Monk?

Trappist monks in Choir

At the heart of the Christian life is a profound paradox, that true freedom is attained through the act, carried out over the span of a whole lifetime, of surrender. This idea is alien today in a culture that prizes the false concept of freedom as individual choice, over and above all other considerations. But the Christian seeks true freedom, found in love, acquired only through surrender to the Lordship of Christ.

So what of the monk? The monk is simply a Christian called to Christ’s freedom within the monastic way. For him this is where he will be most truly free. He sublimates his egoistic pursuits under the mantle of the Rule, the vows, and the particular practices of his monastery, and with them chips away at his resistances to complete surrender. But here there is a paradox, for as time passes he realizes his chipping away is futile, and he discovers, finally, his full dependence upon his loving Saviour. Freedom is not easily won. In fact it is a gift. Still, the struggle is necessary because only through it does the monk realize his utter dependence, the territory where freedom resides.

The very first word of the Rule attests to the centrality of surrender in the monk’s life: “Listen”. Let’s pray for all the monks and nuns living in monasteries throughout the world that they remain faithful to the call to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, true model of surrender to the call to love. And let’s pray also that more young people hear the call to follow Him in the monastic way of liberation.

Listen carefully, my son, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is the 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. Prologue, Rule of Saint Benedict