Ausculta, "Listen, my son . . . ."-the
opening words of the Rule of Saint Benedict are an
invitation to the way of obedience. The Latin word for listening, audire, is related to that
for obedience, obaudire. The obedient person is one who listens, for we must first hear
what is the will of God in order to be able to do it. However, the obedient person not only
hears, he acts, he does the will of God. The Cistercian life is set apart from the activities
of the secular world, from the places where many live and act and make their inevitable
noise, so that we can more easily listen. The Cistercian way inculcates a love for silence
and provides amply for it so that we may more readily hear the divine voice. The
Cistercian way sees lectio with its full development into contemplative prayer as one of
its basic practices for it is here that God speaks to us most directly, intimately, and
personally. The Cistercian way allows for an abundance of gracious space so that the
monk may listen to God speaking to him within himself, in and through his brothers and
through all the wonders of God's munificent creation as well as through God's inspired
Word.
"Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening." This is the attitude Cistercians seek to
cultivate as we walk along our way. A constant listening to God in all the ways he can
speak to us and call us forth, so that with all our heart we can say: Yes, be it done unto
me according to your word.
We are, each one of us, a certain listening.
We have a certain openness, a certain
receptivity to all that comes to us, whether it be through the ears or the eyes or any of
the other senses. The listening that we are has been formed by all the influences that
have shaped us. Truth and right reasoning, both at the human and divine level, have
been inculcated into us by parents, Church, schooling, society, television, reading, study,
etc. These have also inculcated into us certain positions, attitudes, and prejudices. We
have our own ideas, values, and principles. These filter all that we receive and they set
parameters to what we do receive. Some of us have very rigid parameters and can hear
little or nothing of what falls outside of our pre-established boundaries. Others are more
open and are constantly allowing their perceptions to expand their boundaries so that
they can hear more and more, allowing the goodness, truth and beauty of other persons,
of other religions, of other philosophical traditions, of this whole wondrous creation to
enrich them.
In contemplation, following the yearnings
of our heart, we allow all our parameters to fall
away so that the fullness of God can come into us and take us beyond ourselves,
bringing us into the experience of the divine goodness, truth and beauty in itself and in all
of his creation. Only the person who practices contemplation, who allows the Holy Spirit
to act freely within him through her gifts, can truly hear and can be fully obedient.
Everyone who has been baptized into Christ has been given these gifts of the Holy Spirit,
has been given the Holy Spirit herself, is called to contemplation, is called to this kind of
completely open listening, is called to be led like Christ by the Spirit.
The process whereby contemplation heals,
frees, and opens us is usually a long one. All
along the way we struggle to discern the will of God for us and how we can be a
complete yes to him. One of the great gifts that is given to us in the Cistercian life is the
good of obedience. God as it were makes a contract with us. If we commit ourselves to
the Cistercian way, he will guide us through the Rule and constitutions, through the local
customs and guidelines, and through the directives of our superiors and even of our
brethren.
M Basil Pennington (1992) The Cistercians Liturgical Press
