Benedictine Oblates in the 21st Century

Is there a Place for Oblates
in the 21st Century?
Sister Edith Bogue, O.S.B.
Oblate Retreat  St Mary's Monastery
Rock Island, Illinois
October 17, 2014

Is there a Place for Oblates
in the 21st Century?
Sister Edith Bogue, O.S.B.
Oblate Retreat  St Mary's Monastery
October 17, 2014

4
Plan for the day
• Spend the first conference talking about
"The 21st Century" and contrasting it with
Benedictine values.
• Consider being an Oblate in the
workplace
• Consider being an Oblate in family life
• Closing

5
Image: Small Group Dynamic: “Shut Your Mouth and Stop Talking!” from
http://thinktheology.org/2011/12/15/small-group-dynamic-shut-your-mouth-and-stop-
talking/
There will be some times for questions &
comments. But it won't be all talk…

Selah
סֶלָה
Pause…Think…Note
A woman thinking by ÁWá at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_woman_thinking.jpg

7
The World's Way
and Benedict's Way
THE 21ST CENTURY:

8
Modern Society
• Few social theorists or commentators have
positive views of modern culture.
Many people – even the most successful –
speak of feeling empty or shallow
We have more than any group in history.
(Genghis Khan couldn’t blow-dry his hair,
and St. Benedict didn't have a computer
for writing The Rule…)
• There are negative perspectives about many
key elements of the Benedictine way of life.

ORDER AS FREEDOM
• Benedict’s orders all of life.
– Ten chapters on prayer schedule
– Job descriptions with scripts.
– How to act when you're sick.
– Instructions for travel and
what to say on your return.
– How to make a mistake and
how to correct someone.
– Coming & going in order
– Daily schedule

10
Inequality: Greater in 2013 than any
time since 1929.
The Standard of Ur. From Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600-2400. BC. British Museum.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/t/the_standard_of_ur.aspx
An ancient Sumerian art piece shows awareness of social classes …
The nobles, priests, and warriors at the top…
Below them, merchants and artisans …
The serfs and slaves who performed manual labor on the bottom.

11
Consumerist Desires Balloon
http://10steps.sg/wp-content/uploads/article89/12.jpg

12
Affluenza
(de Graaf & Wann (2001) Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic)
1
2
affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted
condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from
the dogged pursuit of more.

AUTHORITY
• We hope everyone will be “a leader” and train them for it
•We promote independent thinking and individual choice,
• Benedict tells us to follow TWO authorities all the time:
• The Rule AND the superior who takes the place of Christ
• The Rule often describes how to be a good follower
• Don’t grumble and complain
• Be satisfied with the work you’re asked to do
• If a task seems impossible, explain the problem
but try it anyway if you have to.
• Don’t get puffed up about your contributions

14
Owen, D. (2012). The Conundrum: How Scientific Innovation, Increased Efficiency, and Good
Intentions Can Make Our Energy and Climate Problems Worse. Riverhead Trade.
No nation or
people is ready
to follow laws to
slow climate
change or help
the environment

15
Michael Leunig, posted in Australian Cartoonist Museum at
http://theaustraliancartoonmuseum.com.au/projects/speech-and-thought-balloons/bubbles-007/

RESPONSIBILITY
•Our encounter with Christ, our belief,
makes claims on our lives that are real.
•Responsibility will mean shaping our
actions, our choices, our words, even
our hopes and dreams towards Christ,
out of love and desire for him.
•The Rule calls us to be moderate and give up some
good things so as to be oriented constantly to
Christ.

