THE EVERYDAY - Benedictine Life at Mount Saviour Monastery

[Music] fifteen hundred years ago a young man named Benedict was living in Italy and attending school in Rome the busiest most cosmopolitan city of its time [Music] although Benedict had both wealth and privilege he was restless and unhappy Benedict found that the demands and distractions of the city made it impossible to fully pursue a spiritual life so he left the city behind to live alone as a monk soon after Benedict realized that the answers he sought were not to be found in solitude but in forming communities with a solitary goal a society based on prayer [Music] [Applause] fifteen hundred years later people all over the world are still following in Benedict's footsteps including the monks of mount savior monastery a handful of men seeking God as Benedict did in the shadow of a busy world [Music] [Music] those who follow their hearts to mount save your monastery share a modern pilgrimage into a world devoted to a quest for meaning and goodness some come as young men and stay forever while others come to rest a while to pray and to share in an extraordinary way of living [Music] that's a real difficult question to answer there about the way people aspire to and coming to a monastery and what the monastery house provides and expects and those for those who come one of the things that has always I think then behind people living this kind of lifestyle is certain request seeking for meaning in life when it's one needs to understand what life is about everyone at some point or whether place to figure that out [Music] even if it's a Christian or Catholic person that is aiming towards God in Christ but they have other polls the family business work success but the monk the main thing is to be geared towards finding God oh honey I was asking by a teenager do you miss life and my answer was that life is growth but I think that by his definition of life he meant you know excitement and getting married or having big cars and all kinds of stuff that's part of life but it just part of it [Music] I guess that's the way I tell to most people is well if I opt into farming and I don't opt into being a stockbroker or if I'm a monk in a monastery and I don't have the choice of just going wherever I want to go every day [Music] most of the time when people ask me what we do at the monastery I simply say we live here they don't realize that we do everything they do only we're doing it in a certain context but that helps them I think [Music] we do more by accident than many people do on purpose but if we tried to do it on purpose we probably mess it up and that's kind of the secret of Benedict in life it's a bit poetic and it's not romantic and a cloud 9 cents just based on the realization that God loves us and is trying to get us out of our cells so that we are in a sense beautiful in some sense is a very ordinary life but all of a sudden it dawns on the ordinary is extremely extraordinary [Music] Mount Saviour monastery is a Catholic Benedictine monastery founded in 1950 on a wooded hill just outside of Elmira New York the roots of Mount Savior traced back to Germany and the abbey of Maria Locke during the 1930s under the leadership of abbot ildefonso hare wagon maria luck was known throughout the world for breathing new life and new interest into the monastic tradition one of abbot hare wagons keenest pupils was fathered Amasa Swinson in 1938 when de meses was forced to flee Nazi Germany he came to the United States and began teaching in the Archdiocese of Newark New Jersey fathered amesys had planned to return to Maria Locke when the war was over but the response to his teachings on monastic living and the liturgy was so overwhelming that he asked for and was granted permission to stay in the United States he created a new foundation mount savior monastery in the name of the Father and of the son of the Holy Spirit the Lord be with you we hear today about the shepherds of Israel shepherds with whom God is mostly disappointed so I think it's very pertinent to our own times shepherds and government in the church in industry are a disappointment to us and the solution to this difficulty really is prayer Mount Saviour is a Benedictine monastery which means the monks structure their lives according to the rule of Saint Benedict the rule is more than a guide to monastic living its core principles are a treatise on how human beings can effectively work and live together one of the hallmarks of Benedict's rule is hospitality the notion that human beings are responsible for the care and well-being of other human beings is also at the core of Mount saviours philosophy welcoming guests welcoming one another is something which is biblical and because it's difficult it's also Christian welcome aboard in most monasteries in this country education was the work of the monastery and still is many monasteries had high schools colleges universities and the most became teachers this monastery did agree they did not do that so therefore for us hospitality - and simple they had to become their more dominating thing [Music] Mount Saviour receives over 1,000 men and women of all faiths every year while staying at Mount Saviour guests are encouraged to participate in the work prayer and study that are the staples of the monastic day the rhythm of life at Mount Saviour provides guests with the context for reflection and a prism through which to view their own lives for the monks the people that visit serve is a powerful reminder that their way of life has meaning and impact far beyond the hills of the monastery there are many ways to learn in life we have the media we have one another and in a monastery also we learn from the guests who come with different experience and at the same times they learn from us because ultimately we have very similar problems so to speak [Music] my name is Jerry Simmons and I've been coming to the monastery since 1961 so I come here knowing that they're praying it helps me when I'm out away from this place by myself when the culture says just do something and just not to do anything to be able to be still and to be quiet is to me the essence of this place know what's your favorite song well my work is taking care of three children at home so coming here it is a welcome respite it invites our family to be hospitable to each other it invites our family to to be quiet and to observe some different rules that we don't observe it home and it is a welcome it is a welcome change a gift come for one reason or another just like I came here for one reason another we've all are hurting we're not coming here for a vacation