Abbot Mark's Chapter
Talk.
Br
Seamus' First profession 9 June,
2014
Br Seamus, this is a great day in your life and in the life of the
monastery. Until now you have been
living and learning the rudiments of the monastic life. You have not as yet
been officially committed by vow but with a sincere desire to find out if you are
truly being called to seek God in the monastery according to the Rule of St Benedict,
as he describes it 'under a Rule and an abbot'.
These can be summed up as obedience to God and those you have chosen to
live with. To spell it out a little more
it is the conversion of your life and stability in the monastery. Poverty and celibacy are the other parts of our
vowed life.
It's customary at this point to highlight what you are
undertaking. Our commitment to God and
to the community is not so much an obligation - which of course it is - but a
sign of your love of God. It is your
hope that through this committed love you will find the happiness you
desire. But happiness is not unending
pleasure, as many may imagine, but the satisfaction that you are where God
wants you to be. It is the understanding
that the hard and difficult things that will surely come your way are
themselves part of the way to God. In the
world God made, obstacles are a challenge not a barrier to our goal in
life. That goal is peace of heart and
joy in the Holy Spirit. It is not my personal preference over the concerns
of the community and the immediate need of my neighbour. In practice life is often not fair or
equal. However, when we do respond to situations
- and even to accept unreasonable demands - we may find that we actually recognise
in ourselves our own selfish tendencies.
In putting up with hardship we can be led to discover and learn how to
disown our own unholy behaviour. Hardships
will not be a problem for the monk who truly seeks God. He will find in them only occasions to come
closer to God. That's what happiness means.
The apostles had their world destroyed and torn apart when Jesus
was taken from them and cruelly and unjustly killed. It was only when they were brought face to
face with their human condition, with their vulnerability, that they met their
risen Lord and were then filled, encouraged and strengthened by the Holy
Spirit. Everything that happened to them
after that became occasions for them to seek God and his will for them.
Yesterday we celebrated the feast of Pentecost. That was the story in which God changed the
lives of the apostles. Today we are
celebrating that great Celtic saint, Columba, who himself was filled with God's
Spirit. In his adopted country Columba
became a focus of God for the people. By
his life at Iona he drew many people to him in his own time and over succeeding
generations. His fame crossed barriers
of race and religion and continues to do so down to the present day. There were failures in Columba's life but he
learned from them. As he continued seeking
God Columba also found his true self and
happiness.
You will find things that you may not be happy about in
community. We all do. In time these may change to your
satisfaction, or more likely they may
change you so that you will have a better understanding of yourself as well as of God.
Deep down that is all that matters, not the way we might like to get
there.
It may be a relief for you to know that what is being said here
to you is in fact being addressed to everyone in the community sitting here
around you. Your profession today is a
reminder to all of us of the vows we ourselves have made, often many years
ago. What you are committing yourself to
today is a stimulus and encouragement for the rest of us to keep faithful to
the end. Your decision adds new life to
ours, just as much as ours should be an encouragement to you as you take up
this gift God has given you.
Like Columba, our failings and needs are stepping stones on the
rough road to God who loves us. That is
all we can promise you. But it is
everything.
So Seamus, in the light of your experience over these last few
years and of what you have heard this morning, do you wish to vow yourself to
God in the life you have already been living with us. What is your answer?
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