17
New Economics
Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition 2011 by Charles
Eisenstein http://sacred-economics.com/
Daly, Herman. 1991. Steady-State Economics, 2nd edition. Island Press, Washington,
DC
• Modern economies
founded on growth.
• Growth often founded
on borrowing and debt.
• Can this persist in an
aging world?
• Steady State Economics

18
Faith and religions affiliation
are becoming less common
Aggregated from Pew Research Center Surveys January – July 2012
https://twitter.com/pewforum/status/337618956355518467/photo/1
15
9
21
32
84
90
77
67
0 20 40 60 80 100
18-29
30-49
50-64
65+
AGE GROUP
No religious affiliation Any religious affiliation

19
http://beforeitsnews.com/christian-news/2013/10/the-global-
war-on-christians-video-2483924.html

20
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/image_galleries/ale_porter_chocolate_gallery.shtml?9
Religion is not respected
20

21
Iraqi bishop: "My people prefer Christ
to their homes and their safety."
http://ncronline.org/news/global/syrian-christians-say-western-
attack-could-make-things-worse

22
Koyaanisqatsi
• Koyaanisqatsi: Hopi term for
“chaotic life” or “life that calls
for another
way of living” or “unbalanced”
• “The economy” has
become a force on its own.
• Family relationships and
life are complex and
increasingly uncertain.
• Life is fast, pressured,
scheduled, controlled.
• Human dimension is lacking.
Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqatsi
http://www.koyaanisqatsi.org/films/powaqqatsi.php

23
“School” of the Lord’s Service
• Society tells us to look out for ourselves
• Service – of anyone – may be seen as a virtue
but not required. It is something we may
choose to do or not.
Photo by Sister Edith Bogue
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/edithosb/

24
Prayer by Michael Leunig
Prayer from A Common Prayer by Leunig. ISBN 0-85924-933-6
Image: The World that Nobody Owns by Michael Leunig from The Age
http://www.theageshop.com.au/the-world-that-nobody-owns-by-michael-leunig

26
Why Work?
• God works.
– God’s work never ends
– We are made in
God’s image
– Jesus rested in order
to go out in ministry
• We work to survive
– Food and shelter
– Comfort and joy
– To learn and grow

27
LINEAR TIME, HISTORICAL TIME
• We enter at conception
• Circumstances shape us for good or ill
• We achieve whatever we can
• We exit at death
Secular view: time = motion, progress
Culture defines the purpose or goal of time
In America, we have "bucket lists"
Birth Child Youth Adult Death

28
Over-work
• Work productivity has
increased many times
• Predicted outcomes
– Fewer working hours
– More vacation
– Stable incomes
• Actual outcomes
– Longer working hours
– Two jobs
– Rising incomes
Juliet Schor, The Overworked American

30
Procrastination
• Fatigued
• Overwhelmed
• Confused
• Fear of starting
• Fear of failure
• Fear of success
• Needing to play
• Self-blame
• Self-loathing
Manual Labor – p. 20 - Silvanus

31
At work, we encounter
• friends, colleagues, mentors
• goof-offs, jerks, intimidators
• incredible generosity
• equally incredible injustice
• a variety of rules & expectations
• for the most part, few people trying
to live the Gospel.
• Is there any place for living as an
Oblate in the workplace?

32
Bureaucracy
• Management is by rules
and roles.
• Impersonal, based on
“the files”, rather than
personal relationship or
memory.*
• Interchangeable people
• Contrast: The only written
record described in The
Rule is the record of one’s
monastic profession.
From Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, part III, chap.
6, pp. 650-78.

33
Identity
• Human doings,
not human beings.
• Careers before family.
• Crisis in retirement or
unemployment
• Self-image comes from
the job
• Who am I, would I be,
without my job?

34
Dilbert from http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-03-23/

36
The Whole World in a Crystal Ball by xollob58 at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xollob58/474392091/
WHAT DOES SAINT BENEDICT
OFFER US?

37
Monastic Work Schedule:
A modern view
“Daily Life in a Medieval Monastery "at "Mostly Medieval -
Exploring the Middle Ages”
For most monks and nuns the basis of their daily life
was the Rule of Saint Benedict. In his rule, Benedict
devised a rigid, monotonous routine of
work, prayer, study and sleep designed to
make the mind and the will submissive to God. The
pattern of the day varied only according to the
seasons of the year and the liturgical calendar.