well you don't know who is hurting who is in need and as I say if everybody who comes here has a need am I going to be the one to listen to that name people are really searching where is God in my life how is God in my life so in terms of yes I can believe that the monks here would experience a lot of darkness in people's hearts when they come here because indeed there's a lot of that in the culture right now a lot of depression there's a lot of anxiety a lot of repressed anger rage not knowing what to do with our feelings with war with whatever the culture is talking about this provides a havens when people come here they kind of kind of let go and so what services is the question the doubting the wondering the hurt the thing that's most impressive are the subtleties of the lifestyle the respect that the monks have for people that come from all walks of life and come up this hill with all kinds of situations or problems or heaviness sometimes on their minds and the way that the the monks can handle that I don't know how they how they do it being hospitable all the time their gift of hospitality and so I tell them the past four years I come here I look them right in the eye and tell them thank you for the sacrifice for welcoming new people and welcoming me back and having that energy to keep inviting people into your space I think it's hard work personally now when we talk about hospitality we're talking about receiving a person as a human being and being at to being a helpful for their needs and and really encouragement and all of that we're really fostering of the human races recognition of its dignity that is kind of like hospitality you know for us [Music] one frequent guest of the monastery wrote Mount Saviour acts as a kind of centrifugal force that pulls us to seek God to respond to a personal need for centering we come in search of a credible evidence of faith from which we can draw strength we come here because we have a great need to know our faith is not folly what we find in you is openness and easy hospitality we find constancy and a handful of men who in good times and bad praise God in the presence of outsiders in the privacy of community [Music] [Music] my first job was sweeping out the grandstand in a racetrack I'll be my father but a sense got me the job because he knew the man who was the former so when I went to work I had a responsibility towards my father towards my father's friend and towards the job I think it was 35 cents an hour but anyway that's what you were doing and if you felt a certain commitment 30 some people got a job to get something else they got a job to get money to buy something wanted so the job was the job it was a stepping stone to something else and that notion of of what I'm doing is a stepping stone to something else has an encrypt into the culture so I'm not doing what I'm doing I got my eye on something else and you can't be a monk with your eye on something else [Music] [Applause] the Bible tells us we are made in God's likeness and for Benedictine monks work is one of the key ways in which that similarity is realized the work at Mount Saviour is expansive physically demanding and time-consuming but luckily the commute is an easy one for the monks of Mount Saviour work well done is not measured by a paycheck it's an expression of their humanity work has always been when the components of the lifestyle the day the chores kind of things which not every interestings aims to do but they're necessary things and they need to be done and as part of the of the approach to the life is a willingness and readiness to do these kind of things in the Roman society at a time this kind of work was done by slaves the Roman people society people would never think of doing this kind of work so it was abhorrent to them and but but but in them and in the ascetical life of the monasteries that became a way of manifesting one's willingness and participating in the lifestyle and practicing a annuity I do that everything we do in the monasteries is part of the prayer but formal prayer in the chapel or a prayer in your room or the work they're all part of the life of the monastic life from the monastic life in itself is prayer perhaps that's why it was easy for me to to adjust to this life and understand it and that's why I chose maybe this life is that because I saw that everything everything could be a part of your of your spiritual life of your way of going to God beyond the daily maintenance of the grounds and buildings Mount Saviour is a busy place the monks run a religious article shop and they make many of the crafts that are sold there there's also an orchard on the grounds 200 head of Scottish blackface sheep in the fields and thousands upon thousands of honeybees in the aviary [Music] I got interested in these but because I was working in the orchard I have six sets here and nine sets up on top of the hill and I just find it very peaceful this hive is queenless one of the signs is there's not a lot of traffic in front but there are bees what this does it reinvigorates the bees that are in here that a queenless makes them feel like you got something to live for once they find out there's a queen and the hive like a lot of things in life and you got a family they they work for you [Music] here we have 150 use in a week or so will will inspect them from head to toe we flip them upside down with trim day of their feet we check their teeth to see if they they have enough t2 to spend the winter with us and then we call a code them according to the breed and bloodlines or works with animals may be might be more conducive to contemplation because this is God's creation and we are part of this creation you have living being you have all the process from making hay feeding them and what comes out of them sometimes not so that's so good but that's part of life and in some ways it's part of the reality or you like monastic life is not a dream or it's something based on you know our our part in God's plan so to speak in God's creation while the brothers can manage the care of the sheep most of the year when it comes time for shearing the larger community is there to lend a helping hand [Music] [Applause] but today we have families coming from Pittsburgh Washington DC from Massachusetts and they come with their children and especially yesterday when we brought the Sheep in we had to two dozen kids trying to help bring them and it was quite a a circus the shearing event is almost like a festivity almost and in the Bible in a scripture in the Old Testament Jacob Abraham Isaac the tradition they were in for sheep farmers nomads that he moved