Bread and Soup Night TOGETHER



nytimes.com

Wednesday and Friday nights during Lent at the monastery are reminiscent of more traditional monastic times when meals were, for the most part, eaten in silence while listening to holy table reading.  Monastics were not only fortified physically, but their souls were nourished in holy silence as they mulled over the words they heard as the reader shared whatever she was instructed to read by the Abbot.  St. Benedict, in Chapter 38 of his Rule, The Reader for the Week, exhorts "Let there be complete silence.  No whispering, no speaking- only the reader's voice should be heard there.  The brothers should by turn serve one another's needs as they eat and drink, so that on one need ask for anything." 

Our silent monastic meal tonight consisted of split pea and ham hock soup with homemade zucchini bread right out of the oven.  St. Benedict always advocates a second choice, so those who were not particularly fond of this flavor of soup could be seen navigating to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal.  The silent atmosphere somehow invites one to slow down, to truly taste the food, and to listen attentively to the word being read.  In a way, this is prayer time TOGETHER, silence TOGETHER, community time TOGETHER, formation TOGETHER. 

Tonight, as I listened to the reading, I realized we are all on the same journey TOGETHER, intent on our Lenten Pilgrimage TOGETHER.  After the reading was over, we sat in silence for a few minutes until Sr. Janet Marie rang the bell, the sign that the meal was completed and we could then proceed to clear the tables and take our dishes to the cart for dishwashing.  I sat for a few minutes just to watch the Sisters.  I noticed several Sisters taking dishes for Sisters who needed help.  This reminded me of our holy service TOGETHER that should flow out of our silence and our interiorization of God's message through the spoken word.



The book that Sr. Janet Marie chose for our Lenten table reading this year is The Gift of Years, Growing Older Gracefully by Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB.  The following paragraph struck me as a possible Lenten message for us all as we live this monastic life TOGETHER, "growing older gracefully" TOGETHER:

"A burden of these years

is that we must consciously decide how we will live,

what kind of person we will become now,

what kind of personality and spirituality we will bring into every group,

how alive we intend to be.

A blessing of these years is being able to live so openheartedly,

and to adjust so well,

that others can look to us and see what being old can bring

in terms of life,

of holiness, of goodness

to make the world new again."

~Joan Chittister, OSB

The Gift of Years

BlueBridge Pub. 2008, p.65

So our Lenten time TOGETHER is an opportunity, a call, to make everyday a new day so that the Christ within us can make the "world new again."









Lenten Pilgrimage

The readings for this first Sunday of Lent are packed with rich imagery of water, rainbows, creatures of every kind, and desert wilderness.  We once again travel the covenantal pilgrimage of salvation history.  In the words of Patricia Sanchez, “through the story of Noah and the great flood, the authors of Genesis remind us that no one goes it alone in this world. God has chosen to be bound forever to us and to our world in a covenantal relationship

...This covenant supersedes all the differences that divide us and all the controversies that place us at odds with one another.  Just as Noah and company were preserved in the ark from the flood waters, those who are baptized into Christ are saved through the waters of the sacrament.  …The bow in the clouds stands as a witness to God’s ever deepening love and commitment to all.  Among the ancient Near Eastern peoples, the rainbow was thought to be a divine weapon used by the gods to inflict harm on humankind.  However, with the biblical narrative of Noah, the bow (undrawn) became a symbol of God’s unwillingness to harm covenantal partners.  It bore silent, colorful witness to God’s “never again” pledge…” Through our own response to God’s covenantal relationship with us, “we are to echo God’s “never again” promise so that future generations might also know” this covenantal relationship.

In the Gospel of Mark, we join Jesus on his wilderness pilgrimage.  Having just been baptized in the Jordan, he escapes to the desert for 40 days, a “fearsome place where wild beasts were a constant danger, [but] also the place where Israel and God sealed their relationship and where they had come to rely on God for their survival. Similarly reliant on God and strengthened by the Spirit and the ministrations of the angel messengers, Jesus not only survived the desert experience, he emerged victorious and eagerly intent upon beginning his mission.  He would preach the gospel of God!” (Patricia Sanchez, from “Preaching Resources,” Celebration, February, 2012)

Jesus calls us to be serious about our own Lenten pilgrimage, to recall our baptismal commitment, our moments of monastic profession, our sufferings, our conversions, our joys.  As the rite of “election” or “enrollment of names” for the catechumens who are to be admitted to the Sacraments of Christian Initiation at the Easter Vigil takes place tomorrow, we recall our own Baptismal celebration, the many catechumen celebrations we have witnessed, and all of our Sisters who have responded to Jesus’ call throughout the years to form new members into God’s covenantal relationship.

Each day of our daily monastic pilgrimage, with its desert and garden moments, its peaks and valleys, is a re-commitment to our Baptismal commitment- to our vow of stability, no matter what.  The Lenten journey, indeed, our everyday journey, is definitely an adventure.   Joyce Rupp, in her book, Walk in a Relaxed Manner, Life Lessons from the Camino, shares that “adventure depends on openness and an attitude of risk taking.  Life can be boring and yawningly predictable or it can be surprisingly eventful and growth- filled.  It depends on how we see it and what we allow it to be for us. The landscape of our daily routines may be the same but we are never the same inside.  There is always something new waiting for us, if we will only open ourselves to it.  What we consider to be everyday and ordinary can have freshness to it if we are willing to enter into it fully.  Every day is an adventure daring us to be more fully alive.”

Our daily lives enrich our understanding of the liturgical readings from year to year.  Something new is always waiting for us.  With our listening hearts, we stand ready to embark on new adventures, inviting others, through our hospitality and ministry, to embark on the holy journey of life with us. 