38
Work done in the
Benedictine tradition is
supposed to be regular;
it is supposed
to be productive,
it is supposed
to be worthwhile,
but it is not supposed
to be impossible.
Joan Chittister
Stained glass window at Sacred Heart Monastery, Yankton SD

39
What features guide Benedict?
• The forces of nature
– RB 10.2 Prayer Schedule
• The size of the community
– RB 17.6 prayer refrains
– Ch 31 help for cellarer
• The needs of human body
– RB 8.2,4 Digestion, "nature's needs"
–
• Available technology
– RB 11.12 Awaking on time (no clocks)

40
Time as a God-given Cycle
Traditional Liturgical Year – source unknown

Winter Schedule Summer Schedule
1:30AM:Preparation for night office.
2:00:AM: Nocturns
3:30AM:Matins (Lauds) at daybreak.
4:00AM:Change and wash.
5:00AM:Trina Oratorio, Reading
6:00AM:Prime, Morrow Mass, Chapter
7:30AM:Reading
8:00AM:Terce, Sung Mass
9:30AM:Work
11:30AM: Sext
12:00PM: Dinner
1:00PM: Siesta
2:30PM: None, Drink
3:00PM Work
5:30PM Supper
6:00PM Vespers
7:30PM: Change into night shoes, Collatio
8:00PM: Compline
8:15PM: Bed
2:30AM Preparation for night office.
3:00AM Nocturns (aka Matins.
5:00AM Reading
6:00AM Matins (Lauds) at
daybreak, Prime
7:30AM Reading
8:00AM Terce, Morrow mass, Chapter
9:45AM Work
12:00PM Sext, Sung Mass
1:30PM None
2:00PM Dinner
2:45PM Work
4:15PM Vespers
5:30PM Change into night shoes
6:00PM Collatio
6:15PM Compline
6:30PM Bed

42
How does Benedict assign work?
• Kitchen Servers (Ch 35)
– Work is done by all unless
assigned other work
– Builds community spirit, not just getting
the tasks done
• Commands
– Hard or impossible tasks occur (Ch 68)
– Discussion occurs, but the final choice rests
with the superior who calls, not the monk
who works

43
How does Benedict deal with talent?
• Deans (Ch 21)
– Spiritual danger (power)
– Personal traits
– Grow into the role or be lose it
• Artisans (Ch 57)
– Rule's only self-chosen ministry
(may be assigned to learn)
– Spiritual risk recognized
– Spiritual life more important to Benedict
than goods produced

44
One example: The Cellarer (RB 31)
 Wise, mature character
 Temperate
 God-fearing
 Keep custody of orders
 Deny bad requests kindly
 Keep custody of own soul
 Care for sick, children,
guests and poor
 Treat all goods as sacred
vessels of the altar
 Give everything in
proper measure

45
The Cellarer
 Not excessive eater
 Not haughty or turbulent
 Not harmful or sluggish
 Not wasteful
 Do nothing without order
 Not sadden the brothers
 Not treat with disdain
 Not neglect anything
 Not be avaricious
 Not wasteful, squanderer

46
“The external practices of monastic life are
directly connected with our search for God.
In and through these practices we express
our spiritual values and ideals, and daily live
out our commitment to God.”
Charles Cummings, Monastic Practices

47
HOW CAN OBLATES CHANGE
THEIR PLACES OF WORK?

51
Family Life: Love & Struggle
Grandma Ideas http://grandmaideas.com/activity-for-teenage-
grandchildren
5
1

52
What are people worried about?
• The old worry: divorce
• One newer worry: not marrying
• Another newer worry: not having a family
• Complicated family structures
– Blended
– Multiple mothers or fathers of siblings
– Absent parents
• The next generation

53
Families in the news
• Pope Benedict frequently spoke of the
importance of building family life
• U.S. Bishops released a pastoral letter on
marriage and families
• One focus of immigration reform is trying to
help families.
• Synod on the Family considering how the
Church can better strengthen families.

