If we are Christians, especially of the Catholic tradition, the importance to us in faithfully fulfilling our baptismal obligations toward God and neighbour is, without question, one of deep conviction. Yet, for many, the busyness and complications of what the world throws at us every day, can very often interfere with our spiritual life and so, inevitably, we lose control and become "out of touch" with the stuff that enriches our faith. Some even lapse from the Church and wander about as if tossed about by the waves of the sea...often leading to a life without purpose or direction.
There are, of course, many paths that followers of Jesus of Nazareth can follow and for most of us our path is determined by the circumstances in which we live. Others will "create" the circumstances that they desire in order to live out their life's vocation. It's not all that unusual for someone to emerge from a home where God is well-known to the family and, upon being found in the mix and tangle of life, can lead the aspirant in faith to a way of life they perhaps imagined but never expected.
This was certainly the case for Dolores Hart, the young actress who grew up in Hollywood in an actor's family, and, in the early sixties, having starred with Elvis Presley in probably his best dramatic role, "King Creole" and being one of the girls in "Where the Boys are", left all the glitter behind, went where the boys were not, and entered a Benedictine Abbey, Regina Laudis, to a life of prayer and contemplation and where she eventually became Abbess and is now Prioress.
For some, the mixing of "Beverly Hills" and a monastery is impossible: oil and water. It's true that, on the surface at least, they are completely incompatible. Yet, I see this as a very good example of the practicability, the adaptability, if you will, of the Benedictine Way, for, while young Dolores left behind the "high life" of the secular world when she put on the habit, she did not leave behind the gifts that God gave her, including her considerable talent in drama and music.
It is therefore not surprising that within the community of nuns where she observed the Rule of Saint Benedict according to the primitive observance, her gifts would find a place that not only enriched the life of her community but has added to its vitality and growth! The Abbey's music CD, "Women in Chant" is an expression of the sisters' desire to not only keep Gregorian Chant, the traditional music of the Church, alive but to draw others to seeing in it something more than background music for a massage at a spa. In addition, re-kindling the link between monastic life and dramatic arts, the community assists in the productions of local theatre.
Thus, has one servant of God found the place, the way, to live her Christian life and vocation.
My first experience with a Benedictine community was as a young Anglican postulant attending with my mentor, Fr. James O'Neil, and serving the 7am Mass at a hospital chapel that was the abode of the Anglican religious community of Sisters of St. John the Divine. The thing I was struck by the most was the "silence" before, during and following the Mass; such reverence and not at all like the gabbiness and carrying-on in the parish sacristy! The nuns sat in their "choir" and when they prayed, it seemed to be as if in one voice...no one was trying to outdo the other in being "first" or "loudest" as I have experienced elsewhere. Because it was a hospital, the sisters arranged for patients and staff to receive holy communion and so, with a sister leading with bells, I carried a candle and the priest the blessed sacrament all throughout the hospital...up, down, and every end.
Along the way, some of the nurses or other staff would kneel in their place to receive the sacrament and I found this to be quite moving I suppose because it was public recognition, a witness, of the holiness of the eucharist. (not to mention the narcissistic "holiness" of us who bring it!)
Soon thereafter, while I was preparing for the priesthood at university in Quebec at the nearby Abbe Saint-Benoit-du-lac.
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