around with their flocks all around the deserts of Palestine looking for raising and when they had when they came time for shearing there was a time when they stays they settle down and and all the clan would gather together to help with shearing [Music] like I came on retrieving in 1970 and from from the taste of that in 1978 came back annually I think people are seeking some place where they can just take a look at what they're doing on a day to day basis even in today's society I think just time to even mention the word God or a safe place to talk about God I think we've thrown everything at people that we can and people still have a hunger for something that they they don't quite know what it is for the community the sheep farm is much more than a business venture it's a constant reminder of the presence of God the bounty of nature and the wonder of creation [Music] now there's always so much junk on my desk and things of course come in like a waterfall or a hole in the roof because they're just communications are wonderful but you have access to a lot of people well the Martin Chesterton has a wonderful phrase of something's worth doing it's worth doing badly so that gives me a great consolation that sometimes I do this job badly but it's certainly worth doing I'm the only CEO in the country that nobody wants his job so but whoever gets it if I feel the same way I did it's you know more than I think I can handle I didn't think I last 20 minutes and I've been in longer than anybody in any of the amateur Pryor's in North America probably most many than in the world but again in the Benedictine monastery the most important thing is not running around electing new people the idea of stability that benedict monastic life has really that's a settled into a place [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] friends and visitors to the monastery are often curious about how each of the brothers decided to become a monk that's a valid question after all being a monk is not a job you can train for the monastic life is a calling and the call is answered differently by everyone who hears it he is the word that brings salvation he's the hand that you stretched out to sinner's he is the way that leads to your peace well I first began to think actively about monastic life I have actually 4th year high school when things began to move in this direction I had previously been planning to go to another school after graduation from high school and in general like becoming a coach football coaches of my dad they had the school prom was was the big event of the year and was it fun I enjoy that and everything else I think it was just after that possibly when I decided that they were gonna go to the monastery there was one young guy in the high school that I knew who was dating the girl that he married in high school during high school later on they married and they were good friends I still are and they came induced to visit coming to visit you know the monastery so I would see them you know and they had children or anything else and so there was a certain attraction there or not you know I mean they look lovely family and couples and children everything awesome and so I felt a little sting there in a way and under that looked like a very happy kind of life to be living to him but but I was quite they decided that I had made my decision and this is where I was going to stick with and do it this is here with the bottle yeah they I was taking a nap or something they planted these beer bottles next to me took a picture I was an architect I had studied architecture graduated from architectural school in Havana in 1952 I wasn't interested in being a famous architect or in becoming rich I wasn't interested in getting married either so there didn't seem to be any dimension any any deep dimension to my life and that triggered the question of a vocation of giving myself to God it took five years I investigated different orders and I kept coming back to approaching God to a monastic form of life no before I came to Mount Saviour I was kind of a jack of all trade and and I have a degree in literature but never work with sheep or animals I'm one of those who enjoy the routine so to speak because you in some ways you don't have to think too much you know what to wear today and and what to eat and all that this is the idea of the monastic life is to it's a setup so that you are free for something else free from certain things I'm certain worries and you're free for more studies and more pray or more time for prayer and this is a good thing my parents drove up here in August of 1957 that's how it began I didn't tell a great number of people that I was coming here though because I knew most of them wouldn't have a foggiest idea of what I was entering upon and I didn't want to be pressed for hard answers because I didn't have them at the time as it's mostly an intuitive sense that I had it wasn't something that maybe could be expressed I didn't take the chance I wanted to find out for myself first of all raspberry pie did you marry a parking lot no come out in the parking lot and I end up with a raspberry pie oh you'll have to take it on faith kitchen the only time I had a misgiving which is the sort of thing that happens to I think people went after the honeymoon is for me it was the day after the psalm profession not at the Sun profession because the spotlights on you more than wasn't a week before I looked at myself and said what did I just do and you know you're at the bottom of the totem pole you know you don't have any will you don't have any possessions and you're just one of the ordinary monks which is what you profess to be now I arrived on the 11th of January in 1955 in the old days that was still he had octave so that was the octave of epiphany and it's a wonderful statement in the you know in Matthew's Gospel about the wise men coming from the east now I came from the West so that shows how wise I am this head started with me in high school and this idea of religious life on the other hand I thoroughly enjoyed medicine and I was going with a girl that I met in st. Louis and it's it's like being in a canoe when you come to where the river splits you got to go one way or the other we're going to hit the sandbar basically when I was either the happiest or the saddest this is what I wish I was doing and I figured I really would never be happy unless I tried [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] even the people who knew and followed Jesus asked him how to pray and that's a question that still challenges people of all faiths the monks of Mount Savior gather in the