New Camaldoli Hermitage - contemplation.com · 2016. 12. 28. · New Camaldoli Hermitage FALL 2016...

New Camaldoli HermitageFALL 2016

62475 Highway 1, Big Sur, CA 93920 • 831 667 2456 • www.contemplation.com

LISTEN!If we’re to “listen” as Saint Benedict urges,we must seek silence. And we must distinguish silence that leads to wholeness from silence that does not. In this issue, poetry, images, and articles—by Prior Cyprian, Pico Iyer, and Matt Fisher—encourage us to hear God’s voice and share God’s silence. page 2-7

IN THIS ISSUE2 The Art of Stillness

4 But What Kind of Silence Are We Keeping?

6 Beautiful Noise8 Towards The Rebirth of Wisdom: A Christian Conversation

9 Development

10 Further Thoughts on Silence and Stillness

11 Oblate Peer Mentor Program

1 2 Vita Monastica13 Monastery of the Risen Christ14 Incarnation Monastery

15 Late Arrival: A Retreat at New Camaldoli

16 Activities and Visitors

Longtime essayist, novelist and travel writer Pico Iyer writes about hisintroduction to New Camaldoli and its gift of “thrumming, crystalsilence” in his book The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere (New York: TEDBooks, Simon & Schuster, 2014).

At some point all the horizontal trips in the world cannot compen-sate for the need to go deep, into somewhere challenging and unex-pected. Movement makes richest sense when set within a frame of stillness.

So I got into my car and followed a road along the California coast from my mother’s house, and then drove up an even narrower path to a Benedictine retreat house a friend had told me about. When I got out of my worn and dust-streaked white Plymouth Horizon, it was to step into a thrumming, crystal silence. And when I walked into the little room where I was to spend three nights, I couldn’t begin to remember any of the arguments I’d been thrash-ing out in my head on the way up, the phone calls that had seemed so urgent when I left home. Instead I was nowhere but in this room, with long windows looking out upon the sea.

A fox alighted on the splintered fence outside, and I couldn’t stop watching, transfixed. A deer began grazing just outside my window, and it felt like a small miracle stepping into my life. Bells tolled far above, and I thought I was listening to the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

I’d have laughed at such sentiments even a day before…But what I discovered, almost instantly, was that as soon as I was in one place, undistracted, the world lit up and I was as happy as when I forgot about myself. Heaven is the place where you think of nowhere else.

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MESSAGE FROM THE PRIOR

Three Monasteries, One Community

“Though we are many, we are one body” (Romans 12:5)

Though we live in different locations, we more and more think of ourselves as one community stretched up and down the coast of California. Up north, our Frs. Andrew and Arthur along with our Italian brother Ivan have a thriving ministry with our oblates at Incarnation in Berkeley. Br. Bede has moved up to be with them thisfall as well.

Down south in San Luis Obispo, Frs. Ray and Stephen are about to make their solemn transfer from the Olivetan BenedictineCongregation to ours this coming January; so the Monastery of the Risen Christ, with our Fr. Daniel at the helm, will be an official Camaldolese monastery very soon.

And of course Fr. Michael Fish continues in hermit-preacher-wanderer mode based in the hills above Santa Cruz. New Camaldoli feels more and more like a mother house or, as one of our friends likes to say, “the Mothership.”

THE ART OF STILLNESSPico Iyer

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“Very soon, stepping into stillness became my sustaining luxury.” ~ Pico Iyer

to change my life a little more. The year after I discov-ered what a transformation it would be to sit still, I moved to Japan for good—to a doll’s house apartment in which my wife and I have no car, no bicycle, no bed-room or TV I can understand. I still have to support my family and keep up with the world as a travel writer and journalist, but the freedom from distraction and complication means that every day, when I wake up, looks like a clear meadow with nothing ahead of me, stretching toward the mountains.

This isn’t everyone’s notion of delight; maybe you have to taste quite a few alternatives to see the point in stillness. But when friends ask me for suggestions about where to go on vacation, I’ll sometimes ask if they want to try Nowhere, especially if they don’t want to have to deal with visas and injections and long lines at the airport. One of the beauties of Nowhere is that you never know where you’ll end up when you head in its direction, and though the horizon is unlimited, you may have very little sense of what you’ll see along the way. The deeper blessing—as Leonard Cohen had so movingly shown me, in his life as a monk—is that it can get you as wide-awake, exhilarated, and pumping-hearted as when you are in love.


It was a little like being called back to somewhere I knew, though I’d never seen the place before. As the monks would have told me—though I never asked them—finding what feels like real life, that change-less and inarguable something behind all our shifting thoughts, is less a discovery than a recollection. I was so moved that, before I left, I made a reserva-tion to come back, and then again, for two whole weeks. Very soon, stepping into stillness became my sustaining luxury. I couldn’t stay in the hermitage forever—I wasn’t good at settling down, and I’m not part of any spiritual order—but I did feel that spend-ing time in silence gave everything else in my days fresh value and excitement. It felt as if I was slipping out of my life and ascending a small hill from which I could make out a wider landscape.

It was also pure joy, often, in part because I was so fully in the room in which I sat, reading the words of every book as though I’d written them. The people I met in the retreat house—bankers and teachers and real estate salespeople—were all there for much the same reason I was, and so seemed to be my kin, as fellow travelers elsewhere did not. When I drove back into my day-to-day existence, I felt the liberation of not needing to take my thoughts, my ambitions—my self—so seriously.

