TURNING WHEEL
One evening an Anglican curate, now a catholic priest, walked through the fire-damaged shell of the church where he ministered. Much of the nave was crowded with scaffolding. Of particular concern was the spire.
This splendid edifice had been badly damaged in the fire. Part of it collapsed altogether. As he walked along he saw a bundle of papers. On closer inspection these turned out to be notes put together by the surveyors and builders. Feeling depressed and forlorn he started to read. What he saw changed his ministry. The notes related to every single stone that was to form part of the reconstituted spire. Each stone had been measured and evaluated and was ready to be fitted into its rightful place.
The sad events of the last five years have left many questioning their place in the world and what use they are. We live in a time of great change, emphasised by war, plague and discord. However, the energies of technological innovation, medical science and mankind’s renewed quest to reach the stars reassure us. That said, the sheer evil we see made manifest in terrorism, in the depraved criminality of rape gangs and the lies and distortions visited upon us by media and politicians alike, threaten to derail every engine of progress.
Moreover, it seems there is little we can do about it. Public discourse seems reduced to ya-boo shouting rather than rational debate. Too often normal folk sit idly by and say the authorities – the mythological ‘they’ – ought to do something. There is no ‘they’ only ‘we’.
At his inaugural address on 20th January 1961, the day I started writing this, President John F Kennedy said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.’ Take responsibility.
Seen in this light the Benedictine tradition offers a way forward. Ours is the heritage of 1500 years of prayer, hard work and study. St Scholastica’s Day – 10th February – emphasises the role of the helpmeet, the oblate or, to use a more alarming term, the prayer warrior. We are here to combat the banality of evil that clouds our time as it did hers.
Although the problems of the modern world seem insurmountable, much of the bloodshed and heartache can be traced to the West’s abandonment of the Judaeo-Christian faith on which it was built. More alarming still, few people born this century have any real grasp of the historic truths of scripture or the traditions that stem from it. Yet these still sustain us.
One spring on first approaching a Catholic priest, himself Benedictine, as a potential convert, we sat in his garden sipping tea. Holding his cup in his right hand he said, ‘Attila the Hun, Napoleon, the Soviet Union, we’ve seen them all come and go,’ and circled his left hand in the air. The image he projected was one of stability and permanence. The world and its ways will pass away, but Christ’s words endure forever. It is our duty and our joy to remind the world of this, to proclaim the gospel anew by word, thought and deed. We, like Peter, are the stones on which the faith rests.
We can envisage building a house. Not so well known is how a humpbacked bridge or spire, is constructed. What is called a wooden turning wheel is first created. Imagine a barrel split in half lengthways. The curvature is placed on two supporting pillars or piers. With a bridge, the temporary wooden arch spans the gap. Stones are then carefully packed over the turning wheel working from both sides, resting on the wood. Finally the cap stones are placed and the whole left a few days to settle and solidify. The wooden turning wheel is then removed. The pressure of each stone on another transfers the weight of the structure down upon the piers.
We, the stones, do not have to agonise over our place in spire or bridge. God uses a turning wheel to make sure we are placed exactly where needed. We gain strength from our position alongside other stones.
Be not afraid, St John Paul urges us. Speak truth to power. Take risks. Be bold, yea, be unpopular. Secure in our faith, we take courage from Our Lord to live out the gospel proclaiming in our actions, in our prayers, backed up by study and contemplation. As Saint Paul told us, we become living stones in the archways of divine purpose.
Andy Milne
Oblate of Prinknash Abbey
His book, ‘Children of the Resurrection, Support and Encouragement for the Faithful’ is available on Amazon: Children of the Resurrection
