Feast of SS Robert, Alberic & Stephen
“Let us praise these illustrious men, our ancestors”. With these words. Our first reading sets the scene for today’s feast. Robert, Alberic and Stephen are truly our illustrious ancestors. It is they who first conceived the idea of a new way of living monastic life. They desired to follow the Rule of St Benedict more closely than the practice that they found in their present monastery of Molesmes. They wanted to act righteously in this new adventure.
They experienced grave difficulties from the other members of that community who looked upon their aspirations as simply prideful or worse. The Exordium Parvum tells us that they suffered even beatings and other punishments because of their aspirations. Yet even this did not deter them.
They went to the Papal Legate and from his obtained an Indult allowing them to proceed in their plans and efforts. Eventually on Palm Sunday in 1098 a group of perhaps twenty-one monks left Molesmes to head for a place called Citeaux. It was a rugged and undeveloped place, full of briars and thorn bushes and trees. But they set to work to build a simple monastery where they could observe the Rule of st Benedict more closely and more honestly.
But the monks of Molesmes were still not satisfied. They went to the Legate to request that their Abbot Robert should be returned to them. They pleaded that the observance at Molesmes had severely deteriorated because of his absence. Eventually they succeeded in having Robert ordered to return to Molesmes.
Here we have perhaps the first source of the success of this endeavor. Jesus had told his disciples in the gospel that “for mortals it is impossible reach the heavenly goal of perfection. But, he said, “with God, all things are possible”. Perhaps the difficult surrender which Robert was forced to make – letting go of his ideal of a new form of monastic life – was the first key to the success of this new and difficult endeavor.
This was a powerful expression of the deep faith of both Robert and those who remained at Citeaux – now without their Abbot. It was a faith which resembled that of Abraham when he was asked to sacrifice his only son in obedience to the call of God. Our second reading from the epistle to the Hebrews tells us of this faith and shows us how this type of radical faith is the only way that we can hope to accomplish success in our efforts to respond to the call of God.
That same call of God has been experienced by each one of us who today from this monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemani. We believe that it is an image – poor and imperfect – of that ideal that led our first Fathers to Citeaux. And just as they could only fulfill that call of God with the help of God – (again, for You it is impossible, but for God all things are possible).
Each monk will experience in the course of his monastic life a call to a surrender similar to that of Robert and the other founders. And how we respond to this call will determine whether the rest ofour life is spent in hardness of heart or in true surrender which becomes fruitful not only for himself, but for all.
While we strive to follow St Benedict and the Rule of Life that he gave us, we also strive to do this in line with the ideals and way of life given to us by our early Cistercian Fathers. Even while striving to interpret what this way of life is to be for us today, we also must listen to their words and example.
They suffered in many ways in striving the realize this way of life. And now if we must suffer a little to realize that ideal today, then perhaps that is the truest proof that what we are striving to do is truly not only to follow Benedict, but more so to imitate Christ Himself in our way of relating to Him and to the Father. Truly “for us it is impossible, but for God all things are possible”. We believe that it is Jesus Christ Himself who has called us to this way of life and to this place at this time. And no matter how difficult it may be at times, yet it was NEVER easy for Jesus Himself. But we believe that He walks this path with us each day and every moment of the day. He calls us today to renew again our commitment to a way of life which He led on earth, and which He calls us to follow our holy Fathers in seeking that way to eternal life. “For you it is impossible, but for God, all things are possible’>