Dear Friends,
Tomorrow, on the 1st of March, we shall commemorate the second anniversary of the death of Dom Gerard († February 28, 2008), our founder at Bedoin and then at Le Barroux, and we shall celebrate a Requiem Mass on that day for him.
We long with all our strength, here at Villatalla, to live in its purity the liturgical and monastic grace which Dom Gérard received at Bedoin in 1970, which he knew how to protect and pass on by example and by words (for which he had a gift): a grace of founding of which I was a privileged witness, being his first companion and disciple; a grace that was focused in the untiring quest for an interior life fed from the twofold source of the Benedictine Rule and the customs handed down partly by our elders, partly by the traditional and divine liturgy.
Tomorrow, on the 1st of March, we shall commemorate the second anniversary of the death of Dom Gerard († February 28, 2008), our founder at Bedoin and then at Le Barroux, and we shall celebrate a Requiem Mass on that day for him.
Barroux Abbey Church – Dom Gerard’s Funeral
We long with all our strength, here at Villatalla, to live in its purity the liturgical and monastic grace which Dom Gérard received at Bedoin in 1970, which he knew how to protect and pass on by example and by words (for which he had a gift): a grace of founding of which I was a privileged witness, being his first companion and disciple; a grace that was focused in the untiring quest for an interior life fed from the twofold source of the Benedictine Rule and the customs handed down partly by our elders, partly by the traditional and divine liturgy.
“In a spirit of unity within the Community, we do not concelebrate according to Paul VI’s rite, even outside the monastery.” (D. Gérard, April 25, 1997.)
Thirty-five years later, faced with a dispute, he would protest with force: “I repeat that I have never—never—wished to introduce the use of the new rite. Not only have I not wished it, but during thirty years we have held the course, formed the community in the sense of this faithfulness, defying prohibitions on this matter, which are changed now into gracious permissions and congratulations from high up”.
It is through both monastic and liturgical loyalty that the inner life establishes, little by little, its kingdom in our soul. Such was his deepest conviction. It is also by this dual loyalty that we shall testify to an authentic filial devotion. An authentic filial devotion which, as Jean Madiran points out, is not only “to recognise oneself as an insolvent debtor in one’s own being”, but also “to know that the received heritage has to be passed on and not to be used only for one’s own benefit”.
Filial devotion is not a ‘superfluous adornment’ of monastic life but a ‘condition of its survival’. Madiran’s harsh but true words, on the irreligious of the country apply equally and indeed more so, to the religious impiety:
It is therefore with a filial gratitude, that this Monday, the 1st March, we will offer the holy sacrifice of the mass for the soul of the one who was for many, a beacon and for us a father and a teacher. He was able to show us the radiant path of the absolute monastic life.
It is through both monastic and liturgical loyalty that the inner life establishes, little by little, its kingdom in our soul. Such was his deepest conviction. It is also by this dual loyalty that we shall testify to an authentic filial devotion. An authentic filial devotion which, as Jean Madiran points out, is not only “to recognise oneself as an insolvent debtor in one’s own being”, but also “to know that the received heritage has to be passed on and not to be used only for one’s own benefit”.
Filial devotion is not a ‘superfluous adornment’ of monastic life but a ‘condition of its survival’. Madiran’s harsh but true words, on the irreligious of the country apply equally and indeed more so, to the religious impiety:
“Because the irreligious person, neglecting or being unconcerned towards the intellectual and moral life he has received, although part of his being, is ungrateful towards those who have fed and armed his soul. He will be as a result unable to pass on in his turn, this immaterial wealth. Influenced, as we always are, more by actions than by speeches, he will pass on his own indifference, his own ingratitude. He will breathe and inspire a spirit of ignorance of the moral heritage of the homeland. If we do not honour, we start to neglect. We become indifferent. We find ourselves helpless in the face of mockery and contempt that sooner or later will move from the background to the forefront, and will speak up without restraint”. (Jean Madiran, Une Civilisation Blessée au Cœur, p. 34.)
“What does the past matter as the past, exclaimed Gustave Thibon then, do you not see that, when I cry on the breaking up of a tradition, it is, above all, of the future that I am thinking of? When I see a root rot I feel sorry for the flowers which will dry up tomorrow for lack of sap. These are the reasons why we must fervently keep the most sacred forms of the Catholic Liturgy.”
Earlier happiness (1977) at Bedoin, fruit of the founder’s grace
It is therefore with a filial gratitude, that this Monday, the 1st March, we will offer the holy sacrifice of the mass for the soul of the one who was for many, a beacon and for us a father and a teacher. He was able to show us the radiant path of the absolute monastic life.
Driven by this filial spirit, we are delighted that, in honour and memory of Dom Gerard, an Italian oblate of Le Barroux has undertaken a translation of his works in the beautiful and noble language of Dante. It can be found on a website (romualdica.blogspot.com). Dear Italian friends, you will find here a treasure for the spiritual life of your soul, and a genuine and eloquent heritage, which has been the background of monastic spirituality since it’s origins.
Brother Jehan, mbi
