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| Front row: Dianne Kendrick, Francie D’Annunzio, Rory Murdock Back row: John Orban, Theresa Myrick, Don Myrick, Flora Benoit and Eva Hegmann |
June 20, 2008 was a beautiful, sunny Friday as we drove through the gates of l’Abbaye Cistercienne de Rougemont, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. This monastery, I was to learn, is the only Cistercian monastery in Canada. Here, eight meditators from Ottawa joined 17 Montreal meditators for a silent retreat organized by Magda Jass and Polly Schofield of the Montreal Christian Meditation Community.
Our retreat was based on a series of unpublished talks that John Main had given to the Grail Community in London in 1976. Polly opened the week-end retreat by paraphrasing Montreal poet-singer-songwriter and Zen Buddhist monk, Leonard Cohen: in the monastery they keep you so busy with work and prayer that you don’t have much time to think about yourself. This thought would resonate with me throughout the week-end.
Retreatants were welcome to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with the monks. I took this opportunity to see what that would be like and participated in all of the Hours. As I dragged myself out of bed each morning at 4:00 a.m. for Vigils, I started to appreciate Leonard Cohen’s view of monastic life. One of the monks later told me that after 35 years, getting up for Vigils is still the hardest part of his day and he has never gotten used to it. That’s 12,775 times (not counting leap years) of getting up in the middle of the night—compared with my 2 times. That little reality-check brought some perspective to the romanticization of monastic life! Nevertheless, it was a wonderful experience to share the Hours with the monks and at least gain some understanding of what the “single-minded seeking of God” might entail.
Polly read from the notes of John Main, interjecting at intervals some of her personal experiences of Father John at the Priory in Montreal during those early days of the Community he founded. It was not long before the very essence of this wise and loving man seemed to permeate the room. Although I have always had a sense of “knowing” him from listening to his tapes and reading his books, this week-end in particular he seemed to come to life in the voice of one of his earliest and most devout followers. Polly’s personal anecdotes gave us a feel for the man he was—the breadth of his life, his love, his sense of humour and his vision. We not only experienced the richness of his teachings but we came to know a man who not only taught about love but who lived it, a man who was generous, joyful, elegant, poetic, funny and above all, loving—not in a sentimental way but in a full, expansive and inclusive way.
The first talk, on sin, was truly liberating. Sin, John Main tells us, is a rupture or disharmony, a turning away from God, and the antidote is prayer, which restores union with God—not by dwelling on our wrongs (such egoism only prevents us from experiencing spiritual liberty) but by turning back to God in humility. As St. Paul reminds us, grace abounds where sin is found, that is, if we are truly humble in the face of our weakness and mortality that we will turn with open hearts back to God. Meditation teaches us perfect humility, which is the true knowledge of ourselves as we are. “To be humble is to realize that we are infinitely valuable, infinitely important and temples of the Infinite Holiness of God.” Sin has already been wiped out by Christ—through his love.
The remaining talks were equally rich. Here are some excerpts from my notes: “The mantra only will teach you”. “In meditation we experience death and resurrection.” “Coming into our own selfhood is coming into God where we discover the reciprocal harmony we have with God and we are rooted in our Creator.” “Our task is to become rooted in Christ—who is in our heart (Paul).” “Meditation is the way to this rootedness.” On silence: “Speech is of time. Silence is of eternity.” “No sooner do we speak when the Divine door is closed.” “In silence we can begin to understand the mystery of our own being, the sacredness of our own life, the glory of our own being.” God’s secret, as Paul tells us, is “Christ within you.” “Prayer is the deepest expression of human freedom—so that we may soar towards God. To be free we must be silent.”
Each talk was followed by a taped talk of John Main and meditation and then it was time for prayer with the monks and another meal. Yet there was still time for a walk on the beautiful grounds of the monastery where lush lawns and shrubbery were splashed with early summer blossoms. Rustic benches were strategically placed around fish ponds dotted with lily pads—some replete with little sun-bathing frogs showing us how to live in the present moment—providing a serene and contemplative setting. As I strolled along the “Path of Peace” that led through the arboretum and beyond to the apple orchards I could not help but reflect on our own path of peace—the path of meditation that John Main cleared for us to follow, the path to fullness of life.
All too soon we were gathered Sunday afternoon on the front steps of the monastery for the customary photo. Good-byes were exchanged and we headed back to Ottawa, refreshed and renewed – and driving more slowly, one of my passengers remarked, than we had on the way down just two days before.
Note: You can attend another of Polly’s retreats October 10-12, 2008 at l’Hermitage Ste. Croix, Montreal.