Hawaii, ten years on.

This past Friday I celebrated my tenth year in Hawaii. Man has the time gone fast, and it just seems like yesterday since I arrived! Now I am officially "kamaina" which means "local person" in Hawaiian. Yet looking back the move was bittersweet. I was happy in New Jersey so coming here, and pulling up my roots  was a big deal. I left a very comfortable job which I enjoyed and felt good at doing. I left many friends and a position I had spent building and developing for ten years. Even so, when my wife showed me the three options she had for her next assignment in the military, she let me pick. One said Hawaii and I forgot the other two. It was a no-brainer, it had to be Hawaii. And looking back, coming to Hawaii has been one of the best decisions we ever made. I had my moments though. I remember coming over on the plane and thinking, "wow, I have to start my life over again".

Hawaii was, and is, an adventure. It's a fantastic place to live. As in any new place, the first few years were spent " getting to know" just where everything is. Even though Oahu is a small island, there are still many places I have not yet explored. Getting around is sometimes a challange as many of the names of streets and towns still have Hawaiian names. Moreover, Oahu is a unique mix of different ethnic communities including Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Samoan, Micronesian and of course Hawaiian. It's a multicultural paradise. I've lived in several countries and States, but coming to Hawaii is unlike anything else I had ever experienced. I often have to pinch myself to remind me that "yes" this is the USA and that I am living and working here. You can often go into local restaurants and be the only one who speaks English.

Looking back, I have often thought back to the Irish notion of peregrini, the Latin term for pilgrim. The notion of pilgrimage is often left out of our understanding of Christianity. Yet for many today, and in the past, peregrini was and is a core concept. It's useful to reflect on leaving what we are familiar and comfortable with in order to grow spirituality. This practice was at the heart of Celtic spirituality, as particularly noted in the life of Columba, who left Ireland and went onto to found the monastic settlement on the remote Scottish island of Iona. Columba went onto achieve great things on Iona, and later  at the community on Lindisfarne. Columba never returned to Ireland yet his legacy was great. I have often thought of those wandering Celtic monks, who left their families, towns, and home country, and trekked across Europe, founding monasteries, touching lives, hearing and learning new languages. It must have been exciting (even in an addictive way) to wander as they did.

Looking back over the last ten years, I think it's helpful to recall that I too am on pilgrimage. And like Columba, I am invited to leave the known, journey into the unknown, which often includes my own "shadow" self. Along the way, I have learned to let go of certain expectation I might have, and to live in the moment, and to embrace whatever life brings. Life, and the spiritual life can be a wonderful adventure. May God lead you to a place or situation where you never imagined you could be.

St. Andrews Cathedral Hawaii: Thanks for what you do!

This past Saturday several people from St. Andrews Cathedral helped to spruce up the kitchen, transforming it and basically doing a makeover. Their support and best wishes for our ministry to the homeless, and the Micronesians does not go unnoticed.

I want to thank a number of people publically. They scrubbed the cabinets, cleaned the refrigerators, defrosted the icebox, and threw out stuff that needed to be thrown out. When several of us walked in on Sunday morning, we could not believe our eyes. The kitchen looked magnificent. 

Several photos were taken which I'd liked to share. 

I'd like to say thanks to the following folks for spearheading this effort. They are:

Susan Hays
Tiny Chang
Melvia Kawashima
Theone Vredenburg
Dorothy Pierce
Joseline Acosta
Judy Masud
Karen Ogata.

Once again, thanks from the bottom of ours hearts for your support and assistance with this important ministry!!!

Benedictine Monastery of Hawaii

Tomorrow I'll be speaking to a group of Benedictines oblates about Celtic Spirituality and some of its overlap into the Benedictine tradition. I've looked forward to this, and have put together a pretty nifty PowerPoint presentation (at least I think) with photos and pictures. The monastery is one of the best kept spiritual secrets in Oahu, and several folks I spoke to, did not even know there was a monastery here. The monastery is located on the North Shore, and is high in the hills, overlooking mountains and the ocean. Here a link if you want more information. Each time I arrive, I find it hard to leave. I'll report more later.

This got me to thinking again about how important it is to be involved with an "oblate" program and in taking regular "time outs" to check one's spiritual bearings. Oblate, which in Latin means "offering", and as mentioned in other blog articles, there are many different oblate programs one can be part of. Find a Rule or Community with which you are comfortable. The major Rules include the Benedictines, Franciscians, Dominician, and of course, Celtic. These are located in many parts of the country and world for that matter. And with the advent of the internet, much can be done on the web. For lovers of the Celtic tradition, please see the Northumbria Community, or the Order of St. Aidan. Typically, these groups meet once a month, centering about books and topics related to the Rule of the Community.

There is a very close link between the Celtic and Benedictine traditions. And in a sense, the Celtic Rule, was something like John the Baptist, preparing the way for something greater, the Benedictine tradition, which is the largest Religious Rule in the Christian World. These close links are demonstrated in the writings of Ester deWall, who has written extensively on both the Celtic and Benedictine traditions. If your not familiar with her books, you need to be. Seeking God, the Way of St. Benedict (1984), and The Celtic Way of Prayer (1997) are two excellent introductions to both traditions.

I've had a spiritual director for over twenty five years, and during that time, had the opportunity to visit monasteries in New York, California, and now Hawaii. Each time I go for a visit or for a retreat, I learn something new, and gain a deeper perspective. Each time I hear the monastery bell ring, I am reminded there is a Rule of life, a pattern of behaviors, which helps me to better understand the Christian experience which is a unique blend of community and individual experience. In addition, you also meet new friends who are also on the Christian path. These experiences are life changing, and ones we all need to make time for.

