Monasteries of the Heart by Joan Chittister
This is an extract of an article that appeared in the December 2011 issue
of Sojourners magazine, for the full text please go to:
http://www.sojo.net/magazine/2011/12/monasteries-heart
"All journeys have secret destinations," Martin Buber wrote, "of
which the traveler is unaware." The insight is a striking one. The fact is that
ours is an entire culture on a journey. We are all on our way to somewhere
without a clue of where we're going or how to get there.
Only one thing is clear: Everywhere we go, there's a rending
sound in the air around us. Something, we're afraid, is being torn apart behind
our backs, under our feet, in the very center of our national soul. Ask what it
is and the pundits will tell you that it's the economy or the political climate
or global entanglements and free trade. And, at one level at least, they're
right. But they stop short, I think, of the real problem. They'll tell you that
it's everything except what people fear it is, down deep inside themselves, but
are afraid to whisper for fear they might just be right.
The truth is that something is, indeed, being sundered in our
time. But it's not any particular national initiative that's at fault. It is far
more serious than that. It is the very fabric of the society itself that is
being torn apart: What we knew ourselves to be—the way we went about our lives,
our businesses, our educations, our relationships—is fading. .....
Worse, maybe this concern for the social climate of our lives is
not local. Perhaps it's universal. Perhaps the Japanese and the Europeans feel
the same—their sense of national identity gone, their feeling of national
control gone, their sense of historical confidence gone, their national
consensus on national values gone.
What's worse, however serious the situation, it did not descend
on us without warning. We knew it was coming. We simply ignored it. ......
...... An economy built on consumption,
institutionalized greed, and a culture of debt is withering. Our gods of power
and wealth have failed us.
But, despite the warnings, a system sedated by its addiction to
excess rather than sufficiency and fracturing at the center of itself lumbered
on undeterred. As a culture, we became Cyclops in a sea of things, unknowing or
uncaring—or both.
More than that, churches have not been much better than the
state in naming the problem and responding to the needs of the time. Fixated on
single issues of sexuality or evolution or the nature of female discipleship,
their concerns have become increasingly dogmatized and considerably less
concentrated on the problems of the poor. Their focus slipped away from past
concerns for spiritual development and social justice to new emphases on
religious structures and internal problems. Churches themselves began to
polarize and split and drift into ritual for its own sake—when ritual itself was
not the problem.
CLEARLY, OUR REAL problems are not economic or political; our
real problems are spiritual. They are of the soul. They came out of sated
appetites and desiccated spirits.
What is the average person in search of a spiritual base, a
platform for personal action in such a muddled world, supposed to do then? Where
does someone in search of a spiritual life go when the anchors upon which, until
this time, they have based their security and no small amount of their faith
rust out and disappear in a reservoir of irrelevancies?
Some stop going to church entirely. Figures on church attendance
record the steady decline in church affiliation over the years. In fact, new
studies report a surprising shift. Now more than ever before, people with high
school or college degrees attend church more often than people without the
benefit of an education. Churches, once accused of being the refuge of the poor
and uneducated, the heralds of social ill, were suddenly the home of the more
conservative, more traditional churchgoing population, of people whose social
theology was already formed in the theology of prosperity, a society that is no
longer the advocate for and home to the poor of the country.
Others drift away from religion completely or move into practices that stress
spiritual self-development or personal serenity over social concern.
Many, on the other hand, maintain their affiliation with
churches of their tradition but go beyond them. Small intentional spiritual
communities or book discussion groups or social action groups began to fill the
spiritual crevasses left unplumbed by the church itself.
One way or another, churches either avoid the questions raised
by contemporary society or concentrate only on the isolated ones that threatened
theology as they knew it. Then, religion becomes a private devotion rather than
a public obligation as well.
CLEARLY, IT IS a crossover moment in time. Where can we go to
find a model of what it means to live a spiritually serious, socially impacting
life of the Spirit in a time such as this, when public policy is in tatters and
spiritual traditions are turning in on themselves? And if there is such a model,
how do we empower individuals who are seeking it to become part of it?
