FOUNDERS OF THE CISTERCIAN ORDER

January 26, 2005
Saints Robert, Alberic and Stephen Harding
Abbots of Citeaux and Founders of the Cistercian Order
Sirach 44:1, 10-15
Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-16
Mark 10:24-30

Today we are celebrating the life, vision and dedication of the founders of Citeaux, the motherhouse of us all. The greatest testament to the memory of Saints Robert, Alberic and Stephen Harding is the unity of mind and heart in a bond of love among all the members of the Cistercian family. Since our founders reached the valley of Citeaux in 1098, monks and nuns have striven to keep alive the founders’ legacy by their lives of simplicity and loving surrender to Christ the one true King in whom alone is found their reward exceeding great.
As students in the school of charity we are practitioners of the royal way that leads ultimately to the embrace of love of the Blessed Trinity. As monks, we are called to contemplate the promise of things yet to come that remains unseen as long as we sojourn in this valley of tears. In his first letter, Peter wrote, "Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable joy that has been touched with glory" (1 Pet. 1:8-9). In this we have only to consider the experience of Abbot Robert who was ordered to return to Molesme and never allowed to see the realization of his dreams in the new monastery. The vision of the founders was Christ who was raised in glory by the Father. The vision of their disciples is to be the light of faith. Recall these words taken from the Letter to the Hebrews. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen” (Heb. 11:1).

Our forbearers left us this testimony in the Charter of Charity. “Because we know full well that all of us are servants, albeit useless servants, of the one true King and Lord and Master, we therefore impose no exaction of earthly advantage or of temporal goods on our abbots and brother monks whom, through us, the most wretched of men, God in his loving kindness has established in divers places under the discipline of the Rule. For, desiring to profit them and all the children of holy Church, we purpose to enact in their regard nothing that will burden them, nothing that will diminish their substance… We do wish, however, for the sake of charity, to retain the care of souls, so that should they ever attempt to turn aside ever so little from their holy resolve and the observance of the Holy Rule, they may be able to return, through our solicitude, to the straight path of life” (Charter of Charity).

The departure of our founders from Molesme was not much different from that of Abraham, our father in the faith, from his ancestral homeland (Cf. Heb.11:8). Modeling themselves after example of Abraham, Cistercian nuns and monks see themselves as sojourners in a strange and distant land. Let me quote from the Letter of Archbishop Hugh. “Be it known to all who rejoice at the progress of holy Mother Church, that you and certain sons of yours, brethren of the monastery of Molesme, stood in our presence at Lyon and professed that you wished from then on to adhere more strictly and perfectly to the Rule of the most blessed Benedict, which till then you had observed lukewarmly and negligently in that monastery. Because it is clear that this cannot be fulfilled in the aforesaid place for a number of impeding causes, we concluded, making provision for the welfare of both parties (those, namely, who withdraw from there and those who remain there) that it would be useful for you to turn elsewhere, to some other place which the divine bounty will designate, and to serve the Lord there more advantageously and in greater quiet” (Archbishop Hugh of Lyon).

At a time when our numbers are diminishing and our novitiate seems to be a sterile wasteland, we should find comfort in the fact that our founders were without new vocations a period of twelve years. Let us learn from Abraham's wife, Sarah. As we heard from the Letter to the Hebrews, "By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive when she was past the child bearing age, because she believed that the one who made the promise would be faithful to it” (Heb. 11:11) Learning from this woman of faith, let us set our hopes on things that the rational eye cannot perceive, that the reasonable ear refuses to hear, and that the sophisticated people of our age consider nonsense. With this in mind, it might be good to reflect upon a passage taken from the Letter to the Philippians. “For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the savior of our souls, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).

Because we are convinced that our homeland is in heaven, let us choose to define progress in terms of divine grace and not in terms of worldly success. For us, the path to the kingdom leads through the enclosed garden of the cloister. It is through our hidden apostolic fruitfulness that we will gain admittance to our heavenly homeland. May God, for whom it is easy to make great things from small, many things from few, stir up the heart of many men and women to take up the Cistercian way of life. May the Lord of the harvest visit all the houses of our Order and multiply the children of the barren until we stand like fruitful vines around the Table of the Lamb. When he returns in glory, may he bring us all together to everlasting life.

Let us Suffer the wounds of love with joy
Fr. Jerome Machar, O.C.S.O. 
Abbey of the Genesee

 

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