The world,
and a large part of the Christian world for that matter, lives with a faulty
impression of monks, sisters, and monasticism in general.
The words seem to
somehow conjure up images of suffering, deprivation, sour dourness, and strict
punishments for breaking the rules.
Hollywood,
along with a lot of well-intentioned but erroneous interpretation by
misinformed Christians, has done an excellent job in creating these false
impressions.
I, for one,
lived with and assimilated these false impressions into my own conception of
things monastic. My Protestant background presented nothing positive to
encourage me to consider otherwise. I was, as a Protestant minister, steeped in
the theologies and doctrines of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th
Century and in the subsequent divisional reformations that further subdivided
the Protestant movement into what we see of it in these modern times.
The several
years that represent the conclusion of the 20th and the beginning of
the 21st Centuries were, for me, intense crisis years.
I think of those
years as a personal season of death and resurrection – a long and difficult
season that involved voluntarily separating myself from all that I had
previously known, including people. No one that I had previously known over the
course of the 45 years that represented my life at the time, with the exception
of my daughter and mother, knew where I was at or how to contact me. It was
during this personal season of death and resurrection – nearly two decades ago
– that I began discovering the wealth of spiritual health available in the
Catholic Church and within the various expressions of monasticism.
All of us
human creatures are on a journey through life. An inherent part of this
journey, as a result of sin, is that we are all born to die.[1]
The reality that death awaits should behoove every human creature to
investigate what awaits beyond the door that death opens.
Every
journey through life is replete with challenging obstacles. Endeavoring to live
a genuine Christian life – pursuing Christlikeness – sets us up for a lot of
conflict, not only from the world around us but also within the world of our own
self.
Benedictine
spirituality is a course in dressing ourselves in Christlikeness. The course
recognizes that the greatest battle for Christlikeness is on the battleground
of self.[2]
At times I am on the battle front. At times I am recovering in the infirmary.
God uses the
crises in our lives to bring us to the end of ourselves. When we reach the end
of ourselves, we discover our need to let go of our cherished preconceived
notions and preferences.[3]
The tower of the “I” that I make of myself is demolished. I can, if I choose, reclaim
it and reassemble it. But why would I want to?
Hollywood
and the images painted by misinformed others of monks, sisters, and
monasticism?
The happiest
and most joyful souls I have ever had the pleasure of meeting happen to reside
in monasteries.
[Photo –
Father Seamus on my left and one of the brothers on my right at The Abbey of
Gethsemani. June 2007.]
[1]
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1
Corinthians 15:22
[2]
“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.” RB Prologue 3
[3] “I
have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me.” Galatians 2:20
No comments:
Post a Comment