54
Family Life
• Families have less time together
• Complex, blended & fractured families.
• Fewer family meals and rituals.
• Many young people report feeling adrift,
unrooted, or lacking a foundation.
• Mental health problems are increasing.
54

55
Forces shaping our family lives
• Demographic changes
– Aging society
– Decreasing birth rate
• Economic changes
– Affluenza
– Environmental degradation
– Inequality
• America’s people & culture
– Modernity & Post-modernity
– Pluralism and diversity
– Global perspective
Our Lady of Novy Dur, Czech Republic. Photo by John
Pawson

56
AGING
• The reasons we think about
– Better medical care: people live longer
– Greater safety (highway, work, homes)
– More knowledge about health
• Effects of an aging society
– Greater access to wisdom and experience
– More people in retirement
– Dependency – society or families or individuals
must provide for the care of the frailest of the
elderly

58
Why so few children?
• Marrying later
• Sexuality separated
from marriage and family
• Divorce and cohabitation
• Career and workplace
(not family-friendly)
• Emphasis on “freedom” and self-actualization
– Progression from “clan” to “nuclear family” to
“couple” to “as long as it works”
• Norms of “success” are more materialistic

59
Affluenza
affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted
condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from
the dogged pursuit of more. (de Graaf)

60
Social forces inside the family
• The family has weak boundaries: phones,
email, text bring others into its midst.
• Simulated reality in games, videos, often
seem more real than everyday life
• Many think, or act as though they think,
that there is no "reality"
• A relentless search for experiences that are
more powerful and emotional than the last.
6
0

61
Today’s lifestyle leads to...
• Strained
relationships
• Lack of leisure
• Depression
• Stress-diseases
• Consumerism
• Troubled families

63
What does St Benedict offer?

64
Created with Haiku Deck
Photo by @Doug88888 - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
ShareAlike License https://www.flickr.com/photos/29468339@N02
What if we saw Christ
in each member of our families?

65
Memoria: mindfulness
• An inner re-orienting
• Become a seeker after God
in the midst of everyday
family life.
• Remembering God leads us
to place other things in a
different perspective.
• Compunctio, the sting of a
spiritual awakening,
happens often in a family

67
Stability: Being where you are
• A moment-by-moment
giving of the self to the
place and people with
which one is engaged.
• Views relationships,
both personal and
formal, as meaningful,
rather than as a means
to an end.
• Bears the burdens of wayward actions of the
others in the family as part of the suffering of
the Body of Christ.

69
Mine, Yours, and Ours
Photo by jurvetson - Creative Commons Attribution License
https://www.flickr.com/photos/44124348109@N01

70
Paschal Mystery of Family Life
• The dynamic of the paschal
mystery is the engine of
our spiritual lives
– an old self that must die
– an unknowable future
– trust in rebirth
• Our families are often the
scene of our dying….
• …and our rebirth
• The Chapter on Humility
shows us the way

71
What are the sources of joy where I see
God's presence in my family today?

73
IS THERE A PLACE FOR OBLATES
IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

74
Oblates leaven the world
• Seeing Christ's
presence in a
variety of people.
• Living out values
other than those of
modern society.
• Creating moments of quiet,
forgiveness, and peace.

75
"Try to be the
first to show
respect to the
other"…
"as if they were
Christ in
person"

76
Carrying the
monastic skills
of commitment,
stability, and
fidelity into
relationships.

77
A focus on praxis, on living the
Benedict's Rule, on practices that can be
learned, taught, and passed on.

78
"What can be
sweeter to us,
dear ones, than
this voice of
the Lord
inviting us?"

80
"Prefer nothing whatever to Christ,
and may he bring us all together
into everlasting life"

81
A prayer by Michael Leunig
Prayer from A Common Prayer by Leunig. ISBN 0-85924-933-6
Image: The World that Nobody Owns by Michael Leunig from The Age
http://www.theageshop.com.au/the-world-that-nobody-owns-by-michael-
leunig

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