Dear Friends

There has been quite a buzz of popularity over the recent television programme, Monastery. This has been somewhat of a surprise, not least for the monks of Worth Abbey. As I write the last of the short series is due to go out on Tuesday. I don’t have a television; so no direct experience (and I haven’t watched anyone else’s!). This hasn’t stopped me hearing all about it on the radio, in newspaper and magazine articles, columns and interviews with the abbot and some of the five men invited to stay at the monastery.

Seemingly one of the aspects people have been most interested in is ‘sanctuary’. The Abbey is offering a course in it and much interest has been shown through their website. The word ‘sanctuary’ has various definitions, including; a holy place, a sacred building where fugitives were formally entitled to immunity from arrest or execution, a place of refuge. The idea of a sacred shelter obviously appeals to people; a place to come aside to and away from daily life. A place steeped in worship and prayer, where, for the visitor or guest, there are no expectations or demands and the outside world cannot find you, if this is what you choose! (I wonder if the series has also revealed the other side of the coin and shown how special but also challenging and demanding the life of a monk can be!)

In recent years the vocation to the religious life, as monks and nuns, has declined. I wonder now whether greater exposure to the outside world in a way that doesn’t overburden abbeys, priories and convents; may reveal just how real and vital a life, monks and nuns live; exposed to all the things we are, but less able to avoid them. No retail therapy, fewer distractions or places to hide whilst surrounded by brothers/sisters, no dulling with alcohol or other mind-numbing substances, no gym, loud music, fast cars or many of the everyday things we have come to take for granted.

More positively there is a structured life, which is balanced for mind, body and spirit; patterns of action and reflection. St Benedict, for example, I imagine to have been a very practical as well as very spiritual man, knowing both the ways of God and of human beings. His rule recognizes our human weakness, but also God’s mercy; our need for love and God’s great desire to give it to us; the joys but also the struggles of living in community.

I share one of today’s concerns about the work/life balance for everyone in our society. It is not a simple question and there are no easy answers. It is important that each of us reflect on our life or sense what is happening to us and those around us. What are the messages we live and pass on to others; especially children and young people? We need to try and build things into our week which tend our spirit – a walk, meditation, prayer, just pottering, doing something creative. Sometimes we can make space and set aside some time where we are. It is likely that, maybe once a year or so we need to get away. We can be so caught up in our own situation and it’s intensity that we need to be able to stand back and look with a different perspective; to retreat.

I really recommend time to retreat, which isn’t the same as a holiday! Let’s hope that religious houses and communities continue to have vocations; people called to dedicate their time to God in this way. We are all bathed by the regularity and pattern of their prayers. They are a valuable sign of the spiritual in all of us, which we disregard at our peril!

Yours in Christ,

Ruth