October 2008
Vol. XXIX, No. 10
Dear Oblates and Friends of Portsmouth,
A subject which has fascinated people from earliest times is the after-life: what will it be like after we die? Poets have treated this subject in some of the greatest works of literature: Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare; prophets in the Old Testament; the apostles John and Paul in the New Testament; and theologians such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, to name but a few. As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the Sunday scriptural readings focus on the after-life, an implicit reminder that our religion is an eschatological one and consequently closely bound up with the last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell. We can think of ourselves, therefore, as pilgrims in this life, making our difficult way back to the heavenly Promised Land through the help of God and the grace he provides.
For the Jews of old as well as for people of the ancient world, Sheol, like Hades, was a region to which all the dead go, a dark, unattractive place where the souls remain in a state of inertia, although in the time of Jesus, among the Pharisees, the idea of the resurrection of the body had gained acceptance as well as the concept of reward and retribution based on whether one had lived a virtuous or a wicked life. End time, however, referred to the coming of the age of the Messiah, who would bring about an ideal state but definitely one pertaining to this world. For those fortunate enough to live at its coming, it would be an existence of universal peace with the Jews enjoying the role of leadership and administering justice to all. An everlasting banquet is the messianic metaphor used for the elimination of hunger and poverty in the abundance of food and wine which a land of plenty provides. Nature is at harmony with itself as it was at the time of creation, when the lion and the lamb will live side by side and a baby can play safely over the hole of an adder.
In the Book of Revelation the sacred writer portrays the imminence of the Second Coming, reflecting the belief and hope of the early Christian that they might be present when Jesus came to claim his kingdom at the parousia. They shared the idea of an endless banquet, a fertile land well irrigated with medicinal leaves on the trees guaranteeing health, a place where there would be no death or sorrow or fear or the darkness of night, since Jesus himself would provide the light of his glory. The mountain of Zion, on which God provides choice wine and rich food for all peoples, described prophetically by Isaiah, becomes for the Christian the spiritual destination of the New Jerusalem, to which he journeys during his earthly life.
Metaphor and analogy are the only ways to deal with a state or condition which transcends our natural order. In the ancient world there was little ground for hope in the beyond. Consequently, life was supremely precious. Carpe diem or making the most of the brief span of our allotted time on earth was the paramount guide in life since there was nothing to look forward to after death. The worst kind of tragedy for a girl was to die unwed, never having experienced the joy and respect of motherhood. Always the emphasis was on life, birth and new life, always on a this-worldly existence. Achilles spoke for everyone in the ancient world when his shade spoke to Odysseus. As he made his way through Hades, I would rather be the poorest serf tilling the barren soil than be king in Hades. Later, a belief in the Elysian Fields for a select few judged worthy of entry afforded a ray of hope, which was to be developed in Jewish and Christian theology and extended to all who had lived a virtuous life.
What are we who live today to believe about a world from which no one has returned to describe it? We are forced to rely on what has been revealed to us in our Christian faith The Creed insists on a belief in corporeal resurrection from the dead, a doctrine which the Athenians ridiculed when Paul preached it to them in the agora. This is an article of our faith, and our bodily resurrection in a glorified state is consequent on that of Jesus Christ. As he rose from the dead, so shall we at the Final Judgment, when we share in the glory of his perfected Kingdom. Other than this we can say nothing, relying on what Sacred Scripture tells us in the words of Jesus or
Saint Paul in his Epistles or the writer of the Book of Revelation, which describes the coming of the
Kingdom of
God at the end of time. At this time, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, phrases it, "the righteous will reign for ever with Christ, glorified in body and soul in a universe which has been renewed; a new heaven and a new earth, in which all of creation participates, a world in which "righteousness dwells, in which happiness will fill and surpass all the desires of peace arising in the hearts of men."
Wellhead Overthrow
Until a few years ago Portsmouth had a mascot in the form of a life-size raven; it was a costume worn by one of the students and appeared at various sports events; it was bizarre to look at and everyone, especially the opposing teams, laughed at it, which was not at all the effect intended. After a while it disappeared and no one felt it had to be replaced. Last Thursday we installed a new, more appropriate version of the raven as part of an ornamental structure over the wellhead on the lawn in front of the Administration Building known as an overthrow. The wellhead was obtained by the School about fifty years ago when one of the mansions in Newport was torn down. Originally, it came from
Constantinople (later known as
Byzantium and now called
Istanbul in
Turkey), and was made perhaps six or seven centuries ago. It was later transported with many others like it to
Venice, where wellheads were much in demand as ornaments in the formal gardens and courtyards of the wealthy. In the latter part of the 19th century wellheads became fashionable in this country and many of them from the region around
Venice were imported as garden sculptures, not functional, simply decorative, and this one found its way to
Newport and eventually to
Portsmouth.
Last spring, Bob Kluge, the artist who designed and fashioned this overthrow, was invited here by Dom Gregory to demonstrate the craft of working with iron, which some of you will remember. Recently he completed the brass railings in the church and the metal work for the handicapped access on the outside. In May the graduating Class of 2005 decided that the class gift should be used for constructing a raven which would be placed where it could be a visible symbol of the School. And so during the summer Brother Gregory and I got in touch with Mr. Kluge to design and construct something which would be an impressive work of art and provide a visual impression of the Benedictine tradition in a high profile area of the campus. The wellhead with its restored overthrow was the obvious place to put these important symbols: the Benedictine Cross and Saint Benedict's Raven, which can be constant reminders of what makes and keeps Portsmouth unique.
