Into Great Silence

I went to Kendall Cinema yesterday to catch a viewing of Into Great Silence. I had some trouble finding the theater at first, though I was able to recognize my surroundings eventually and I located One Kendall Square. I walked by the MIT CoOp on Main, but I didn't go in this time, as I was in a rush to find the theater. I saw some MIT students walking around on the streets; there were also your technology workers going to and from the nearby companies and University Park? How much longer can the United States maintain its edge in technology and computers? (And how much computing power is really necessary for the well-being of a political community? How much is unnecessary, and needed only for [misspent] leisure? And are computers an instrument for those who wish to maintain empire, both political and economic? Those who claim that one can return to a more humane lifestyle by promoting telecommuting through the use of computers do not seem to acknowledge that this does nothing to diminish the centralization that already exists.)

I think there were at least 50 to 55 people watching the movie. Not bad for a 1:00 showing. Most of them were old people, though I think there was one father who brought his teenaged son to watch the movie. There was also one priest, I believe (he was wearing civies).





The documentary has been the subject of other posts:


The Grand Silence


Film About Monastery Wins Award


An interview with the filmmaker, Philip Groening





I'll introduce it only by saying that it is a record of life at the Carthusian Charterhouse in France.

Someone else submitted the following for me to post; it's regarding the changes that have taken place at the Charterhouse in the past 30 years or so:

INTO GREAT SILENCE

LITURGY:

• The venerable Carthusian Rite has been reformed but to a less degree than the Roman Rite. The Divine Office is in the vernacular with the exception of Matins & Lauds. Vespers is sung in the vernacular. They use the vernacular in the lessons of the night office as well as in the readings in the refectory and other ceremonies (e.g. reception of novices).


• The deacon at the conventual mass now wears his stole in the Roman fashion.


• The sanctuary has been completely “renovated”. I noticed the following:

-The elevated high altar w/ tabernacle has been replaced with a simple level altar.

-The elevated “throne”(sedilia) that was attached to the epistle wall is gone.

-The elevated gospel lectern, which faced north, w/ 2 floor candlesticks is gone.

-The 4 great floor candlesticks in the sanctuary are gone.

-The hanging sanctuary lamp is gone (replaced w/ a candle).

• Communion is taken under both kinds and the precious blood was taken w/ a goblet of sorts.


• They gathered around the altar to communicate and there was no orderly movement back to their stalls.


• The permanent monastic tonsure (monastic corona) has been replaced with the shaved head.


• Too many other changes in the rite to mention.

POVERTY:

• Electricity and running water have found a place in the monastery.


• The monastery has a computer and electric keyboard.


• You can hear a power saw in the background.


• Some monks wear watches and civilian clothes.


• Electric razors

RULE:

• One of the brothers was speaking to the cats in the attic.


• Food portions looked plentiful.


• Skiing?


• The fact that they let themselves be filmed.

We also noted that the monks wear blue habits for work? Is an additional habit necessary? Or would an apron be sufficient?

From the documentary one can learn about the Carthusian way of life as it exists now at the Charterhouse. Does it show us the daily rhythms of the monastery? Many have praised the film for its revelation of how the search for God is concretized in the life of the Carthusian monks. I think I have to rewatch the film; but it didn't "work" so well for me (though I am not sure exactly what its effect was supposed to be). While I was watching I was thinking of how I would rather participate in the life of the monastery, or at least chant the office, to do lectio divina, and to offer one's daily work to God, rather than just being a passive viewer of someone else doing it. I yearn for the simple life; even if one is not called to be a monk, and is called to marriage, there are many things that we can actually do without. Simplicity is not beyond our reach. St. Thomas Aquinas does talk about how one may need certain things in accordance with one's state in life, but I don't think this is necessarily opposed to simplicity. Certainly it is not opposed to the spirit of detachment, especially if we remember that things are to be used for the common good and are given to us by God so that we can live charity more fully.

There are many beautiful shots of the Charterhouse and its surroundings, reminding me of how ugly megapolises are... wouldn't it be better to live in a properly sized city or village, with men acting as stewards of nature, providing for their needs and appreciate its beauty while referring it back to its Creator?


I do recommend that Catholics watch the documentary and see how the monks are a sign of contradiction to those of us who are accustomed to living luxuriously... depending upon cheap energy and such. I wonder how intelligible the film will be to those who are not well catechized. For example, will they understand the significance of the sanctuary lamp? One should not be surprised if many Catholics do not know what the sanctuary lamp is for.

I was told that their Chartreuse is produced somewhere else, and not on the grounds of the Charterhouse. I've never tasted it; has anyone else out there? I remember Mr. Janaro talking about it during our Old Testament class.




NYCGoth.com info on Chartreuse
drinkboy.com


On a related note... someone was also reminding me about the Trappists, and how they began as a monastic reform movement after the Cistercians began to decline. (And let us remember that the Cistercians were formed as a response to the decline of Cluny.)

Links
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Cistercians
wiki for Cistercians
Cistercian Chant
Cistercian life
Cistercian Publications
Cistercian Publications
Institute of Cistercian Studies
Cistercian Studies Quarterly
The Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank
Welcome to St.Mary's Abbey, Glencairn.
Our Lady of the Angels Monastery
cistercian.org.au
Mount Saint Joseph Abbey
The Cistercians and the Trappists
OSB.org info
The Cistercians: an introductory history by M. Basil Pennington OCSO.
The Cistercians in the USA
Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance
Trappist Cistercian Monks Nuns
Monastery of the Holy Spirit
Abbey of Gethsemani
New Malleray Abbey
Saint Joseph's Abbey
Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey
Oita Trappist Monastery (Japan!)
Abbey of the Genesee
Assumption Abbey
ABDIJ VAN DE TRAPPISTEN VAN WESTMALLE
Welkom bij de trappisten
Chinese Trappist monk breaks the age barrier
Trappist Beer