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| St. Kevin in "Cross Vigil" |
The Celtic church knew that prayer and devotion to God had to be at the heart of its life if it was effectively to witness to God. ... It was essential that some from the community lived out this life for the sake of the community, and indeed for the sake of the wider community ... provided (as) a kind of anchor for a church which could easily become over-busy. + Michael Mitton
This will be the last of my posts in relation to a retreat at St. Mary's Monastery and St. Scholastica's Priory in Petersham, Massachusetts I had the privilege to orchestrate and facilitate for sisters and brothers from Pentecostal, Baptist, Charismatic, Congregational, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Reformed backgrounds.
We joined together for some focused prayer and devotion to God across a few days in the midst of lives which could (and often do) become easily over-busy. In preparation for our time together in this sacred, soulful, and spacious place, I recommended three books for each person to choose one from to read before the retreat:
+ David Taylor's Open & Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life
+ Leighton Ford's The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence, and
+ Tracy Balzer's Thin Places: A Journey into Celtic Christianity.
While teasers for Open & Unafraid and The Attentive Life can be found in the posts, "Open & Unafraid Psalms in Which No Secrets Are Hidden" and "Still: Becoming More Attentive (Less Distracted) People" (and Lanterns, Fireworks & Stars: "Only One Thing Is Needed") respectively, this post features an excerpt from Tracy Balzer's Thin Places and specifically focuses on the life of a saint who embodied the framework of monastic life in what some might call legendary ways. I have a friend named Kevin who I admire. And now I have a saint named Kevin I get to admire (and perhaps they are both alike in similar ways in their willingness to stand with others and for others).
Standing in Solitude and Solidarity with St. Kevin Alongside Jesus Our Savior
A classic example of the Celtic hermit is found in St. Kevin of Glendalough (498-618). Legendary stories about St. Kevin have been passed down through many Celtic generations. The earliest account of Kevin was not written until five hundred years after his death, so we have to take these stories with a pretty substantial grain of salt. However, stories, as we know, can be profound agents of truth and instruction. While they may seem rather outlandish, it is through these accounts of Kevin's life that we can observe this rhythm of work and prayer, of community and solitude, of engagement and silence.
Colorful adjectives may be used to describe this Celtic saint: mystic, hermit, abbot, miracle worker. At the Upper Lake of Glendalough, south of what is now Dublin, Kevin made his hermitage, staying for many days alone in silent fellowship with God and creation. He eventually founded the great monastery at Glendalough, and it became a thriving "city" of prayer, study, service, and worship. Yet for Kevin, the call to solitude and silence remained in his heart, for he eventually commissioned his fellow monks to lead the monastery and left for the Upper Valley, just a mile from the monastery, to create his hermitage. There he lived in complete solitude for four years, perhaps longer. Michael Rodgers and Marcus Losack, Catholic and Anglican priests, respectively, who currently live at Glendalough, provide helpful commentary: "The experience of prayer and austerity, instead of hardening Kevin, enabled him to express his gentleness and become more at one with himself, with creation and with God. He lived in a place beneath the cliffs on the shores of the Upper Lake, which remains in shadow for at least six months of the year. The reality of this must be woven through our understanding of Kevin's life at this time. It is also a very beautiful place, where even today there is a great atmosphere of peace and seclusion."
Cross Vigil, Resurrection and Beauty of Transformation
One of the more fantastic and well-known stories of Kevin shows him praying, as many of the Celtic saints did, in "cross vigil," meaning that he stood or knelt with "arms out-stretched in the shape of a cross (the sacred tree)." Praying this way, in such a tiny cell, required that his arms would stretch out the window of his tiny dwelling. It was there, during Kevin's prayer, that a blackbird came to build a nest in his open hand. The story claims that Kevin, aware that the bird had laid an egg in her new nest, remained in the cross vigil position for days, perhaps weeks, until the baby bird was hatched.
