Sound of Silence (Weekend Retreat)

A Silent Retreat with the Trappist Monks of St Joseph's

SAINT JOSEPH’S ABBEY
167 North Spencer Road
Spencer, MA 01562
508-885-8710
retreats@spencerabbey.org.

'... Silence, all people, in the presence of the LORD, who stirs forth from his holy dwelling ...' -- Zc 2:17

As part of our on-going formation, deacons are expected to go on a retreat at least once a year ... so with time running out, I joined four (4) of my classmates at Saint Joseph's Abbey for a late year "silent" retreat just before our first year was up.  Ironically ... the theme of the retreat was "Silence" and its relationship with Prayer ... made even more interesting given that Trappists are historically known for a way of life characterized by radical silence in the service of contemplative prayer (AKA The Silent Monks) to the point that, from the 17th century until the second half of the twentieth century, most would use "Trappist" sign language to avoid speaking at all.

Most of us think of "silence" as basically "not talking" or "the absence of noice" -- but the contemplative monastic tradition has a surprisingly different take on it ...  

In the 6th chapter of the Rule of St Benedict, the observance of silence is described not as "reframing" from speaking, but as "restraint" in speech (The Latin word silentium, which refers to physical quiet, is rarely used; rather, his word is taciturnitas, which refers to the human quality of being quiet).

We know from experience that we cannot place ourselves directly in God's presence without imposing upon ourselves some interior and exterior silence. 

-- Fr Dominic (Retreat Master)

The idea here is that by only by quieting all of the noise and distraction (the earthquake or fire) can we hope to hear the gentle whisper of God's voice within us ... in other words, Fr Dominic was describing how silence is prayer ...

Within each of us there is a place where there is complete silence/stillness (sin Ori, am dem es völlig still ist), free from all noisy thoughts, free from cares and desires.  It is a place where we are totally at home with ourselves.  This place is the point at which the true encounter between God and humanity can take place. ... We do not need to create it - it is already there; it is disturbed only by our thoughts and anxieties.

-- Anselm Grün

As a group ... we didn't really do that well keeping the disciple of silence during the retreat ... but I think we managed to keep the spirit as a quiet encounter with God.  We all opted for the weekend 2 day retreat as opposed to the 5 day week day retreat, arriving between 3 and 5 pm on Friday.  After settling in and reviewing how the weekend was expected to go, we relaxed until the bell rang for vespers at 5:30, when the guest master escorted us through the cloister to the nave of the church for evening prayer.  

The Church itself was very reminiscent of a medieval church, divided into the sanctuary, choir and nave in the back.  There were no pews in the modern sense, only choir stalls with misericords (monk seats) facing each other toward the center line of the church with no kneelers (so you are either standing or sitting).  In the middle of the choir is a two-sided lectern used when praying the office and above which is a lantern on a long chain. While the bells are the call to prayer ... a sharp wood on wood tap signals the start.  A small pipe organ is played for accompaniment.  The monks also add a cowl to their habit (tunic, scapular and leather belt) for liturgy in the church.   On either side of the sanctuary are "guest" chapels with a view of the altar, but the view of the choir and nave are obstructed.  These are generally open to the public (and were where we could "participate" in the vigils at 3:30 am, the "little hours" of sext at 12:15 pm and none at 2:00 pm, since there was nobody to escort us through the cloister).  

The monk's use a two week cycle that doesn't really correspond to the Roman breviary ... so we were given a "guest" breviary of only the psalter ... which made it difficult to fully participate (since we didn't have any of the antiphons, responsorials, or intentions and it was difficult to hear the cantor/schola (a group of three monks serving as the cantor who were in the middle of the choir, facing away from us toward the altar ... we were behind them in the nave).  By the end, I believe that we eventually figured out our part though.

After evening prayer, we were lead back to the retreat house to wait for about 10 minutes as dinner was setup for us (a fairly simple meal with fish for the protein ... 'cause Friday).  The meal was silent (in that there was no talking, but there was a CD playing monastic chants), with grace before and prayer after (if you finished early, you sat and waited for everyone else to finish); then it was back to our room after we cleaned up and did the dishes.  While talking was generally discouraged, we were grudgingly permitted to talk quietly in either the small conference room or the reading room ... which we took advantage of to catch up with our classmates whom we had not really visited with since ordination.

The bell for compline rings at 7:30 pm ... and we were escorted by to the church through the cloister.  The Church was dark (only a few candles lit) ... so we were not given a breviary (too dark to read anyway).  At the end of this, they sing the "ancient" Salve Regina (which is vaguely recognizable) and a blessing from the abbot before retiring for the evening (and the monk's begin the "Great Silence."  I elected to sleep through the optional vigils and rose for lauds/morning prayer ... the bell rings at 6:30 for the weekend schedule).  After morning prayer, we stayed in the church for daily mass and then returned to the retreat house for a continental breakfast.  After breakfast, we met with Father Dominic for our first retreat session on Silence and Prayer ... and then lunch.  The afternoon was free for reflection ... and a visit to the "gift shop" which would be closed Sunday and sold religious books and other items along with Trappist preserves, honey, chocolates, et al.  (no beer ... that went away just before the COVID pandemic).

A quick nap after that ... and repeat (vespers, dinner, compline, bed).  We finished up Sunday with lauds and Sunday Mass, "little" breakfast and the final retreat session, then brunch and check out (with an opportunity to attend sext at noon if desired.  Over all, it was a nice retreat.