Bryan Sherwood

Front Yard Shots, Tools Matter and Sr. O'Daly

I thought I'd get my camera out and take a few shots around our front yard tonight.  It's a beautiful evening in Kentucky - not too hot, not too cold.  The close-up shots aren't too bad considering I took them all freehanded.  Unfortunately, the grass and tree pollen are "very high" and that's causing me and lots of other people all kinds of allergy problems.

I'm reading (slowly) a book called Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life by Meg Funk.  She gives a good overview of the book and its direction on page 1 of her introduction:

This book is a brief presentation of tools found in the Christian tradition and how they worked for the early monks and nuns.  These monastics were people like you and me.  They felt the same impulse we do--they needed help.  To find that help, they went to visit the early hermits, quiet dwellers in the desert, and asked them, "How do you do it?"  "How can I do it?"  These wise persons taught them to guard their hearts, to watch their thoughts, to spend time in vigils, to fast, to confess, to practice ceaseless prayer, to practice the prayer of the heart, and to do manual labor, to name a few of the recommended practices.

If you're interested in monastic spirituality, I'd recommend picking up this book.

There is a beautiful reflection about the passing of Sr. Monica O'Daly at Sr. Eleanor's Cistercian Vocation blog.  May she rest in peace.  If I'm ever in Ireland (and I hope to be one day), I'd like to stop by St. Mary's Abbey and visit with the sisters there.  Cistercians in Ireland - does it get any better than that?

Peace to you.

Good Friday Thoughts

As we make our ways through the Great Triduum, we come to Good Friday. It's a day that focuses on the Cross. We go with Jesus there. We read the Passion narrative as we see Jesus denied, betrayed, and eventually crucified. Today is a quiet day of solemnity and a day of fasting as we enter more and more into this story. Just a few days ago we shouted "Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Today we shout "Crucify him, Crucify him."

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Today's collect from the BCP)

To Keep Death Before One's Eyes

From chapter 4 of the Rule of St. Benedict, entitled The Instruments of Good Works.

(44) To fear the day of judgment.
(45) To be in dread of hell.
(46) To desire eternal life with all spiritual longing.
(47) To keep death before one's eyes daily.

This chapter ends with these words:

Behold, these are the instruments of the spiritual art, which, if they have been applied without ceasing day and night and approved on judgment day, will merit for us from the Lord that reward which He hath promised: "The eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him" (1 Cor 2:9). But the workshop in which we perform all these works with diligence is the enclosure of the monastery, and stability in the community.

"To keep death before one's eyes daily." I used to think that was an odd statement. After all, if someone kept death before their eyes each day, wouldn't that naturally cause a person to be depressed? Shouldn't we downplay death and not speak about it? One of the things I've noticed about Thomas Merton is how frequently he talked about the possibility of his own death.

I think to follow the Rule in this instance is helpful to the monastic in the monastery and the lay person living in the world. I must remember my life here is only for a short time. Even if I live 80 or more years, that is a short time. I'm amazed at how quickly the first 35 years have gone by. When I realize the brevity of life, I want to be a good steward of the time that I have here. In other words, I hope to live life well. Death is a reminder to keep focusing on things that are truly important not those things the world may want me to believe are important.

I read once of a monastery who kept an open grave in the cemetery as a reminder that one day we will all face our own death. Monks don't hide death or try to dress it up as something that it is not. I like what Charles Cummings says:

I do not know, except by Christian faith, what lies beyond this life. In death I lose everything without knowing for sure that there is anything to follow. Faith, however, assures me that there is a God who is like a loving father or mother. The ultimate reality is not death and extinction. But God. (Charles Cummings, Monastic Practice, p. 192.)

Do I really believe that something greater is taking place beyond the grave? That's a question I'm forced to wrestle with as I am reminded of my own mortality. So, as I walk around the graveyard at Gethsemani, I think about this statement in the Rule: "To keep death before one's eyes daily." Those brothers of mine who lay buried under those white crosses are experiencing what lies beyond this life. They certainly have a fuller understanding of God himself. In the mean time, I have friends to get to know, prayers to pray, and life to live. I do it all with thanksgiving for life itself and the faith to know that death only brings me into a greater knowledge of God himself.

Peace.