What an illustration of what happens when one finds the place of resurrection! This legend of Kevin may first of all remind us of the vigilance and sacrifice of Christ Himself, enduring the pain of the cross so that we might be raised to new life. It also can metaphorically illustrate the process of our own spiritual transformation, that to become new creatures in Christ is a very slow but beautiful process, one that requires stillness and patient waiting.
Conversely, Kevin's seeming lack of action in this situation might actually make us nervous. I find myself thinking, "Kevin! Just find a nice place for the nest, put it down and move on! Put your multi-tasking skills to work, man!" That's certainly what I would have felt compelled to do had I been in his position.
Yet there seems to be something inherently formative in Kevin's act of not-acting—his willingness to remain motionless so that new life can arise. It counters our modern-day Christian sensibilities that put so much emphasis on doing.
It presents a radical new paradigm, one that's actually not new at all, for the biblical Teacher of Ecclesiastes himself arrived at a conclusion that addresses this problem. He proclaimed that there is a time to plant and a time to reap. But what do we do when we're doing neither? We wait and watch the plant grow. There is little else we can do in that seemingly unproductive time of waiting for God to bring forth new life. The implied truth is: There is a time to do nothing. "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His" (Hebrews 4:9-10). This is a great reversal of modern-day values. I succumb to those modern values myself when I believe that every moment of my day must be productive, that I must have something to show for my time. Yet clearly, biblical wisdom and the Celtic example relieve us of this compulsion, saying, in effect, "Don't just do something, stand there."
Solitude is actually extremely productive; the difference is that it is not we who are doing the work, but the Holy Spirit of God in us. We take our hands off so He can do the transforming work. Resurrection is always His doing.
Bonus: Celtic Prayers of Blessing:
God bless the path on which you go;
God bless the earth beneath your feet;
God bless your destination.
God be a smooth way before you,
A guiding star above you,
A keen eye behind you,
This day, this night, and forever.
God be with you whatever you pass;
Jesus be with you whatever you climb;
Spirit be with you wherever you stay.
God be with you at each stop and each sea,
At each lying down and each rising up,
In the trough of the waves,
on the crest of the billows.
Each step of the journey you take. Amen.
The path I walk, Christ walks it.
May the land in which I am be without sorrow.
May the Trinity protect me where I stay,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ...
May I arrive at every place, may I return home;
may the way in which I spend be a way without loss.
May every path before me be smooth,
man, woman, and child welcome me.
A truly good journey!
Well does the fair Lord show us a course, a path.
Bonus Ireland and Celtic Christianity Posts:
+ Inisheer Island, Ireland & 1,000+ Years of Faith in Christ
+ St. Patrick's Day Celebration is Here at Last Worcester, Mass
Bonus Story from Sue Monk Kidd's When the Heart Waits:
"I saw you today sitting beneath the tree — just sitting there so still. How is it that you can wait so patiently in the moment. I can't seem to get used to the idea of doing nothing."
The monk broke into a wonderful grin. "Well, there's the problem right there, young lady. You've bought into the cultural myth that when you're waiting you're doing nothing."
Then he took his hands and placed them on my shoulders, peered straight into my eyes and said, "I hope you'll hear what I'm about to tell you. I hope you'll hear it all the way down to your toes ...
When you're waiting, you're not doing nothing. You're doing the most important something there is. You're allowing your soul to grow up. If you can't be still and wait, you can't become what God created you to be.
Here are links to other recent City Notes (CN) books:
Seeds of Hope in the Rain & the Dark; Wrestling with God in Doubt; Baptism as the Way of Life; Being with God; Listening Closely & Paying Attention; Living and Loving Curiously with Wonder; Waiting is the Womb; In the Holy Wild with the Lion Who Offers Us the Stream; Yeshua; An Unexpected Story of Discovering Jesus; Only One Thing Is Needed; No Secrets Are Hidden; Be Still Practice
Christ is all,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
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