Voices of Silence : Lives of the Trappists Today

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful treatment of a stunningly complex way of life.
Review: Bianco carries us past monastic walls and through the shroud of mystery which surounds the lives of people who choose this life of solitude. He allows us to see Trappist monks as real people: dedicated, holy, committed, hard working, sometimes petty, but always real.

It is a credit to him as a writer and a person that he was permitted to chronicle the monk's lives from the inside - or as close to the inside as a non-monk can get. It is a credit to the monks that they were willing to share the meaning and style of monastic living.

Bianco was comfortable sharing a complete picture of Trappist life, and, although he never intended an expose, did not shy away from the human side of men living communally. His portrayal of the difficulties of this existance will help many to understand both the value and the need for that type of service.

A spiritual book in the sense that the reader will feel drawn toward a higher calling and a greater devotion to God, it is, at all times, a story of men and women - some saintly, all human.

There is nothing simple about the simple life of the Trappist, but there is also nothing of value to be gained by a life without pain. Above all, Bianco shows us that God is present in these houses and in the lives of these monks.

We were permitted inside the monastic enclosure to observe the lives of men who have dedicated their lives to prayer. Bianco and the monks have given us an intelligent and moving visit.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, the truth about Trappist life
Review: Don't read this book unless you're prepared to handle the cold, hard truth about the spiritual life and monks who make it their profession. It isn't easy and it isn't abstract, and monks will be the first to admit, that for all their honest effort, they fall on their faces just as this book reveals in fascinating detail. More than one monk took the time to praise this book "as a major contribution to the understanding of modern monasticism." Those are the words on the book's back cover, written by the Washington Post's respected columnist and critic, Coleman McCarthy, who was once himself a Trappist. Better yet, consider what Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, O.S.B., onetime Benedictine Abbot General, wrote about the book: "Frank Bianco brings monks to life in his book and lets the human and the spiritual shine through. Most graciously he shares with the reader his own spiritual transformation that resulted from encounters with monks, men whose lives are devoted to seeking God." A Trappist Master of Novices recommended this book to me while I was living at his abbey for an extended period, trying to come to terms with my marital problems. I saw for myself how the book was right on target. The spiritual life is all about finding God as he offers himself in the day-to-day, seemingly ordinary people and events, which is what the author learned. It's not for anyone who's trying to hide from life. To his credit (and to the reader's benefit ultimately) the author submitted himself to the life just as an ordinary monk does. He wanted to learn why God brought him to the monastery seemingly by accident and why he was able to regain his faith by opening himself as monks do - to what only seems to be ordinary in everyday life. There's all too many books on the spiritual life that duck life's tough questions by labeling them as "mysterys." That wasn't good enough for the monks whose struggles are revealed in this book and who trusted the author to tell people what other writers didn't understand or never learned. This may not be the best book ever written about monastic life, but a better one has yet to published.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful account of a very personal spiritual journey
Review: I highly recommend this book for several reasons. None of them have to do with giving the public a picture of what really goes on behind closed doors at a Trappist monastery. If your only interest in Trappist life is some voyeuristic urge to know the secret life of monks, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.

The review that suggests that Bianco's book isn't an accurate picture of Trappist life doesn't make much sense to me. Bianco's assignment was to go to several Trappist monasteries and write about what he found there. His writing is crisp, and I am sure he would say he relayed the facts as he witnessed them.

There is a more important reason to read Bianco's story of his time amongst the Trappists. Bianco went to the monastery to do his job as a reporter, showing voyeurs what monks really do in that cloister. What he encountered in the monastery was an unexpected connection with his hidden brothers in Christ who prayed out their lives "known only to God." More importantly, Bianco encountered a God who loves him intensely and used his experience with the Trappists to bring him through a profound grief to a place of peace and security in his life. I suppose his journalistic detachment and objectivity slipped a bit in the telling of his story.

If Bianco had emerged from his time with the Trappists unchanged, I would have been disappointed. He tells an important story with courage and sensitivity, and we are the richer for his efforts.

If you really want to know what life in a monastery is like, go spend time in one. St. Benedict's rule still requires the reception of visitors, and all the Benedictine foundations I know have made terrific provisions for those seeking times of recollection. If you to hear what happened to Frank Bianco when he went through the cloister gates, read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Real View of Trappist Life ?
Review: If one wants a balanced and realistic view of monastic life and history, three recent books are highly recommended- "Cloister Walk" by Kathleen Norris, "Grace is Everywhere" by James Behrens, and, "Trappist: Living in the Land of Desire" - the companion book to the PBS documentary "Trappist" (WVTI Charlotte Public Television, 1997.

I've been regularly going on retreats to a Trappist monastery since 1988, - I purchased Mr. Bianco's book when it first came out, ( at the Abbey gift shop as a matter of fact ), and was rather surprised and perplexed by his tone and view throughout.

If you want the straight story with no spin, look at the above selections.

Rating:
Summary: One of the better studies of contemporary monasticism
Review: The author, a semi-practicing Catholic dealing with the death of his youngest son, entered into the life of the Trappist monks in several monasteries. From that experience, he gives us a mixture of monastic history, of lives of selected (composite) monks discerning their calling and growth, and a picture of the issues confronting the religious community as they grapple with the issues raised by Vatican II.

The resulting book stresses several points:

Monk are human with the same foibles as the non-vowed Catholic population.

That a major component of what sets monks apart is the stability of their lives and the community in which those lives are lived; this results in an environment where confronting oneself and one's masks is inevitable.

That balance of work, play and prayer is essential to fostering wholeness.

That the monk's life is nearly a universal human activity and that much of what formerly distinguished the professed religious life is now adopted/adapted by dedicated laity.

That God truly works in mysterious ways - exemplified by the author's changed understanding of God as he finally confronts his son's death.

The genius of the book is that it achieves the list given above primarily through the narrative of human experience within the monastic community. Where more abstract theology/history is provided, it is generally within the context of conversation with individual monks presenting their individual experience and belief.

With the narrative, there are individuals that the reader comes to care about - the crusty, rigid Br. Bede, the Texas ranch boy Mac, the novice Gabriel ... Through these and many others, the reader catches glimpses of themselves and their own needs. In this sense, the lives of the monks as presented, serve as a mirror nudging the reader to examine themselves as the monks are examining themselves.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful, detailed sketches
Review: The result of many interviews of Trappist monks in both the United States and France, this book contains several insightful biographical sketches of modern Trappists. As we meet several monks and learn what brought them to the monastery as well as why they stay, we learn a great deal about how modern monasteries work and about the personal and emotional struggles the monks deal with.

Readers who are familiar only with the pre-Vatican II monastery depicted in Thomas Merton's "The Seven Storey Mountain" will find this book an eye-opener, as there have been a great many changes since the 1940s in how Cistercian monasteries are run and how the monks live.

The only fault of this book is the author's intermittent surrender to sentimentality as he details events in his own life and the lives of the monks that brought them to the monastery. But he ultimately resists the temptation to let these narratives overwhelm the documentary accounts of the monasteries he ! visited. In the end, readers will come away with a rich appreciation of these monks, their lifestyle, and their devotion to God.