Pilgrimage to Pluscarden
As I write this reflection at the end of May sitting on the terrace at Prinknash Abbey overlooking the Vale of Gloucester with the cattle strolling contentedly through the lush, rolling fields just a few metres from the abbey and the rich variety of trees, shrubs and bushes in full bud or flower, with the usual Southwest wind blowing its gentle breeze, having returned after a few days of a chilly Northeasterly one, the sun warm beneath a hazy sky, nature it seems has almost completed its rebirth.
My mind is on fresh, fond memories of another vale, Pluscarden Abbey’s Vale of St Andrew, where my senses, both bodily and spiritual, were infused with a thick and tangible intake of a unified combination of raw nature, a living taste of ancient Benedictine monasticism, and a renewed experience of the uncomplicated, life-giving joy of human companionship focused on God, prayer and mutual love. These experiences are still lingering in my senses as I write. They need some explanation.
Raw nature infused my senses when I visited the remote hilltop farm of a family friend some eight miles from Pluscarden in the rugged moors beyond Dallas. The farmer works the farm alone, breeding and grazing sheep, cattle and wild horses. My sister and brother-in-law took me to see him. When we arrived in the afternoon a vet was helping him facilitate the difficult birth of a calf and both mother and child were in danger of not surviving the birth. My brother-in-law helped while my sister and I went into the house to make tea. To successfully deliver the calf and save the cow the calf’s feet had to be located while still in the mother, a rope attached to them and connected to a hydraulic winch. Once outside of the mother’s body, the vet vigorously rubbed the calf with straw to get its circulation going. It was immediately evident that the new-born animal was having difficulty breathing because mucus was trapped in its throat. My brother-in-law at this point attached to the forks of a tractor the rope which was still tied to the calf’s feet and lifted it off the ground head down. The calf coughed and spluttered and in no time it was in the field to begin its life as a cow. The mother needed an injection but she survived.
Whilst all this was happening, my sister and I were sitting in the conservatory of the farmer’s house. It was a comfortable extension to the house but it smelled like a farmyard. The reason was because a week or so previously the farmer was watching over another cow who was due to go into labour but the signs were that it was going to be a difficult birth. He brought it into his conservatory to keep an eye on it. It was subsequently released of its calf by Caesarian Section. This tale is not over yet. Later in the day when I got back to Pluscarden Abbey and was at Supper in the monastic refectory, the reader was reading a homily by Pope Francis which he gave at the Chrism Mass just before Easter. His theme was the priest as shepherd. He told the assembly which included 1,600 priests, bishops and cardinals, that priests should have the smell of the sheep on their bodies. My experience at the farm certainly enabled me to see what the Pope was getting at. There is such a danger of admiring nature from our comfortable terraces, of thinking kind thoughts about people, but not risking close contact with their messiness and pain.
A living taste of the ancient Benedictine tradition was the gift awaiting me and the nine Prinknash Oblates who had made the pilgrimage to Pluscarden to foster our good relations and strengthen the bonds between Prinknash and its one time daughter house. We saw the amazing achievement of the restoration of the impressive 13th Century abbey which in 1948 had been much in ruin. We participated in the Benedictine Divine Office in Latin, were given two excellent talks by Pluscarden’s Fr Martin, and strengthened friendships with Pluscarden Oblates and monks. It was an experience like unto that described in Psalm 133: “How good and how pleasant it is when brothers (and sisters) dwell in unity.”
The Divine Office is a remembrance, a re-calling, in a mystical sense a re-playing, of the story of the world’s creation, salvation and future hope. The long psalms of Vigils are an endurance test but they recall the ancient events of God’s saving works, the Exodus, the wandering in the desert, the covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David, and the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood. Where else could we participate in such great mysteries in so beautiful and ancient an environment? And to top it all we shared the fruit of such a lifestyle, the genuine love and friendship of the Pluscarden community
The Church enables us to participate in salvation’s history on a daily basis. In June she makes it possible for us to remember, recall and participate in the ancient living tradition with a variety of liturgical feasts. On 9th St Columba, the St Benedict of Celtic monasticism and our holy Patron’s contemporary. On 5th we recall St Boniface’s monastic mission from southern England to Germany. He was trained by Benedictines. On 20th we get in touch with Britain’s first martyr, St Alban and on 22nd we recall the courage and witness of two great reformation martyrs, St John Fisher and St Thomas More. St William of Montevergine whose order became Benedictine after his death has his feast on 25th. The Patron of Prinknash, St Peter, shares his feast with the great St Paul on 29th. St John the Baptist’s birth is celebrated on 24th reminding us of St Benedict’s core teaching on the spiritual life, the Rule’s chapter 7 on humility, where we are told that we ascend by decent. St John the Baptist’s birth, six months before that of his Saviour, is providentially situated in June when daylight reaches its peak before the days begin to draw in. As John himself said: ‘He (Jesus) must increase, I must decrease’.
June is a month rich in saints’ days and it also has Corpus Christi on 7th , the Sacred Heart on 12th and the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 13th. What a glorious month; what a wonderful banquet Mother Church lays out to feed her children. Let us remember the lesson Pope Francis gave at the Chrism Mass, that the Christian life is a hands-on religion, mercy in word, prayer and action. If priests should have the smell of the sheep on their bodies, what should Oblates smell like? I daren’t answer that question.
Fr Martin McLaughlin of Prinknash
