From the Inside Out

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monastic peace, Peace, right-heartedness, Sr. Joan Chittister, the Benedictine Way, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

Sister Joan Chittister is one of the most prolific spiritual writers on the planet in our time. My assessment of her “success” is simple. She writes what she has learned from living a life dedicated to what is known as “The Benedictine Way.” All religious congregations have rules on which they base their life and their members do their best, more or less, to grow in their attention and commitment to what is called for in their daily life in order to follow the vision of their founder. Benedictine women and men have done so for fifteen hundred years. Recently many others have joined their effort in what has been called “monasteries without walls” because they are seeking deeper spiritual lives lived with an essential component called balance. That, they find, brings peace, a state that is sorely lacking in our world today. I speak of Christian groups here but as we know the same is true in other religious traditions everywhere.

As I reflect on this moment in time, when we are living in a moment of universal upheaval, I find Sister Joan’s book, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, a valuable tool for my reflection. Here are the words that give me pause for today from her chapter called Peace: Sign of a Disarmed Heart.

Benedictine peace is not something that is ever achieved. It is something sincerely and consistently sought. It comes, in fact, from the seeking, not from the getting. It comes from the inside, not from the outside. It comes from right-heartedness, not from self-centeredness. It comes from the way we look at life, not from the way we control it. It comes from the attitudes we bring to things, not from the power we bring to them…Monastic peace, in other words, is the power to face what is with the serenity of faith and the courage of hope, with the surety that good can come from evil and the certainty that good will triumph. Peace is the fruit of Benedictine spirituality. Peace is the sign of the disarmed heart. (p. 184-85)

Holy Leisure

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balance, holy, holy leisure, Joan Chittister, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

In Sister Joan Chittister’s book, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, there is a chapter entitled “Holy Leisure: the Key to a Good Life.” I opened to it today in search of some good thoughts about foolishness or what it means to be a “holy fool,” since today is April Fool’s Day. What I found lurking under all her words was Sister Joan’s deep understanding of balance, the mainstay of St. Benedict’s rule of life.

What I have heard most often in conversations over the past month is a determination to get rid of clutter and bring some order to life because of the necessity of staying home, i.e. not going to work. This is—especially for people like me who seem to get less organized with age—what seems to be a golden opportunity because of having more time with less to do. What I find, however, is that the days are passing and my achievements are not commensurate with the number of days that are already gone from me without any success to show for the time spent.

My conclusion is that perhaps my understanding of “balance” is rather skewed. How to get to balance might entail freeing myself from guilt about not achieving what I plan for a day but planning differently. What is it that would qualify as “leisure” nowadays? I can’t go to the movies or to a concert but maybe a TV movie in the middle of the afternoon with my housemates would be allowed. Or maybe I could put on earphones and listen to the “ONE” CD of all the #1 songs of the BEATLES, even occasionally singing out loud or dancing along with Paul, the best of all Beatles.

What would call you out of this distressing time we are living in and raise your spirits? Spending a couple of hours doing whatever it is might be just the thing to make the rest of the day worth the time and even worthy of the designation “holy.”

Sunday – All Day

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prayer, reflection, ritual of prayer, Sister Joan Chittister, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

This morning I have a sense of recognition and remembrance that feels a bit like Sundays of long ago. It’s very quiet in our house. There was the “coffee chat” – the first sighting of our housemates in the kitchen – but the stillness that feels related somehow to the cold outside has now returned and we are left by ourselves to reflect on this weekly “holy day.” Before work schedules in the world were “24/7” we Catholics had a rule that said “No unnecessary servile work on Sundays.” Happily, that meant no serious cleaning, no heavy lifting…I couldn’t even iron my father’s handkerchiefs – a privilege I dearly loved.

What was the point of all that? Why was Sunday special for us as Saturday for the Jewish people in the next town? In describing the Sunday rituals of prayer in her monastery, Sister Joan Chittister offers the following thoughts.

Prayer is the filter through which we view our worlds. Prayer provokes us to see the life around us in new ways…Prayer is meant to call us back to a consciousness of God here and now, not to make God some kind of private getaway from life…prayer puts us in contact with past and future at once so that the present becomes clearer and the future possible. (Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, pp. 28-9)

While we still honor a day of the week with ritual, as do others in keeping with their religious traditions, it is helpful sometimes to step out of our routines and set aside a whole day for reflection on just what Sister Joan is talking about. I ask myself when was the last time I did this? What about you?

