FORT SMITH — Benedictine oblate Ann McElmurry celebrated Pentecost in October this year, experiencing the Holy Spirit’s presence as 230 oblates, representing 26 different countries on six continents, overcame the barriers of language and culture to become one community.
McElmurry, a member of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock and oblate since 2008, attended the Second Benedictine Oblate World Congress in Rome Oct. 2-9.
Benedictine oblates are laypeople — Catholic or Protestant — who have chosen to associate themselves with a Benedictine community and, inspired by the Rule of St. Benedict, strive to live a balanced life of work, prayer and leisure. Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro, Subiaco Abbey and St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith have oblate programs in the Diocese of Little Rock.
“I was aware of two biblical passages every day during my stay — the Tower of Babel and Pentecost,” she said. “Every day Mass and the (Liturgy of the) Hours were prayed in a different language. During the first night, Compline was very late. Most of us were praying in an unfamiliar language and yet, at the end, everyone got up and sang ’Salve Regina’ perfectly. This was a ’Pentecost’ moment,” McElmurry said during a presentation to oblates at St. Scholastica Monastery Nov. 15.
The dream and vision of the congress, “The Religious Challenges of Today — the Benedictine Answer,” was carried out in daily liturgical prayer, conferences and group discussions. Each day, the oblates attended Mass, Lauds, Vespers and Compline, and each day priest-delegates from different countries celebrated the liturgies. Two additional prayer vigils — one ecumenical and one interreligious — were held during the congress.
Although many presentations were led by Benedictine priests and sisters, delegates also attended a panel discussion presided over by a Hindu nun, a Shiite Muslim scholar and a Buddhist monk who shared insights on their forms of contemplative prayer. Group discussions allowed participants to continue to process the insights they had learned and apply them to their lives.
Pope Benedict XVI greeted the oblates at an audience Oct. 4.
Some of the oblates from Third World countries gave testimony to the difficulties they experienced practicing their faith. The Vietnamese oblate community began when a few people would meet at a local monastery to pray. They were unable to buy the Rule of Benedict or the Benedictine medal locally, and so they downloaded the Rule on a computer and made their own molds of the Benedictine medal, casting the medals themselves. There are now 47 oblates in Vietnam.
During the Congress, McElmurry had the opportunity to visit Subiaco, the first community founded by St. Benedict and the site of Sacro Speco, the cave in which he lived while discerning God’s call to monastic life. They also toured Monte Cassino, a later monastery founded by St. Benedict. Subiaco is located at the top of a high mountain. A companion monastery, St. Scholastica, lies at the foot of the mountain.
On the final evening of the Congress, the oblates prayed a silent prayer as they walked from the Garden of Roses, a cemetery for victims of the Holocaust, to the abbey and College of Sant’ Anselmo: “Grant, o Lord, that in the dialogue between us, in the pure and demanding encounter between cultures and religions, we may purify our roots that they may produce flowers and fruits of peace.”
In true Benedictine style, they listened with the ear of their hearts, having come to the Congress as many and emerging as one body, the collective presence of God.