This small taste of silence was so radical and so un-like most of what I normally felt that I decided to try

on silence. What relationship do they have to the Camaldolese charism—the “triple good”—of commu-nity, solitude, and mission?

To all of us reading this newsletter, the quote from St. Isaac of Syria mirrors our experience of time spent at the Hermitage. The silence we encounter there is welcoming, nurturing, and illuminating. That rich silence allows us to take a step back from the busy-ness of our lives, see things in a new way, and regain that sense of “God with and within us” (to use some of Fr. Raniero’s favorite words).

But that experience of silence in the midst of “golden solitude” (as The Life of the Five Brothers puts it) is not the only form of silence that many people encounter.

There is another kind of silence that James Orbinski describes: one that kills. It is a life-denying silence that comes in many forms. Elsewhere in this newsletter, Fr. Cyprian describes other types of silence: passive-aggressive, fearful, lonely and despairing, not speaking in the face of evil.

Given the work of Doctors Without Borders, I am pretty sure that Orbinski was primarily thinking of silence in the face of evil, the silence about (for instance)

poverty, war, national security, neglected diseases among the global poor, refugees, acts of genocide. As I started working on this essay, I found myself thinking about the mass shooting in Orlando and acts of terrorism in Istanbul and Nice. The death of Elie Wiesel in July reminded me of how challenging it can be to speak in opposition to this deadly kind of silence.

Over time, I’ve grown to appreciate that Orbinski’s words are applicable beyond what he probably had in mind when he spoke them. Many of the forms of silence described by Fr. Cyprian or Paul Goodman


BUT WHAT KIND OF SILENCE ARE WE KEEPING?Matt Fisher, Oblate OSB Cam

Matt, a member of the chemistry faculty at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, has been a Camaldolese oblate since 1998. He and his wife Bettie (also a chemistry professor at Saint Vincent) live in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where they read and garden and cook when not grading papers. For over 30 years Matt has studied and taught the Japanese art of aikido, in which he holds the rank of 5th degree black belt.

“If you love truth, be a lover of silence. Silence, like the sunlight, will illuminate you in God.”

~ St Isaac of Syria

“Silence has long been confused with neutrality, and has been presented as a necessary condition for humanitarian action…We are not sure that words can always save lives, but we know that silence can certainly kill.”

~ Dr. James Orbinski, president of Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders, on accept-ing the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the organization.

The above quotations offer two opposing perspectives

have the same outcome: something dies.

It is not necessarily a human life that ends: silence can also kill relationships and community. Fr. Robert wrote in one of his contributions to The Privilegeof Love that “it all begins with love, and thus with koinonia, that is, with Christian community and communion (the wonderful New Testament Greek term koinonia indicates all that). And it is this same love/communion that, when fulfilled, will be the heart of the kingdom. So koinonia and love are not two values alongside others. Understood in their depth, they converge, and are the ‘one thing neces-sary’ that enables all the rest for our Camaldolese, Benedictine, Christian, and human existence.”

When silence is toxic and life denying, it undermines and destroys that love.

I remember words spoken by Fr. Cyprian as part of his keynote talk at the 2014 Assembly where the focus was “the new evangelization” proposed by Pope John Paul II in 1990 as a way of “building a civilization of love.” In the course of his address, Fr. Cyprian explored the question of what monastics, particularly Camaldolese, bring to Christian mission. He pointed out that historically Camaldolese often chose to go to the harshest lands. He suggested that we all—monks, oblates and friends—might be called to “the places where nobody else wants to go and to those to whom no one else knows how to speak.”

He also suggested that our contribution to mis-sion might be something that is rooted much more in silent presence than in words. “Sometimes it is more important for us to be Christ—in dialogue or in silence—than for us to preach Christ. Then like a contemplative community on a mountain or in the heart of the city, we become an evangelizing word, like yeast in the dough, like salt in the earth, like a seed that falls into the ground and dies and yet yields a rich harvest.”

I am left with a growing conviction that the more we can root ourselves in the life-giving silence of the Hermitage and the quiet places and times of our daily lives, the more we will be able to stand in the presence of toxic or life-denying silence and respond in a way—be it word or action—that is consonant with the primacy of love.

“...There is the great and quiet waterReaching to Asia, and in an hour or soThe still stars will show over it but I am quieter Inside than even the ocean the stars.”

~ Robinson Jeffers, from “Tamar”

I go among trees and sit still.All my stirring becomes quietaround me like circles on water.My tasks lie in their placeswhere I left them, asleep like cattle.

~ Wendell Berry, from “I Go Among Trees”


BEAUTIFUL NOISE

Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam


There is a silence of ache, of loneliness, of grief, despair, abjection. The silence when there is nothing more to be said, when there are no more tears. As Khaled Hosseini describes the character Sohrab in the marvelous novel The Kite Runner, there is “the silence of one who has taken cover in a dark place, curled up all the edges and tucked them under.” This is a kind of silence but not a silence that is full of God. Thomas Merton wrote about another silence too, how silence, even especially monastic silence, can be complicit: a silence that does not speak in the face of evil. That is not a godly silence, but full of what John Cassian calls a pernicious peace. So it is not enough just to refrain from speaking.