The uniqueness of Celtic Monasticism

One of the best features of the World Wide Web is access to materials. The hardest decision, as anyone knows who uses the Web, is deciding what to focus on. Recently I chanced upon the website of All Saints of North America Orthodox Church, and to my delight found some excellent resources on Celtic Christianity. The site has several resources, included an interesting audiofile lecture by Fr. Young on The Uniqueness of Celtic Monasticism, and also a useful essay on Celtic Monasticism: A Model of Sanctity. There are also some handsome brochures on the Life of St. Patrick and St. Brigid, but the real gems are the first two items mentioned.

You should take the time to listen to the lecture, and read the essay. I listened with great interest to The Uniqueness of Celtic Monasticism this morning. There, Fr. Aleksey Young emphasises the only way to properly understand Celtic Monasticism, is remembering the close connection between Celtic and Orthodox spiritual traditions. The Celtic Christians were more like the Byzantine or Slavic Orthodox Christians that the Latin or Northern European Christians. More specifically, it was through the Desert Fathers, and writers like John Cassian, who helped shape the Celtic "brand". 

What is most interesting, is what Young pinpoints as the "unique contribution" of Celtic Monasticism. And that was the emphasis on peregrinatio, or pilgrimage, or as we might say today, "our faith journey". Pilgrimage-at least in its broadest sense-included the willingness to wander for the love of God, the willingness to place oneself in exile (and the unfamiliar) with the belief that such detachment brings with it, a deeper intimacy with God. Moreover, these faith journeys were taken for the main purpose of achieving personal salvation (St. Paul had said to "work out one's salvation"), and were outer manifestations of the inner search. Preaching, and the spreading the Gospel were a secondary by product of this search. Such a bold and daring notion of faith led many Celtic monks to cast everything to the wind, and it was common for the monks to embark on journeys in their coracles without oars, rudders, relying upon God alone to take them wherever He willed; Scotland, England, and to other parts in Europe.  

Many Celtic saints demonstrate this wild abandon to God, and to the Spirit. But perhaps the most famous example comes from St. Brendan's mountain prayer:

Shall I abandon the comforts and benefits of my home,
seeking the island of promise our fathers knew long ago,
sail on the face of the deep where no riches or fame
or weapons protect you, and nobody honors your name?
Shall I take leave of my friends
and my beautiful native land,
tears in my eyes
as my knees mark my final prayer in the sand?
King of the mysteries, can I trust You on the sea?

Christ of the heavens,
and Christ of the ravenous ocean wave,
I will hold fast to my course
through the dangers I must brave.
King of the mysteries, angels will watch over me,
Christ of the mysteries, when I trust You on the sea.

In Celtic Monasticism: A Model of Sanctity Young argues as other authors have done, that the Celtic model is one which can help to revive the church, through an emphasis on simplicity of faith and lifestyle. "For the Celts, simplicity wasn't so much a question of externals-like furniture, architecture, and so forth. It was something internal, an it was founded upon the phrase, "Thy will be done". This meant placing absolute trust in God's will, not our own, with every decision in life, including one's health, finances, and career. It also meant, dying to oneself, and one's own plans and desires. Understandably, the Cross of Christ was central to the Celtic thinking, and reminded them, that they needed to die to self. Perhaps this was one reason the high Celtic crosses were became so prominent as holy sites. The monks understood, that the Christian faith demands one's life, one's all. This is incarnational Christianity at it's best; a faith which changes hearts, lives and  behaviors. Such an understanding offers us a fuller view of Celtic Christianity, one which over emphasizes the scholastic, and intellectual aspect of the tradition, focusing on the copying and transmission of Greek and Latin manuscripts, as well the Old and New Testament. A countering stress on personal sanctification provides a fresh new dimension, and perspective as to what may have motivated many of the monks.

The Voyage of St. Brendan

One of the most appealing aspects of Celtic Christianity, are the lives of its many, and I mean "many" saints. This in itself says something positive in the way it transformed all kinds of people. Reading hagiography (holy biographies) does not come naturally for someone with a Protestant background. Then again, they are not much different than the genre of Foxe's Book of Martyrs. And I feel better for reading these accounts of Celtic holy men and women. Their stories and adventures have stuck with me through the years.

I fell in love with the story of Brendan, when I first read The Voyage of St. Brendan seven years ago. The Navigatio Sancti Brendani, I love that Latin title, was one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages. And with good reason. The book is an adventure tale, as Brendan was regarded as one of the world's great travelers. It's both fun and entertaining to read, and borders on fantasy literature. The story describes Brendan's journey in search of the "Promised Land of the Saints". The book details several of Brendan's voyages, which take him far past the comfortable environs of Ireland. Sections describe volcanoes, icebergs and encounters with great sea monsters. One tale includes an Easter spent on the back of a whale. Jonah would be jealous. So would Sinbad. Some even suggest Brendan got as far as the New World in his tiny coracle. Think of it, instead of Columbus Day (which is coming up this Monday) it could have been St. Brendan's Day.

Like many of the Celts, wanderlust was in Brendan's viens. Ironically, Brendan had been inspired on his voyages by the Desert Fathers, yet he sought "a desert in the ocean". He wanted to travel for God, and from an early age desired to travel far from his home, a practice common to the Celts known as "white marytrdom". In leaving what was familiar and going wherever the Spirit dictated, Brendan found God anew, over and over agan. Brendan should be the parton saint of adventure. He knew, long before us moderns, that the most important part of the journey is not the destination, but the journey itself.

"Is not the Lord our captain and helmsman?

Then leave it to Him to direct us where He wills."

St. Brendan