With those two questions in mind—the need for a social model as
well as a way to empower individuals to meet their desire for a genuinely
spiritual life—the Benedictine Sisters of Erie set out to create a new form of
Benedictine monastic life for our time. Titled "Monasteries of the Heart," its
impetus is based on the sixth century Rule of Benedict and the organizational
principles and spiritual values upon which it structured a way of life. A
spirituality that is tried and true, it has been the lifestyle of thousands of
monastics for centuries. ......
It gives both structure and freedom by enabling groups to be
self-initiating and immersed in the Rule, as groups online or on-site, or, also
in the spirit of the tradition, alone, as hermits who go to the website for
spiritual sustenance and personal growth. It forms the person in centuries-old
spiritual depth and contemporary commitment by guiding them through discussions
of the meaning of the Rule for them and the practice of prayer as well as
through commitment to the needs of the human community.
It calls for both immersion in personal spiritual development
and consciousness of the obligation of their communities for the upbuilding of
the public domain through the support or participation in public ministries. It
requires fidelity to a lifestyle, which, if a person desires, may be confirmed
by private promises to the monastic life but gears the commitment to a spiritual
life practiced in private homes in the public arena.
Monasteries of the Heart is a new movement that in four months
has drawn more than 2,500 members and now has 24 registered online or on-site
communities. It is a spirituality for the 21st century. ......
...... for Benedict of Nursia, the spiritual life lay in simply
living this life well. All of it. Every simple, single action of it. The proof
of the power of such a life to turn the ordinary into an experience of
extraordinary union with the God of the Universe here and now is a matter of
history. Benedictine spirituality, the legacy of this sixth century founder of
cenobitic monasticism to our own times, is proof of its enduring value.
Benedictine spirituality is more than 1,500 years old. It
developed at a time when Europe lay in political, economic, communal, and
spiritual disarray. Benedictine spirituality helped draw Europe out of the
quagmire of decline left by the fall of the Roman Empire. It became a model for
social stability during centuries of the increasing erosion of Western
civilization as a result of the political vacuum that followed it.
But instead of setting out to reform the decadence around him,
Benedict simply ignored the cheap and chaotic superficiality of it all to live
according to different standards, to walk a different path, to live the same
life everyone else lived, but differently. Through the ages, from one century to
another, thousands of others, following this model, have done the same.
In our own time, in this time of cataclysmic social upheavals,
of global transition, of technological breakthroughs of unimagined proportions,
we must do the same. Old forms are breaking down; small groups everywhere are
seeking to shape new ways of living for themselves in the shell of the old. The
empowerment of individuals during a time of social breakdown comes from the
capacity of groups to enable individuals to function beyond their own strength.
In order to achieve the vision our hearts seek, we join groups in order to do
together what we cannot possibly do alone.
Monasteries of the Heart brings the Rule of Benedict, the
person, and the community together to do again in our own time what is needed to
revive our spiritual energy, our recognition of common values, and a sense of
vibrant and effective human community.
Based on the pillars on which the ancient Rule itself
stands—prayer, work, community, humility, hospitality, and peace—Monasteries of
the Heart brings spiritual depth to the ordinary, brings daily life alive with
new spiritual energy, brings community support to personal growth. It teaches
the seeker to listen for the voice of God wherever it may be heard, to be open
to changes that stretch the soul to where the Spirit waits for it now, to remain
in the monastery "all the days of their lives" so that finally, using the Rule
of Benedict, they may grow into full spiritual stature.
Indeed, "all journeys have secret destinations," as Buber said,
"of which the traveler is unaware." May the individuals, the families, and the
small intentional communities who seek by using the Rule of Benedict to create
within themselves a Monastery of the Heart find there the God who all along our
journey through life is forever seeking us.
Joan Chittister, OSB, a Sojourners contributing editor, is executive director
of Benetvision and the author of many books, including The
Monastery of the Heart (Bluebridge, 2011). For more, visit monasteriesoftheheart.org.