On the other hand, there is a kind of “noise” that is not offensive to silence. One of my mentors, thecomposer and liturgist Lucien Deiss, used to say that “the quality of the music we make must be better than the quality of the silence we break.” One of my favorite album titles years ago was Neil Diamond’s Beautiful Noise. There is “beautiful noise,” sounds that are manifestations of the silence, sounds that are natural outgrowths of Divine Love having some incar-national effect in our lives and in our world.

This of course is what the best music is—as when our friend Br. David Steindl-Rast calls Gregorian chant “the music of silence,” for example.

What I’ve learned from Indian music is to listen first,

People often say to us monks about our life here at the Hermitage, “It must be nice to live with so much silence!” I usually respond by saying, “It takes about six months to get used to the silence, and then the real noise starts up—in your head.”

Actually I’ve discovered that many people simply cannot bear the outward silence for more than a few hours; they find it intimidating, deafening. They are (we all are) accustomed—we can even become addicted—to a constant barrage of aural stimula-tion. There is the ever-present din of every day life, the constant prattle of conversation and trivia, the radio and TV, talk news shows, music, cell phones, podcasts…

So a very healthy but difficult first step is to stop all the aural stimulation, to clear ourselves out and allow us to think, to focus.

But then what is the quality of our silence? There is a silence which is passive-aggressive, isn’t there? The silence of ignoring someone we are angry with, the silence of not wanting to face an uncomfortable situation or relationship. That is not a holy silence; that is a silence full of bitterness or envy and even a kind of violence. That’s the absence of some noise, but it is not true silence.

There is a silence of fear, of not wanting to interact with the world.

Silence is that Emptiness from which sound emerges as sound…

The place of the pneuma, the spirit, is silence, not as a repressed or suffocated logos…

Silence is empty, it has nothing to say— and when there is something to say out of silence the word is born. ~ Raimon Panikkar, The Rhythm of Being

heard there as “noise.” To me that was the sound of the people of God, and the sound of a commu-nity that had offered me hospitality, friendship and a comfortable place to come home to. That kind of loving sound fed my interior silence, like the crack-ling of a fire in the fireplace. In our Camaldolese congregation in Rome there was a recluse nun, Sister Nazarena of Jesus (1907-1990) whom I thought of often when I was in my room at the church. She lived on the second floor of the monastery right off a bustling Roman street, and never, they say, never once complained about the noise.

Silence is not simply the absence of noise. True silence is stillness of a soul filled with the fullness of God.

Contemplative wisdom tells us that the way to rid ourselves of unhealthy desires, sinful tendencies, disordered passions and compulsions, sins and sicknesses, is to fill ourselves with God. A mantra or a simple prayer word in meditation is like that, a token of our loving longing for God and of God’s loving longing for us. We don’t simply empty our-selves; we are filled as well.

When we empty ourselves of all that is not godly, we let ourselves be filled with God, like pouring clean rainwater into a stagnant barrel. Eventually our prayer word, our mantra, or the holy nama japa that we use to lead us to pure prayer is like that rain water, rinsing out all that is not God—but at the same time filling us with the living water of the Spirit.

Two of my favorite descriptions of Jesus are from St Paul. The kenosis hymn in the letter to the Philip-pians (2:5-7) describes Jesus’ self-emptying—but then, Paul tells us in the letter to the Colossians (1:19), because of that emptiness the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Jesus. And, by the way, we have come to fullness in him. And John says too in his gospel (1: 14-16) that Jesus was filled with grace and truth, and from that fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. This is our hope too: that in our silence we would be filled by the Godhead.

Ruth Burrows wrote that “our nature is to be allaspiration, a leaping upwards toward a fullness oflife in God; it is to be a purity able to reflect the beauty of God, an emptiness to receive plenitude.” I believe this describes our silence too—it is an aspiration, a leap toward the fullness of life in God, a purity able to resound with the beautiful noise of God’s Word, an emptiness to receive plenitude.

before one plays or sings, to what is called the anaha-ta nada, the “unstruck sound,” the sound of the Om, the sound of the Word manifesting as the Universe, and let that be the shruti, the drone note that under-lies the music we make.

Robert Jonas, the shakuhachi flute player, told me once about a certain type of Zen music which has notes but no real melody. The notes merely point to the silence between the notes; it’s music that leads to and grows from the silence. And even the soundsin the room during those quiet periods in the middle of the performance are considered to be part of the piece. It’s like the sounds of nature: crickets and birds and frogs are not breaking the silence any more than jasmine is offending the air by filling it with sweetness. (Would that our speech were like that!)

Sometimes when I am in the right space spiritually and emotionally even the beautiful noise of the city can become like a shruti underlying my prayer and meditation.

When I lived at the rectory of Holy Cross Parish my first months in Santa Cruz, my bedroom at the church looked right out over the area next to the church. There was almost always at least a little bit of people-traffic there during the day, maintenance people, musicians sometimes, school kids going by, homeless folks using the public restrooms. Someone once said to me sympathetically, “It must be so noisy in your room!” But I couldn’t consider the sounds I

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Chris and Nanette prefaced each session with a personal reflection on Bruno’s thought about that particular movement and with their own riveting video-interview with Bruno on the subject. And then what followed were two different forms of response to Bruno’s thought at each “turn.” On one hand, one (or sometimes two) of the presenters delivered a formal academic paper drawing out further pos-sibilities, raising questions, taking stock, challeng-ing, affirming, and always looking forward, too. But in addition there were “wisdom sharings” in which presenters responded personally and artistically to themes implicit in each “turn.” This was particularly appropriate because as Nanette and Chris point out, “For Bruno, wisdom is more than academic.”

