A Deeper Prayer Tradition from the Monastic Movement in Europe

A Deeper Life of Prayer and Work

Becoming too active in work and life can make us miss the balance that is needed to obtain both health of body and soul. This is where the practice of meditation and contemplation can help restore that balance. Meditation is simply reading the Scriptures. The Sunday or weekday readings are the best as you can also integrate the homilies given by the priest-presiders at the Mass. After meditation, all that is needed is to stay before an image you are devoted to: the Sacred Heart, our Mother of Perpetual Help, or the best - the Blessed Sacrament in the parish. Meditation and contemplation can restore that balance we need from the activities that involve us in the world. It will help us see "through Heaven's eyes", and ground our souls back in God. If one has opportunity to read the lives of Benedictine saints and their writings, these can also help in understanding how to meditate and contemplate. Foremost among these Benedictines are the abbots of the Benedictine Monastery at Cluny.

The Great Abbots of the Monastery of Cluny

Monasticism began in the early centuries of the Church. These monasteries championed a way of life based on prayer - especially meditation and contemplation. But as with all things that exist in the world, sometimes secular influences can dilute, so to speak, the purity of the monastic spirituality. So, everytime this happens in monasticism there is always a return to the original spirit of St. Benedict. When many monasteries in Europe began to lose their autonomy and started to be controlled by powerful secular leaders, certain leaders, both secular and religious usually come to the forefront to restore the purity of the monastic spirit. One of these leaders was Duke William of Aquitaine. William of Aquitaine founded a monastery at Cluny, France. This monastery became the beginning of the reform movement in monasticism. Through Cluny and its spiritual influence, monasteries regained their autonomy and independence from influential secular rulers. Cluny's spirit of reform was led by seven great saintly abbots who also acted as peacemakers and negotiators in the politics of Europe at the time. The first three of these saintly abbots were St. Berno, St. Odo and St. Aymard.