The Monk and Holy Saturday The Meaning of the Monastic Choir by Father Jay Kythe
“And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.”
- 1 kings 19:11-12
Just as Elijah had stood at the entrance of the cave and listened carefully to that still small voice of the Lord, another man would stand at the entrance of a different cave and listen. St. Benedict escaped from the noise of the world “to seek God” in a cave at Subiaco in the mountains of Italy. After his experience in the cave, he founded monasteries that eventually spread (and continues to spread) throughout the world, teaching his monks to seek God in silence. When you walk through the front doors of our Abbey Church, passing from the small narthex to the massive expanse of the nave, it is here that the essence of the Christian life is lived. In this grand space the faithful participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Confessionals flank the walls where sins are forgiven in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Here people receive the Eucharist and are strengthened to go back out into the world. But an important lesson is learned while one sits and gazes at the altar and then looks past the altar. When one looks at the altar and then desires to see the grand fresco more clearly, there’s something in the way: a double-sided crucifix. The side that faces the lay Christian is the side of Christ alive but still in His Passion. Here is our Lord uniting Himself to the still-suffering Christian in this “valley of tears.” The world is never a pleasant place when one has his heart set on the kingdom of heaven! He must peer beyond the scene of the crucifixion to the Resurrection, keeping his eyes fixed on that glorious Hope seen in the colorful fresco of the Risen Christ. But in between the altar and the fresco is another world, the world of the monastery. The side of the crucifix the monk beholds is that of Christ who has died. It serves as a reminder of the day each one of us laid down our lives before the altar and were covered with the funeral pall. Having professed solemn vows and prayed the Suscipe three times before the altar, the newly professed monk lies prostrate before it and is buried under the heavy garment that will ultimately shroud his casket – the next time he will be covered with it will be at his actual 20
Kansas Monks