The symposium was filmed, and plans are afoot to make both the filmed conference and the presented papers available on the Hermitage website in the future. The weekend was rich with “next step” consid-erations. It marked both an end and a beginning. On one hand, Bruno’s passing felt like the end of an era to participants, and yet, as Bruno appreciated more keenly than most, “as seeds fall into the ground” new life springs forth. Bruno so often emphasized that the Christ event is “the birth of newness into the world.” His genius was to stay close to this “Big Bang” and to reveal it to us as a profound gift. And so the sympo-sium felt like yet another beginning of wisdom—with much more to follow.

After the final no there comes a yes, And on that yes the future of the world depends. ~ Wallace Stevens, “The Well Dressed Man with a Beard”

Theologians, philosophers, and contemplatives gathered at the Hermitage last July 4th weekend to explore and develop dimensions of a new wisdom Christianity in the light of the work of Fr. Bruno Barnhart. The conference was originally scheduled for Union Theological Seminary in New York City additional information about the open house will appear in the winter issue anticipating Bruno’s active participation, and it was inspired primarily by Bruno’s last publication, The Future of Wisdom: Toward a Rebirth of Sapiential Christianity (which is soon to be back in print). However, as Bruno’s health declined, New Camaldoli generously brought the conference back to the Hermitage itself, and then when Bruno passed last November, the conference proceeded at the Hermitage in Bruno’s honor.

Oblates Chris Morris and Nanette Walsh, both of whom knew Bruno very well and worked with him closely, organized the symposium. Their love andappreciation for Bruno and for the ongoing impor-tance of Bruno’s work shone throughout the week-end. Chris and Nanette invited six main presenters: Dr. Christopher Pramuk, Dr. Joseph Prabhu, Dr. Julia Prinz, Bishop Marc Andrus, Dr. Richard Tarnas, and Dr. Roger Haight. Together with other invitedparticipants, the conference comprised a gatheringof twenty-five individuals dynamically engaged in this question of “the rebirth of wisdom.”

The conference was organized around the fourmovements that Bruno suggests himself in The Future of Wisdom…

1. “The Sapiential Awakening” (the recovery of the ba-sic perspective that Christian wisdom is participative).

2. “The Eastern Turn” (a re-centering of spirituality and theology in terms of unity or non-duality).

3. “The Western (Modern) Turn” (an integration of the dynamic and creative elements of Christianity).

4. “The Global (Postmodern) Turn” (our active participation in the movement towards one world: a united humanity aware of its communion with earth and cosmos).

TOWARDS THE REBIRTH OF WISDOM: A CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION

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The Hermitage opened its doors to evacuees, including myself, anddisplaced tourists who were not able to ac-cess the highway or their original destintion due to the many road closures.

We are saddened to learn of the loss of our friends’ homes due to the fire and have included them in our daily prayers.

Thank you to everyone who reached out to the monks and the Hermitage to inquire about the fires and lend support during this difficult time.

The “Monks Inside Out” October 19 at the Henry Miller Memorial Library was a wonderful success. A portion of the proceeds to this event have been donated to the fire relief efforts in Big Sur.

The community hosted their 2nd Annual Fall Open House at the Hermitage on Sunday, November 6, 2016 which featured a wine and cheese reception with the monks and a musical performance by Fr. Cyprian. Over 80 people attended. Additional information about the open house will appear in the winter issue.

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who hassupported the annual summer Wish List. To date we have raised over $30,000 which will directly fund the following three very important areas of need: staff housing, Fr. Bruno’s Memorial Fund, and theHermitage Scholarship Fund.

The community greatly appreciates your continued support and generosity. If you would like information about any of our upcoming events or about how you can support the Hermitage, please contact me [email protected], or 831-667-2456 x114.

FROM THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICEJill Gisselere

Much has happened here since our summernewsletter.

The Annual Assembly and Retreat in San Juan Bautista July 18-21, attended by more than 40 oblates and friends of the Hermitage, was well received. The keynote speaker. Sr. Donald Corcoran, OSB presented on “Sacred Humanitas.” The next annual Assembly and Retreat will again be at St. Francis Retreat in San Juan Bautista August 18-20, 2017 so mark your calendars and stay tuned for additional details.

Just a few days after the Assembly, our community was devastated by the news of the Soberanes Fire which was started on July 21 in the Soberanes water-shed near Palo Colorado Canyon (approximately 30 miles north of the Hermitage) by an unattended campfire. Within 24 hours, residents of the canyon and surrounding areas were evacuated as the fire spread at a rapid pace, destroying nearly 60 homes and currently 132,000 acres of beautiful forest.

Over 5000 firefighters from other counties and states as well as the National Guard moved into the local state parks to set up camp and fight the fire which continues to burn (although at the time I write this the fire has now reached 96% containment). The Governor of California declared the area a state of emergency soon after the fire started, providing much needed support to residents and evacuees.

Although the fire has stayed a safe distance from the Hermitage, it has had a powerful effect on our community.

