MODERN MONK (PART II OF II)

MARCH 8, 2023 – (Cont.) Brother Abraham’s letter is entitled, “My Favorite Things,” which is as innocuous as his first sentence is predictable: “Life in a monastery is designed to give the monks and guests constant reminders of the centrality of God.”  Brother Abraham then mentions the seven daily corporate prayer sessions in the Abbey church and his favorite: matins (4:00 a.m.), a service of prayer, silence and scripture reading—in the friggin’ dark—except, apparently, a reading lamp (or a candle?) at the lectern, which sheds enough light to reveal a fresh flower arrangement, which Brother Abraham likes because it often strikes him as a “representation of God . . . gazing at us with his love.”

A nice image, but the vicarious pain conveyed by “seven daily corporate prayer sessions” was sufficient cause for pitching the eight-page (including front and back) newsletter into the recycling bin . . . had I not read the next sentence. Therein, Brother Abraham expresses awe regarding the stars he sees overhead on his way to matins and the beauty along his free-time wanderings in the woods surrounding the monastery. A man of nature. We’d have something to talk about—or at least walk about.

He then stated that one gift for which he’s most thankful is music. But what kind of music? Gregorian chants? If the monk’s express appreciation for nature and music kept the publication out of immediate danger of recycling, I was still standing next to the bin, until . . . I read the next sentence “I delight especially in the symphonies of Anton Bruckner and Franz Schubert . . .”

I’m glad I’d decided to sit down before reading what came next: “. . . and the 80s ska revival tunes of The Beat and the Bodysnatchers, the early albums of Jefferson Starship (and its amazing violinist), and the music of Pink Floyd.”

That was only the beginning. This monk of impressively eclectic musical tastes divulges enthusiastically his love of sports—especially the Olympics and NFL football. But my posture saw spontaneous improvement when I read his next statement: “The sport that pulls me in most is IndyCar racing.”

Then comes literature—everything from J.R.R. Tolkien’s allegorical The Silmarillion to . . . The Fantastic Four by Marvel Comics and the science fiction by [a list of authors], because “books don’t have to teach us anything to be edifying—they can simply be fun.”

He then lauds pure entertainment—a list of podcasts, including ones featuring “lots of facts with few laughs,” “fewer facts but more laughs” and “very few facts with a lot of laughs.”

Brother Abraham concludes with, “Your favorite things are probably different [from] mine, and that is good. The important thing is that we delight in the wonderful world God has made. That includes delighting in God and delighting in ourselves.”

I was duly impressed by the monk’s embrace of the multi-faceted world beyond his cloistered existence near Three Rivers in an obscure corner of the Wolverine State—which I intentionally leave obscure to preserve my image of the monastery’s isolation.

While the newsletter was still in my hands, my phone rang. It was a business client (whose business is food) with an unmistakably Hindu name. We hadn’t talked in a while, and the first thing he asked was about my health, since he was aware of my expedition through cancerland. I said “Great!” and he said he’d been praying for me. I was touched and told him so.

I delight in imagining a cosmic connection between the timing of the newsletter from St. Gregory’s Abbey—a place dedicated to prayer—and the call from a caring, prayerful client.

Now to check out The Fantastic Four while a Schubert symphony (or Pink Floyd!) plays in the background and the stars shine down on this amazing planet of ours . . . a place where a Hindu believer says his prayers, a Christian monk recites his and I celebrate the experience of . . . being human.

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© 2023 by Eric Nilsson