In the last days together we have said that our monastery is a place where we seek God alone, together! . . . where we share a common goal and can encourage one another through the hard work of running to win . . . and where we keep and sharpen a corporate vision, that of walking with God and celebrating His glories and His nearness together, always.
Today we must bolt these three together with the pegs that will keep us monastic in the truest, best way: today we remember that it is for freedom that we have been set free, and that, like Jesus, it is for the joy set before us that we endure.
We aren’t here for the joys of the monastery. Rather, we pursue a cloistered devotional life because we are in deliberate pursuit of the God we love. Jesus tells us that the love He has for the Father will be in us, and that the very love the Father has for Him will be ours, too! That’s a lot of love! When we have tasted this kind of deep, penetrating goodness, we must have a steady diet of the love of God!
Our monasticism is our way of living the non-option. Together we are worshiping, hearing, trusting, obeying, enjoying, petitioning, and knowing the God Who lets us – invites us! – into the closest kind of relationship. Invited, we are going to show up!
Lonely? Yes, compared with lives ever and mindlessly full of people and events, games and diversions, but NO!, not even slightly lonely when we begin to experience the friendship of God. Never alone! Never dull or bored or ineffectual or apathetic, never without wisdom, never without vision, never perishing … never “there” when God is “here,” and why? Because when boredom and confusion threaten to set in, we run, we remember and put our training into practice. This is Cor Unum; it is the monastery of the heart. We ring the bells and we lead the worship. All together, with saints all over the world, we make those solitary choices to run and win. We train for overcoming, alone and never alone.
Benedicite, dear Sisters! Benedicite, amen!
Window on the World
Abbatial Photo
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