56. First Things

I’ve never had much enthusiasm for paper work.  I was trained in Theology and the Ancient Texts during my basic religious preparation, of course, but never worked in that specialty until I landed here, where I was at first assigned to run a copy machine and to retype notes.   Brother Jeanne D'Arc from Namibia was on loan to us as our abbot for a year,  before we elected Brother Saint Florian of Linz (Sparky) to the office.  Brother D’Arc, a.k.a. Lord Vader,  was evidently on an Abbatial Executive Fast Track.  He joined the order and immediately was assigned as our abbot.  Vader understood life at the bottom of the heap, too,  and after he'd had a few months to settle in I spoke to him about leading a life for Christ that might include more than unplugging toilets and running the copier.

“You have complete freedom here to choose your pursuits,” he said.

“But what would you like me to do?”  I asked.  “I don’t have a request from a scholar.”

“Gee, Ace, that’s up to you.  Why not propose work that would be generally useful to the field? ”

“C’mon, Vader,”  I said, “ I haven’t the slightest idea what to propose.”

“Ask around,” he said, “maybe one of the guys will give you an idea that’s been running around in his head.”

“OK, Vader, I’m asking you,”  I said.  “So, by the way, do you have a scholarly pursuit I can help you with?”

Vader laughed while at the same time looking a little sheepish. 

“This time last year I was a high roller on Wall Street,” he said.  And then he turned and left the Pit.  I never understood how Affirmative Action got Vader from Wall Street to West Saugerties, but when he soon took his high-finance skills to Fermoy I wasn't surprised.  I heard later he didn't last long in Ireland, soon departing for the Far East.

Harpo had an idea and it was to cross reference all the travels of Peter and Paul around Asia Minor mentioned in the New Testament and the writings of the early Gnostics and Desert Fathers.

“Why?”  I asked him.

“Who knows?” he said, “you might discover some trend, or some insight will come out of it.”

“Like what?”  I persisted.

“How the hell should I know?” he said.  “It’s just a hunch.”

The work was a terrific learning experience and we did extract some ideas from it that caused us to propose projects to a scholar in Boston who for all I know is still considering it. 

Of course, we don't have ancient manuscripts here on the mountain.  But publishing houses have reproduced many of the old tomes  into modern photographic "books" that are actually loose leaf pages printed with the manuscripts at their original size or larger.  A huge portion of our endowment money over the years went toward the purchase of these copies; they’re very expensive but are the necessary tools of our trade.  (How we wish now we had not spent so much!) Add to our library all of the modern books of scholarship written by various authorities, plus the indexed notes of the monks that came before us, plus our own work.  You can see why the materials currently in use fill the walls of the Pit.  Notes and copies of work we’ve sent off to the scholars are stored in most of the rooms on the second floor of the Chapter House, except our few small sleeping rooms behind the old Trophy Room.  I’ve never understood why we bother to keep the copies, since they certainly must be safeguarded at the Universities.  Pride may be the only reason.

I sometimes walk through the Pit or sit in the Scriptorium and feel the symposiac luxury of all the knowledge that surrounds me.  To think that through our reasoning power we humans can reconstruct the story of our early Church and hopefully add a tiny dimension to the Gospel Story!  It’s enough to make me to want to rebuild the Tower of Babel all over again.

"We'll be right up, God!  We can help!"  

CLICK: Here’s the Star Wars Cantina Song in honor of Vader.  Haha!  If he were still with us, he would enjoy it!