Afternoon. You slept about eleven hours last
night. Late breakfast and Saturday paper, then forty minutes of exercises and a
long lingering very warm bath with the bathroom electric heater on for the
second time this season; Carol took a shower first time this morning and
brought it out of the closet. – Amorella
1337
hours. Carol just found one of Jadah’s toys (a squeak mouse) in the closet of
all places; it is brand new. She is having fun playing with it like she’s a
kitty – very cute. Now Spooky and Jadah are facing off for it. So far, Jadah
has it in her court presently.
Carol is having a wonderful time going
through her drawers and cabinets searching for china and accessories to give to
Kim early since she will be doing the Thanksgiving from now on. Kim has two
sets of twelve to choose from – an apple design her mother used for years and good
white china Carol has used but not so often anymore. I think her parents got it
for her for her wedding – plain and elegant both at once. I’ve always liked
them because they look classy to me. It’s funny because otherwise my favorite
dining wear is simple – light brown with a dark brown ring around the edge.
Reminds me of dishes we used when at Mosteiro de Sao Bento, Fazenda Bela Vista,
Estado de Sao Paulo, Brasil. Something of that mosteiro has always stayed with
me; perhaps it is an intellectual serenity I recognized in the monks I sat and
talked with during our two day Escola Graduada Senior Retreat.
** **
Lonely
Planet Review: The austere but impressive
Mosteiro São Bento, which is among the city’s oldest and most important
churches, dates to 1598, though its neo-Gothic facade dates only to the early
20th century. Step inside the church to view its impressive stained glass. Mass
at 10am on Sunday generally includes Gregorian chanting.
Google Review: Beautiful
Benedict church with traditional Sunday service featuring moving Gregorian
chants and organ at 10am.
Mosteiro Sao Bento
Sao Paulo, Brasil
Photo from
Wikipedia
Carol is readying for lunch at Smashburgers
(her choice on this dreary, cool and rainy afternoon). – Amorella
1553
hours. We had a really late lunch; presently Carol is on the track at the
community center because of the weather. We talked about the Mosteiro Sao Bento
during lunch and how pleasant, friendly and open the atmosphere was,
particularly since they knew we were not Catholic.
The clouds are low and dark and gloomy is
still an adequate description.
Your left hip muscle strain is better today, the best since the wedding. You
are thinking about the Benedictine monks that you remember from the monastery.
You
and Carol left the community center, went home, she picked up her book and
changed shoes and you grabbed your MacAir, drove to Pine Hill Lakes far north
parking lot, and stopped rolling down the windows slightly to let cool air in
but not the misty rain. You are about to look up the order of St. Benedict. - Amorella
** **
Order of Saint Benedict
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Order
of Saint Benedict (OSB; Latin: Ordo Sancti Benedicti), also
known – in reference to the colour of its members' habits – as the Black
Monks, is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic
communities that observe the Rule of Saint Benedict. Each community (monastery,
priory or abbey) within the order maintains its own autonomy, while the order
itself represents their mutual interests. The terms "Order of Saint
Benedict" and "Benedictine Order" are, however, also used to
refer to all Benedictine communities collectively, sometimes giving the
incorrect impression that there exists a generalate or motherhouse with
jurisdiction over them.
Internationally, the order is governed by the
Benedictine Confederation, a body, established in 1883 by Pope Leo XIII’s Brief
Summum semper, whose head is known as the Abbot Primate. Individuals
whose communities are members of the order generally add the initials
"OSB" after their names.
Organization
Today,
Benedictine monasticism is fundamentally different from other Western religious
orders insofar as its individual communities are not part of a religious order
with "Generalates" and "Superiors General". Rather, in
modern times, the various autonomous houses have formed themselves loosely into
congregations (for example, Cassinese, English, Solesmes, Subiaco, Camaldolese,
Sylvestrines) that in turn are represented in the Benedictine Confederation that
came into existence through Pope Leo XIII’s Apostolic Brief "Summum
semper" on 12 July 1883. This organization facilitates dialogue of
Benedictine communities with each other and the relationship between
Benedictine communities and othe religious orders and the church at large.
The Rule
of Saint Benedict is also used by a number of religious orders that began as
reforms of the Benedictine tradition such as the Cistercian and Trappists although
none of these groups are part of the Benedictine Confederation.
The
largest number of Benedictines are Roman Catholics, but there are also some
within the Anglican Communion and occasionally within other Christian
denominations as well, for example, within the Lutheran Church.
Benedictine vow and life
Section
17 in chapter 58 of the Rule of Saint Benedict states the solemn promise
candidates for reception into a Benedictine community are required to make: a
promise of stability (i.e. to remain in the same community), conversatio
morum (an idiomatic Latin phrase suggesting "conversion of
manners"; see below) and obedience (to the community's superior, seen as
holding the place of Christ within it). This solemn commitment tends to be
referred to as the "Benedictine vow" and is the Benedictine
antecedent and equivalent of the evangelical counsels professed by candidates
for reception into a religious order.
