March
15, 2006:
“When in April the sweet showers
fall…people long to go on pilgrimages…”
by
Jon M. Sweeney
Geoffrey
Chaucer began the Prologue to his Canterbury Tales with
these lines more than six hundred years ago. It is still true
today that springtime causes something in us to rekindle; spiritual
yearnings that have lain dormant over the darker winter months
begin to stir—and we turn our eyes toward pilgrimages.
Or,
at least, a growing number of Americans do. Abbeys and monasteries
(the two words are actually synonymous) around North America are
doing spring cleaning, preparing for the influx of visitors who
will come for an overnight, a weekend, or week-long retreat. If
you are planning on visiting places such as The Abbey of Gethsemani
in Kentucky or St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts,
be sure to call ahead; they are sometimes booked as far as six
months in advance.
Also
on the rise today is the number of oblates. An oblate is usually
a layperson (not ordained), single or married, Catholic or not,
who is formally associated with a particular monastery, having
decided to live in harmony with the spiritual practices, goals,
and work of an established religious community. To be an oblate
is akin to making a permanent pilgrimage.
In
his new book, How to be a Monastic and Not Leave Your Day
Job: An Invitation to Oblate Life, Brother Benet Tvedten
explains many aspects of being a Benedictine oblate. Among them:
“Benedict’s way of life is designed for ordinary people.
No heroics are required. Just balance, moderation, and a lot of
humanity…. St. Benedict teaches us how to get along with
one another. We go to God not in isolation from other people but
with a community, a family” (p. 19). That is perhaps what
draws people more than anything else to become oblates: a need
for spiritual family.
The
Benedictine tradition is the largest among the monastic orders
and it is the largest group of oblates in the States today. However,
there are others. Here are some Web resources about oblates:
