French, and this novel is set in France, translated from the French. That tells you a lot. One learns more of the genre, which I call religious, when one learns the book was originally published in 1904. That makes it what the publisher calls a European Classic. From my understanding, the author was an Oblate in the Roman Catholic Church. I had the distinct feeling that the Oblate thought himself both superior to the average or common man, and at the same time found a way to make himself and his order seem humorous. That is a French kind of humor--foolish and a fool involved with a life of prayer and seeking God. Sometimes called a man who can be a fool for God. The Oblate is a man under a promise to a monastery who lives in the world, but in this case spends much time attending the prayer offices of the monastery near which he lives.
The title intrigues me, as does this book by Dom John Main, OSB. The writer, a monk, is telling us about using a word as a prayer to bring us to silence inside that we allow us to pursue and find God. If you are Christocentric, as am I, you will find this a seminal book, so clearly written on meditation and taking ones life into the realms of relationship with God throughout the day. Not so much a how-to book as a book on practice, this quote from the beginning of "Word into Silence" gives a summary and authority to the belief we can come to the Lord: It is from Chapter 5 of Paul's letter to the Romans: "Therefore, now that we have been justified through faith, let us continue at peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we have been allowed to enter the sphere of God's grace, where we now stand. Let us exult in the hope of the divine splendour that is to be ours...because God's love has flooded our inmost heart through the Holy Spirit He has given us."
First, I want to mention how I stumbled on this book. With luck I did stumble on it, too. I was searching for poetry about The Ten Commandments. This is a book that is like a series of confessions and conceits, a book about living life and the failings that we even good people have when it comes to the yardstick of The Ten Commandments. A lively hardback, to my surprise the book arrived with a charming art-like dustcover, in hardbook, on good paper and well layed out all for a song. Remember, I'd not heard a word of this book of poetry before finding it. Now I am a fan of J.D. McClatchy, for anyone who can capture and poetically state a tenor of lives caught in living, and wrought with a poet's sense is someone well worth the time to consider. I suppose I am raising my very modest voice to a host of others, but mostly I am saying this is probably an overlooked book because it says "Ten Commandments."
Echoes From Calvary: Meditations On Franz Joseph Haydn's Seven Last Words Of The Christ (Paperback)
I found "Echoes from Calvary" by way of an article in The San Francisco Chronicle by a writer named Peter Steinfels under the label "Beliefs." It says as headline, "Haydn's music on Christ's last words, a transforming journey from concert hall to sacred setting." The book is a text of meditations and is titled "Echoes from Calvary: Meditations on Franz Joseph Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ." This lovely book has 2 CDs, the complete performance with the spoken word and one CD with music only. One intriguing part of the book is the first which goes through the musical and spiritual journey of the man who put all this together, a musician named Richard Young. Now I think this is a heavy kind of reading, for it is a Good Friday text--so why at Easter time. That's when I read it. I am interested in the resurrection, from a religious viewpoint, and of course the entry way is Holy Week and Good Friday. There you have my reason.
This is a book that originally was a doctoral thesis, mine printed around 1972.It is a work that allows the reader to participate in a thought process and intuitive, yes even intuitive, scholarly study of Teilhard de Chardin and the Cosmos. I recommend the book, a slim volume of good writing that is understandable to the layman or anyone interested in the cosmic idea of the Christ and the considerations of God (the Triune) in our lives. The writer, who is known to me as the Very Reverend is part of the Order of Saint Benedict, Camaldoles. The work holds the imprint of his order, showing its acceptability as doctrine.
There is a formative sense to his writings, a recollection in faith and Godthat is delicately wrought and said with a sense of the imminence of God inhis life as a young man, and the beauty of poetry. I like that he comes tothe subject of generations and of the various human forces of mankind intwentieth century history with a willingness of being open to someimaginative life that seems touched with the Holy Spirit. I wonder aboutthis man of Christ, and his life that is lived in a way that is reallyoutsidemy experience and observation (saintly); here is Dom Bede's genuineness in faithand his own religious devotion.
Celebrating the Seasons: Daily Spiritual Readings for the Christian Year (Hardcover)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0819218472/ref=cm_aya_asin.title/102-8728006-9465761?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155 There is a holiness about this book of readings, "Celebrating the Seasons: Daily Spiritual Readings for the Christian Year." I bought my copy at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in 2000. Here are some of my writings about that event, and I call it an event since the book has meaning to me: "January 11, 2000. I visited Grace Cathedral Gift Shop and bought this since the 12 days of Christmas are over. I was going to get a new pew copy of The Book of Common Prayer. I ducked into the Cathedral--while waiting for a friend--this turned out well...God loves a sinner and seeks the lost sheep and the lamb."
Christian Meditation : Experiencing the Presence of God (Hardcover)
There is so much in this hardback with the attractive dustcover that it is difficult to know where to start. The author, James Finley, says what his book is about from his perspective as the writer, and what could be better: "...I am sharing with you what I have learned thus far in my ongoing spiritual journey." For people who see their life as a spiritual journey, even a pilgrimage or travel through the desert, James Finley has written an articulate if somewhat detailed text on being with and learning to seek God in ones life.
