Transcript of Abbot Clement’s Talk on October 11, 2005

We can pretty much say that by definition our way of life is a supernatural destiny. That is the whole Benedictine spirituality is to give us the opportunity to deepen and to foster the interior life. It= s in a culture that= s not too helpful for this, not only is it a very busy and noisy culture and pretty much glories in activities, but we know that the popes have been saying since Pius XII that our cultures deny the existence of sin. Then we have the difficulty that, even in the Catholic Church people don= t go to confession. So there is a lack of openness to the possibility that God is calling people in many ways. Nevertheless, we still have this destiny to deepen our interior life.

One of the early monks, starting even with Anthony, went into the desert. That was their purpose to deepen the interior life. What did they discover? They discovered when they went into the desert they took the world with them. So their thoughts were filled, they may have been physically in the desert, but their mind was back in the city. By perseverance, thoughtfulness, and reflection they noticed the importance of thoughts, as Sr. Margaret Funk has told us, thoughts matter.

They matter for a number of reasons. First of all when you think of your thoughts you evoke your desires. When you think of your desires you evoke your passions. When you think of passions you get actively engaged. That= s all fine if it= s good thoughts in the first place, good desires and good passions, but it can go the opposite direction.

Then they saw that by if one thought comes into your mind another one follows it pretty soon you have the insights to know what exactly you= re paying attention too, what your intentions are and what= s your real motivation. What really moves you.

The third, but not least important thing, they began to realize that the areas that thoughts seem to be generated, that need to be dealt with, are first and foremost food and drink, then sexual thoughts, then things of all kinds, then anger and dejection, and then a kind of spiritual weariness of the spiritual life called acedia, then vain glory and pride. These are the areas that surface, that bubble up that need to be not only looked at but now reformed and transformed. The task of the monk was to work at these things. It wasn= t enough to leave the world and come to the monastery, it was a task to deal with these thoughts and then go one step further to purify their understanding of God.

The call that we have is to divine destiny. It= s not out there some place, it= s not something difficult in our reach because we know that God is in us. God himself urges us and moves us. The question is do we quiet down and listen and do we respond by making the effort to really purify our hearts?