the magnificat

8/8/2019 The Magnificat

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has requested a Discussion with Father Andrew. Cuthbert held his handfirmly over the table. The display dimmed. Everything will have to comeout in Discussion.

The Order filed in from Vespers and gathered in the great hall for theevening meal. Brother Thomas, the Chief Cellarer, rang the dinner bell.The Abbot gathered the folds of his black cloak against his body, lowered his hooded eyes to the floor, lifted his arms in supplication, his wriststufted with winding threads of air that seemed yellow against his sallow

skin, and offered the evening prayer. The brothers found their seats andtalked silently as they waited for the Cellarers staff to lay out the food anddrink on their tables.

The murmurs across the great hall were more subdued than normal,for word had circulated that Father Prior had requested a Discussion, and while the meal time was the only point during the day that the brothers were allowed to speak outside of their Caste, they were too enveloped by caution and curiosity to let their emotions run freely.

Brother Philip had sought out the company of Father Louis, the Novice Master, on the way out from Vespers. They sat at a corner of a table near the Abbots Table. This was one of the last seats to be filled;the Abbot traditionally sat with the Duodenum, the Deans of the Castes,and a lively Novice was best advised to sit far away near the kitchen doors, where the clatter of trays and the rattle glass would easily drown out themost spirited hi-jinks. But at this meal Philip welcomed the relative quiet and the privacy of Father Louis company.

Do you wonder what the Discussion is, Louis asked Philip as they waited for the food to arrive.

Yes, Phillip said. Why havent we been taught about it inLessons?

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What is the purpose of the Rule, Novice? Louis asked.

The purpose?

What does the Rule provide for?

It gives our corporal being the structure it requires to fulfill our purpose.

Which is?

To preserve the knowledge of the Conservatorium for the benefit of the future.

Brother Louis closed his eyes. Philip looked up at the head table, wondering whether the Abbot could hear. He wasnt a good student --the genetic coding of brothers training for the Works didnt accommodate high skills of abstract thinking or speculation -- but hedidnt let go of a problem easily, and where the disappointed silence of Brother Philip would deter a Novice with less purpose and more fragileself-esteem, Louis responded as he would to a motor that wouldnt start, by tinkering with it more.

If not that, what?

The purpose of the Rule is to provide its followers with Balance.That is why we were chosen in the First Generation to be the Librariansof the great knowledge. But the Conservatorium is our work. Our purpose is to open ourself up to the nature of His spirit, to expand ourunderstanding of God.

God. Philip and his fellow Novices learned everything that they wereinstructed about God: the orders of the prayers, the schedule, thechanges in the calendar to celebrate Holy Days, the reason forconfession. In Philips mind, God was like the circuitry that he worked



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Louis turned to hush him.

It had something to do with a minyan. Do you know what that is?

It is part of what Father Prior wants to talk about, Louis said. Be patient, Philip. You will learn soon enough.

As the Cellarers cleared the tables, the Order fell silent. This was thetraditional time for relaxation and discussion, the Brothers gathering

around tables or sitting on the benches that lined the wall of the anteroomto the Great Hall, drinking small cups of the sugar liquid, or sharing a daily chew of the tobacco cultivated in the small stone yard beyond thekitchen garden. Tonight was different.

Father Abbot stood at the head table holding a thick book in his hands. He cleared his throat and began to read. At first his voice wasraspy and low, and as he read it was as if the words lubricated his spirit and his voice deepened. For some of the brothers this was a physicalmanifestation of his holiness, the Holy Spirit possessing him andovercoming his physical limitations, but to Philip the process was clearly an affectation that was aggravated by limited use of his vocal chords and what Philip suspected was a private indulgence in dried tobacco sticks,despite the Order's edict against them.

"I will first read from the addendum to the Rules of Benedict, that document that we call the Practicuum and which provides aninterpretation and extension of the Rules as are required by the specialcircumstance of this Monastic community.

"As is the tradition of the Rule, minor disobedience by one of the Order will be assessed and punished by the Prior of the House. In matters of grave disobedience, punishable by excommunication to the



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Community, the Prior will refer the matter to the Abbot, who shall consult with the Deans of the House, the Prior and the Holy Spirit.

