PATH SIX: Action and Contemplation
PATH SIX
Action and Contemplation
Jesus . . . came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered . . . “Mary has chosen what is better.”
LUKE 10:38-42 (NIV)
If you want to visit, you’ll have to see me in my garden.” My first deep exposure to Benedictine spirituality occurred during graduate school. I had read about Benedict, browsed his Rule and knew his place in the development of monasticism. But I had never studied him seriously. Then, during my doctoral studies on phenomenology and Thomas Aquinas, I met Father Winance, a Benedictine monk from Belgium living at the monastery in Vallermo on the high desert of California. He taught on Tuesdays but held office hours on Fridays. In his garden. To discuss any readings you first had to attend Mass, eat a common meal and pray. Then you were ushered outside to his garden for conversation.
It was during these conversations that the range and influence of Benedict began to make sense to me. His commitment to an active life lived contemplatively captivated me. The authors from whom he borrowed (The Rule of the Master and Cassian specifically) and the authors who borrowed from him (Gregory the Great) cultivated a stream of spirituality that guided monasticism for a thousand years and can still guide us today. As Father Winance emphasized, to understand Benedict and to understand the active and contemplative life, you have to begin with Cassian.