Transcript of Abbot Clement’s Talk on Monday, January 6, 2003

If you have the Spirit you have everything. Since it’s bond between the Father and the Son and also as scripture tells us that Spirit is the Spirit of light, truth and love, of course. But you know when you stir up the Spirit of God you also stir up the enemy, the other side. One Chinese author twenty-five centuries ago said, I think his name was Son Tzu, in the art of warfare that he wrote, "the whole idea of warfare is the deception of the enemy." "And the primitive level of the war is the battlefield. But the real high level of the battle is to defeat the enemy without fighting." And how do you do that? He says, "You simply undermine the values of your enemy in their own country." Something like what happened with 9/11. Right? So what is the most important Benedictine value in terms of the spiritual life? What’s the most important value? We’re not talking now about the Mass and sacraments. It’s Lectio Divina. It’s the one thing that’s uniquely Benedictine. Or monastic. And therefore, where is the enemy going to most attack us? Is to make us treat this value lightly, or not at all. Or do it poorly. And we know it’s a difficult art to master because it requires that I calm down. It requires that I have grown in the capacity to be interiorly silent. It presupposes that I’m growing in the desire, and hunger for the Word of God. And it presupposes that I have learned something over the years of doing these things.

        Now Vatican II tells us that if we want renewal in the religious life we have to ground ourselves in the motivations of the gospel. That is to know the gospel and to be "steeped" in it. And the second one is that we have to be "steeped" in is the traditions of our charism. And the third one is to be able to read the signs of the time. So let’s take the third, first, and then look at the others. If you want to know how the signs of the times are to be addressed all you have to do is take a book out and look at all the things that the Pope has written about. Let’s just take two. Ok? He says, "we live in a culture of death." So he comes out with an encyclical on the Gospel of Llife. He says, "we live in a time in which people have difficulty facing objective truth." So he comes out with a fantastic encyclical on the Splendor of Truth. So those are two attacks on the signs of the times that are from the enemies approach. Positive side, he says, "this is the new Pentecost." And everybody in Rome goes, "where is it?" However, on the feast of Pentecost he invited all the new movements, and there were five hundred thousand people present, more than ever before on the feast of Pentecost.

        If the word of God is the key for renewal, according to Vatican II, to be "steeped" in it and that the charism of the founder is the next thing that we must face. It seems to me the first thing we ought to really focus on is Lectio Divina. Because it "steeps" us in the Word of God, and it’s one of the key characteristics of who we are. And, therefore, in a very good way we will indeed be fortified and hopefully articulate to meet the needs of our time. It’s amazing how many non-Benedictines, even non-Catholics, are discovering Lectio Divina and writing books about it. And what can we say about ourselves? If I asked you to come up here right now and give a ok, three minute discourse on Lectio Divina, could you do it? Would it be convincing? Would it be enlightening? Would it be a real support? So what I want to do is have some fun on Wednesday and do some Lectio Divina together. So relax, and come with a good disposition, and let’s have fun sharing our expertise on Lectio Divina.