Abbey Notre Dame de Fontgombault

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The order of Solemes founded Fontgombault Abbey after a monk by the name Gombault chose to live a life as a hermit in this secluded area just adjacent to the village of Monte Blanc, France. Today there is a small village built around the monastery made up of people from all over the world who wish to pray with the monks. This Monastery is over 1000 years old. It features an ancient Roman/French arcithecture from the first century and is quite the spectacle.  Unlike Clear Creek Abbey, it is so saturated with prayer from years of work and prayer that just stepping on to the sacred ground of this monastery feels like a torrential downpour of grace. The shrubs are trimmed to an exactitude and every external feature appears to be perfect. When entering the Church, the tall ceiling automatically forces your gaze upward, if it were, to effectually make one ponder the magnamousity of the Almighty.  The architecture during this time was focused on beauty, and borne without the tools available to us today which made it quite difficult to have buildings that are symmetrical. The existing naive has a middle stained-glass window which is irregularly off balance with the whole structure. I think it makes for a rather unique touch to such a perfect building because hidden behind all perfect things in ‘this world’ are imperfections indiscreetly present. With such beauty and imperfection infused in one, there must be a perfection of such perfections, namely the Beatific Vision. In a literal sense it is simple but the beauty of this ancient structure and its history is a testament of how the Catholic Church prevailed through persecution in the past centuries. 

   
 In France, during the revolution when the faith was suppressed, this monastery  was partially destroyed and abandoned. Even today, you can see on the exterior walls of the naive an impression on the original stone which features bullet holes. After the the monastery was uninhabited for about forty years, it was reopened by the Benedictine order of Solemes. This Monastery entered back into the world of active faith with a resurgence of new vocations. Typically, at present you can find in and around 65 monks here actively worshiping God in the Liturgy.

The liturgy present at Fontgombault, being the Big Brother of Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma, is quite similar. However, you can certainly notice the difference in chant because of the reverb off the celestial high ceilings. As a matter of fact, it makes the chant resound through ones body like sound waves  passing through the air. It is extremely effective for spiritual worship not only aesthetically but immanently for monks and visitors to stand awestruck in the sight of Christ Jesus reposed in the Tabernacle behind the altar during the Office prayer. The Monks pray 8 times a day for the world, but when it comes to having to bury a brother in their community everything doubles up.

At the passing of a prior monk/priest of the community, the monks not only pray the Monastic office which containes about 25-35 psalms a day but they also pray an additional 25-35 psalms for the Requiem pre-funeral and post-funeral. To give you a picture of how long they pray, on a regular day of prayer in the Church without work they pray about 5-7 hours. They double that-praying about 10-14 hours when a monk dies. This is done on the vigil of the funeral, the day of the funeral, then three days after, seven days after and thirteen days after. This is quite astonishing. I hope to have this much prayer for me when I die because I know I certainly need them. 

We were blessed to attend the funeral of a Monk who had died. Prior Chauveux was a monk at Fontgombault and later went off to teach theology in different places in Europe. There was a substantial turn out for his Requiem consisting of priests and bishops and Abbots from Europe. For the Traditional Rite, it is not generally heard of that concelebration occurs. However, a Mass following the 1965 rubrics was held and 65 priest con-celebrated in the presence of three abbots. Con-celebration based on the rubrics never happens in the 1962 Mass yet, in the 1965 rubrics which are used by most Benedictine Traditional Monasteries for there Conventual mass, it is reserved fo two special occasions. The first is at ordination and the second is at a funeral. This ceremony was very beautiful and made for a great end of our stay at Fontgombault. 

Thanks for sticking out the ‘dryness’ (for lack of better words) in spiritual updates on this blog. More coming very soon!

Clear Creek Donations

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Since we have some enthusiasts following this blog, I think it would be worth your while donating to this monastery. This fairly new Solemes Benedictine Monastery operation in Clear Creek needs your support not only prayerfully but especially financially. There are so many new vocations to this monastery that they are having to house monks in portable buildings and are unable to afford to finish the Church. Based on inquiries of what it would amount to in expenses to finish their building, they are looking at about 20 million dollars. Any help is very much received with love. Please donate!

Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey-Tulsa, Oklahoma

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On Monday June 29th, a group of young men led by Martine and Nina from Australia set out on a Monastic tour. The first stop was Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Prior to arrival at the monastery, there were many obstacles that pervaded our smooth travels to the monastery. The first began with a delay in flight times for the Australian group. The second was an obstacle we had to drive through in order to get to the monastery. With faith and perseverance we entered the gates of the monastery. 

It wasn’t so evident to me at the time how God may have been showing us through these hiccups along the way about what it takes to be a monk. Now taking in the event/obstacle through the lense of God, has really shown me that perseverance is the key to move forward in my faith journey. When flights get delayed and people have to wait or when directions lead you astray, trust and confidence in the final destination is key. The Benedictine rule brings this mentality out on a regular basis through keeping the mind of the monk constantly focused on the passion of Christ crucified on the Cross, fear of God and the awareness of Hell. This is by no means to scare you, but it takes ‘beginning with the end in mind’ to persevere in the spiritual journey. Secondly, it requires faith to believe that what you are choosing does make a difference. In order to better explain this, I will have to tell a little more about the events encountered while attempting to visit the monastery. 