"The current circumstance of this House require vigilant attendance tothe safety and continued protection of the contents of the House as well as its inhabitants. This addendum raises to the level of grave disobedience any activity that threatens the social and environmental balance of the House. Such an offense can be punishable by the most extreme of excommunication, Shunning, so that the Order acknowledges that keeping the balance is part of the divine order and an act of devotion toOur Lord in the Highest.

"In the event that the Prior and the Abbot diverge in the assessment of the gravity of an act of disobedience, this Addendum to the Rule provides

for the creation of an open forum to discuss the Act with the entire order.This will be called The Discussion. This event may be invoked only by the Prior. It will consist of an open discussion between the Prior and the committer of the Act in the presence of the Order. Only the Prior will question the committer. At the close of the Discussion, the Abbot will will seek guidance through prayer and consultation within the ranks of the Duodendum. At the next communal meal, the Abbot shall issue a judgment.

"In the event the Abbot, upon seeking divine guidance and consultation with his brethren, determine the Act was a grave disruptionof the balance of the Monastery, the punishment will be extreme excommunication, which shall consist of Shunning by departure throughthe Leaving Door.

"That concludes the direction in the Practicuum. Father Prior, please begin the Discussion."

The Prior was a vigorous man, one of the Third Generation and in the prime of his life. He towered over his brethren. His hair was silver like anarctic fox and his forehead was high and wide, like a palm face. He stood



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with his hands clasped and called in a firm voice, "Brother Andrew, please rise."

Andrew rose from a table at the back of the room and shambledthrough the gathered monks. The younger monks craned their necks andlifted from their seats to see the mysterious man, who rarely joined themfor communal meals and who slipped in and out of his dark stall in theChapel during the devotions of the Hours. He was small, dirty andunruly. His hair was stiff and distended. He was bent over and walkedslowly. He was old and worn-out, the flesh rubbed bare on the surface of his hands, the bones of his joints jutting through his skin, the white

cursive stroke of years of sweat ingrained like tree rings on his wrists. What struck Philip immediately, and most distinctly, was the vivid

illumination of Andrew's eyes. They were blue, but where they should have been filmy with age they were bright like the pigments of the oldmanuscripts. They gleamed with focus, but did not appear to be focusedon anything around them. Andrew was looking clearly at something that none of them could see.

Maybe not none, Philip thought, as he saw Brother Blaise slip fromone table to the next, shadowing Andrew's progression like a frog jumping from one lily pad to the next to capture the last slivers of thefading sun, Blaise was clear-eyed too, and anxious it seemed, but hisfocus was easy divined, as he tracked the movements of the man who now stood before the Prior.

"What is it, Thomas?" Andrew asked, using the Prior's given name.

"You are working on a project that you will not share. Your assistant has appropriated objects from the archive without the proper authority. You have diverted energy sources in excess of your quota. You have



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ceased participating in the activities of your Caste and the Order. You have not accomplished your duties as Dean of your Caste.

"I have determined, because of these things, that you have committedact of Grave Disobedience against the Order. You are threatening its balance by your delinquent approach to your Work and your Caste. You are threatening its balance with your un-explained activities. You arethreatening its balance by instructing Brother Blaise to flaunt the Rule And, you have disrupted its balance by delaying your Leave Taking, soanother brother may tale your place."

Philip could feel the collective breath of the brotherhood drawn insharply and held for a moment. The matter of Leave Taking was neveropenly discussed. The Abbot and each brother's confessor determined with a monk when he had come to the end of his useful contributions tothe community. The Rule required that each brother avoid idleness andmake a positive contribution to the prosperity of the community, so that each brother could seek unity with the Holy Spirit with security. This wasone of the first rules that a Novice was taught.

Andrew looked at Father Prior. Later Philip would wonder if it was a smile that played across Andrew's face, rather than the grimace that hefirst thought, and when he and the other Novices replayed theDiscussion, Philip began to consider that Andrew had known how it would end.

"What balance, Thomas?"

"The balance of the Order, Andrew. The Practicuum makes it absolutely clear what our responsibility is."