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FOR OBLATES AND FRIENDS: THOUGHTS ON SILENCE AND STILLNESSFr. Robert Hale, OSB Cam

One of the things that unites our oblates, friends, and monks is a love of silence and stillness, which offer a precious “clmate” and “place” into which one can withdraw at times throughout the day. Finding such islands of silence can be difficult for people “out there” juggling

the demands of family and work, etc. (On the other hand, someone “in the world” who lives alone might enjoy more quiet, silence and solitude than we monks sometimes seem to have available!) There is a rich section on “Silence and Solitude” in our basic resource for oblates and friends, The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. There are also references throughout the book to the signifi-cance and practice of silence, for instance in the chapters on the Camaldolese oblate program, on liturgy, on the threefold good, on koinonia (see the index in the back under “silence”).

And our oblate Rule has a fine section on “Silence and Solitude” (p. 10). It notes that “silence and solitude have a privileged place in the Camaldolese Benedictine tradition. The encounter with God in silence and solitude is distinctive of our tradition…While this might remain hard to duplicate precisely, oblates should nevertheless cherish such silence and solitude, seeking creative ways of finding them in their daily lives.”

Silence of course is not an end in itself or even intrinsically good. At times helpful and kind conversa-tion may be called for: if one remains mute in such moments, silence can be cruel. The Camaldolese key principle of “the primacy of love” wants to guide us as we negotiate the daily opportunities of loving talk with others and loving silence with God.

And in our living the first great commandmen that is of love of God, we want to remember that God speaks to us in many ways: through Scripture, through others, through events, through nature. But a particularlyprofound way that God communes with us is in deep stillness. There is the wonderful invitation in the Psalms, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).

Scripture tells us of Elijah at the mouth of the cave, awaiting God’s voice. “There was a great wind, split-ting mountains and breaking rocks…but the Lord was not in the wind…” And then a fierce earthquake, then a fire, but the Lord was not in these. Where was God speaking? “And after the fire, a sound of sheer silence” (1 Kings 19:12f). After all the turbu-lence, God was in that silence, that stillness. Biblical scholars note that this passage indicates a significant deepening of Israel’s awareness of how God speaks with us—not just in dramatic natural or historical events or emphatic texts or speeches or feelings, but also in deep stillness.

And thus the contemplative dimension of Camal-dolese monastic and oblate life. We want to seek in our lives space for living Christian love with others, in worship and conversation and ministry. We can and do meet God in all these, but also in quiet times apart, in the stillness of our hearts.

This dynamic was mirrored in July at our annualassembly for oblates and friends at the St. FrancisRetreat Center in San Juan Bautista. Everyoneenjoyed the lovely setting and warm Franciscan hospitality (the Hermitage hasn’t guest space for such a number). There was morning and evening prayer, Eucharist, much conversation—and also free time was offered for silence and stillness in God: a model for the prayerful rhythm of our daily lives.

“Not speaking and speaking are both human ways of being in the world, and there are kinds and grades of each. There is the dumb silence of slumber or apathy; the sober silence that goes with a solemn animal face; the fer-tile silence of awareness, pasturing the soul, whence emerge new thoughts; the alive si-lence of alert perception, ready to say, “This… this…”; the musical silence that accompanies absorbed activity; the silence of listening to another speak, catching the drift and helping him be clear; the noisy silence of resentment and self-recrimination, loud and subvocal speech but sullen to say it; baffled silence; the silence of peaceful accord with other persons or communion with the cosmos.”

~ Paul Goodman (1911-1972), American poet, scholar, psychiatrist, from Speaking and Lan-guage: Defense of Poetry (Random House 1972)



be devoted to lectio divina, another could help explain liturgy, and a third might be focused on meditation and prayer); (2) through creating the conditions for a trusting relationship with a peer who has been living the oblate life for some time; and (3) through at times offering sessions specifically designed for those in oblate formation.

We want to emphasize that participation in this program is completely voluntary. In the spirit of Camaldoli, our remarkably diverse oblate community honors the individuality of each its members. We are aware that many postulants will prefer to work on their own or to direct their questions to one of the oblate chaplains rather than a peer mentor. The good news is that those who feel the need for a guide who has personally lived the oblate life can now find one. How do you initiate your request? Simply email one of the program co-directors (Mike Mullard at [email protected] or myself, Paula Huston, at [email protected]) or Fr. Robert at [email protected], and we will contact a mentor for you, who will then get in touch. Once you have made the connection, the two of you are free to set up your own plan for the coming year. If you are already aprofessed oblate but feel that a mentor could help you go deeper into Camaldolese spirituality andpractice, don’t hesitate to ask. We will do our best to find you a peer guide.

In addition, we are currently compiling a list of oblates who are professed spiritual directors. Since all oblates are urged to get direction, and it is often difficult to find someone who can help, we are hoping this list will aid in the search. That resource should be available soon. Please let one of the co-directors or Fr. Robert know if you are interested.

Finally, we will keep you informed of any postulant formation sessions beings offered at any of the three monasteries. Plans are already underway for a series that Fr. Steve Coffey and I will teach at the Monastery of the Risen Christ in San Luis Obispo on the second Saturday of each month between January and April 2017. Details are forthcoming.

Questions? Please contact Fr. Robert, Mike Mullard, or myself, Paula Huston, at the addresses above.

OBLATE PEER MENTOR PROGRAMPaula Huston, Oblate OSB Cam

Paula Huston is an oblate and a writer. Her most recent book is One Ordinary Sunday: a Meditation on the Mystery of the Mass.

