(Written 10/30/14)
Callistus is a very gifted man. He loves people and they love him back. He is very good with groups and he has enriched the community by his presence here and his creative approach to how we relate to the community around us. Yesterday he called me while here in the retreat house office and asked me if I could be one of the monks to meet with a ‘story-telling group’. The other member of the community was Elias. Elias is a very wise man, who has the great gift of being a true listener, and is very good with the new members of our community when they enter here. He is a very good Novice Master and since he listens and the new members experience his gift, we have a good number of those going on to making a commitment to our life. I am very thankful that these two men are members of our community.
So late yesterday morning Elias and I went to the crypt chapel and met the group. It can be easy to forget the importance of each ones life, their depth and how hard the journey can be. If the importance of stories is forgotten, then the ability to really listen can be lost as well. This group exist to educated the public on how important each life is, and how deep and rich human experience actually is.
Varied experiences, both those that are pleasant, as well as those that are tragic, help to make up the rich tapestry of our lives and the more we learn to listen to others, the deeper we can get in touch with our own journey. Hearing a story from another can bring forth memories perhaps long forgotten that have had a deep impact on ones life. This can lead to further insight and healing for both parties. The one telling the story as well as the one listening, enrich each other.
Life is so short, not always sweet, but every experience is important and even crucial. For as we develop our own stories and how we respond to them can help us to learn other or better ways in how we deal with life further down the road on our pilgrimage. One choice builds on another. Merely instinctive responses can lessen our inner freedom and hinder our often slow process towards deepening our humanity. Compassion for others outside of ones family, or social and religious group, is not as common as one would think. So looking back on our lives and seeing where we are in this ongoing process, can help us to see a bigger picture.
Two of the stories that were shared with the group did not have happy endings. Elias told one about the 2nd world war, the second story was close to it. Both had to do with the killing of Jewish children. The first story told by Elias evoked a memory for one of the memories of the ‘story-telling’ group. Both brought to the fore that not all stories have a happy ending, but they leave a deep longing for healing and mercy as well as justice.
Compassion comes when we understand that endings that lead to further longing are an important part of deepening our ability to feel for the ‘other’…. the stranger, those on the fringe etc. When that does not happen we do loose something deep and important. We lose a part of our ‘human’ heart, and become simply a fearful one, interested only in survival.
Scriptures are full of stories. Not all of them pleasant, nor do they all have happy endings. They are about human beings, their shortcomings, their sinfulness, as well as their ability to find deeper meaning and healing in their lives. People are often shocked by what happens in the Scriptures, but they are merely a reflection of the human heart, its failures and wanderings away from its true calling. Yet there is always hope. We can change, or attempt to turn around. Most likely more than once, towards that which beckons us ever forward. For we often do not know what we are doing. We turn around when we finally do understand, if it is only in part.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