Much
scholarship over the last fifty years has been dedicated to the translation and
interpretation of "conversatio morum". The older translation
"conversion of life" has generally been replaced with phrases such as
"[conversion to] a monastic manner of life", drawing from the
Vulgate's use of conversatio as a translation of "citizenship"
or "homeland" in Philippians 3:20. Some scholars have claimed that
the vow formula of the Rule is best translated as "to live in this place
as a monk, in obedience to its rule and abbot."
Benedictine
abbots and abbesses have full jurisdiction of their abbey and thus absolute
authority over the monks or nuns who are resident. This authority includes the
power to assign duties, to decide which books may or may not be read, to
regulate comings and goings, and to punish and to excommunicate, in the sense
of an enforced isolation from the monastic community.
A tight
communal timetable – the horarium – is meant to ensure that the time
given by God is not wasted but used in God's service, whether for prayer, work,
meals, spiritual reading or sleep.
Although
Benedictines do not take a vow of silence, hours of strict silence are set, and
at other time silence is maintained as much as is practically possible. Social
conversations tend to be limited to communal recreation times. But such
details, like the many other details of the daily routine of a Benedictine
house that the Rule of St Benedict leaves to the discretion of the superior,
are set out in its customary.
In the Roman Catholic Church, according to the nuns of
the 1983 Code of Canon Law, a Benedictine abbey is a “religious institute” and
its members are therefore members of the consecrated life. While Canon Law 588 §1
explains that Benedictine monks are "neither clerical nor lay", they
can, however, be ordained. Benedictine Oblates endeavor to embrace the spirit
of the Benedictine vow in their own life in the world.
Selected and edited from Wikipedia
** **
1700
hours. A piece of this is a surprise – the black robes, I don’t remember any
black robes, the robes worn were brown (if I remember right). In fact, they
appeared to be the typical brown robe of Franciscan monks (I wonder if I am
remembering this correctly); very medieval (to me). I remember the young monk,
the first I had ever seen so dressed up close; he smiled and waved towards us
as he climbed off his Italian motor scooter. The conversations we had about the
best accurate translations of various modern translations of the Bible reminded
me of a Jesuit monk. In fact, all this time I thought the monks we (our Senior
students and Carol and myself and another Brazilian teacher) met and had
conversations with at the monastery were Jesuits. I always thought of the
Jesuits being more open-minded so I guess since the Benedictines were
open-minded I made an assumption. I will say though a couple of times in the
evening we did hear a Gregorian chant sung softly in the distance. The sound was
so Medieval in projection to my ears I could swear my mind drifted back to the
thoughts and concepts of those times, enough so that I could easily imagine,
for a few moments, being in the
medieval setting. Strange, I feel/felt compelled to italicize ‘being’ here.
This is because the ‘few moments’ were as ‘being
in a specified trance’ void of general time and space. You have felt this
during several event/locations in your life and have mentioned a few of them
within the several year length of this blog. – Amorella
1736
hours. This brings me into another confrontation with word meaning for
clarification. It is as though English were not my native tongue. I guess it
goes with me considering myself a ‘stranger’ to the world from time to time.
But then, I feel all human beings are spiritual by nature and it that sense
we are all strangers.
Kim, your daughter, would tell you to be
careful using ‘all’ as you do not know that ‘all’ Homo sapiens are spiritual,
that is, in context with the blog, having and using one’s heartansoulanmind in
one’s being-in-the-world. - Amorella
** **
being - noun
present
participle of be.
1
existence: the
railroad brought many towns into being | the moment when
the universe came into being.
•
living; being alive: holism promotes a unified way of being.
2
[ in sing. ] the
nature or essence of a person: sometimes one aspect of our being has been
developed at the expense of the others.
3 a real or imaginary living creature, especially
an intelligent one: alien beings | a rational being.
Selected
and edited from the Oxford/American software.
** **
Carol who is about completed the book (she
is on page 602) wants to feed the cats so home you go.
1816
hours. We have been home, the cats are fed and Jadah is again playing ‘soccer/futebol’
with her newly re-discovered mouse while Spooky watches from the sidelines. –
Above, in the definition, I see ‘being’ in
context, as ‘within the essence of a person’ – I am transported to a time and
location within my mind and feel it as I would ‘feel’ if entranced.
That wasn’t so difficult to articulate.
Post. – Amorella
1827
hours. It wasn’t so much to communicate to others, as it was to communicate
clearly within myself so I can better understand my realizations within. Otherwise,
I become confused and let it go. It was fun to read about the monks, like it is
one of my daily lessons learned or relearned in retirement. The experience is
not ‘taking a class’ as such but Wikipedia and the Internet are a part of my
mostly daily learning/relearning. I have loved reading and researching my entire life.
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