chapel to pray as a community seven times every day but that's not the extent of their prayer prayer is a way of sustaining a relationship with God and one method central to Benedict in life is called Lexi o Divina or divine reading the older translations say in the beginning God created heaven or most modern translations say in the beginning when God began created earth God sent or in other words the first action of God the first verb in Scripture is God said God is basically not a creator but is basically one who wants to communicate with us to be in communion for us it makes our whole difference and Lexi Odin is a response to God said the first word of the rule of Benedict is a school tau which means listen that goes very well with the word Lexi oh because that's what we're doing it likes you over we're listening we're trying to discern what the will of God is in any particular circumstance and to hear the message of God as it comes in this case through reading [Music] so very different approach from the study that would be done slowly and you wouldn't try to cry to accomplish a great deal and they get given period of time don't try to use so many chapters and so many minutes or anything but rather letting this come as a rule actually you read slowly reflect carefully what you're meeting and are encouraged to pray about what you're reading and then if the grace of God takes over something lights up in the text and we are a Cortland wonder and all of the goodness and the mercy and the love of God so it's that kind of reading a reading which is intended to lead into prayer it's a very rich concept the problem is that we're so used to reading for information and an entertainment that we return everything into that we sometimes say of somebody I don't see what he sees in her well if you love do you'd see it if you don't over you won't see it and it's a bit the same way what would Lex you then listen to God that God speak and you stop speaking yes um that God has some space and time and go to say something to you that's one of the biggest lessons that modern people need to learn because they don't know that I think whatever they want to learn the background by the dint of their their energy their work their study and their getting degrees in it then they're gonna know it but when they have done all that I'm fine they still don't know quite quite what they want to know [Music] words as we use them mostly empty but words can be very very full for example I can tell you that the Battle of Hastings was 1066 well ok I told you that that was my word but it doesn't tell you much about me I can tell you that I think Napoleon put back European history 200 years now that's another word that I'm giving you it's coming from me it tells you a little more about me but not very much now I also I can tell you that I love you if that's sincere that is my offer of a gift of myself to you and if you if you believe that you come into it we come into an encounter which is you know indescribable now you have to it comes by belief you can't prove it I can never prove that I love you you can never prove that I you can never prove earlier for sure you believe it because I always be fooling you or for myself or whatever it's this kind of a word that we get from God which is the expression of God's self [Music] today [Music] [Music] [Music] the word monger comes from the Latin Manos meaning one and perhaps one of the greatest mysteries of monastic life to those observing it is how each of the brothers lives out the reality of being one person and simultaneously one community when people talk was a wonder is it something that lets you know that you're a monk and you're on the right trail or some way basically it's coming to learn to love what you're doing and and to love those peoples and things that are that are part of it it's really a question of sensitivity trying to live the gospel message which is mainly the gospel of love and gradually you know yourself hopefully better so that you can serve better and try to find a place in heaven when it's all done [Music] sanben they can the rule speaks of that and the capsule definition of the lifestyle is seeking God and so that's search for God seeking meaning in life and discovering Who I am who God is we don't simply learn that all of a sudden in the flash and the hover all together it's an ongoing process and a learning process a growing process it's a lifelong process to become a true monk I haven't been the best at it and there's some real disappointments in the way I've been with the light but that still though it is the life it that I think was I mean you say cut out for me I think one of the things that thrills people also very much is when you find something that is who he's meant to be I mean who is happy with being who he is and I think that is a gift to other people and an encouragement to other people so we may start off our spiritual life as individuals thinking only of my prayer my reading and my ascent to God I came to realize that it is not just me it's in union with others and if you want to push it really it's with everyone else you know who's ever existent it was going to exist though somehow we're all in this together love really is at the depths of things and gradually come to realize we are loved which is absolutely necessary for us to love in return I've said to people that someone who was really flicked so to speak Iran to make is is very smooth and someone who really loves is awkward the most awkward lover I've ever encountered is God and God does the darndest things that would would shake the love of anybody but somehow or other we come to realize that that really is true love come down we beseech you O Lord upon this house and drive far from it all snares of the enemy let your holy angels dwell in it and keep us in peace and may your blessing be with us always we ask this through Christ our Lord at the end of every day the monks gather in the chapel for the final prayer of the evening the crypt below holds a 14th century statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace it's here where they offered their first prayer of the morning that the monks of Mount saviours seek the final blessing of their evening here they connect with the ancient faith and with all of humanity in its quest for a world at peace [Music] [Music] [Music] Ruby said we are satisfied to use therefore we bred me I waitressed alibis Oh [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Spooky Truth

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Length: 50min 19sec (3019 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 05 2018