The Giraffe

Open-Source Hospitality

Opening our hearts to others, inviting them into our lives, sharing our possessions and making our resources available to them, this is the charism of hospitality as demonstrated in monasteries as centres of welcome and retreat. They give simply out of their abundance and poverty, sharing a simple meal with great love and allowing us the freedom of their home. It is a picture of extravagant love. . It is in welcoming the stranger that we welcome Christ, as in St Benedict’s rule. It is an attitude of heart, a way of life. We give things away freely, wanting to share the best we have, especially our creativity. It is in our willingness to be poor and in the common sharing of possessions that we become rich.

I struggle to make my library available to others, because I want my treasures to be kept in pristine condition and not dog-eared and spines broken, but how selfish! Books are wisdom shared and they have been a source of nourishment and hope, although how much more is wisdom increased when we are willing to let go and share our treasures, trusting the other person will not abuse what we give them. To give our best instills value in the other person; it declares that we think you are worth investing in, that you matter. In serving the poor, we don’t give them left-over sandwiches but a good stew made from the best of ingredients and freshly cooked.

Jesus invited the lowest one’s to sit in the place of honour, he invites them to a banquet with the choicest of foods. We are to give our best ideas away, to risk in sharing them that others will make them better and improve upon them and every contribution increases their potential benefit. We truly do go further together than on our own. What is our attitude to possessions, to money, to the way we see our homes? Is Christ at the Centre and is his presence felt by the dishevelled stranger as s/he crosses the threshold of our home?

Monasticism

Monastic is a fascinating and paradoxical word, at root meaning "one"(mono), yet by defintiion meaning "community". It suggests persons who one by one share a practice or way of life together, making them a community. ( Brian Mclaren The Strategy We Pursue)

This is an energising quote because is crystallises my thinking about the merits and benefits of Monasticism for today's turbulent world. Monasteries practice a way of life, namely a life of prayer lived in community, often engaged with the world but at a distance. This is not about running away or cutting themselves off from real life, but a place of solitude and silence, where the presence of God is sought for and on behalf of the world. You don't run away from the world to the desert, for it will catch up with you. The Desert Mothers and Fathers attest to this, in how much they had to face the shadow side and very often the demonic in their daily life of prayer. Monasteries are places of spiritual formation and transformation and have a rich heritage to pass onto us in terms of how we learn to connect with God at a deeper level, how we can grow in contemplative awareness and demonstrate this in radical action.

Merton spoke of monks as marginal people and on the surface of seemingly little value, but they point to a different rythmn of life that shows up the futility of our hectic, stressful and busy lifestyle. The call to poverty points to our greed and the drive to consume the next products. The vow of obedience shatters the illusion of power plays and the call to celibacy reveals to us the source of true desire.

Is my fascination with Monasticism a blast of nostalgia for things now past, given the philosophical and cultural transition we find ourselves in, characterised as Mclaren states by the "posties" (post-modern, post-colonial, post-christendom etc) or simply wanting to realise the assets of our spiritual inheritance?

I would agree with Prodigal Kiwi that Monasteries are places to learn about the practice of prayer and this has been my experience. For myself I am grateful to the Anglican Franciscans for all they have taught me on my regular visits to their beantiful home.

This topic will develop over the next months as I want to look at the wisdom that can be drawn from Monasticism and it is a theme very much on my heart. Emergent Kiwi has already set the ball rolling with a an excellent article about PoMo Monasteries and I hope my thoughts will come by way of a longer response to his article. Thanks Steve for the inspiration.