11/28/07:
"Norbertine Hospitality" - Michael Marsden
One definition of hospitality is, “the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers.” But there is also the more complex concept of radical hospitality, which is part of the Norbertine heritage, and which deserves its own special definition.
My first, personal experience with the kind of hospitality we are reflecting upon this morning actually occurred when I made a week-long retreat at New Mellery Trappist Monastery outside of Dubuque, Iowa during my freshman year of college. I was served meals by white haired monks who worked in silence and made sure the needs of their guests were met. I was struck by their humbleness and the value they placed on service, for which I was grateful.
Fast forward more than forty years to my first and second Norbertine Heritage Tours in January of 2005 and May of 2007 through which I have learned more about the radical hospitality that characterizes the Order of Premonstratensians. Our visit to Berne Abbey, the Mother Abbey of De Pere, in 2005 was marked by a public welcome at the afternoon Mass as well as a gracious dinner and conversation following it about the Norbertine traditions. The entire trip, whether visiting the Abbey of the Cloistered Norbertine Sisters in Oosterhout or the Abbey in Hamborn, was marked by similar gracious hospitality. But it was an evening visit with the former Abbot General who was in residence at Tongerlo Abbey that forever changed my understanding of the full essence of Norbertine radical hospitality, which includes sharing the story after the meal. For an hour-and-a-half, he spoke with us about the challenges facing the Order, but concluded with a discussion about the importance of a home abbey in the life of a Norbertine. He spoke simply but eloquently about “the smell of the nest,” from which springs the sense of place and the welcoming of others into the nest so they can experience that same comfort and joy.
On our May 2007 Norbertine Heritage Tour we experienced the gracious hospitality of the Norbertine nuns at Doksany in the Czech Republic. Their faith and dedication to their monastery is a fine example of faith in action, and their inspiring story is one of a positive attitude in the midst of a ruined monastery. At the Tepla Abbey in the Czech Republic we were greeted by Fr. Marianus who not only hosted us for a lovely luncheon, but gave us an eight hundred year account of the tragic history of that Abbey, drawing us into its history through a very personalized narrative. His radical hospitality was marked by food for the mind and soul, as well as food for the body. At Zeliv Abbey the hospitality was extraordinary, and so was Fr. Richard’s storytelling. The experience was the same at Geras Abbey, where we learned their story and that of Hans Joseph the famous Norbertine naturalist, as well as that of the Blessed Jakob Kern, a Norbertine awaiting canonization. And our visit to Schagl Abbey was filled with gracious hospitality and wonderful storytelling by our hosts Prior Lukas, Abbot Martin and Fr. Jacob.
Radical hospitality begins with the meal and continues with the story, for it is through the meal and the story that we the outsiders become the insiders. To make the others part of us is the true definition of radical hospitality.