It’s official: our long-anticipated oblate peer mentor program is now up and running. Conceived as a way to help the oblate chaplains of our three California monasteries minister to would-be oblates during their postulant year, the program offers experienced oblate mentors for both postulants and those who have already made their oblature but would like more formation with the help of a peer guide. The thirteen mentors selected by Fr. Cyprian, Fr. Robert, and Br. Bede were chosen from different parts of the country in the hope that even those who live far from any of the monasteries might have a resource closer to home. The mentor group will be meeting every six months at the Hermitage for ongoing formation regarding the Rule of St. Benedict, the Brief Rule of St. Romuald of Ravenna, and Camaldolese history and spirituality. Mentors from the Southern California area are Mike Mullard, Helena Chan, and Valerie Sinkus. Represent-ing the Bay area are Marty Badgett, Bill McLennon, Julian Washio-Collette, Lisa Washio-Collette, Jackie Chew, and Andrea Seitz. I’m based in the Central Coast region, while Lisa Benner from Arizona will help out with postulants from the Southwest. Matt Fisher, who lives near Pittsburgh, is available to people in the Midwest, and Hunter Lillis from Virginia will represent the East Coast. Co-directors of the program are Mike Mullard and Paula Huston, and oblate chaplains are Fr. Robert Hale (New Camaldoli), Fr. Andrew Conalghi (Incarnation Monastery), and Fr. Steve Coffey (Monastery of the Risen Christ). Fr. Daniel Manger will continue to serve as long-distance chaplain for oblates from New Zealand and Australia.

What do we hope to accomplish with this new pro-gram? We would like to provide resources above and beyond the already rich online offerings and reading lists in place for those who are new to Camaldolese spirituality and the long tradition it represents. We plan to do this in several different ways: (1) through creating theme-based study guides that can give both postulant and mentor a structure on which to build a formation year (for example, one guide might

concretely present, and I am present to it. Thisexperimental knowing can come through the exter-nal senses; it can also come through the mind, by way of intellectual intuition. Both ways of knowing—sense experience and intuitive understanding—converge as a vital function of our psyche, whichperceives both with a feeling of global, vital perception.

“Remember that, in reality, this knowing by experi-ence also takes place on a spiritual level through the intuitive function of the intellect. An intuition is not the same as an abstract concept, whether this comes by simple apprehension or by a line of reasoning. Imagine that you are trying to think abstractly about something or you are listening to someone who is speaking in abstract terms. While this is happening, in the back of your mind, in a more or less hidden part of your psyche, you are aware of your own spirit. You see it obliquely, like something seen out of the corner of the eye. This is an experience of your own self.”

[to be continued next issue]


FROM THE PAGES OF VITA MONASTICAFr. Cipriano Vagaggini, OSB Cam

Translation and introduction by Fr. Thomas Matus, OSB Cam

Fr. Cipriano Vagaggini, OSB Cam was one of the great theologians of the twentieth century. He served as peritus (theological advisor) at all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council. In the U.S. he was known forhis writings on liturgy, which fed into the councildocuments and into the Mass itself. He is the authorof the third Eucharistic Prayer. Yet he did not write only about “liturgical theology” (which he preferred to call “theological liturgy”): his ultimate focus was on themystical life of believers.

Here and in future issues of our newsletter, you will be able to get a taste of his thoughts on this theme.

Connaturality and Christian Mystical Experience

Everyone knows that the concept of mysticism, seen as a special kind of religious experience, has raised questions. Maybe it would be worth the effort to take a new look at these questions by clarifying what we mean by ‘experience’ in general and what we mean by our religious experience as Christians.

What is experience? It is a specific way of knowing something. This way of knowing is a function of our body and mind. We can frame the question by analyzing human life on different levels: our bodily functions, our appetites of senses and will, and our ways of knowing. Knowing is a function of senses and imagination on the one hand and of the intellect on the other. Our intellect knows in various ways. First, we grasp reality intuitively as a whole. Second, we have simple concepts, like that of a triangle, of a living creature, or of our own existence. Third, we reason about things and develop abstract concepts of them. How can we describe these different ways of knowing without mixing them up or totally separating them? They are part of our vital functions, but we need to understand how they work together and influence each other. Here is where we need to look in orderto analyze our concept of experience or experimental knowing.…

“We know something by experience when it ispresent to our senses or to our mind, or to both at the same time. This is different from imagining a thing or reasoning about it. The thing is present to me, here and now, a single, concrete reality that is

“Both ways of knowing—sense experience and intuitive understanding—converge as a vital function of our psyche, which per-ceives both with a feeling of global, vital perception.”

~ Cipriano Vagaggini

Father Ray continues to host his charismatic renewal prayer group on Wednesday evenings.

Father Daniel gave presentations to the Catholic Daughters of America in San Luis Obispo and gave lectures at the Abbot David School of SpiritualDirection at the Mary & Joseph Retreat Center in Palos Verdes.

A statue of St. Kateri now graces the lower meadow of the monastic property near the Resurrection Walk Labyrinth, Way of the Cross, and Celtic high cross. The statue of this first indigenous saint will honor the many indigenous ancestors who once camped and lived in the beautiful Irish Valley where the monas-tery now stands. This completes the meditation area project that the community began a year ago. We now look forward to a new project : landscaping this meditation area, hopefully by planting olive trees next Spring. We thank Mike Houston and other friends for this work!

We also thank Tyler Dersom who took the photo of from the new trail on our property. While pursuing contemplative meditation here with the community and helping out on the property, Tyler is also continu-ing his ministry to the homeless and to orphans. He was also able to open up yet a third walking path on the upper part of our property which has another wonderful view for guests to enjoy.