Joan Chittister Speaks

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basics, community, companionship, Joan Chittister, love of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

Sometimes I just need a little of Joan Chittister’s Wisdom Distilled from the Daily to get me going in the morning. I’ve been talking a lot lately about the necessity of engagement in deep and meaningful conversation in our world to help us understand each other. With that in mind, I opened to a page in the middle of Sister Joan’s chapter on Community and found a description of Christmas preparations in the monastery and how everyone pitches in to help with everything from major cleaning and decorating to wrapping gifts for the poor. Since that is the way of things in convents I smiled and continued reading to find the important message below that I think is apropos for all of us at any time of the year.

...that makes me realize we are all in this together. Then I know in a special way that I am not alone. Then I realize with new insight that there are basics in life that are more important than a business schedule. Then I understand that those basics are love of God and fun and companionship on the long dark roads of life and partnership in the great human enterprise. We have to learn to be for one another so that the love of God is a shining certainty, even now, even here. That is the function and blessing of community. And it is a far cry from the rugged individualism, the narcissism, and the brutal independence that has become the insulation in our neighborhoods and the hallmark of our culture. (p.48)

Not one to mince words is this “mighty mite” of a woman, everyone’s Sister Joan, who wrote that paragraph for publication 29 years ago. How much more we need to hear it today! Let us think on these things and see what we can do to incarnate her message in our own life and our world.

Listening With Your Heart

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Benedictine, choice, debate, decisions, Joan Chittister, listening, pray for wisdom, spirituality, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, voice of God, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

I felt I needed to check news headlines this morning as I had been rather “out of the loop” during a whirlwind week playing “catch-up” with myself. It was an interesting few minutes. Most of what I read were a number of interpretations of the debate performances of one or all of the ten top candidates of the Democratic Party for our next President of the U.S.A. Everyone has an opinion and, although I do realize many of the reporters do their “homework” before, during and after events such as these, I will now be better off reading transcripts of what they really said and following my own heart in making decisions. I would wish for some face-to-face time with each one of those still standing but will have to settle for replays and reflection for the next several months.

After my foray into the news headlines I spent some time with Joan Chittister’s Wisdom Distilled from the Daily. Sister Joan always has a way of pulling me back into my own head and heart with just the right words. (I would do well to support her for some lofty political office, I think.) Here’s what she said that, by way of analogy, reinforced my confidence this morning.

Benedictine spirituality is, then, the spirituality of an open heart…At one point in the monastic life, I was sure that knowing the Rule and practicing its practices was the secret of a holy life. Now I know that knowing the document will never suffice for listening to the voice of God wherever it may be found. No longer do I hope that someday, somehow, I will have accumulated enough listening so that there will be no further questions about pious practices that can easily be learned. Now I have only a burning commitment to those qualities of the spiritual life that must be learned if I am to grow. (p.24-25)

It’s far-fetched perhaps as a way to proceed in winnowing the political field for office, but I do think there is a relevance in Sister Joan’s comments. It’s up to me to go beyond the words offered by the candidates, to feel their motivations and check their past and present actions for what is really the make-up of their agenda – to the best of my ability, of course. And in the end, to pray for wisdom and the best hope for the future of our country.

A Well-ordered Life

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Joan Chittister, monastery, monastic life, prayer, spiritual life, St. Benedict, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, work

St. Benedict (c. 480 – c. 547) is credited with bringing monasticism to the West. After more than 1500 years, his influence is still felt around the world in monasteries and over the past half-century it has been growing as well in “monasteries without walls.” This movement is a resurgence of the desire in “ordinary people” for a deeper spiritual life and is characterized by attention practices and balanced living, not only for monastics but for lay people as well.

At the heart of Benedictine life is mindfulness and a spirit of hospitality. It has been described with a simple daily formula of four quadrants: prayer alone and prayer together, work alone and work together. Someone once asked where leisure comes in that description and the answer was that if one divides the circle of the day and writes in all that has taken place, the entire circle should be a leisurely and peaceful walk through the hours.

Many authors have written on this topic – none better than Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, especially in her book, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today. This feast reminds me to return, not only to Sr. Joan’s book but also to the practice of drawing that circle each day, where I can assess the balance of my life’s activities and get back to a mindful way of being. Simple? Yes, but not always easy. Worthwhile? Always…as a lifelong daily practice…Oh, yes!

Will We Ever Learn?

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community, Sister Joan Chittister, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

Twenty-nine years ago Sister Joan Chittister published a book based on the Rule of St. Benedict called Wisdom Distilled From the Daily. I pick it up from time to time in the morning because I always find in it some guidance that is helpful for the day ahead. Today is one of those days and what struck me first in the chapter on “Community” was the fact that world situations do not seemed to have changed for the better in the interim between her writing and my reading of it – the same fact that Sister Joan concluded in 1990 with regard to St. Benedict’s writing in the 5th century. It made me ask the question: Will we ever learn?

