RETURN TO THE CENTER

by Pascaline Coff, OSB

A surprise gift of two weeks in S. India brought me with three companions back to Fr. Bede Griffith’s Shantivanam Ashram in Tamil Nadu on the Kavery River. Thirty years earlier ‘76/77 I spent one entire year here with Sr.Maurus Allen, a Benedictine from Cullman, Alabama. Since several of the younger monks had been sent away for Seminary studies, we were “Fr. Bede’s monastic community” that year. Named by Cardinal Basil Hume “one of the greatest mystics of our times,” we delighted in Fr. Bede’s teachings three times daily with homilies at Eucharist and Vespers and an afternoon class on some Eastern scripture as we sat on straw mats under the coconut trees by the river.

The “return” this year was a pilgrimage of thanksgiving especially from our Benedictine Oblates at Osage+Monastery Forest of Peace and many Friends of the Forest. Many who have shared the fruits of the Oklahoma monastic Ashram wanted to extend their gratitude in a tangible way through our pilgrimage. Fr.Bede himself called Osage+Monastery the Shantivanam of the West and visited it some five times before he died in 1993.

We were warmly welcomed by Fr. George, Prior at Shantivanam and Bro. John Martin and the community upon our arrival. My companions were Bob Doenges, Oblate of O+M; Fr. Brian Pierce, O.P. former temporary member at O+M; and Edith Stein, Friend of the Forest. Although many changes have taken place in thirty years, the vibrant spirit, the liturgy and many of the earlier known workers and friends still abound. The community now has a Formation house on an adjacent property with three or four young students. Fr. George is the Novice Master for them. The community does a great service to the poor in the area: staffing a school for children, building many small houses in the village plus a home for the helpless aging for which they furnish food daily. Eleven young novices from the Mother of God Congregation were retreating with their director while we were there. It was a joy to hear the sweet high tones as they sang the old familiar bhajans in Tamil - quite a contrast to the male voices chanting in Malayalam in Kerala where we had visited the week earlier.

Our first stop of 5 days was at Sameeksha (integral harmony) Spirituality Center in Kalady. This is a Jesuit experimental Seminary and Dialogue Center. Fr. Sebastian Painadath, S.J. was waiting at the station for us as we arrived very early in the a.m. The monsoons hardly bothered us as we reveled in the sharing Fr. Sebastian gave us on the Mystical inner journey in St. John’s Gospel; the Mystical inner journey in Meister Eckhart; and a mystical teaching on the Bhagavad Gita. Here in Kerala we visited the birthplace and temple of Shankara, the Thomas Aquanis of India. When we journeyed on to Tamil Nadu we learned at Shantivanam that Bro. Martin had done his thesis on Shankara years earlier with a comparative study of Meister Eckhart. It was a joy to find a new edition of that in the bookstore at the Ashram. Sr. Mary Louise gave us a tour of her Ananda Ashram across the road from Shantivanam. Many sturdy huts are available for retreatants.

Our last few days at Shantivanam included Eucharist in Fr. Bede’s former hut and placing a leigh on his tomb nearby. Fr.Brian was invited to offer the final community Mass the morning we were departing. After a night train back to Kalady and a plane to Delhi, we had a 15 hr. non-stop to Chicago and watched on a screen how the plane went over Russia and then Greenland, never actually crossing the Atlantic which seemed way South of our arcing route. India is on the move with more highways being built, many more autos and trucks on the roads with the thousands of poor in the heart of the cities. We were so grateful to have survived the taxi rides to and from the stations as we went. We returned to the USA with evermore gratitude for Shantivanam and Fr. Bede and the beautiful people of India.

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Sr. Pascaline is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and the Bede Griffiths International Literary Trust. She is foundress of Osage Monastic Ashram in Sand Springs, OK. USA.