This summer,
before the world-traveling adventures begin, I have the pleasure of attending a
theological class at Campbell. This class is rightfully named
"Intentional Faith Communities" as we are studying and visiting
different types of intentional faith communities within the realms of
Monasticism and New Monasticism. As a part of the class we are visiting
TWO different communities that reside within our wonderful state of North
Carolina. The first of which is Belmont Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in
Belmont, NC. The second of which is Rutba House, a New Monastic community
in Durham, NC.
This past
Monday my class visited the monks at Belmont Abbey and had a fantastic,
enlightening time. We were able to partake in mass, midday prayers, and
vespers. We were also given a tour of the basilica and were given a peek
into the daily life of a Benedictine monk at Belmont Abbey. It was
wonderful! However, there is something that I simply cannot limit to
myself and it is found within one of the monks', Brother Elias, testimonies on
becoming a monk. He writes,
“I believed
that the primary way for me to help other people was by deepening my holiness,
a result of the transformation effected in my life by God when I am fully open
to God, seek God with my whole heart, and generously give to God all that I
have. When this is true, I will be an
extension of God, instead of just working by human means; all of my actions
will have more effectiveness than years of toil without personal holiness. It is from this foundation, that knowledge I
share with other people, words I speak to them, or actions I do on their behalf
will be most efficacious.” [1]
It is
evident via his testimony that helping others is incredibly important to
Elias. Yet, he discovered that the best and “most efficacious” way to
help others is by acting from personal holiness achieved through complete
obedience to God, humility, and self-denial. In other words, by wholly
pursuing a relationship with God and seeking to be Christ-like Brother
Elias found that he would be so much more effective than if he tried to help
others without God.
But wait,
I'm not quite finished! I was reading today in Common Prayer: A
Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals as part of my class requirements and the
Morning Prayer readings for today contains a quote by Evelyn Underhill in which
she writes,
"Adoration,
as it more deeply possesses us, inevitably leads on to self-offering.
Charity is the life wire among which the power of God, indwelling our
finite spirits, can and does act on other souls and other things, rescuing,
healing, giving support and light. Such secret intercessory prayer ought
to penetrate and accompany all our active work. It is the supreme
expression of the spiritual life on earth. It moves from God to others
through us, because we have ceased to be self-centered units, but are woven
into the great fabric of praying souls, the 'mystical body' through which the
work of Christ on earth goes on begin done.” [2]
Isn’t it just so ridiculously cool
that yesterday I read the testimony of a monk, and today I’m reading in a book
of prayer and I come across the same idea?
We have to give up ourselves in order to do our best work. This reminds me of a sermon I recently heard
by an amazing and wise man of God on Philippians 4:13 which says, “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.”
We can’t do everything just because we are people of God, but God
through us truly can do anything – far more than we could ever do ourselves.
So, how can we -- How can I --
become less self-centered, be fully open to God, and seek God with my full
heart today? -t
"'I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.'" -- John 15:5
[1] Brother
Elias on Becoming a Benedictine Monk, retrieved from
http://belmontabbey.org/learn-about-the-monastery/brother-elias-on-becoming-a-benedictine-monk, accessed 20 May 2014.
[2] Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma
Okoro, Common Prayer (Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan, 2010), http://commonprayer.net.
