As we embark upon the 75th year of our monastic community’s existence, here are some reflections on what this could mean for us and for all those whose lives have been touched by this work of God in Wrentham, MA.
Time
Seventy-five years is a period almost impossible to imagine for a younger person. As I understand, even for someone who has lived that long it is difficult to wrap one’s mind around. Time is made up of innumerable moments, each one rich in sensory impressions, cognitive realizations, emotional experiences, and spiritual intuitions. From a mathematical point of view, there are 525,600 minutes in a normal year and 527,040 minutes in a leap year. So, if I am right, that makes about 39,447,360 minutes in 75 years. This is completely beyond our grasp. Perhaps in eternity we will be gifted to see our lives illuminated as in a single moment. Until then, only God knows all that has happened during these 75 years, and it is what he sees that matters most. All time belongs to him.
Memory
Neuroscientists tell us that we store factual and autobiographical information in explicit memory, supplemented by mental models of how life works in implicit memory. These are fluid, subject to change based on the emotional context and by being confirmed or disproved by subsequent experience. Memory is understood through the vehicle of thought and language and becomes narrative history. A story is in turn modified by the circumstances and emotions that are present as we recall it. Each of us comes to an understanding of the world and our place in it through the lens of our own story and how we reflect on it and tell it to others. Remembering is not about cold facts but about finding meaning in what has been lived, a process that is ongoing. And it is God, the Alpha and the Omega of our lives, who reveals their true meaning.
Community
We are not talking about just one person’s life experience, stretching out from minute to minute, vast as that is, but that of a whole community of women, each one a universe unto herself, a mystery known fully only to God. A few were here for the beginnings and lived out their long lives in this place; others joined at various points along the way; some came and left after a time; some of us are still on our way, moment by moment as the story unfolds. And we must not forget those moments of encounter with family members, lay associates, friends, neighbors, employees, volunteers, guests, and casual visitors – an innumerable cloud of witnesses over the years. Each personal universe touches and interpenetrates with the others, and so we weave together our stories into the fabric of a community story. We recognize that our community has been a gift and blessing to many people beyond anything we could take credit for. That is why this jubilee year is not about celebrating ourselves, but about giving thanks for God’s good work in and through us, even despite us, to build up his church.
Salvation History
Our Scriptures tell of a covenantal relationship between God and his people through memories woven into a story handed down very deliberately to form and be formed by experience from generation to generation. The story of God’s people is one that encompasses both fidelity and failure – it is not picture-perfect. As our Introit for today puts it: “we have sinned against you and we have not obeyed your commands … But give glory to your name and deal with us according to the multitude of your mercies.” Like the churches addressed by the Risen Christ in the book of Revelation with words of consolation and challenge, we too are to expect a word from Christ personally addressed to us. Like the Universal Church entering an important phase of the synodal process this month, our church of Wrentham is in need of listening with the ear of the heart, with the obedience of faith, to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Crucial to this endeavor is trust – trust in God, who draws us into a future full of hope, though not without our share of struggle and sacrifice, and trust in one another as vehicles of the Spirit. This can be hard when facing confusing and challenging times, but as our Alleluia verse reminds us: “They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion; he who dwells in Jerusalem shall never be moved.” St Bernard insists that the last word in our story is not sin and death, but “God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” This is our master narrative, our autobiography, the account of our life in God.
I will close with a prayer from the Easter Vigil that seems appropriate for the opening of our jubilee year. It comes at the moment when the priest places the nails of incense into the Paschal Candle in the form of a cross:
Christ yesterday and today,
the Beginning and the End,
the Alpha and the Omega.
All time belongs to him, and all the ages.
To him be glory and power through every age and for ever. Amen.