IS RELIGIOUS LIFE AN ESCAPE FROM THE REAL WORLD?
Reviewed by Beverly Mantyh
In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
(available from Cluny Media, 390 pp., $19.95)
Philippa Talbot appears to have it all: good friends, a respectable career, a pension plan. She inspires employees to walk taller, dress with style, and improve themselves. However, at age 42, Philippa decides to abandon it all to serve God as a cloistered Benedictine nun. She gives away her office possessions to her co-workers and explains, “An enclosed order is like a kind of powerhouse. A powerhouse of prayer; you protect a powerhouse, not to enclose the power, but to stop unauthorized people getting in to hinder its working.”
Philippa enters into the life of Brede Abbey, where the consecrated bells ring in meaning and order. Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline; the seasons of the church are sung eight times a day; she is in the world, but not of it.
Philippa’s monastic life is quiet, but definitely not solitary. The novice mistress scrutinizes her every thought and action, just like all the other nuns. As a woman used to being in charge, Sister Philippa finds life under a microscope difficult. The Benedictines wonder, with startling intuition, whether she truly has a vocation or seeks an escape from the world. Will she be able to leave behind her accomplishments to serve God in silence, obedience and poverty?
Godden’s novel broadens to become the story of the monastery. The abbey places the sisters in positions where they can grow in their specific talents, serving God and the abbey by developing themselves. Among the sisters, there are authors, sculptors, musicians and bee keepers. Benedict’s rule allows for personal development, but all are accountable to the community.
Each week the Abbess holds a Chapter of Faults, where six nuns are asked to publicly confess their faults against the Benedictine Rule. Transgressions may also be brought up by others in the community at this time. The inevitable jealousies, disappointments, limitations and personal strivings are played out. The storyline becomes increasingly engrossing as Philippa (and the reader) becomes better acquainted with the lives of the individual nuns.
“The life of the great monastery flowed as steadily as a river, no matter what rocks and cross-currents there were…” The House of Brede prays through the death and election of its abbess, a new pope, and the Second Vatican Council. The plot circles around to focus on Sister Philippa again. The prayer and contemplation of Brede overcomes Philippa’s aloofness, tracing her old wounds to the source. Can she allow Christ to heal her, so she can serve with her whole mind, heart and soul?
Godden captures how the monastic community depends upon the wholeness of its individuals. Christ not only wants our accomplishments, but our pain and weakness as well. In This House of Brede brings us a fresh view of the gift offered to us on the cross, as well as the gift of religious life to the overall Church.
Discussion Questions:
- Before Philippa enters the monastery, she gives away her ring, her clock and her painting. It took longer to give up her pride, her resentment and her pain. What catalyst allowed Philippa to let go? How about you?
- In Godden’s novel, the sisters work apart from the world and are not influenced by media, critics or popular opinion. Their individual talents contribute to the wellbeing of the community and the praise of God. Does the popular culture affect how you assess your talents? In what context might your talents be redirected to the greater glory of God?
- When Philippa entered the monastery, she was certain she was to lead a life of humble obscurity. She thought her worldly gifts and talents would be unnecessary in the abbey. However, God’s plan for Philippa and for Brede included all of her experience and knowledge. Have you relinquished a cherished role or relationship, and then found that God used your talent in unexpected ways?