"Do you recall the first lines of the Rule, Thomas?"

"Andrew..."



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"Humor me for one moment, Thomas. They should all understand what inspires my action. Calling the Discussion doesn't render a verdict,Thomas. And as time has passed, we sometimes neglect to remember theRule as our first text, and the Practicuum as an interpretation of it."

"Brother, you are charged with responding to my claims..."

Andrew turned to the great hall and lifted his voice. The soundsurprised Philip, and silenced Father Prior, who towered over the oldermonk; Andrew's voice was light and sweet, younger and stronger thanthe frame of the man himself.

He spoke in Latin.

"Obsculato, o fili, praecelta magistri, et inclina aurem cordis tui, et admonitionem pii patris libenter excipe et efficaciter comple, ut ad eum per oboedientiae laborem redeas, a quo per inoboedientiae desidiamrecessaras.

" Recessaras is the key to my explanation, Thomas. I don't dare call it a defense, for I havent done anything wrong."

"The Rule calls for obedience, Andrew. That is the root of this issue, your obedience to the entire Rule and the law of the monastery."

"Perhaps, Thomas, we have drifted without realizing it. Perhaps thestrict rule of the work we have set out to do here has taken us away froman understanding of His work. Perhaps, Thomas, we have lost our ability to sense his Love and have faith in His wisdom."

"Does your hubris make you believe your own crisis of faith extendsto this entire community?" Thomas asked incredulously.

"I don't have a crisis of faith. I simply see none who share it."



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Thomas and Andrew stood silent. The Abbot cleared his throat."Andrew. What are you working in the shed?"

Andrew turned to the Abbot.

" Magnificat anima mea Dominum.'My soul doth magnify the Lord.'If we have lost our connection with the Holy Spirit, we will find him within our selves. The way to make Him manifest in our lives is to bring his essence forth through our souls. That is not a threat to our balance.It is our purpose."

Thomas bowed his head as if gathering his strength."But tell us, Andrew, how does this drain power from our grid? Tell

us how this is part of the purpose of the Astral Works? Tell us, if you can, how this is a contribution to our purpose in this community, to ensurethe safety of the knowledge that was entrusted to us at the Beginning?"

Andrew turned to the Great Hall once more.

"Do you ever look out through the grey walls of this dome," heasked, "wonder what is beyond? How can we safeguard the knowledge of humankind unless we know what the future of humankind may be? What if we are not a cloister, but we are all that there is? How can we divine a future path without having a connection to God that can ask him his will?"

"Disrupting the power grid is a practical matter, Brother, not a theory. You could prompt surges that short out the climate system orcause fires. The consequences could include the destruction of ourdome. That is an inexcusable risk."

"Those are exaggerated concerns, Thomas. I know that. After all, Iam one of the designers of the system. I am a founder of the Astral Works. You acknowledge that?"



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"The order still deserves a simple explanation of your activity,Brother," Father Prior said over Andrew's question. "You are bound by discussion to provide that."

"Fine," Andrew said.

Philip watched the monk gather his thoughts. His posture changed,as if he were folding in on himself, and his face became uncertain. He pressed his fingers against each other, rubbing them back and forth in anirregular and increasingly swift pace. The community waited. Philipcould sense the doubt rising in his brethren. Hold off, he wanted to cal

out. Let's listen to what he has to say."

"The old teaching instruct us that the His presence is magnified whena group gather. This was common across every belief. The Hebrewscalled it a 'minyan' long ago. Two things were required to make Himmanifest. A gathering and a point of focus. In the old times, a groupcalled Muslims believed that the place of holy focus was a place calledMecca, and at certain times during the day every Muslim, no matter wherethey were, would kneel in the direction of Mecca and say a prayer."

Andrew paused. Father Prior began to speak, but the Abbot stilled him with a quiet cough and a raised hand.

"I have wondered why our community can no longer make Himmanifest. We gather. We have a point of focus. I have wondered if He has abandoned us, like the rest of the world has abandoned itself.

"Then I discovered some texts in a field of study that was calledneuroscience. There was a scholar named Jung who believed that ourspirits were somehow connected. Scientists did studies of our brains anddiscovered that they were electrical networks that could be linked. Within these linked neural networks they discovered patterns that



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Philip felt a stirring beside him. Father Louis stood up.

