Abbey News
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The Daley News
This past week from Sunday to Wednesday we enjoyed a series of lectures by Father Brian Daley S.J. on st. Augustine’s sermons on the Psalms. Guests from several nearby communities (including four Cistercian nuns, four Dominican nuns and two Benedictine monks) joined us for the talks.
Fr. Brian noted the central place of the Psalms in the daily life of the Church and monks and nuns in particular. After a careful sketch of the historical/ecclesial context in which Augustine wrote, he provided an overview of various key features of the bishop of Hippo’s approach.
Augustine appears to have commented on the Psalms in a liturgical setting before a congregation. His method frequently involves a ‘prosopological’ analysis, exploring the question, ‘Who is speaking?’ something not always easy to determine in the Psalms. Often he probes the title of a psalm, alludes to other works, or builds a rhetorical puzzle to draw in the interest of the audience; mostly he probes key individual words in a verse. Fr. Brian remarked on how often Augustine expresses concern for the poor in his commentaries and stresses the responsibility of Christians to care for them. Frequently a psalm is brought into dialogue with Matthew 25, ‘Whatever you did to the least of my brethren, you did to me.’
The passage used as an epigram on the opening page of our ‘Abbey Psalter’ expresses an essential element of Augustine’s perspective on the Psalms:
This psalm is spoken in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, both head and members. He is the head, we are the members. Not without good reason then, his voice is ours and our voice is also his. Let us therefore listen to the psalm and recognize in it the voice of Christ.
Augustine’s commentaries are always set in the context of the Church, a community on pilgrimage from a land of bondage, to the heavenly Jerusalem, following the risen Christ. Fr. Brian brought out the importance of the Donatist controversy in shaping Augustine’s view of the Church. The Donatists held essentially the same doctrinal views as the Catholic Church but held themselves to be ‘purer’, unstained by past complicity with Roman persecutors. Augustine emphasized by contrast the universality of a Church comprised of sinners and saints alike. A key principle in his approach to interpretation was: whatever reading fosters love, even if in some respects ‘incorrect’ is allowable, ‘love’ being understood here however in an ecclesial sense: whatever reading coheres with the rest of the tradition, the broader spectrum of Church doctrine and practice, the whole communion of love, is good.
It is always in this wider context that Augustine interprets the Psalms. Fr. Brian brought out that what can appear arbitrary to modern readers in the way the fathers interpret scripture needs to take account of this implicit context. It forms ‘the ballpark,’ the rules of play framing ‘the game’ of interpretation.
Among other elements of Augustine’s approach: the experience and theme of
personal conversion is central, and the theme of longing. There is a kind of, in Fr. Brian’s phrase, ‘roller-coaster mysticism’ in Augustine: one gets a tantalizing taste of things to come but all too quickly falls back into preoccupation with worldly cares. The aim of interpreting scripture is essentially to kindle desire, to help one another be moved by the images and figures of scripture, delighting to find familiar themes and insights hidden under strange and often bewildering verses. Fr. Brian was able to convey something of Augustine’s contagious delight and fascination in the discovery of God’s love for us.
One commentary we read, on psalm 132(131), finds the derivation of the word monk  (monos, ‘one’) from the verse: ‘How good and pleasant it is when brothers live as one.’ Monks especially, Augustine comments, live together as one, with one heart and mind, but not over against the rest of the Church, as better or set apart (like the Donatists). We ourselves during this week of grace, with a variety of guests had a chance to experience afresh how the monastery can be a microcosm of the Church at large. There was a fullness, evident especially in choir, a sense of communion pervading variety… ‘How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live as one…’
Fr. Elias Dietz New Abbot of Gethsemani
The newly elected abbot of Gethsemani, Fr. Elias Dietz, was officially installed and blessed as Abbot of Gethsemani recently. As a daughter house of Gethsemani the new Abbot is now our Father Immediate. We'll be looking forward to his first visitation. You'll find photos of the installation and blessing of the new Abbot on Gethsemani's web page.
New Prior Administrator at Mt. Saviour Monastery
Abbot President Timothy Kelly OSB, with the unanimous approval of the
monastic chapter, has appointed Father James Cronen OSB (left) prior
administrator of Mount Saviour Monastery, a house of the American-Cassinese Congregation.
Father James made first vows in 1948 and became a priest in 1954. On Sunday, 15 June 2008, Prior James succeeded Father Martin Boler OSB who had been prior since 29 October 1969. Father Martin followed the community's charismatic founder, Prior Damasus Winzen OSB (1901-1971).
Home From Rome
The meeting of the Regional Secretaries of Formation recently held at our monastery of Tre Fontane, Rome, Italy is now monastic history and will result, it seems, in making more history. It was decided at the meeting to suggest changes in our formation programs to the General Chapter which will convene in Assisi, Italy this September. The Regional Secretaries are now busy writing up reports to be sent to the Central Secretary, Sr. Pamela, OCSO, who will present them to the chapter.
Tre Fontane, by the way is an ancient monastic site dating from the 7th century. The present abbey church dates from the 12th century and, along with other buildings from that same period, is built according to traditional Cistercian architecture. A great place to visit next time you're in Rome!
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