“Whose feet shall the hermit wash?” Basil, from whom Benedict drew much of his own inspiration, asked centuries ago. The question needs to be asked again in a culture devoted largely to the worship of itself. Unless we learn in our own personal relationships, as the ancient definition of heaven and hell indicates, to live for someone besides ourselves, how shall we as a nation ever learn to hear the cries of the starving in Ethiopia and the illiterate in Africa and the refugees in the Middle East and the war weary in Central America? What will become of a nation in this day and age that has no sense of community? What, indeed, will become of the planet? The warning of the wise is clear:

“In hell,” the Vietnamese write, “the people have chopsticks but they are three feet long so that they cannot reach their mouths. In heaven the chopsticks are the same length, but in heaven the people feed one another.” The message is no less new, no less important today…”(p. 50)

Sister Joan concludes: “Community is our only option.”

Awareness All Around

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awareness, God's voice, Joan Chittister, spiritual practice, teacher, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

As the days of September slip away too quickly, I am trying to find a rhythm that will make me feel as if I am living the days in the best way I can. Turning for help from Sister Joan Chittister in her book Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, I found the following familiar story that made me smile but also gave me a practical reminder.

One day a traveler begged the Teacher for a word of wisdom that would guide the rest of the journey. The Teacher nodded affably and though it was the day of silence took a sheet of paper and wrote on it a single word, “Awareness.” “Awareness?” the traveler said, perplexed. “Couldn’t you expand on that a bit?” So the Teacher took the paper back and wrote, “Awareness, awareness, awareness.” But what do these words mean?” the traveler insisted. Finally the Teacher reached for the paper and wrote, clearly and firmly, “Awareness, awareness, awareness means…Awareness!” (p.68)

My practice today will be an attempt to be present at every moment to that which is happening around me and within me so that I will not miss the voice of God at any moment or in any event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Benedict

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Hebrews, hospitality, Joan Chittister, monasteries without walls, monasticism, prayer, St. Benedict, the Benedictine Way, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Keating, Thomas Merton, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, work

There is much to say about St. Benedict, whose feast is today, known the world over as the man who brought monasticism to the western world. Although Benedict lived 1,500 years ago his influence is still felt and one might say is being proliferated more broadly than ever before because of a movement called “monasteries without walls.” Lay people who are interested in deepening their spiritual life often turn to The Rule of St. Benedict for guidance and a way to live his principles in secular society.

Most prominent in “the Benedictine Way” is ora et labora. That phrase, meaning “prayer and work” speaks of the balanced way in which the day is designed in his Rule. It includes work alone and work with others as well as prayer alone and prayer with others, experienced in a rhythm that gives not only form but meaning to each day and thus to all of life. (See Joan Chittister, OSB: Wisdom Distilled From the Daily, chapter 6 for a brilliant explanation of this concept.) In this world of excess for some and lack for others as well as in the use of time, we could do well to reflect on how we spend our days.

In tandem with this concept of balance is the call to hospitality. Based on Hebrews 13:2 that says “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares,” St. Benedict preached the necessity of welcoming everyone that we meet. How our world would change today if we took that advice to heart!

As we think of the influence of well-known people in our own day like Joan Chittister, Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating who have followed the rule of Benedict and shared it with the world, let us pray in thanksgiving also for the countless Benedictine monks and nuns through the centuries who have lived the life and carried the legacy of Benedict faithfully into the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going to Work

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essential, Joan Chittister, mantra, office, penance, service, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, work

I can’t say that I am excited about going to work this morning. My list of homegrown tasks is long enough to fill the whole week, but an office day will bring me back to focus on the part of life that is more difficult to celebrate on lovely summer days.

Joan Chittister says in her book, Wisdom Distilled From the Daily, that in the monastic tradition “work is not a punishment or a penance. Work is a privilege.” She is certainly right about that in my life. I’m so grateful for all the different positions I have held and every kind of work I have been called to in all my years. My work has put me in touch with a huge number of people – some tangentially and some directly – all of whom have added to my growth as a person.

I think today of all the people who work in monotonous situations, as in factories where there work consists of one repeated task all day, every day. My prayer for them would be the knowledge of how their work is essential to whatever is being created by the collective work of all the employees, and perhaps that they might consider their part as a mantra, repeated for the good of all. And for those who work in sanitation departments, I pray in thanksgiving for their service to the rest of us as they take away all the things that clutter our lives so that we can come to see more clearly.

I could go on but I need to get ready to leave for work. I do, however, want to continue thinking about those who offer essential services to the public and to pray in gratitude for them. And my hope is that they can find satisfaction in their service, especially in relationships with those who share in their work. And for the unemployed, I pray that work will soon be offered to them and that they will be taken care of by the generosity of others until that day comes.