We can easily see the readings for tomorrow as the Paschal Journey.  The water images of the flood might make us think of the virulent budding of spring gifts to come, the desert sands conjure up times of aridity and tribulation, the rainbow assures us there is hope, and Jesus’ presence in the desert reflects that in God all things are possible if we look to Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The scallop shell design, worn as a badge by pilgrims to Compostela, symbolizes the many European starting points from which medieval pilgrims began their journey, all drawn to a single point at the base of the shell, Santiago de Compostela.  So perhaps we should keep this scallop shell in mind as our symbol to carry along on our Lenten journey, where each week of Lent is drawn to a single point at the base of the shell, the arrival at our Easter destination.

 As we think of pilgrimage, the following quote from James Healy is appropriate:

"Whether we gaze with longing into the garden or with fear and trembling into the desert, of this we can be sure---God walked there first!  And when we who have sinned and despoiled the garden are challenged now to face the desert, we do not face it alone; Jesus has gone there before us to struggle with every demon that has ever plagued a human heart. Face the desert we must if we would reach the garden, but Jesus has gone there before us." 

              (from A Lent Resource Book, The Forty Days, Book One, pg.68,

               Liturgy Training Publications, 1990)

  

"The Rest of the Story"

Postscript to yesterday's blog- "Angel at the Super Bowl"

(must read blog of February 4, 2012)

What a game!!!! The Patriots tried so hard the last 50 seconds or so to score a touchdown to beat the Giants.  Yet, for most of the game they were ahead.  I felt a real adrenalin rush at their last-ditched effort to come through for the win and heard myself shouting for Dave to help them out.  Believe it or not, I shed a little tear for their loss, but I think I heard Dave say, "Sis, it's allright, the score shows they are BOTH the best.  And don't forget, I was in New York for several years and attended a few Giants' games. Though I love the Patriots, I'm OK with the Giants winning since they were part of my life too."

David M. Cohen
In Memoriam
February 6, 2005
Our Super Bowl Angel

I celebrated with you this night
you coaxed me to the Super Bowl
your most favorite delight.
Your beautiful face with Stetson hat
I did not see
but never mind that
my heart felt your presence.
Tell God thanks
for all of us!
We love you and miss you so much!
So we promise
to meet you every year at the Super Bowl
and we know one day that you will meet us at the gates of the Real Super Bowl.

From Mom and all your brothers and sisters



Angel at the Super Bowl

             Super Bowl Sunday is always a special event for me and my family.  At the forefront of this ultimate sports extravaganza, is the memory of our dear brother David.  He loved the Super Bowl.  As generous and hard-working as he was (coming to our rescue if we had a flat tire, electrical problem, illness, or ANY request), all time stopped on Super Bowl Sunday.  What makes Super Bowl Sunday so special for us is that David died on Super Bowl Sunday in 2005 after a heroic eighteen-month fight with cancer.  My sister Frances recalls that, as she and her husband were visiting with him just two nights before he died, David was already anticipating the Super Bowl and hoping that the New England Patriots would win.  As we were gathered at his bedside during his last hours, we coaxed him on to his heavenly journey, reminding him that he would have the “best seat in the house” to watch the game.  He died right before the start of the game.  The Patriots came through for him, 24-21, against the Philadelphia Eagles.

             I am certain that David journeyed to heaven by way of Jacksonville, Florida, so he could watch the Patriots’ victory.  After all, Pensacola is much closer to Jacksonville than Heaven and I can just hear David telling God, “First things, first!”  I know of this tenacity from my brother Steve and their working buddies as they share stories of their time working together on power plant startups in New York. Steve speaks of their travelling the subway systems in New York.  He paints a picture of David wearing “his Stetson black hat and handcuff on his belt and carrying a throw down wallet (an empty wallet he was prepared to throw down and run in case it looked like he was in imminent danger of being mugged) as we followed him through Penn Station and it was like the parting of the sea but he was always so polite: ‘How you doing?’ ‘Good Day!’  He was always smiling comfortably in his skin; he just was unafraid.” His license plate even reflected this spirit- NO GRIEF.

            The Patriots will be playing again in this year’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis.  My sister Lynn got “goosebumps” when she heard this.  Though I am not that much of a football fan, all time will stop for me and I will be watching this game. Why? Because I know Angel David will be there.  He has probably already convinced God of his need to be present for the Patriots and he most likely has successfully won permission to bring his mentor and good friend, Bob Libbey, my brother Kenny who followed him to heaven almost a year later, and any other heavenly Super Bowl buddies with him.  And I know all his New York buddies still here on earth, Robert, Walker, Bob, Rick, Mike, Blue, and Ken, will join him to cheer the Patriots on the road to victory.  I am sure there is one SUPER-DUPER tail-gaiting party already going on in heaven at this moment and throughout the night.

New York Work Crew:
left to right
Robert Frady, Walker Anderson, Dave Cohen, Steve Cohen, Bob Libbey, Rick Cotton,
Mike Owens, Blue Larry, Ken Orange

 Tune in tomorrow evening for

“rest of the story!”

“…but this one thing I do:

forgetting what lies behind and straining forward

to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal

for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”  Phil. 3: 13-14

from Memorial Card

DAVID M. COHEN

February 6, 2005

“Grieve not…

nor speak of me with tears…

but laugh

and talk with me

as though I were beside you.

I loved you so…

‘twas Heaven

here with you.”

“You are most cordially invited

to join me at the Super Bowl

February 5, 2012.

 See ya’ll there!!!!

Love,

Dave