Links:
[1] http://www.sojo.net/biography/joan-chittister
[2] http://www.sojo.net/magazine/2011/12
[3] http://www.sojo.net/comment/reply/34985#comment-form
[4] http://www.sojo.net/donate
[5] http://www.benetvision.org/
[6] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933346345?ie=UTF8&tag=sojourners-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1933346345
[7] http://monasteriesoftheheart.org/
of Sojourners magazine, for the full text please go to:
http://www.sojo.net/magazine/2011/12/monasteries-heart
"All journeys have secret destinations," Martin Buber wrote, "of
which the traveler is unaware." The insight is a striking one. The fact is that
ours is an entire culture on a journey. We are all on our way to somewhere
without a clue of where we're going or how to get there.
Only one thing is clear: Everywhere we go, there's a rending
sound in the air around us. Something, we're afraid, is being torn apart behind
our backs, under our feet, in the very center of our national soul. Ask what it
is and the pundits will tell you that it's the economy or the political climate
or global entanglements and free trade. And, at one level at least, they're
right. But they stop short, I think, of the real problem. They'll tell you that
it's everything except what people fear it is, down deep inside themselves, but
are afraid to whisper for fear they might just be right.
The truth is that something is, indeed, being sundered in our
time. But it's not any particular national initiative that's at fault. It is far
more serious than that. It is the very fabric of the society itself that is
being torn apart: What we knew ourselves to be—the way we went about our lives,
our businesses, our educations, our relationships—is fading. .....
Worse, maybe this concern for the social climate of our lives is
not local. Perhaps it's universal. Perhaps the Japanese and the Europeans feel
the same—their sense of national identity gone, their feeling of national
control gone, their sense of historical confidence gone, their national
consensus on national values gone.
What's worse, however serious the situation, it did not descend
on us without warning. We knew it was coming. We simply ignored it. ......
...... An economy built on consumption,
institutionalized greed, and a culture of debt is withering. Our gods of power
and wealth have failed us.
But, despite the warnings, a system sedated by its addiction to
excess rather than sufficiency and fracturing at the center of itself lumbered
on undeterred. As a culture, we became Cyclops in a sea of things, unknowing or
uncaring—or both.
More than that, churches have not been much better than the
state in naming the problem and responding to the needs of the time. Fixated on
single issues of sexuality or evolution or the nature of female discipleship,
their concerns have become increasingly dogmatized and considerably less
concentrated on the problems of the poor. Their focus slipped away from past
concerns for spiritual development and social justice to new emphases on
religious structures and internal problems. Churches themselves began to
polarize and split and drift into ritual for its own sake—when ritual itself was
not the problem.
CLEARLY, OUR REAL problems are not economic or political; our
real problems are spiritual. They are of the soul. They came out of sated
appetites and desiccated spirits.
What is the average person in search of a spiritual base, a
platform for personal action in such a muddled world, supposed to do then? Where
does someone in search of a spiritual life go when the anchors upon which, until
this time, they have based their security and no small amount of their faith
rust out and disappear in a reservoir of irrelevancies?
Some stop going to church entirely. Figures on church attendance
record the steady decline in church affiliation over the years. In fact, new
studies report a surprising shift. Now more than ever before, people with high
school or college degrees attend church more often than people without the
benefit of an education. Churches, once accused of being the refuge of the poor
and uneducated, the heralds of social ill, were suddenly the home of the more
conservative, more traditional churchgoing population, of people whose social
theology was already formed in the theology of prosperity, a society that is no
longer the advocate for and home to the poor of the country.
Others drift away from religion completely or move into practices that stress
spiritual self-development or personal serenity over social concern.
Many, on the other hand, maintain their affiliation with
churches of their tradition but go beyond them. Small intentional spiritual
communities or book discussion groups or social action groups began to fill the
spiritual crevasses left unplumbed by the church itself.
One way or another, churches either avoid the questions raised
by contemporary society or concentrate only on the isolated ones that threatened
theology as they knew it. Then, religion becomes a private devotion rather than
a public obligation as well.
CLEARLY, IT IS a crossover moment in time. Where can we go to
find a model of what it means to live a spiritually serious, socially impacting
life of the Spirit in a time such as this, when public policy is in tatters and
spiritual traditions are turning in on themselves? And if there is such a model,
how do we empower individuals who are seeking it to become part of it?
