Night Office | The Walrus

"He had a history of chat: twenty-five years a garrulous Jesuit before his leap to Benedict and the cheese-maker monks, Oka's most unsilent man."

"An abbot pitied all the pent-up words, sent him to this daughter-house as greeter to talk at will, just not to his chanting brothers."

"Was it 3 a.m. he knocked at my door, calling me to the night office? He saw I would not make it and told me to sleep on. The next day he asked his practised question, "Did you find what you came for?""

He spent twenty-five years as a garrulous Jesuit before joining the Benedictine cheese-maker monks at Oka. He carried a torrent of words and nearly burst from pent-up talk. An abbot, pitying the situation, assigned him to a daughter-house as greeter so he could talk at will while sparing his chanting brothers. He performed the greeter's role at night, knocking on doors and calling the community to the night office. He recognized when others could not rise and told them to sleep on. The next day he asked his practiced question, "Did you find what you came for?"

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