Coenobium: Reflections on Monastic Community by Michael Casey

Abstract

Reviewed by: Coenobium: Reflections on Monastic Community by Michael Casey Rev. John Bayer, O. Cist. Coenobium: Reflections on Monastic Community. Michael Casey, OCSO. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2021. Pp. viii+ 212. $19.95 (paper), $14.99 (ebook). In eleven thoroughly engaging chapters, Rev. Michael Casey, OCSO aims to supplement the books on monastic spirituality addressed to individuals by "approaching matters from the viewpoint of community life" (1). His approach is important, for life in community is intrinsic to the Christian vocation: "Our corporate identity is not something accidental added to our personal vocation. We become most fully what God intends us to be by becoming most fully and deeply united with those around us" (2). The importance of community in monastic life is rooted in the specifically Christian identity of the monastery as an expression of the Church: "a monastic community is not merely a gathering of individuals concerned with spiritual advancement but an expression of the ecclesial mystery" (47). In Chapter 1, C. offers a theological justification for his approach by "approaching the [monastic] community as expressive of the mystery of Christ's church" (8). Central to his thesis is the claim that monks and nuns belong to their communities by a specific call of God, analogous to the way the Church is constituted by persons who have been called to baptism (10–11). The centrality of vocation leads him to affirm the centrality of fostering the specific call of each person who makes up the community: "the community exists to service the vocations of those who are its members" (13). In addition, he argues that the ecclesial identity of the monastery means that liturgy, Scripture and attention to "the spiritual flourishing of the members" are "three aspects" of a "mandate" for community life (19). These three topics seem to correspond roughly to chapter 2 (liturgy), chapters 3 and 4 (lectio divina and prayer), and chapters 5–11 (the spiritual flourishing of the community). A great merit of this book is the practical sense C. brings to so many common questions in monastic life. Through his work as a scholar and retreat director, he has undoubtedly read much about the monastic tradition and seen many communities at different stages in their development. In Coenobium, he successfully weaves together erudition and personal experience to articulate his wisdom. He frequently quotes ancient monastic authors, contemporary scholars (of various disciplines) and personal anecdotes to illustrate his points with accessibility, depth and concrete applicability. [End Page 207] Anyone interested in community life can read this book fruitfully, though it appears written especially for monks and nuns. I can imagine it serving as table reading for a community. One could certainly read it fruitfully by oneself, but it reads like a series of retreat talks addressed to a diverse audience and designed to serve as a catalyst for community reflection and conversion. I learned a lot from Coenobium. It is a great book and merits engagement. One thesis that struck me as a bit curious is the contention "we have […] to seek to be content to allow others to be what they are, to rejoice because they are different from us" (89). To be sure, as C. says, we must cherish "each as a particular manifestation of the glory of God" (73). Still, I was struck by how different is St. Paul's claim, at least in a superficial sense, when he says to Agrippa, "I would pray to God that sooner or later not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am except for these chains" (Acts 26:29). As I read this book, I thought I saw a tension between the blessing of difference and the clarion call to conversion. For example, C. defends the right of monks and nuns to grow idiosyncratic in the name of spiritual fulfillment. Healthy monasteries, he says, will "generate one or two or more characters who may be termed 'eccentric'" (5). To generate is much more than to tolerate lovingly. Is this an unwitting defense of what one author has decried as the "Mertonization" of religious life, or the refocusing of the spiritual life onto self-indulgence or self-actualization...