What is a monastery? A monastery is not so much a place set apart for monks and nuns as it is a place set apart (period). It is also a place to learn the value of powerlessness and a place to learn that time is not ours, but God's...Certain vocations offer the same kind of opportunity for contemplation. They too provide a desert for reflection.
For example, the mother who stays home with small children experiences a very real withdrawal from the world. Her existence is definitely monastic. Her tasks and preoccupations remove her from the centres of power and social importance. And she feels it. Moreover her sustained contact with young children (the mildest of the mild) gives her a privileged opportunity to be in harmony with the mild, that is, to attune herself to the powerlessness rather than to the powerful.
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3 comments:
I listened to a series of recorded lectures that Thomas Merton gave to his students at the monastery. In once discussion a student pointed out that many of the practices they were tempted to pride themselves on - the lack of sleep especially - were just the average life of the mother of a newborn.
In complete agreement about Domestic Monastery and other ways and styles of being monastic or explores the spiritual dimension of one's life. I've been a solitary or hermit for more than 35 years and have a Yahoo list for monastic subjects, traditional and modern experiemnets at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/monasterion
Best wishes to all he explore any form of spiritual living.
John
I think I read this article some time ago and it really resonated. I think I even blogged about it at the time. It's nice to revisit and see it from a slightly different perspective now.
I'm still working on the dropping everything immediately part. One thing I've added recently is setting my computer to chime on the hours and quarter hours, like a monastery bell. Even though the article makes the point that our children often perform the same service, it also reminds me to stop and pray. I've been pausing to say the Angelus much more often now that I hear 12 bongs at noon, for example.
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