monasticism and the real world
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Monasticism and the Real WorldBy Br. Christopher Start
truthandcharity.net
It seems the predominant image of a monk in the broader culture is a
miserable, meek, suppressed, repressed, and oppressed sap whose sole
preoccupation is trying to convince God to save his soul (or attempt to save his
own). Perhaps he says nice or wise things to spiritual seekers. At any rate, I
bet most people would consider monastic life joyless, frustrating, empty: a vain
attempt to escape the real world.
On the one hand, I could assert the perception is 98% misunderstanding and
the remaining fraction a possible insight into some monks lives. But, Ive not
much interest in wasting a blog post on the defensive. Rather, what is it the
monastic is doing behind his cloister and what is the real world from which he is
accused of fleeing?
To answer the first question requires I deal with the latter first. Scripture and
Mother Church are crystal clear on the matter: Now this is eternal life. that
they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus
Christ, (Jn 17:3). God created us to know, to love, and to serve him, and so
to come to paradise, (CCC 1721). The point of existence is union with God.
That begins in this life, it is not some celestial extra given to some soul which
arrives in heaven. Nor is it some warm and fluffy extra to this life: it is the
whole point of this world.
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All vocations find their meaning and purpose as a path of union with God.
Notice, vocation is single, marriage, consecrated life (religious life), and holy
orders. Vocation is not your career, wealth, possession, social status, or
anything else the world posits as essential (ah, here is a useful connotation of
world, to which I intend to return). The call to holiness is universal (cf Lumen
Gentium 5).
As for the monastic calling, I shall let St Benedict, patriarch of western
monasticism, speak:
Listen carefully, my son, to the masters instructions, and attend them with the
ear of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it and
faithfully put it into practice. The labor of obedience will bring you back to him
from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience. This message of
mine is for you then, if you are ready to give up your own will, once and for all,
and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the
true King, Christ the Lord.
(Rule of St Benedict, Prologue 1-3)
What is the monk doing with his life? He is putting first things first: seeking
Christ. My willfulness, my pride, my sins have estranged me from God. The
world from which he flees is the world which suggests mans happiness can be
found in this life, be it power, pleasure, or money. The Lord, in Hisgraciousness, calls the monk to seek Him in a focused, simple life.
As with all things Good, such a life is diffusive, that is, it sweeps up others with
his own. St Therese of Lisieux is the paradigmatic example of what I mean
here: the patroness of missionaries is a cloistered Carmalite who spent virtually
all of her 24 years on this earth in one small village. Yet, her prayers and
writings have swept countless souls up into the paths of holiness. For much the
same reason, St Benedict is the patron of Europe. A life devoted to the true,
good, and beautiful has a multiplicative (or perhaps exponential) effect for the
good on the world around it; even be it unseen, even be it behind the cloister.
However, as great and wonderful as that may be, it is ancillary. The beauty of
Therese and Benedict is a soul on fire for Jesus, for the Kingdom.
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So, I must ask you: are you seeking the True, the Good, and the Beautiful or
are you trying to escape the real world?
Br. Christopher is a junior monk ofSt Benedicts Abbey, Kansas. Born and raised a Michigander,
his best answer to how he ended up in Middle America is providence the rest is happenstance.