Over the Water

Peter spoke to the phantasm on the water, and said, "Lord if it be you, bid me come to you over the water." And Jesus said, "Come." Matthew 14:28

Can you picture it? Nighttime on the Sea of Galilee. A strong wind tosses a fishing craft up and down on the waves. Out on the misty water, an image yet more terrifying than the waves: A man walking on the sea! "Take courage," the figure says, "it is I." From the boat, the bold one speaks: "Lord, if it be you, bid me come to you over the water." And Jesus says, "Come." In many ways this story is a perfect allegory of the life of George of St. Benedict's Farm, for in answering his call to be a monk, and then 'his call within a call': to found a monastery, he felt very much like he was being called to walk on water. So much so, he came within a hair's breath of naming St. Benedict's Farm, St. Peter on the Water. For one reason or another, throughout his life, from birth to death, George often felt called "to go it alone"... in the dark, on the water. What better training could one want, really, for becoming a monk -- "one alone with God"!?

An Unnamed Child

The very circumstances of his birth, it seems, prepared George to "go it alone." The third son of busy, affluent parents, his birth Oct. 11, 1928, was no big deal. This was made plain to him much later in life when he obtained a copy of his birth certificate. It read simply: "An unnamed child of Gaius and Mary Gannon"! Another surprise: The certificate affirmed the birth was on Oct. 11, a day after the family was accustomed to celebrating it! Thinking it was an exact week from her birthday, his mother had been sure all those years that her third son had been born on Oct. 10th. George always smiled as he remembered these small signs of his inauspicious beginnings. But his training in not taking himself too seriously was only just beginning.

Chip off the Old Block

Emotionally, life requires most teenagers to "walk on water." Of all our life-stages, perhaps this one is the most perilous. For George, adolescent wind and waves got real bad in a conflict with his parents at age 17. It all grew out of dashed expectations! Of the four Gannon sons, George was considered the most like his father, quick-witted, able to think and speak on his feet, great with the come-back. In those days, Gaius Gannon had a reputation as one of the best trial lawyers in Texas. Like most parents, he dreamt of George following in his footsteps. To begin his college training, then, George was sent to the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Mom & Dad had no idea of the impending storm.

Music or Law?

Away from home for the first time, in a harsher climate and an unfamiliar culture, George grew more and more discontent as his first year of study progressed. He had found the most solace in continuing to play & study the trumpet. One day, after much brooding, he called his parents, announcing he wanted to leave school and pursue a career in music. Stunned and angered, his father replied, "OK, if that's the way you want it, you can make this decision, but remember this, from here on out, you are on your own." And so, at the end of the school term, George returned home, but emotionally, he felt himself being shoved out. But reasoning he had brought the separation on himself, he resolved to accept the new terms and go on from there.

The University of Texas

The aspiring musician was even prepared to pay rent while in the family home, but his mother wouldn't allow it. So wayward George began to study music, hoping to perfect the art of playing the very fine trumpet he owned. After a year in music school, however, he made up his mind that no matter how hard he studied and played he would never be anything but a mediocre musician! Bowing to "common sense," he enrolled at the University of Texas, where he was accepted at Sigma Chi and joined the U. of Texas Marching Band. For reasons unknown -- (it couldn't have been the studies were too hard) -- after only a year at the University of Texas, George came back to the Gannon household. It wasn't long before he was working part time in his father's law office & part time in the county clerk's office. He also enrolled in Night School -- at the South Texas School of Law! Perhaps Gaius Gannon's dream would yet come true.

Another Call

Alas, poor Gaius. George's religious vocation was beginning to germinate. First, he got interested in manual labor... in the small shop his brother Jack had built up in the back of the Gannon Houston home. At the same time he began reading Thomas Merton, the ex-French journalist, Trappist monk and author. One book of Merton's, The Waters of Siloe, made a very deep impression on George. In it Merton looks backwards with nostalgia at the rich simplicity and prayerful vigor of the medieval Cistercian monks. Merton's Trappist (Cistercian) Order had become quite top heavy in the 20th century, having picked up more and more rules, prayers and protocol as the centuries rolled on. Through prayer and counsel, George decided he was being called by God to be a monk. He was the first to admit it sounded crazy, and he really wondered if could cut it. So he agreed with himself to put the matter off until he finished law school. If the itch persisted, he told himself, then it would be time to give it a try. Having finished Law School at the top of his class, passed the bar, and been offered a lucrative job, George bowed to the itch and prayed: "Lord, if it be you, bid me come to you over the water." And the Lord said, "Come."

The Trappists

Again, to the consternation of Gaius Goddard Gannon, in July of 1951, his third son packed his bags for Our Lady of the Holy Ghost Abbey, Conyers, Georgia. Gaius could only shake his head and watch his shining protege walked away from the Law again. George, meanwhile, truly felt he was leaving the safety of the boat and stepping out on some very big waves. Besides the idea just being silly on the face of it, George didn't like vegetables; Trappists ate mostly vegetables, no meat! He was crazy about movies; he figured he'd never see another. He was "a talker"; at that time (in the 1950's), the Trappists used sign language to communicate. Speaking was permitted in classes and conferences -- between monk and abbot, novice master, doctor and the like... and on the few occasions family were permitted to visit. Otherwise, even "signing" was discouraged, except when necessary. But these were only a few of the hardships of Trappist life. For one thing, in their full and ample habits, (the community's uniform), the hot Georgia summers left George (and his comrades) full of prickly heat. For someone used to air-conditioned homes, autos and offices, this was a heavy cross. The whole Trappist community, one way or another, was walking on water. And George constantly was impressed and nourished by the courage, good will and love of these men for one another. But, for the young Trappist novice, even greater trials were looming on the horizon.