View of the monastery from our new trail.

MONASTERY OF THE RISEN CHRISTFr. Daniel Manger, OSB Cam Our small but active community has had an eventfulsummer. We welcomed guests and hosted several small groups, including Prior General AlessandroBarban and Father Mario Zonate from Italy, who affirmed our work in establishing the Camaldolese charism here in San Luis Obispo.

One Sunday in August, the Boy Scouts fromBakersfield who were participating in the Ad Alta Dei religious program,joined us for Eucharist. FatherStephen gave them a presentation afterwards, and they enjoyed a picnic on the property with theirfamilies and sponsors.

We also hosted a book-signing with our oblate Paula Huston who spoke about her new book One Ordinary Sunday: a Meditation on the Mystery of the Mass and Prior Cyprian who spoke about his book Spirit, Soul, Body: Toward an Integral Christian Spirituality. The event was very well attended.

Prior Cyprian also gave two presentations to ouroblates which were also well-received. Suchsessions continue to inform and strengthen ouroblate community. Complementing these sessions, we have completed the development of our oblate resource library and media area for oblates’ use. Some great book donations by Marc Dauphine and Valerie Sinkus will greatly enrich our oblates in their ongoing formation.

Father Stephen has been busy these past months leading retreats. He presented…

- at Mt. Angel in Oregon at Mt. Angel to the Benedictine sisters there on the theme of “Personified Wisdom in the Rule of St. Benedict”

- at Three Rivers Retreat on “Teresa of Avila’s Wayof Perfection”

- at Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Palos Verdes on “Woman Singing Mercy” based on reflections on the Year Of Mercy declared by Pope Francis; and…

- at St. Andrew’s Abbey on the theme of Incarnational Spirituality.


INCARNATION MONASTERYBr. Ivan Nicoletto, OSB Cam

As usual, the quiet stream of summer life in Berkeley gradually intensifies and becomes an effervescent torrent as students pour into the city and thecampus for the new academic year.

No surprise that life at Incarnation is also affectedby this atmospheric change!

Since September 4 we have been enriched by the presence of Br. Bede Healey, who will strengthenour community and presence here at Berkeley: we wish him a healthy, fecund, and blessed journey.

A silent contemplative retreat on August 27 inaugurated what will be a full calendar for upcoming months. Please see our Incarnation website for our schedule of retreats and events.

http://incarnationmonastery.com

Each of us are offering ministry in different partsof the Bay Area: Santa Sabina, School for AppliedTheology, and others.

We are excited for the preparation of a meeting with oblates on November 5 to be held at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. It will be an opportunity to reflect together on the Camaldolese charism and on our mutual bond and commitment to one another.

In these months we will be hosting five long-term guests in our guest-house, each in different ways engaged with studies. Our other three rooms remain available for short-term guests.

Throughout the fall we will continue our prayer and solidarity with people who are suffering: for instance with the numerous homeless in the Bay Area and with those affected by impending drought and other difficulties. All of which are challenges that call us to change our own lifestyles. And we will continuepraying for wisdom, for the coming political election, and for unity and inclusion.


The quarterly newsletter is published by the Camaldolese Hermits of America for our friends, oblates and sponsors.

Director: Father Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam Editor: Deborah Smith Douglas, Oblate, OSB CamAssociate Editor: Chris Lorenc, Oblate, OSB Cam Assistant Editors: Karen Cangialosi, Aaron Maniam, and Christopher ChokDesign: Debi LorencDevelopment: Jill Gisselere

Photo credits:Debi Lorenc (cover, p. 2-7, 10, 12, 16)Tyler Dersom (p. 13)Kayleigh Meyers (p. 9)

If you have questions or comments, please contact Jill Gisselere.

[email protected] New Camaldoli Hermitage62475 Highway 1, Big Sur, CA 93920

Visit us at www.contemplation.com and“New Camaldoli Hermitage” on FaceBook.

DID YOU KNOW?

New Camaldoli Hermitage also has a Facebook page where a variety of things are posted on a regular basis: links to Fr. Cyprian’s homilies, recent news from the community, short passages from a variety of spiritual works, reflections on the Sunday Gospel and major feasts observed at the Hermitage. We invite you to explore what can be found there. You can find the page in one of two ways: clicking on the Facebook icon found at the top of the New Camaldoli website or searching for “New Camaldoli Hermitage” on Face-book and clicking on the page with the photo of the Hermitage sign.

I realized I was hungry but didn’t know where or if any food would be available. No one was in sight. I located my room at Scholastica and noticed that the notebook on the desk contained helpful information including the location of a container to transport food from the kitchen. But I had no idea where to find the kitchen. I picked up a flashlight and started walking, passing the bookstore and chapel. Soon I foundmyself in front of the guesthouse kitchen door where deliciously prepared food was waiting for me.

I had the sense that I was being guided and everything was happening as it should. Throughout my stay, every need I had was somehow gently addressed without any words spoken or requests made. I felt calm and cared for without any agenda or plans. Everything was quiet and peaceful. Occasionally I would pass some-one along the road or trail and exchange a smile. I had a peaceful sense of being watched over, feeling some-one was looking out for me.

I walked, I rested, I meditated, I read. I learned about the monks and their Camaldolese founder, SaintRomuald. I participated in the Eucharist and other services.