The overthrow originally had the function of providing the means to lift a bucket of water from the bottom of the well now it is purely ornamental and a work of art. One like it can be found on an antique wellhead at Blithewold, a mansion in
Bristol, near the formal sunken garden. Ours has been designed to reflect an important aspect of what makes Portsmouth distinctive: namely, its Benedictine heritage. Two parts of this iron sculpture are associated with St. Benedict: the raven which, legend has it, befriended him when he was living in solitude as a hermit and had no food. According to the legend, each day at a set time a raven appeared before him with a loaf of bread in his mouth. This incident is recounted in the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great, patron of the School, and is one of several miracles borrowed from the Old Testament to reflect the holiness of Benedict. (In medieval hagiography the greater the number of miracles and the more spectacular they were, the holier was the saint.) In this case, the author borrowed from the story of the prophet, Elijah, who was fed by ravens in the desert where he had fled from King Ahab and his wicked queen, Jezebel.
The other part of the sculpture, at the top, is a Benedictine cross like the metal one above the front door of the church, with its forked points. The arms of the overthrow echo a design on the wellhead, a twisted columnar section often found in Byzantine art. Worth noticing on the wellhead are the bas-reliefs of predatory birds, some fighting each other, a theme which is in sharp contrast with the motto of Saint Benedict, which is PAX, or Peace. The dove is generally regarded as the bird symbolic of peace while a raven is aggressive and, like the eagle, preys on other, weaker creatures. But Benedict's raven is totally different, and this can be seen in his treatment of Benedict. It is helpful, considerate, dependable, faithful, is impressive in appearance, and it shows a high degree of initiative: all qualities that we would want to see in a symbol of the school and the monastery, of our athletic teams, and of our literary magazine.
Luke, Evangelist and Patron of Physicians
During this year which celebrates the life and contribution to Christianity of the Apostle Paul, Luke, his close companion and fellow missionary, also deserves to be commemorated. Unlike the Hellenized Paul, Luke was a gentile convert, an inhabitant of Antioch, where, he tells us, the followers of Jesus were first called "Christians." With much of Paul's life as a Christian, Luke was deeply involved, enabling him to tell the story of Paul's conversion and missionary endeavors. The two books which Luke authored are divided into almost equal parts, the first recounting the ministry of Jesus, preaching to the Jews as he made his way to Jerusalem to be crucified and raised from the dead; and the second, describing the missionary outreach of the apostles under Peter, first to the Jews in Palestine and the diaspora in the East, and then under Paul, to the Gentiles, journeying from Asia through Greece and finally to Rome.
The first half of the Acts of the Apostles is devoted to the spread of the early church in Jerusalem and Palestine, with the focus on Peter as the leader of the budding church. Peter's mission was primarily to the Jews, but it was his baptizing the Roman centurion, Cornelius and his household, that paved the way for Paul's mission as Apostle of the Gentiles. Henceforth, it was apparent that salvation was no longer confined to the Chosen People, but available to all, even to pagans. This significant act foreshadowed Paul's role in spreading the church throughout the Roman world, described in the second part of the Acts of the Apostles, in which the focus shifts from Peter to Paul. Just as Jesus was rejected by the Jews, Paul's mission to his countrymen was also rejected, causing him to turn to the pagans in obedience to Jesus' parting command to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, which is fulfilled when Paul reaches Rome, the heart of the Empire, in the final chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. In this directive Jesus provides Luke with the basic structure of his second book, the companion piece to his Gospel.
Nothing certain is known of the subsequent history of Luke. The stories of his further missionary activity and of his martyrdom at an advanced age are dependent on unreliable traditions. One fanciful tale, originating centuries after his life, concerns his artistic ability, inspiring renaissance painters to depict him, sitting with easel in hand, composing a portrait of the Virgin and Child. This may stem from the picturesque language that Luke uses in his description of the events and miracles he records. Whether true or not and quite apart from what he tells us of Jesus and Paul, the contributions of Luke's gospel to art and literature have been profound and inspiring in every age.
Liturgical Calendar for October
1 St. Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church
4 St. Francis of
Assisi, Deacon & Founder
5 SUNDAY XXVII OF THE YEAR
6 St. Bruno, Hermit, Founder of Carthusians
7 Our Lady of the Rosary
9 SS. Adrian and Denis, Martyrs
12 SUNDAY XXVIII OF THE YEAR
Oblate Day of Recollection: Dom Damian
The Pauline Year
13 St. Edward the Confessor, King
15 St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church
17 St. Ignatius of
Antioch, Bishop & Martyr
18 St. Luke, Evangelist
19 SUNDAY XXIX OF THE YEAR
23 St. Boethius: Martyr, Statesman, Philosopher:
The Consolation of Philosophy
(translated by Alfred the Great, Chaucer, Queen Elizabeth I)
25 SS. Crispin and Crispinian, Martyrs
26 SUNDAY XXX OF THE YEAR
28 SS. Simon and Jude, Apostles
31 All Hallows Eve
Next Oblate Day of Recollection: November 23: Feast of Christ the King
