Let’s imagine today that we were considering vocations at several diverse monasteries. We are holding the brochures in our hands. (These are post-modern monasteries with ad agencies producing tri-fold glossies!)
One reads, “Join the Brothers and Sisters of Shady Lane Cloister. Find your place among our silent assembly. Hear the wind in the trees; smell the flowers in season; no one will speak to you for hours on end . . . come commune with God and with nature.”
Another boasts, “Our community rises at 3:30 a.m. - we pray more before sunrise than others do all day long! Our devotional schedule is rigid and demanding . . . enter the portals of Divine Obedience, where you will know you are a real monastic!”
A third claims, “For the super-spirituality you seek, make your application to Meditative Moments Monastery; here you will learn to think monastically, to read and pray monastically, and to center your mind upon things holy to the exclusion of painful loves and sorrows.”
Which would you choose? There is a fourth brochure . . . “We in Cor Unum Abbey practice joy in our journey into the image of Jesus Christ. In silence and singing, in prayer and praise, our overriding purpose is to find the Father’s rejoicing and ourselves to “Rejoice always! . . . to be anxious for nothing . . . in everything giving thanks!”
Which would be the easiest choice for you? Which the most fulfilling? Which the most likely to rejoice the heart of God?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comments and corrections are welcome in Cor Unum Abbey . . .