The Benedictines Strike Back

[puellapaschalis]

[quote name='Laurentina1975' post='954102' date='Apr 19 2006, 08:48 PM']

[/quote]

Lauren,

have you noticed how some smilies that were animated aren't anymore? Like and . However there are some that I believe are new, such as and for instance.

Cool huh?

Or...perhaps I'm simply a nerd! It's been a long day; I think I'll do my chores and then head to bed like a good little puella.

Love and prayers,

PP

[HisChild]

All those smileys were there before. . .and on my end, they're still animated ! :

Puella, my parting gift for you:

[OLAM Dad]

[quote name='puellapaschalis' post='954057' date='Apr 19 2006, 01:11 PM']
Sr. Denise,

with your entrance less than three days away how on earth can you have time to be excited for little old me? Nevertheless I'm thankful for your prayers. I'm sure they'll stand me in good stead.

Michael,

ah! Thanks! My curiosity has been fulfilled (I can be a nosy so and so sometimes). I used to be a bit awed at how big German was until I lived in North America....

Love and prayers for you both,

PP
[/quote]
To put things in perspective, W. Germany was the size of the Oregon. Germany today is probably about 40% larger than that. I'm not sure which state it is now closest to.

fwiw, Israel is the size of New Jersey.

[puellapaschalis]

New Jersey is that small? Wow!

Anyway, to the point of this post: I have a book recommendation for people interested in Benedictine life, both in- and outside the monastery.

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0852443021/qid%3D1145481233/203-7524569-6614320"]The Path of Life: Benedictine Spirituality for Monks and Lay People[/url] is authored by Dom Cyprian Smith of [url="http://www.ampleforth.org.uk/abbey/The_Abbey/the_abbey.html"]Ampleforth Abbey[/url] in Yorkshire. Here's the blurb on the back:
[quote]The late twentieth century is a time of great change and fragmentation in people's lives. Many Christians today are searching for a sense of stability and of direction, and are turning to the great spiritual master of the past for their inspiration. St. Benedict is one such master, and his 'Rule for beginners' offers a path well-trodden by generations of monks and nuns. But, like any novice joining a monastery, those turning to the Rule need guidance and help.

Fr. Cyprian Smith's latest book [republished 1996..ahem! ] is written with this in mind. For the previous six years he has been novice-master at Ampleforth Abbey ad during that time has been responsible for introducing men to the Benedictine way. Each week the novices are given a conference on some aspect of the monastic life and these have been adapted by Father Cyprian for a wider audience: those who wish to accept the challenge of living to the full their Christian vocation.[/quote]
The chapters are on:[list=1]
[*]Listening
[*]Stability
[*]Conversatio morum
[*]Obedience
[*]Silence
[*]Lectio Divina
[*]Prayer
[*]The Eucharist
[*]The Liturgy of the Hours
[*]Private Prayer
[*]Humility
[*]Making Life a Unity
[/list]I've been reading this book for years - unusually for me, I've read it in a really piecemeal way, sometimes going back to reread something, sometimes skipping parts and reading them later. Because the chapters started out as novice conferences, you can do that without fear of missing something crucial in chapter 5, for example! Further - the ultimate sign that this book has really struck me - I've actually taken a highlighter and marked some passages, something which is anathema to my bibliophilic mind Here's one I'd like to share. It's taken from the chapter on Stability:
[quote]After a while [the monk] becomes aware of two quite distinct levels in his mind and heart, levels which exist simultaneously. On this one hand, there are the daily ups and down, with their concomitant fluctuations of mood. On the other hand, there is an abiding sense that however things may be going, even though they may not seem at the moment to be going particularly well, he is nevertheless in the right place, doing the right thing with the right people. The passing moods cease to matter; they are recognised as transient and ephemeral, like clouds in the sky. Gradually he becomes aware of a still centre in the heart which is not subject to mood-swings or external conditioning. Many names have been given to this centre: Jerusalem, the Ground of the Soul; the Interior Castle; the Citadel; the Bride. Once we have become aware of it, and begun to ground ourselves upon it, we have started to achieve inner stability.[/quote]
That passage is one I've highlighted in [i]blue[/i], moreover, so it clearly made a huge impression on me at the time. Mind you, every time I read it, I know why!

I hope that those who are interested in Benny life and who would be able to lay their hands on a copy of this would gain as much from it as I have!

Love and prayers,

PP

Edited April 19, 2006 by puellapaschalis

[shortnun]

[quote name='OLAM Dad' post='954163' date='Apr 19 2006, 02:36 PM']
To put things in perspective, W. Germany was the size of the Oregon. Germany today is probably about 40% larger than that. I'm not sure which state it is now closest to.

fwiw, Israel is the size of New Jersey.
[/quote]
In German class in college we learned that it was half the size of Texas. Other states/country combos I know: Honduras is the size of Tennessee. And Ireland is the size of Maine.... now, back on topic!

