- See also: How to
get started
- The Quies SBPCLC have been instigated since December 2012 and
are proposed in view of studying together and living the
fullness of the 11 guidelines.
- Since the meeting at the Grande Chartreuse in
September 2014 (LGC2014), there has been
expressed the desire of a more direct link
with the Carthusian Order than through a future
Canonical Association of the Faithful; and the term "External
Donates" was coined and noted by the
IFSB/SBLC envoys during their discussions with the
Reverend Father, so the orientation
remains to be reflected upon if it is to be
developed
henceforth through our study
of the Carthusian Statutes and the history of the
Carthusian Order instead of, or along
with, developing a future Lay
Association of Faithful.
- La
Lumière du Désert page (this video was
highly recommended by the Reverend Father at the
LGC2014 meeting)
- The
Life in us of the Most Holy Trinity (is
to be developed following LGC2014 directives)
- Members of the Quies SBPCLC,
would
strive eventually to experiment and live a virtual (on line)
community, founded on a communally supervised 2nd degree level
commitment to the eleven
guidelines and to the ensuing customs and statutes of a
projected lay association or external donation. The name SBPCLC
Sancti Brunonis Pauperes Christi Laici Contemplativi (Saint Bruno Poors of Christ Lay Contemplatives)
is in the spirit of the early
Carthusians who called themselves Pauperes Christi.
- There are it seems two manifestations of a Quies SBPCLC
members life: hiddenness "In pectore Christi"
and service "In ministerium Christi".
- Pectore - hiddenness
- By striving to apply the Quies SBPCLC
5 steps commitment to the eleven guidelines; known as
such only by Christ and the soul, one becomes spiritually
could we say, an "In pectore Christi"
(In the heart of Christ) SBPCLC member
of the Quies project: "For you died, and your life is
now hidden with Christ in God" Col. 3:3.
Considering that this manifestation of membership is known
as such only by Christ and the soul, there is no formal
supervision effectuated over "In pectore Christi"
members, who strive to deepen their life in Christ by
applying the 5 steps commitment to following the 11
guidelines.
- Ministerium - service
- Quies SBPCLC members service "In ministerium
Christi" is to be manifested eventually by them in
discrete participation to community life necessities as
outlined in the 11 guidelines, it could be for the IFSB/SBLC
notably, or within a Quies SBPCLC
group/community. It is also of course manifested in
our faithfulness to our duties of state.
- A sustained effort of conversion (5 steps),
trust and union with God is necessary in view of discernment
towards an ever deepening Christifying personal balance
between hiddenness Pectore and service
Ministerium.
- Guarding foremost, within one's duty of state and a balanced
horarium
while living in the open world, a solitude and silence
environment necessary for continuous prayer of the heart with
Christ as hidden In pectore Christi, Quies SBPCLC
members experience Saint Bruno's balanced charism in the
Church by regularly also, for instance, participating in their
modulated particular personal call to service In
ministerium Christi, discerningly in the aspiring lay
association's diverse forum
discussions, video-conference
exchanges, SBPCLC
regular small group contacts. Hidden, Christ knows them;
through the Quies SBPCLC 5 progressive steps
commitment to the eleven guidelines, and they grow to know and
live in Christ, in the open world, while normally seeking to
remain discretely ignored as would Carthusians in their cells,
filling secretly the world in the Sacred Heart of Christ with
their contemplative prayer, the "one thing necessary"
for the Church, united with Mary's prayer;
to the point where they will come to only contemplate and
witness in all things, discretely as in Saint Bruno's words:
"Divinitas id est Bonitas" (PL, 153, 24
C) "Divinity who is Goodness".
- So essentially, in the In pectore Christi
manifestation of a SBPCLC members life, they are before all
secret and discreet contemplative members, known as such
only by Christ in the soul, as would Carthusians in their
cells, sometimes in purifying darkness, or sometimes
experiencing moments of a peace that the world knows not,
but always in an effort towards balance with their perceived
evolving calls to service, ministerium.
- The in pectore Christi manifestation of a SBPCLC
members life will thus be called in this balanced life to
discrete in ministerium Christi service to
participate discerningly with a peaceful contemplative heart
as united in God, in certain necessary active services
within the SBPCLC and of course fulfilling their duty of
state and discerned ecclesial duties to participate in the
construction of the Mystical Body of Christ. Their
commitment as SBPCLC is to apply discretely the Quies SBPCLC
5 steps commitment to the eleven guidelines in their
lives. SBPCLC, as do Carthusians, have NO specific
association's active apostolate other than to serve each
others spiritual necessities ministerium within
the Quies SBPCLC 5 steps commitment to the eleven
guidelines; but they have a contemplative pectore
apostolate, which would radiate peacefully and
imperturbably throughout all their ordinary lives and duty
of state as lay faithful.
- Certain SBPCLC members might feel inspired to serve
more particularly the Quies project; they can contact us
for discernment.
- Some SBPCLC members, ordained to the
priesthood, might feel called to serve
the Quies project as ecclesiastical
assistants; they can contact us
for discernment. It is desirable that
ecclesiastical assistants, at all levels, should be in
contact with and helped by the bishop or religious
superiors of the diocese into which they are incardinated,
as well as by the bishop or religious superiors of the
diocese where they reside in order to carry out their
function.
- Fraternal
exchanges in a spirit of sacred listening and communal
prayerful dialogue, and in a collegial consultation with the
hierarchy of the Church, are to be integrated in SBPCLC
members personal horarium.
