April 22, 2012

I enter the chapel at a little before three thirty in the morning to find it almost completely dark. A single light in the guest section at the back is all that illumines the huge space. There isn't a sound. Stretching out along both sides of the church are two long rows of “stalls”, (the sectioned off spaces in choir where the monks stand to pray). Each monk is provided a stall which he occupies for the celebration of the Liturgy of Hours or “Divine Office”. In the darkness, it should be difficult to find my stall, but I have no trouble at all. That is because I can see Father Thomas sitting in the stall next to mine wearing a white cowl which glows faintly in the dim light. He is there every morning. I never know how long he's been there. He could have arrived minutes before me or an hour earlier. All I know is that, each morning, at 3:25, when I arrive for “Vigils”, the first prayer service of the day, he is already there, sitting perfectly still and silent in the stall next to mine. Within the very routine and regimented structure of the monastic day, each of the monks finds a distinctive personal rhythm. Father Thomas found, years ago, that he loves this early morning hour where he meets the Lord in darkness and in loving contemplation. So he gets up a little early and is the first to arrive in church. He is over eighty years old now. I realize that one day, not too far off, he will make his passage from this life to the Lord, and the thought of arriving for Vigils to find the stall next to mine empty is vaguely disconcerting. Dwelling for a moment on this thought, I suddenly have a new awareness of how the Lord Himself must delight in the quiet presence of Father Thomas in church each morning. The mysterious, contemplative human presence I appreciate is also acknowledged and cherished by Jesus for whom Father Thomas has given his life. The friendship I have with Thomas is a reflection of his friendship with the Lord, celebrated silently each morning in the darkness of the chapel long before the world awakens.