"I have a question, Father Prior," the Novice Master said. His voice was uneven and thin. The Prior nodded.

"Father Andrew," the Novice Master said. "Have you lost your faithin God?"

"No, Louis. I believe in Him with all my heart."

"Then, have you lost your faith in us?"

Philip followed Andrews gaze across the great hall. The monks wererapt. Their faces were various, filled with confusion, frustration, anger,fear, affection, ennui. Brother Blaise was perched forward on his bench, his weight on his toes, as if he were prepared to race to Andrew at any moment. His eyes were moist with tears.

Andrew spoke.

"I suppose I have, Louis. I suppose I have."

After the discussion ended, the Abbot issued an edict of silence untilthe morning meal, after Matins, when the community would gather and hear the final decision. As soon as the Novices were sequestered in theirdormitory, they began to chatter excitedly about the discussion, but Philip went into the small chapel in the side room and sat in silence. Wastheir a purpose to their work, he wondered? And, was accepting theabsence of an answer the essence of the faith that the Novice Mastertalked about?

Father Andrew was absent from Matins the next morning, nor was heat the morning meal. For a moment, it was as if nothing had happened.



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Then, at the close of meal, even as the Cellarers cleared the dishes, the Abbot made his announcement. Father Andrew has elected to make hisLeave Taking. The event would occur two days hence, after the Nursery had begun the fertilization of the replacement pod. Andrew had returnedto residence in the main quarters, where he would pray with hisConfessor and the Abbot.

Philip felt saddened by the news, although he felt that it was the most practical outcome. How could you punish a monk for desiring a greaterknowledge of the Holy Spirit? Father Andrew had wondered too long and was right to bring an end to his uncertainty. With his Leave Taking

he would find what he searched for.The Leave Taking took place in a space beside the Vestry, where the

walls opened up to the great base of the dome. A series of small holding cells opened one onto another, until the final door, which opened ontothe world outside the dome. This door was controlled by a remotemechanism; after Father Andrew went through it, the door would closeand seal.

The monks gathered in the vestry and began to sing a hymn. Father Andrew walked to the back door if the vestry where the Abbot and FatherPrior stood. They bowed to each other and Father Prior took a key from his ring and began to unlock the door.

There was a disturbance among some if the monks, and then BrotherBlaise broke through a small group and ran to Father Andrew's side.

"I am going with you," Blaise said.

Father Andrew bowed his head and did not speak.

Father Prior stepped forward.



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"You can not, Brother. It is not time for your Leave Taking. Thenursery is not prepared. You still have work to do."

Blaise clasped on to Andrew more tightly.

"I am going."

Father Prior gestured to a group of monks to come and pull Blaiseaway, but the Abbot intervened.

"He can go. It is his choice. May the Holy Spirit travel with you, my

son."The two monks, one old and one not so old, passed through the door.

Father Prior locked it behind them. Tradition held that the community congregate in the chapel to pray silently, fast and meditate for twelve hours. No one was to go to the edge of the dome and look out into the gloom, the grey, gaseous threads that moved through the air. There wasno knowledge of what happened to the Leave Takers. They were on their path to the Holy Spirit, and it was the duty of the order to maintain itsown balance, to protect the knowledge and nurture the dome, through prayer and orderly works.

As Philip sat still in his pew, listening to the soft breathing of his brothers, feeling the great weight of the chapel, the lofty ceiling of thedome above it, the great expanse of unknowing that lay beyond the thick composite of the dome itself, he felt an irresistible urge to rush into thetower, to ascend the worn stairs, to press his face against the dome walland look out into the gloom, to know. He pressed his palms tight andforced his mind clear. As he did, the image of Andrew's face, weary andslack with resignation, loomed large in his mind's eye.



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End note: Translation of the rst line of The Rule of Benedict.

"Listen, o my son, to the teaching of your master, and turn to them with the ear of your heart. Willingly accept the advice of a devoted father and out it into action. Thus you will return by labor of obedience to the one whom you drifted from through the inertia of disobedience."


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