Pope Reminds Europe of Monastic Roots

"The monasteries were the places where the treasures of ancient culture survived, and where at the same time a new culture slowly took shape out of the old"

PARIS (Zenit) - Monasteries both preserved the treasures of ancient culture and nourished a new culture that took shape out of the old, says Benedict XVI.The Pope affirmed this today in Paris during an anticipated address to representatives of the world of culture, as well as members of UNESCO and the European Union.

He introduced his address by saying that he wanted to speak "of the origins of western theology and the roots of European culture." He suggested that the site of the conference -- the recently restored College of the Bernardines-- was emblematic. The college was a residence for young monks until the French Revolution. Since then, it has passed through various usages, but the late Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, former archbishop of Paris, undertook to have it restored and made into a meeting place for the dialogue between faith and culture. The papal visit is the official inauguration of the center.

Thus, the Holy Father spoke about the role of monasticism in Western culture."From the perspective of monasticism's historical influence, we could say that, amid the great cultural upheaval resulting from migrations of peoples and the emerging new political configurations, the monasteries were the places where the treasures of ancient culture survived, and where at the same time a new culture slowly took shape out of the old," he said.

The Pontiff went on to explain how the monks were engaged in the "culture of the word," since it is through the biblical word that God comes toward us and man moves toward him."Thus," he explained, "it is through the search for God that the secular sciences take on their importance, sciences which show us the path toward language. Because the search for God required the culture of the word, it was appropriate that the monastery should have a library, pointing out pathways to the word. It was also appropriate to have a school, in which these pathways could be opened up. [...]

"The monastery serves 'eruditio,' the formation and education of man -- a formation whose ultimate aim is that man should learn how to serve God. But it also includes the formation of reason -- education -- through which man learns to perceive, in the midst of words, the Word itself."

Grandeur

Benedict XVI went on to give an extensive explanation of the culture of the word, including its identity as a "shared word." "The word does not lead to a purely individual path of mystical immersion, but to the pilgrim fellowship of faith," he said.The Pope reflected on how the words of the Bible, particularly the Psalms, are the words that God has given mankind to use in addressing him. In this context, he spoke of the importance of music in prayer.

Witness the Words of Jesus Come to Life

Then, looking at the particular character of the Bible, as the books in which monks encountered this word, he noted that "Scripture requires exegesis, and it requires the context of the community in which it came to birth and in which it is lived.""To put it yet another way," he added," there are dimensions of meaning in the word and in words which only come to light within the living community of this history-generating word. Through the growing realization of the different layers of meaning, the word is not devalued, but in fact appears in its full grandeur and dignity."

Culture of work

Finally, the Pontiff broadened his reflection by looking at the "second component of monasticism," the "labora.""In the Greek world," he said, "manual labor was considered something for slaves. Only the wise man, the one who is truly free, devotes himself to the things of the spirit. [...] The Jewish tradition was quite different: All the great rabbis practiced at the same time some form of handcraft. [...] Monasticism took up this tradition; manual work is a constitutive element of Christian monasticism. [...]

"Christians, who thus continued in the tradition previously established by Judaism, must have felt further vindicated by Jesus' saying in St. John's Gospel, in defense of his activity on the Sabbath: 'My Father is working still, and I am working.' The Greco-Roman world did not have a creator God; according to its vision, the highest divinity could not, as it were, dirty his hands in the business of creating matter. The 'making' of the world was the work of the Demiurge, a lower deity.

"The Christian God is different: He, the one, real and only God, is also the Creator. God is working; he continues working in and on human history. [...] Thus human work was now seen as a special form of human resemblance to God, as a way in which man can and may share in God's activity as creator of the world." Thus, the Pope affirmed, "monasticism involves not only a culture of the word, but also a culture of work, without which the emergence of Europe, its ethos and its influence on the world would be unthinkable."

"Naturally," he cautioned, "this ethos had to include the idea that human work and shaping of history is understood as sharing in the work of the Creator, and must be evaluated in those terms. Where such evaluation is lacking, where man arrogates to himself the status of god-like creator, his shaping of the world can quickly turn into destruction of the world."

Secret Archives of the Saints, Subscribe Today