Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Josep Martinez-Cubero OHC
The Feast of James Otis Sargent Huntington OHC, Founder, November 25, 2023
Click here for an audio of the sermon
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked any thing.
A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat. ~George Herbert
This poem by 17th century English poet George Herbert is one of my favorites because to me, it most beautifully and clearly characterizes the intimate mystical relationship God so desperately desires with us. The scene is a banquet, a feast, a celebration of life, joy, freedom and belonging to which each of us is intimately invited. But we hold back, afraid of going in. It is Love who invites us, Love with capital L, that is, because love is what is most essentially true of God. The invitation is profoundly personal. It is to me, as I am, unconditionally. It is to you, as you are, unconditionally.
One of the great mystics of our Order, Fr. Whittemore, described Religious Life as a “love affair”. Like Jeremiah, we have heard in our hearts what Fr. Whittemore called “the whispering of the perfect lover”: “O LORD, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and I have prevailed”.
Becoming a Religious begins with the experience of what, theologically, is called a “vocation” or call to the life. It is exemplified by biblical stories such as the one from the Book of Genesis we just heard. God calls Abram, a wealthy man from a great patriarchal lineage, to leave the security of everything he knew and loved, and to follow God’s guidance and promise. In the Holy Scriptures God also calls Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, the Virgin Mary, Paul, and many others. In the Religious tradition God has called Antony, Benedict, Francis, Clare and many others, including our Father Founder, James Otis Sargent Huntington.
In the post-modern world, this call is still heard as a convergence of interior factors such as attraction, desires, and even awareness of personal limitations, with exterior factors such as people we admire, a lifestyle that seems attractive to us, or even opportunity presenting itself. God works with everything and transforms it into something new. Those of us who remain in Religious Life know that the other motivations that were there all along, perhaps less clear, but ultimately, more powerful, begin to surface: love for Christ, a desire for union with God in prayer, zeal to proclaim the Gospel, and desire to be part of a community centered on the spiritual life and committed to looking for the riches of God as it depends less on the riches of the world.
Sister Sandra Schneiders describes Religious Life as a “prophetic lifeform in the Church whose prophetic character is rooted in and derives from the celibate solitude that unites contemplative immediacy to God and solidarity with the marginalized of society and expresses itself in the vows that address to the world the challenge of the Reign of God”. Religious Life is a mystery but requires no justification to those who embrace it and can provide no defense to those who challenge it. It was to this mystery that James Otis Sargent Huntington was called. We are here today because Love bade him welcome, and he sat and ate. He stayed. Like Abram, he heard the call of God and walked away from an upper-class lifestyle to live as a monk at a time when monks were held in derision by many in the Episcopal Church.
The founding of what came to be the Order of the Holy Cross was born out of a conversation between Father Huntington and Father Robert Stockton Dod. It was Father Dod who led Father Huntington and Father James Cameron, who joined them soon after, in the formation of community life beginning in the autumn of 1881. But both Dod, and Cameron left within the next two years. Father Huntington chose to stay the course, and that’s why we are here today. He persevered after both his companions had left. He persevered through what must have seemed like a failure. He was not the more dominant character of the three, but the stronger. As Br. Adam McCoy states in his history of our Order: “It is in this sense that Fr. Huntington became Father Founder: not that he had the founding vision, but that he had the founding strength to remain faithful, and his faithfulness raised up a mighty work.”
His decision was undoubtedly fueled by his conviction that the virtues of monastic life- humility, obedience, love- could serve as an example for all Christian life. The distinction lies in that, in monastic life the individual relinquishes independence in order to become part of a unified body, guided by the Holy Spirit. In his letter to the Galatians, Saint Paul gives us an account of some traits that characterize a Spirit-led community. It begins with the understanding that life according to the Spirit is not something that can simply be structured according to human expectations. It is a counter-cultural orientation of the heart especially in western culture, which places a great deal of emphasis on independence and self-sufficiency.
On the Vow of Obedience in his Rule for the Order, Father Huntington wrote: “We are to die to our isolation and separateness as individuals, that we may live in the energies of a mystical body wherein the life is one, and that the life of Jesus, our Head. The community is thus our means of entrance into union with our ascended Lord.” So, for Father Huntington, monastic life is characterized by the interdependence of its members. That means that we support one another in times of need, encourage each other to flourish, and are even willing to challenge one another when necessary. Our common welfare depends on the spiritual health of each member. There is no room in a Spirit-led community for domination, manipulation, bullying, controlling others, competition which says that you must lose so that I can win, resentment, envy, or revenge. On the other hand, Saint Paul tells us that spiritual health is characterized by love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We all have a stake in helping one another achieve these fruits of the Spirit and to walk faithfully in Jesus’ way.
This was Father Huntington’s vision for the monastic life, a vision that serves as an example to the entire human enterprise of what is possible when we accept Love’s welcome. A community of monks devoted to imitating the crucified Christ who bore the cross for love of the world. A community that keeps its vision focused on Jesus and sees the depth of God's forgiveness, grace and love. A community that keeps its vision focused on Jesus as the ultimate example of a life of service and sacrifice that reflects the Reign of God here on earth.
It was this vision which carried Father Huntington, who in his rule for our Order wrote that “love must act as light must shine and fire must burn.” It was this love that carried him through a life full of struggles: periods of depression, burnout, temptations to escape, and disappointments. Yet, his faith never seemed to have wavered. He stayed the course. He followed the path. Love bade him welcome, and James Huntington did love. Indeed, at his deathbed, he made sure that the message to his brothers was that he wanted them to have joy, and that he loved them. He seems to have been the embodiment of the imperative of Saint John’s Gospel, that it is by our love for one another that we will be known as followers of Jesus.
Blessed James Huntington, intercede for us. ¡Que así sea, en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo! ~Amen+
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