"Monastic Heritage" (free post)

A video overview with Fr. M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.

I have in my last few posts reflected on the monastic heritage of both Eastern and Western Christianity and will be doing so again (in my very next “paid subscriber” post, in fact). As I noted in one of those posts, it is to that particular “culture” (as Jean Leclercq referred to it in his classic 1957 book, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture) that we must turn if we wish to rediscover the most essential treasure of the Christian birthright. There it is that we find the ancient ascetical and mystical tradition (or the interwoven strands of various ascetical and mystical Christian traditions) preserved and elaborated upon through the centuries — often well, though admittedly, at times not so well. If the followers of Jesus wish to revitalize their faith, personal practice, and communal life in these confused times, it is (in my opinion, at any rate) the primary resource from which to draw.

With that in mind, here is a 4-part video series featuring the Trappist monk, Fr. Basil Pennington (1931 - 2005). It amounts to about two hours in length all told, providing a cursory overview of the “monastic heritage,” especially that of the West. Pennington was, along with Fr. Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., one of the first teachers of “centering prayer” nearly half a century ago. Surprisingly, centering prayer was considered controversial by some (and still is), even within the Catholic Church. I say “surprisingly” because it is simply a step-by-step way of entering into contemplative practice and the method is inherently traditional in form. About Fr. Pennington, the renowned scholar of medieval mysticism, Bernard McGinn, said, “The renewal of contemplative prayer in the last decades of the twentieth century owes much to [Pennington’s] efforts.”