Chewing Glass

This past weekend was hot here in Chicago, but I couldn’t resist sitting out on the patio in the shade for a little while. By this time of year, all the backyard critters are raising their young, or more accurately, trying to get them to move out. Hmm…that’s probably true of human parents too, but I digress.

Watching the goings on in the yard was immensely entertaining. Papa Grackle was still feeding his fully-fledged young who flew around with him wherever he went. The rabbits were ignoring the new generation of bunnies who ignored them right back. But the real show was Momma Squirrel and her wild offspring. Three young squirrels were zooming around the yard, chasing, playing tag, and hide-and-seek. One squirrel would hide on the branch of a bush while the others scampered hither and thither trying to find him. The hiding squirrel sat very still, even as his siblings were sniffing around under his bush. Eventually he was discovered and they all tore off after each other squeaking with joy.

One little squirrel in particular was impossible to ignore. He hounded his poor mother everywhere she went. Quite the momma’s boy. She’d be searching for seeds under the bird feeder, or looking for the peanut she buried under the lilies a month ago, and there he was at her heel. She’d go to take a drink in the pond, and there he was. She even tried running away and hiding herself, but he was always right there. He played with his siblings too, but he seemed to be especially attached to her. Once while she was snuffling for seeds under the bird feeder, he climbed one of the trees overhanging the area, crept out on a branch directly over her, and then with a squeak that I could swear sounded exactly like, “Geronimo!” he dropped on her back. Hilarity ensued.

She got him back though. Since it was hot, the squirrels stopped at the pond pretty regularly. While she was taking a drink, Junior decided to sneak up and pounce on her. She saw him though and ducked. Sploosh! In he went, quickly emerging looking sad and silly, and resembling a half drowned rat. The rabbit who was sitting nearby, twitched his nose at this undignified display.

So by now you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, great, you’ve got animals in your yard. Big deal. So do I. Is there a point to all this?” Well yes, there is a point. It is very, very easy in our hyper-fast, busy, crowded, technological age to become numb to the world around us. We become alienated from our environment to the point that we forget we are also part of it. Sitting and watching the squirrels, I could positively feel God’s joy over His creation. After all, God’s creation is an act of His love. When stopping to appreciate the beauty and diversity of all that God has made, one can only conclude that He must really enjoy making it. As a writer, I feel a tiny glimmer of that joy whenever I turn out a well-written paragraph. I’m sure you feel it too, when you complete some project that comes out well.

If God can be so happy over the very smallest of creatures, image what He must feel about you who were made in His image and likeness.

That’s usually the response when I tell people I’m a Benedictine oblate. I then patiently explain that oblates are laypeople who strive to live according to the Rule of St. Benedict and who have a spiritual affiliation with a particular monastery. More often than not, this falls well short of a satisfactory answer. Depending on the level of interest I perceive in my interlocutor, I may elaborate by explaining who St. Benedict is, and why someone should want to follow his rule. This discussion inevitably leads to the question, “Why? What do you get out of it?” This is a harder question to answer, because the answer, like my spiritual health, differs from day to day.

Like many people in recent years, I was drawn to monastic spirituality as a way to live an intentionally contemplative life in an increasingly noisy and frenetic world. Where I live, I am lucky to have many monasteries nearby, but I was particularly drawn to St. Procopius Abbey because of shared roots between the Abbey and myself. And, because it is a Benedictine trait to practice hospitality, the kind monks of the Abbey welcomed me like they have many others over their long history.

They allow me to share in their liturgy, and to a degree, their conventual life. But there is a distinct difference between them and me. My Oblate Director is fond of reminding us oblates that, “oblates are not little monks.” To be sure, there are those who wish to live like monks, and so are drawn to the monastery, but the vocation of professed religious is only for those who really have that calling. Those who seek the monastery in order to run away from life, not only fail in their quest, but also badly miss the point. This is as true today as when St. Benedict was alive.

The monastery is a school of obedience for those with a true calling to religious life. But as God is no respecter of persons, St. Benedict’s rule allows people from all walks of life to be pupils in this school to the degree appropriate for their manner of life. Just like the monk in the cloister, I am trying to find my way to heaven, which is the path to the knowledge of God, and His Son, Jesus Christ. As a Benedictine oblate, I am invited to walk that path alongside the monks; they inside the cloister, and me and my fellow oblates on the outside.