[puellapaschalis]

I should be tucked up in bed because I have to get up and work like the clappers tomorrow, but I was reading the above-mentioned book and came across a passage I REALLY wanted to share. It's from the chapter on Obedience.
[quote]There exists a spiritual world; there are entities and forces which are not material, but scientific method cannot approach them. If we wish to know and explore the world of the spirit, we can only do this by exposing ourselves to it, opening ourselves to it, letting it take us over - yes, we may even say letting ourselves be 'possessed' by it....

This receptivity and docility, this readiness to be possessed or taken over, this closing down of the normal process of knowing, is the obedience of the intellect. On embarkation upon religious life, whether in the world or in the monastery, we find ourelves faced with things which seem absurd and irrational. There will be doctrines of the Church which we can make no sense of. As we read the Scriptures, too, we shall come across passages, even whole books, which appear boring or meaningless. If we enter a monastery, we shall find ourselves obliged to follow certain practices which seem silly or pointless. Perhaps some of them are; but we should not jump too hastily to that conclusion. Their meaning may emerge if we persist in them over the years; and the same is true of all those other elements on the spiritual path which the rational mind baulks at. We have to not give in to our initial impulse to reject it all. Pondering upon these Scriptures, upon these doctrines, meditating upon them, letting their meaning sink gradually into our hearts, is the only way to understand them and thus come to know something of God.... If we murmur under our breath, 'Oh no, not Deuteronomy again,' or 'Oh no, not Pope Pius XII's Address to the Catholic Midwives', we cannot percieve what God is revealing of Himself through these things. We have to bend the mind, humble it, deny some of its normal operations, if we are to know God. This is obedience of the intellect....[/quote]
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I cannot be anything other than a Benedictine. Or rather, the way my heart leaps into my throat when I read this is why I cannot be anything other than a Benedictine.

Apart from anything else, the idea of a Refectoryful of monks listening to Pius XII's Address to the Catholic Midwives cracks me up.

Love and prayers,

PP

PS I'm going to bed now. Really.

Edited April 19, 2006 by puellapaschalis

[puellapaschalis]

Und jetzt weiß ich das die Messe wirklich wunderbar ist!

(am on a slight post-Adoration, post-Mass high right now)

[size=7][color="blue"]8 days, 10 hours[/color][/size]

And I've also made an appointment with my parish priest/confessor/SD (in a country where there aren't a lot of priests, they become ever so multifunctional) for next Tuesday. :

Whieeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Ahem.

Love and prayers,

PP

[OLAM Dad]

[quote name='puellapaschalis' post='954807' date='Apr 20 2006, 05:44 AM']
Und jetzt weiß ich das die Messe wirklich wunderbar ist!

(am on a slight post-Adoration, post-Mass high right now)

[/quote]

And now I know that the Mass is really wonderful. (That's my translation)

What's the German word for adoration?

[puellapaschalis]

[quote name='OLAM Dad' post='954814' date='Apr 20 2006, 01:16 PM']
And now I know that the Mass is really wonderful. (That's my translation)

What's the German word for adoration?
[/quote]

My dictionary says [i]Anbetung[/i] or [i]Verehung[/i]. I'm not sure which one would be used for Adoration and my Secret Stash of Knowledge fails me because the term in Dutch is [i]Uitstelling[/i]. I really need to get myself a Dutch <-> German dictionary - half the stuff I need to translate comes from Dutch and I don't know English translations for them, so my English <-> German is a wee bit useless.

I suppose I could go the long way around, via my English <-> Dutch but there's too much noisy channel down that route.

All right, I've ceased to make sense. Again!

Love and prayers,

PP

PS The thought occurs to me that I could simply find some appropriate websites and figure it out from that. However, as good as that may be, there's work that needs to be done here, so if I'm still in this slightly bizarre mood later today I might try to figure it out then.

[puellapaschalis]

Two words: [i]eschatological portent[/i].

One thought: [i]What the heck?![/i]

Expansion on the thought: Despite my entire logical faculty knowing that if it's God's will, then it will happen so long as I keep my heart open, my emotional part has gone a bit haywire. [i]Why me?![/i] I'm just this mediocre person who never worked hard enough at uni, has the class to prove it, and whose "piety" is of dodgy quality at the best of times. Someone please do give me a well-reasoned argument why in the name of all that's half-way sensible [i]God should want me to dedicate myself to Him in such a way that the world would be shown the utter depths of the grace of Baptism?[/i]

Conclusion: I think too much

[size=7][color="blue"]7 days, 1 hour[/color][/size]

[puellapaschalis]

[color="blue"][size=5]5 days, 1 hour[/size][/color]

Preparations are continuing apace. I find myself checking that I know where the train tickets are at least twice every hour [size=1](that reminds me, I should keep a close eye on my passport; famously, borders hardly exist in the EU for EU-citizens anymore, but I'm not taking any chances and I'd really like to not be thrown off the train)[/size]. On the deeper side of things I don't feel anything like prepared to make this trip. My mind is scatty and it's difficult to try and keep myself focused on things I should be doing. Gahhhh.