With those two questions in mind—the need for a social model as
well as a way to empower individuals to meet their desire for a genuinely
spiritual life—the Benedictine Sisters of Erie set out to create a new form of
Benedictine monastic life for our time. Titled "Monasteries of the Heart," its
impetus is based on the sixth century Rule of Benedict and the organizational
principles and spiritual values upon which it structured a way of life. A
spirituality that is tried and true, it has been the lifestyle of thousands of
monastics for centuries. ......
It gives both structure and freedom by enabling groups to be
self-initiating and immersed in the Rule, as groups online or on-site, or, also
in the spirit of the tradition, alone, as hermits who go to the website for
spiritual sustenance and personal growth. It forms the person in centuries-old
spiritual depth and contemporary commitment by guiding them through discussions
of the meaning of the Rule for them and the practice of prayer as well as
through commitment to the needs of the human community.
It calls for both immersion in personal spiritual development
and consciousness of the obligation of their communities for the upbuilding of
the public domain through the support or participation in public ministries. It
requires fidelity to a lifestyle, which, if a person desires, may be confirmed
by private promises to the monastic life but gears the commitment to a spiritual
life practiced in private homes in the public arena.
Monasteries of the Heart is a new movement that in four months
has drawn more than 2,500 members and now has 24 registered online or on-site
communities. It is a spirituality for the 21st century. ......
...... for Benedict of Nursia, the spiritual life lay in simply
living this life well. All of it. Every simple, single action of it. The proof
of the power of such a life to turn the ordinary into an experience of
extraordinary union with the God of the Universe here and now is a matter of
history. Benedictine spirituality, the legacy of this sixth century founder of
cenobitic monasticism to our own times, is proof of its enduring value.
Benedictine spirituality is more than 1,500 years old. It
developed at a time when Europe lay in political, economic, communal, and
spiritual disarray. Benedictine spirituality helped draw Europe out of the
quagmire of decline left by the fall of the Roman Empire. It became a model for
social stability during centuries of the increasing erosion of Western
civilization as a result of the political vacuum that followed it.
But instead of setting out to reform the decadence around him,
Benedict simply ignored the cheap and chaotic superficiality of it all to live
according to different standards, to walk a different path, to live the same
life everyone else lived, but differently. Through the ages, from one century to
another, thousands of others, following this model, have done the same.
In our own time, in this time of cataclysmic social upheavals,
of global transition, of technological breakthroughs of unimagined proportions,
we must do the same. Old forms are breaking down; small groups everywhere are
seeking to shape new ways of living for themselves in the shell of the old. The
empowerment of individuals during a time of social breakdown comes from the
capacity of groups to enable individuals to function beyond their own strength.
In order to achieve the vision our hearts seek, we join groups in order to do
together what we cannot possibly do alone.
Monasteries of the Heart brings the Rule of Benedict, the
person, and the community together to do again in our own time what is needed to
revive our spiritual energy, our recognition of common values, and a sense of
vibrant and effective human community.
Based on the pillars on which the ancient Rule itself
stands—prayer, work, community, humility, hospitality, and peace—Monasteries of
the Heart brings spiritual depth to the ordinary, brings daily life alive with
new spiritual energy, brings community support to personal growth. It teaches
the seeker to listen for the voice of God wherever it may be heard, to be open
to changes that stretch the soul to where the Spirit waits for it now, to remain
in the monastery "all the days of their lives" so that finally, using the Rule
of Benedict, they may grow into full spiritual stature.
Indeed, "all journeys have secret destinations," as Buber said,
"of which the traveler is unaware." May the individuals, the families, and the
small intentional communities who seek by using the Rule of Benedict to create
within themselves a Monastery of the Heart find there the God who all along our
journey through life is forever seeking us.
Joan Chittister, OSB, a Sojourners contributing editor, is executive director
of Benetvision and the author of many books, including The
Monastery of the Heart (Bluebridge, 2011). For more, visit monasteriesoftheheart.org.
Links:
[1] http://www.sojo.net/biography/joan-chittister
[2] http://www.sojo.net/magazine/2011/12
[3] http://www.sojo.net/comment/reply/34985#comment-form
[4] http://www.sojo.net/donate
[5] http://www.benetvision.org/
[6] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933346345?ie=UTF8&tag=sojourners-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1933346345
[7] http://monasteriesoftheheart.org/