Profession Preliminaries of Br Paul Lyons

Preliminaries 27th June 2008

After a three day retreat Br Paul came before the Abbot and Community for an eve-of-profession ceremony.

Fr Brendan, the Novice Master, led Br Paul into the Chapter Room. The Abbot reminded him that he had been accepted by Chapter, and Br Paul in turn expressed his free wish to make profession. The cowl - the choir dress that for centuries has been the outward expression of monastic commitment - was blessed ready for the clothing in the cowl at Mass. Abbot Paul's chapter talk is given in full below.

Abbot Paul's Chapter Talk

Br Paul, in a few minutes you will state publicly before the brethren that you wish to make your profession among us, under the Rule of our holy father St Benedict. This is, indeed, an important moment in your life, for you are making a commitment to continue your search for God in this monastery and, as part and parcel of that search, to share your life with that of the Belmont community. The sign of that commitment will be the proclamation of temporary vows at the Conventual Mass of the feast of St Peter and St Paul and the wearing of the monastic cowl which is both your wedding robe and your funeral shroud and, as the prayer for the blessing of cowls reminds us, a profession of faith in the Incarnation. As the Son of God was clothed with our mortal flesh in the chaste womb of the Virgin Mary, so at monastic profession the monk dies to himself only to be adorned with the robe of Christ's divinity and in Christ and through Christ so share in his passion and death as to participate in the glory of his resurrection.

In the Collected Papers of Evelyn Underwood we read of a friend of hers who had recently returned from her first visit to that great centre of Celtic monasticism, the Holy Island of Iona. Her old gardener, a Scottish Highlander, asked where she had been, and on being told he said, "Ah! Iona is a very thin place!" She inquired what he meant by a "thin place", and he replied, "There's very little between Iona and the Lord." I have never been to Iona, but what the old gardener had to say about the holy island is what I have always felt about Belmont. This is a very thin place, there is very little between us and the Lord. I would like to think that this is why you have asked to be professed as a monk of Belmont, to become a monk of this community and of no other.

Belmont is not the most beautiful place on earth, there are many far lovelier monasteries littered around the world, in more dramatic places, of greater architectural interest, steeped in history and otherworldly mystique. Ours is not to most observant of communities, even within the narrow confines of the English Benedictine Congregation. I could go on in this way alluding to many aspects of the monastic life - the liturgy, the practice of lectio and mental prayer, silence, manual work, hospitality, the care of the sick, formation, monastic austerity and frugality and so on. We are not perfect, we have our faults, we have our blind spots even, we have our good days and our bad, we have our ups and downs. But this is a very thin place, there is very little between us and the Lord.

I am very conscious of God's presence in every part of the building, in every corner of our property, above all deep in the heart of each monk, of each one of you. And it is something that I experience wherever a Belmont monk is: in Peru, in spite of the challenges, in Whitehaven and Weobley and all the other parishes we look after, in Fr Dominic's room at Oaklands or visiting Fr Leo far, far away in Venezuela. It's something I sense deep down chatting with Fr Cenydd in the procurator's office or watching the European cup sat on the sofa next to Fr Wulstan. This is a very thin place.

And there, I believe, we find the secret to deep joy and happiness, to real fulfilment in the monastic life. At the beginning of Chapter 19 on the Discipline of Psalmody, St Benedict says, "We believe that the divine presence is everywhere." This, of course, is especially true when we celebrate the divine office. "Let us consider, then, how we ought to behave in the presence of God and his angels, and let us stand to sing the psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony with our voices." Our abbey church and the liturgy we celebrate together throughout the day lie at the very heart of our life as a monastic community. We take that spirit of prayer and praise with us wherever we are and we bring to the liturgy the needs of the world and of our brethren and our own needs too. At Belmont, in a very particular and poignant way, we are in the presence of the angels and that presence influences our life deeply. It is as though we ourselves become angels.

In spite of our many sins and failures, this is a holy place and for that we have to thank those monks who have gone before us and those monks, our own brethren and contemporaries, who are with us now. This is a coenobitic house. We are in this together. We are here to help one another grow in holiness and thereby become ever more conscious of the presence of God in this place. Like Jacob we can say, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

So Br Paul, this is why you wish to make your profession among us. God has called you and you have answered, but, remember, he has called you here because Belmont is a very thin place, it is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven. May the good Lord grant you the grace of perseverance in the monastic life and, by your holiness and ours, may he make our beloved Belmont an even thinner place than it is already. Amen.