6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Monastic chronicle: the tradition's updated, February 11, 2007
This review is from: Love on the Mountain: The Chronicle Journal of a Camaldolese Monk (Paperback)
I have always been intrigued by Catholic monasticism past and present; yet, I have read few accounts by monks rather than those visiting them. With the exception of the obvious example of Thomas Merton, journals from those within the monastery tend to be rarer, for many monks, I gather, prefer anonymity on the page as in their life. From the New Camaldoli Hermitage that sits high on a hill overlooking Big Sur and the Pacific, three monks I can name have contributed books. David Steindl-Rast is associated with the Big Sur tradition of humanistic psychology by his writings about these matters and Creation-centered theology. Thomas Matus, originally from this community but now at the Italian "old" Camaldoli, has like his confrere explored yoga and the scientific-spiritual frontier, as well as a "The Mystery of Romauld & the Five Brothers," a short life of the founder of the Camaldolese, St Romauld, that he mixed with an early story of a mission to Poland by members of the Order and his own personal quest that led him to the monastery. Robert Hale has been prior of the Big Sur community, which is known as a sort of Christian ashram, involved in ecumenical outreach to Anglican, Jewish, and Buddhist communities-- unsurprisingly given its counter-cultural (in more ways than one) Californian provenance.
Commissioned by the pope to connect Catholic monasticism with other religious contacts, open to many spiritual practices, the Camaldolese blend the Benedictine rule and communal living and worship with the eremetical call to solitude of a monk alone in his cell. Somehow, as this journal depicts, they also blend ministry to those visiting or making retreats. Lesser known and far fewer than Trappists, less austere and accessible to outsiders unlike Carthusians, the Camaldolese have blended the cenobitic and hermit traditions of ancient and medieval Christian practice that have been with the Church since nearly the beginning.
Hale provides, with appropriate circumspection and unfeigned humility, a diary-cum-autobiography somewhat similar to Matus' introductory essay in his story collection. "Love" initially aroused my suspicion due to its title, but the Camaldolese convincingly show that love is indeed at the heart of their generous apostolate. There is also a welcome, unforced blend of levity and lightness that characterizes the author's own spirit. This journal, which could have been embarrassingly self-centered, is not inspirational pablum, to Fr Hale's credit. He has been at the Big Sur monastery since 1959, nearly after its 1957 start, and from what he reflects upon, it seems to me that he has mastered the art of control over his thoughts and actions as best as any of us can. His advantage lies in the simple ability of Benedictine stability. This makes his discipline to the Rule and his ties to the place so much deeper than the accounts of so many who are like us, pilgrims and wayfarers and restless wanderers who glimpse monks and pass on. Fr Hale allows us to glimpse the inner mind and the soul of those chosen few who remain behind the monastery gates.
Despite this grounding in place, Fr Hale and his brothers stay in contact with colleagues and friends throughout the world, thanks to the Net you and I use right now. The monastic integration of technology to allow a wider realm of influence beyond the enclosure is a topic deserving sustained attention. Fr Hale's book's a first start, from circa 1998.
Not only about spiritual concerns that you might assume are kept neatly filed under "religion" or "theology," this book opts for the human and the personal encounter rather than a detached and withdrawn summary of monkish facts or a totally subjective navel-gazing contemplation. It also deals with the author's grappling with cancer, Rahner and Auden, Dostoevsky & Tassajara Zen seekers, Windows 95 & WWII. Third World concerns, the plight of Chinese seminarians, terminal disease and the threat of forest fires: these concerns occupy the Prior alongside care for his twenty-eight "children" and his own encounters with figures as diverse as Julian of Norwich, William Carlos Williams, and a martyred priest in Honduras. While the title may recall unfairly the too often meandering blather of inspirational writing, the fact is that the subtitle grounds the book in a monastic tradition and the Order's ambitious pursuit of both sides of the Camaldolese vocation: of being alone with God amidst the community and its outreaching ministry to other denominations and other faiths.
Mixing theological reflection, personal anecdotes, random musings, and his own struggles from Epiphany to the feast of the Assumption one half-year, he provides the first extended treatment in English-- despite the brevity of the book and his short time spent chronicling-- of life in a Camaldolese monastery today. It's down-to-earth but not hokey. Intelligent but without putting on airs, it's a modest account that is a welcome reminder of the benefits of decades of solitude amidst years of hosting wayfarers and pilgrims. The monk's world is as wide as any of ours, and he has the advantage of remaining faithful to his vows to be anchored-- while we drift about!
(Other books on the Camaldolese along with the Matus book already listed; Lino Vigilucci's introduction "Camaldoli" and a study by Dom Jean Leclercq of Italian 16c reformer Paul Giustiniani, "Camaldolese Extraordinary," both reviewed by me on Amazon. See also for wider context Merton's 1958 "The Silent Life.")
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
