Ausculta, "Listen,
my son . . . ."-the opening words of the Rule of Saint Benedict are
an invitation to the way of obedience. The Latin word for
listening, audire, is related to that for obedience, obaudire. The
obedient person is one who listens, for we must first hear what is
the will of God in order to be able to do it. However, the obedient
person not only hears, he acts, he does the will of God. The
Cistercian life is set apart from the activities of the secular
world, from the places where many live and act and make their
inevitable noise, so that we can more easily listen. The Cistercian
way inculcates a love for silence and provides amply for it so that
we may more readily hear the divine voice. The Cistercian way sees
lectio with its full development into contemplative prayer as one
of its basic practices for it is here that God speaks to us most
directly, intimately, and personally. The Cistercian way allows for
an abundance of gracious space so that the monk may listen to God
speaking to him within himself, in and through his brothers and
through all the wonders of God's munificent creation as well as
through God's inspired Word.
"Speak, Lord, for
your servant is listening." This is the attitude Cistercians seek
to cultivate as we walk along our way. A constant listening to God
in all the ways he can speak to us and call us forth, so that with
all our heart we can say: Yes, be it done unto me according to your
word.
We are, each one of
us, a certain listening. We have a certain openness, a certain
receptivity to all that comes to us, whether it be through the ears
or the eyes or any of the other senses. The listening that we are
has been formed by all the influences that have shaped us. Truth
and right reasoning, both at the human and divine level, have been
inculcated into us by parents, Church, schooling, society,
television, reading, study, etc. These have also inculcated into us
certain positions, attitudes, and prejudices. We have our own
ideas, values, and principles. These filter all that we receive and
they set parameters to what we do receive. Some of us have very
rigid parameters and can hear little or nothing of what falls
outside of our pre-established boundaries. Others are more open and
are constantly allowing their perceptions to expand their
boundaries so that they can hear more and more, allowing the
goodness, truth and beauty of other persons, of other religions, of
other philosophical traditions, of this whole wondrous creation to
enrich them.
In contemplation,
following the yearnings of our heart, we allow all our parameters
to fall away so that the fullness of God can come into us and take
us beyond ourselves, bringing us into the experience of the divine
goodness, truth and beauty in itself and in all of his creation.
Only the person who practices contemplation, who allows the Holy
Spirit to act freely within him through her gifts, can truly hear
and can be fully obedient. Everyone who has been baptized into
Christ has been given these gifts of the Holy Spirit, has been
given the Holy Spirit herself, is called to contemplation, is
called to this kind of completely open listening, is called to be
led like Christ by the Spirit.
The process whereby
contemplation heals, frees, and opens us is usually a long one. All
along the way we struggle to discern the will of God for us and how
we can be a complete yes to him. One of the great gifts that is
given to us in the Cistercian life is the good of obedience. God as
it were makes a contract with us. If we commit ourselves to the
Cistercian way, he will guide us through the Rule and
constitutions, through the local customs and guidelines, and
through the directives of our superiors and even of our
brethren.
M Basil Pennington (1992) The Cistercians
Liturgical Press