We had lost our directions because our GPS had just died and we were driving through rural Tulsa feeling disoriented and tired from our travels the previous day. Finally we found the road we had remebered from the directions on the GPS which had died, so we began to follow it. Eventually we came to a screaming hault only to realize that before us is the infamous “Clear Creek”  which had washed over the road. Like going on a lion hunt (the childhood song), we couldn’t go around it, or over it …we must go through it. Scared of whether the van would be washed away by the current, we attempted with faith to cross the creek. After crossing the creek we hit another stump along our path. It seemed the road had crumbled at the end of the concrete slabs by water damage which left a massive ditch that the car could not cross. Lo and behold, God provides for all our needs. There were two small paths attached to the slab wide enough for a tire to cross and spaced apart almost perfectly for the van to fit. We had made it across! Although there was much doubt, our faith through prayer can help us cross every “washed out road” in the spiritual life. 

  
LITURGY 

We arrived at Clear Creek Abbey just in time for the Sanctus at the Conventual Mass. Falling to our knees, the Monks Gregorian Chant penetrated our ears with the melodious softness like a snowflake drifting to the ground. We were awestruck and at peace. This was the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul so there was an extra flare to the Mass. It was celebrated in Pontifical Rite. The monks moved swiftly and uniformly- as if they were levitating before the altar while serving. The abbot held his crozier and had a cohort surrounding his every move. Some slightly different things were done in the Mass. It seemed that the ‘Domine non sum dignus’ was prayed without bells for the Priest. Also, there is no Confiteor before communion which was a little disappointing. In the Confiteor there is added ‘To our Holy Father Benedict’ before et vos fratres to honour St. Benedict, founder of the Benedictine order. Also, I thought it is quite interesting that they sit during the Credo and Gloria. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t so apparent at first because of the cloud of incense between the altar and the laity but it seems that all of the prayers that are said before the offertory are at the bench and the Secret is prayed audibly in a loud voice. The Last Gospel is excluded from their Conventual High Mass because it does not fit with the climactic chant. However the proper methods of Papal permission was granted for this particular Mass. They also hold many profound bows especially during the Oremus Collect and at the Pater Noster and the Gloria Patri. Preceding the the Pater Noster the priest audibly in a loud voice intones the minor elevation first then the Pater Noster and the rest is sung by the choir. This was quite the experience because these monks not only have different customs but are extremely reverent in doing so.

After a day of praying about 5 hours with the monks, I rested well and woke for 5:15am Matins. This was exceptional. The highlight was that it finally dawned on me that when we are sleeping and getting our rest on a regular day, these monks are interceding for us. And not just with a quick Ave Maria but an office hour which at times takes over an Hour to pray. All the monks stand in choir until all the monks return from their cells to the Krypt. There is about 30 monks and majority of them are young (about my age). Then they begin and the lights come on. This office is the night office welcoming the day. It is followed by Lauds which at the Benedictus they ring the morning bells and after lauds are prayed there are Private Masses in the Krypt. There are about 15 Masses offered at 7:00am on side altars with a Mass offered on the main altar. They are all done in silence with a server. Then the monks have Lectio Divina and come back the Krypt for day prayer starting with Prime, then Terce, Sext, None and then Vespers and Compline. All the offices are chanted in Latin following the monastic breviary which includes slight alterations such as longer psalms and a Kyrie and Pater Noster at every hour. The hours end by ‘and with our absent brethren’ in Latin instead of just the ‘fidelium animae.’ It was also quite humbling to see the monks stand and kneel before the other monks during the office prayer while in choir to show contrition if they sang the wrong note or made a pronunciation error. 

   

   
WORK

Finally, I had an intriguing experience while working in the field on the second day. Tulsa, Oklahoma is not the most fertile land for growing as the soil is very rocky and dry.  The potatoes needed to be dug up early in fear of the crop going bad. As I was digging up the baby potatoes, I would come across patches of  a row that would have no potatoes. I felt like giving up. It was sweltering hot outside and every plant I had pulled had nothing but roots. I realized that in this moment of prayer and work that perseverance is a must even when there is no consolation. This is true of the monastic vocation. There may not be the consolation of a nice meal, fancy clothes or even potatoes by fact, but the idea is to keep pressing on and to do it for the glory of God. Only then can you experience the joy and happiness. The work becomes less about efficiency and effectiveness and more about Love. I was tired, sweaty, hot and felt like my work had no merit, but I was jubilant and at peace.

Check out the Horarium (SCHEDULE)

http://clearcreekmonks.org/horarium.html

Thanks for following please look out for the new Clear Creek trailer and Testimonial video coming soon! Pax