(Gd 4)
- Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the
Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, warned
that poorly-catechized Christians should not take part
in inter-religious dialogue. "Christians, often
ignorant of the content of their own faith and
incapable because of this of living of and for it, are
not capable of inter-religious dialogue that always
begins with the assertion of one's own convictions," he
cautioned. "There is no room for syncretism or
relativism! Faced with adepts from other religions
with a strong religious identity, it is necessary to
present motivated and doctrinally equipped
Christians."
- It is a solemn duty, and a condition of membership,
that any public or private actions of In pectore Christi
SBPCLC aspiring members, overshadowing the values of the
eleven guidelines, past or present, should be amended
promptly, corrected and discretely repaired,
lest they be cause of error or scandal. "...make
peace, in the spirit of the Gospel, with all who have
anything against him". Statutes
Book 1 Ch 8 #7
.
- Any aspirant striving to apply the Quies SBPCLC 5
steps commitment to the eleven guidelines can thus forward us
their coordinates, mentioning
their personal motivations in applying the Quies SBPCLC 5
steps.
- Following Saint Bruno's charism and in faithfulness to
the 11 guidelines, SBPCLC regular small study groups
could be expected, and would be be managed, to
consist of a limited number of individuals, as in a
carthusian monastery.
- The
Quies SBPCLC Our Lady of Good Counsel discussion
group, is a proposed private virtual community
for persons striving to live the Quies SBPCLC 5 steps
commitment to following the 11 guidelines.
- The community(ies) are aimed to be family size as in
Carthusian Monasteries. Members life, discussions and
mentor-ship should be mostly private (one-on-one) and
adapted to each person in emulation of a Charterhouse
community's mostly solitary life. Community studies
and exchanges should be regular (monthly) and
moderated within small groups on Skype.
- If you or a person you know might be interested in joining
this virtual monastic community please advise us by
private email.
- If someone would not eventually feel comfortable
with the Quies SBPCLC 5 steps commitment to following
the 11 guidelines, then inquire at the
IFSB or the SBLC who are developing Saint
Bruno Lay spirituality projects that could be better
adjusted to your personal needs at present.
- The overall Quies SBPCLC project's purpose is to
eventually help to collegially study, live and apply the
eleven guidelines, progressively in our own lives;
as was proposed by the Reverend Father; a task that
solicits in itself our own personal conversion into the
authentic charism of Saint Bruno, in communion with the
Carthusian Order's monastics, and that "may take
several years, which is not at all serious, since we
are working on the long term" (Gd 11).
- The Quies SBPCLC members might participate in and
serve the community of the founding CLC, IFSB/SBLC
spiritual ecosystem, and all it's eventual affiliates;
while understanding it's own particular vision
as being to individually and communally apply the Quies
SBPCLC 5 steps commitment to the 11
guidelines.
From the 11 guidelines
7. Serious discernment, if not severe, must be put
in place for the admission of members into the second degree. They
must clearly know what they undertake and what are their obligations
(see 1.2.3.)
1. The spiritual journey of Saint
Bruno is characterized by the search for God in solitude, this God
he knows to be intimately present in his heart. It would be
desirable that the members of the CLC consecrate every day,
according to their possibilities, a few moments to silence for:
prayer of the heart, meditation or reading.
2. CLC officials will provide, at the disposal
of their members, a few essential elements to help in the
development of this prayer (texts, life of St. Bruno, order
history, excerpts of the Statutes of the Order).
3. It is important to encourage a regular
sacramental practice, depending on the possibilities of each one
(the Eucharist and confession), as well as to make an annual
retreat to better be impregnated of silence and solitude.
4. Contacts between members are to be encouraged,
indirectly through the internet forum, but also through small groups
when this is possible. Leaders will organize these internet contacts
within a frequency which can vary between two and four weeks (video
conferencing?). It is advisable to set themes and 'helm' the
exchanges.
5. An executive board consisting of about seven
members (including a priest and at least two women) is to be to put
in place, who jointly decides which path to follow.
6. This executive board also prepares the creation
of a private association of the faithful. To properly set everything
up, one must take time and hasten nothing.
8. Regular contact with the hierarchy of the
Church (the best is a bishop) is to be sought and maintained.
9. The forum, which is not an end in itself, but a
means to help some people develop their spiritual life, in the
example and with the help of Saint Bruno, must be cleansed:
a. Avoid unnecessary chatter and
discussions that are far from the aim of the CLC.
b. The ecumenical openness must be conducted
according to the norms of the Church and you will exclude any
tendency to religious syncretism.
c. You also avoid to compromise with pressure
groups of ideas either integrist or avant-gardist. To the
spiritual path in accordance with Saint Bruno, is appropriate
great sobriety and modesty, remote from any controversy.
d. We progress, all together, in the respect of
the Magisterium of the Church.
e. The role of the moderators is very important;
they must work and intervene according to clearly defined rules.
10. The name of the CLC: it would be desirable to
make an explicit reference to Saint Bruno, rather than to the
Carthusian Order. "International Fellowship of Saint Bruno" is
good; otherwise "Saint Bruno Lay Contemplatives" *.
11. To obtain an official support from the Order,
the time is still premature. It becomes possible only after the establishment
of the association and to the extent where this one, in its
organization and practice, truly reflect the spirit of Saint Bruno,
in an adaptation to the condition of laity living in the open world.
This may take several years, which is not at all serious, since we
are working on the long term.
* We have chosen the name Sancti Brunonis Pauperes Christi
Laici Contemplativi (SBPCLC) (Saint Bruno Poors of
Christ Lay Contemplatives)
with a 33-day period
of spiritual preparation.