Let’s assume that God still calls men and women to the monastic life. There is no way to prove it in either the negative of the positive, because God isn’t speaking, at least not in any way we can measure, quantify, weigh and put in the balance. There’s nothing to tally up for either argument. We’re left to our own beliefs, and our own uncertainties.
But let’s assume, despite all the anecdotal evidence to the contrary, that God still invites some to live their lives out as monks. What, then, is going on? Why are so few responding, and of them, so few staying?
I believe it takes an exceptional composite of elements from psychological to experiential to come together for someone to enter and persevere in a monastery, more so today than at any other time in Christian monastic history. Still, the fulcrum for all is faith, deep, not looking back faith. Without it no combination of elements, no mater how impressive they may be from a human perspective, will suffice for a monastic vocation to, dare I use the word, “succeed”. By succeed I mean only that the call is heard deep within, responded to in generosity, and lived out perseveringly in even greater generosity. Surrender, after all, is the monk’s way to heaven, the only “success” that matters to him.
I am convinced there are young people, even middle aged people, who have had intimations, inklings that something more is required of them personally, and have had thoughts, however fleeting, that perhaps monastic life… What holds you back? What do you fear? Perhaps your trepidation is justified, after all what do you really know about such a distinctive way of life? Hooded figures, chanting in the night, the overarching silence, obedience, hiddenness, yes, perhaps there is something to be anxious about. Oh, the ego, the jealous doorman!
If I were counseling you I would counsel respect for this guardian at the gate, but I would also counsel you to have him open the door for you so you can go have a look around. After all, how else will you ever know?
6 Responses to “Lost invitation?”
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February 13th, 2006 at 5:56 am
Good post. Thought-provoking as well. Like you, I wonder why more people aren’t responding in greater numbers. It certainly goes against our culture in the US. So much so that monks are sometimes viewed as abnormal or strange because they’ve chosen to give their lives to prayer, solitude, service, etc. I sometimes wonder if we aren’t coming into a time where more people may become monks though. Certainly, monastic-type communities are springing up around the US, similar to John Michael Talbot’s community.
I offer no solutions only questions. Peace.
February 14th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
bhsher,
I do hope you’re right. Faith is the key; from there all things are possible. Take care.
Tim
February 15th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
i may be one of the men your are writing about. i’m a cradle catholic, but it has been only in the last 18 - 24 months that my faith life seems to have grown. (regular sunday mass attendance, etc. more out of a sense of obligation, duty and a desire not to disappoint my folks) i am beginning to realize I don’t know what I don’t know about my faith. Plus my job situation feels very tenuous. I wonder if consideration of a monastic life isn’t simply a “fall back” position. I want to commit to whatever vocation for the right reasons.
February 16th, 2006 at 8:50 am
I think God quite often uses tenuous situations that make us feel uncomfortable to call us to growth. The growth may be to consider a monastic vocation, or it may be something simpler. If, however, it seems like you ought to be considering a monastic vocation, I’d say you ought to begin to look into it. Talk with your pastor, a vocation director, or a spiritual director regularly so you can learn how to grow in prayer, and discover just what’s going on in your heart.
Don’t be afraid that being open to this possibility locks you into a path to becoming a monk. You may find that God uses an interest in monastic life to lead you to someting else he has planned for you. God might be asking you to develop your relationship with him through a Benedictine spirituality. He might want you to discover another very different vocational possibility by this route. Or he might want you to simply to build a relationship with a monastic community. It might seem like a convoluted way to go about accomplishing these things, but if that’s where God leads you, remember, his ways are not our ways.
It’s good to be aware of the mixed motives we all have, but I wouldn’t let that prevent you from starting the process if you feel a pull in your heart. It might sound simplistic, but I think that if God doesn’t want you to be a monk, even if you end up entering a novitiate, you won’t become a monk in the end. But that doesn’t mean you’ve failed him, since, after all, he led you down that road in the first place. You’ll have a stronger faith for being open to the possibility, whether you simply discuss it with your pastor for a while and feel led to something else, or you wind up entering and discover it isn’t where God wants you. And just maybe, you’ll go through the discernment process, enter a monastery and stay for life. But in any case, you’ll never know unless you take Mary’s holy example and say “Yes” to faith in spite of your very human uncertainty and lack of understanding.
That’s my two cents worth, I hope it helps.
PAX
February 17th, 2006 at 11:16 am
When I was young (born 1940) our parishes had wonderful devotional services - the three hours on Good Friday - Stations of the Cross on Fridays during Lent - Holy Hours - Novinas. These devotions were very well attended - I remember Good Friday devotions with crowds filling the church to overflowing! Seems to me that those devotions were a widely experienced introduction to deeper prayer and possibly faint clues about what monastic life might be like. Haven’t seen devotions like those for years. Could this be a reason that monastic life seems so far removed from young people’s experience?
February 23rd, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Thank you for this site. Catholic monasteries have meant much to me over the years.
I would disagree with those who chastise society as a means of avoiding facing the faults & limitations of the institutional church. We need to take the beam from our own eye first. If the Church were what its triumphalist advocates say, then the gates would have to be widened to admit all those thronging to get in.
There are also simply more opportunities today in the larger US society than there were in the pre-Vatican II church, which, & not any increased wickedness of the modern secular world, also explains much of the decline of the institutional church.
As one who lives with Bipolar Disorder i have met with consistent rejection/ostracism from the Catholic clergy & i have no involvement with the organized church as a result (i do know some nice & compassionate layfolks at an online Franciscan group).
It might help monasticism if it were based less on dogma & academics & more on the sincerity of the inner quest, as it once was (& to some extent still is in some Buddhist monastic orders). Most of the Apostles could have qualified neither as priests nor monks.
A life based more on the essence of the monastic calling might appeal to more people, since today sincerity & directness are of greater moment than medieval hierarchy, legalism, & convention for its own sake.
To sum up, as regards Catholic monastic life (& the church in general) i feel attracted but ultimately excluded & rejected, as was the leper by the Pharisees. I will continue to appreciate it in my own way, without any special regard for the strictures coming from those who claim to lay down the law for the Catholic people.