Monastic Wisdom
2 primary works
Book 18
Both a reflection and a practical guidebook on spiritual accompaniment, or direction, Light for My Path does not sidestep such delicate issues as: the relationship between authority and spiritual direction, how to discern the vocation of a person with a homosexual orientation, and the presence of delusions along the spiritual journey. Dom Bernardo Olivera also makes a distinction between spiritual direction and sacramental confession, and explores the relationship between authority and therapy, while showing the complementarities for each. Through repeated and balanced references to tradition, the teaching of the magisterium, and psychology, readers will realize how grace meets people in their humanity.
Dom Bernardo Olivera was born in Argentina in 1943. He entered the Trappist Abbey of Azul after his university studies and completed his theological studies at the Catholic University of Argentina and in Rome. Olivera had been master of novices and abbot of his community before being elected Abbot General of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) in 1990, a position he held until his resignation in 2008.
Book 29
The Sun at Midnight offers a splendid, easily accessible summary of mystical theology in the Cistercian school. Bernardo Olivera, a master of both the theology and the practice of the spiritual life, analyzes this tradition first in its rich human, biblical, and doctrinal connotations, and then according to its most typical expressions as they are lived among Cistercian mystics, with reference also to other Christian men and women. Olivera explores the rich testimony of the monks of the twelfth century as well as the lesser-known nuns and holy women of the thirteenth century.
Throughout the book, we discover Olivera's fundamental thesis: Personal mystical experience is not only the key to an adequate renewal of monastic life today but also-and above all-the foundation, the originating point, of any and all religion or religious tradition. Mystical experience is, in particular, the origin of Christianity and its rich spiritual tradition.