However, the thought of Sr. Denise, happy in her new home, is keeping my head up.

My German skills are improving in leaps and bounds; my landlady is very sweet and now insists that we chat in German whenever I'm downstairs, which makes for some moments of real hilarity. Pronunciation is turning out to be a doddle, but that was something I expected - when I first started speaking Dutch lots of people asked me if I was German, because I was speaking Dutch with a German accent. According to some friends of mine who are "in the know" about these things, it's because I tend to speak with a [i]dikke achtertong[/i] (thick back-tongue) sometimes, which is common in some dialects of the Eastern Neighbours. However, the only person here who's heard me speak Dutch is VA, so the curious amongst us would have to ask her for confirmation or otherwise on this.

My tendency to blabber really needs working on.

Someone once asked me what it was about Benedictinism that attracted me so much. It was a tough question to answer: I've known Benedictines of various stripes for most of my life, and whilst I've considered other orders, nothing pulled at me so much. After some reflection I decided that it was the Office that pulled me most of all. [i]Nothing is to be preferred to the work of God[/i], St. Benedict says in his Rule, which also states unequivocally that the moment the bell for prayer sounds, I must leave whatever I am doing - whether it be cleaning loos, peeling potatoes, digging in the garden, whatever - I must put it down and go to prayer. Now whilst many other orders and congregations have placed the same import on the Office, nothing I've experienced has compelled me like Benedict's Rule has.

Anyhows, I can't spend this week daydreaming, as much as that might be nice. There are still kids to teach tomorrow, after all....

Love and prayers,

PP

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='puellapaschalis' post='958101' date='Apr 23 2006, 09:20 PM']
However, the only person here who's heard me speak Dutch is VA, so the curious amongst us would have to ask her for confirmation or otherwise on this.

[/quote]

It's true that you don't have a distinct British accent like the hordes of Dutch-Britons I grew up around... But yours is also not like Swiss-German-Dutch. And extremely unlike French-Dutch. I think you're in a class of your own

[puellapaschalis]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='958150' date='Apr 23 2006, 10:17 PM']
It's true that you don't have a distinct British accent like the hordes of Dutch-Britons I grew up around... But yours is also not like Swiss-German-Dutch. And extremely unlike French-Dutch. I think you're in a class of your own
[/quote]

Ha ha, I'll take that as a compliment! :

(Did I tell you that the Papal Nuncio celebrated Mass up here on Maundy Thursday? He was born in France and his Dutch sounded wonderful and funny and cute all at the same time! "Door 'onze 'eilige Vaderrrrr" )

Edited April 23, 2006 by puellapaschalis

[Resey]

I dont know if this is the place to post this or not . But there is a benedictine monsatery in Mission BC (canada). There is a minor and major seminary and its a BEAUTIFUL place. Haha too bad im a girl
Anyways my brother goes there and you can check it out at www.skc.ca


I live in a fam thats CRAZY about OSB's. My brother plans on being a osb and my sister can wait to graduate so she can be an osb nun in colorado. And me...well I wanna be a psychologist

Edited April 24, 2006 by Resey

[puellapaschalis]

[quote name='Resey' post='958516' date='Apr 24 2006, 04:22 AM']
I dont know if this is the place to post this or not . But there is a benedictine monsatery in Mission BC (canada). There is a minor and major seminary and its a BEAUTIFUL place. Haha too bad im a girl
Anyways my brother goes there and you can check it out at www.skc.ca
I live in a fam thats CRAZY about OSB's. My brother plans on being a osb and my sister can wait to graduate so she can be an osb nun in colorado. And me...well I wanna be a psychologist
[/quote]

Hey Resey,

how cool! I'd only heard about St. Peter's before in the way of OSBs in Canada. Ontario and Qubec definitely need some good, solid Benedictine presence. Maybe there will be some new foundations there soon

There's nowt wrong with an OSB-crazy family! Benedict's Rule is also lived by many families throughout the world; it's an excellent guide to Christian living. Not to mention all the many professionals out there who also live the Rule as far as they can, so I'm sure Benedict will guide and bless [b]you[/b] too

Love and prayers,

PP