While talking with Father Zach in the bookstore, Itimidly arranged for Reconciliation. He encouraged me by remarking it was good sometimes to go beyond our comfort level. He was right. It was a gentle and healing experience.

Father Zach helped me select a copy of one of Father Arthur Poulin’s paintings, “A Morning Prayer,” which now hangs in my entryway at home. One day in the bookstore I looked at the man waiting in line behind me and recognized from pictures I had seen that it was Pico Iyer. I have long been a fan of his writing and felt honored to be in his presence and spend a few moments talking with him. Another totally unexpected and memorable gift of my time there.

I now believe that anyone who visits the Hermitage will do so in their own right time and in their own unique way and will have their own memorable experiences. When I left I took with me the sense of being watched over and knowing that all is well as I go about my life.

I am immensely grateful that I had time in such aglorious place among the prayerful Camaldolese monks who have made it their life work to provide a heavenly setting and the opportunity for personal retreats and spiritual refreshment.

LATE ARRIVAL: A RETREAT AT NEW CAMALDOLIMonica Choi

As first-time retreatant Monica Choi discovered, sometimes even our first taste of a monastic retreat can be a gift that endures—a “gentle healing,” an abiding quietness of heart that will see us all the way home.

For my 77th birthday this year, my daughtersurprised and delighted me by informing me whileI was visiting her in California that she had arranged a gift for me of a three-day retreat at New Camaldoli Hermitage. For many years I had wanted to stay in Big Sur. Over the years—reading the work of Joseph Campbell, hearing about Esalen, remembering a brief long ago day-trip to Nepenthe with a friend, and reading an essay about New Camaldoli by Pico Iyer—I had hoped someday to make a visit. But how this was to happen I couldn’t foresee since I live inPhiladelphia and am responsible for my husband’s health care.

Many things converged to ready me for this experi-ence: my Catholic roots, beginning with infantBaptism and Confirmation in the Ukranian Church, and a lifelong attraction to spiritual endeavors ncluding Eastern spirituality, the practice of yoga, meditation, vision quest, Al Anon meetings and most recently, centering prayer.

My daughter arranged for a car and driver to take me to New Camaldoli. It was a rainy day. Just as we approached Big Sur, we passed through a wondrous full rainbow which was touching the ground. As we climbed the road leading to the Hermitage, the sun was setting over the ocean; the evening sky wasluminous. It was heavenly.

I arrived late at the Hermitage; dusk was approaching.



ACTIVITIES AND VISITORS

AUGUST The main event in August was the outbreak of theSoberanes Fire, which started July 22 and continued to burn through September, eventually consuming over 132,000 acres of Big Sur and the Los Padres Forest. It forced the evacuation of some of our friends on the coast and destroyed the homes of 53 families, including the home of our oblates Chris and Debi Lorenc (who also serve on the editorial team of this newsletter). Full containment didn’t happen until October 12.

Soberanes Fire

Also Fr. Raniero made a trip back to Baltimore for soft shell crabs… and to visit his family. Br. James returned to Southern California for a family wedding and then began theological studies at the Franciscan School of Theology in Oceanside. We welcomed Br. Bernard Marra, formerly of St. Anselm’s Abbey in Washington DC, to begin a probationary period as a claustral oblate.

SEPTEMBER Fr. Cyprian began a mini-sabbatical/working vaca-tion, first to Rome for the Congress of Abbots, then on to New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia offering retreats for our oblates and the World Community for Christian Meditation. Br. Bede transferred semi-permanently to Incarnation Monastery in Berkeley, and Br. Isaac went to spend some weeks living with our brothers at the Monastery of the Risen Christ in San Luis Obispo. Brs. Gabriel and Michael attended the Southern California Renewal Communities (SCRC) Conference in Anaheim. Fr. Zacchaeus joined a pilgrimage to Ireland led by our oblate Amber Sum-erall. Br. Ignatius headed back overseas to visit with his sister in England and then on to Rome to begin his second year of theology. The monks spent their recreation day at the Bargetto Winery in Capitola.

OCTOBER Frs. Robert and Isaiah attended the diocesan jubilarians’ celebration. Brs. Benedict and Michael both made family visits to Philadelphia and New Jersey, respectively. Cyprian returned from his round-the-world trip on the October 10 and Isaac went to spend time with his family. Br. Emmanuel turned 89 on the October 14. On that same day we were visited by students of the World Religions class of Mount Madonna School. Isaac’s niece Kayleigh Meyers had an exhibition of her university graduation photography project, “Monks Inside Out,” at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur with several monks attending. We held our second training weekend for our Oblate Peer Mentors October 21-3. And Br. Joshua had time with his family at the end of the month as well.

THE READING LIST

What are the monks reading now?

Fr. Robert Hale: Gregory Collins, OSB, Meeting Christ in His Mysteries: A Benedictine Vision of the Spiritual Life.

Br. Timothy Jolley: Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing. Sarah Bakewell, How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer.

Fr. Cyprian Consiglio: Amitav Ghosh, River of Smoke. Raimon Panikkar, The Rhythm of Being.

Fr. Isaiah Teichert: Francisco Palou, The Life and Apos-tolic Labors of the Venerable Junipero Serra. W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil. Paula Huston, One Ordinary Sunday: a Meditation on the Mystery of the Mass.

Br. Bede Healey: W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge.

New Camaldoli Hermitage - contemplation.com · 2016. 12. 28. · New Camaldoli Hermitage FALL 2016...

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