- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 0
- 0
-
Sparkle (2)
He is tall, weathered, and ascetic-looking. His close-cropped white hair and austere habit cannot hide the fact that he is a center of vibrant intelligence and strong opinions about the importance of monastic life in the modern world—prayer, music, community, and much, much more.
Reviewer Philip Grosset of the website “Clerical Detectives” describes Chant of Death as “an unusual story that holds the interest throughout.” At the center of this unique mystery is the figure of Fr. Malachi himself, who “differed from his fellow monks in that he had married and lived in the world before he became a seminarian, then a monk, and, now, an abbot.”
Q: Fr. Malachi, what would you want us to know about your world, where you preside as Abbot of St. Andrew’s Abbey?
A: Well, I would start with the importance of the Rule of St. Benedict, by which we, the monks, live our life. For 1500 years these 9000 wise words have been the premier guide in Western Christianity for monastic living—for both men and women. It is a way of life characterized by prayer, moderation, hospitality, the chanting of the Psalms, and community labor. In fact, its spirit can be summed up in the terms: pax (peace) and the traditional Latin phrase: ora et labora (pray and work).
After the death of my wife, when I was a psychiatrist in secular life http://tinyurl.com/42nw9lk
—after Virginia tragically died, I found a way back to peace through contemplating the Rule of St. Benedict. Through the troubles in our marriage, I had already been visiting the Abbey for guidance. My own religious vocation came gradually—first as a widower and novice monk. Then eventually I was elected Abbot, elected to father these dedicated men, to my great surprise.
Q: What about the importance of Chanting in the life of the order?
A: Our practice of Chanting the Psalms in regular sequences through the hours of the day is not only an act of worship, it is a far-reaching spiritual exercise, an actual creation of unity among us—I believe—that the singers themselves bring into being. I see it as a powerful sign to the world that God’s order prevails in the universe, that the Divine unity underlies all. However (he sighs), I’m really not a musician myself, and the sequences were difficult for me to learn. I relied heavily on the extraordinary talents of a young cantor, Fr. Paul—but that’s really how all the trouble started.
Q: Not to get too far ahead of your story—but Chant of Death http://tinyurl.com/6xv9s25 tells the shocking tale of “murder in the cloisters.” As one reviewer put it: “Who would ever suspect that a monastery where a group of monks make glorious music could be anything less than heaven! But their successful CD, Godspeak, brings them more than wealth, it opens up what can only be imagined as the gates of hell.”
A: Yes, it was nearly the death of us all. The juxtaposition of “all that mess” amid our sublime setting in southern Louisiana, in our glorious community of music and prayer—it was almost too much. Yet God is good. We are dedicated to keeping our tradition alive, and it keeps us alive too. As the Rule of St. Benedict puts it:
We will fulfill this sacred number of seven if we satisfy our
obligations of service at Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None,
Vespers and Compline, for it was of these hours during the
day that he said: Seven times a day have I praised you.
You really must come and visit us—now that order and peace have been restored to the Abbey. But I always ask myself, “For how long?” With more than 200 men living and working together—we have a breadmaking business as well—and visitors who come in to disturb and threaten our peace. It is a volatile situation, and I only hope to rise to the challenge before the next crisis hits. For that, I dedicate myself daily to keeping the Rule, to prayer and praise and saving works.
Q: What would you like to tell readers about Chant of Death, in a last word?
A: God dwells everywhere in our midst, not just in those spots that we designate as “holy” places. But come, read about us and our own worst-case scenario—because such a cataclysm can occur anywhere. No one is immune to the Seven Deadly Sins, not even monks, and murder is the most shocking one among them (though they all lead down to the pit).
But our Benedictine Rule offers beauties even to the secular reader, and it runs, like
