'watchmen Of The Night' ( Benedictine Abbey At Le Barroux) Ful

[EJames2]

english subs
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alj4htzde8A"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alj4htzde8A[/url]

[TheresaThoma]

Absolutely beautiful!

[Indwelling Trinity]

Oh My... This is so very beautiful! Thank You for posting it !

[Maximilianus]

tonsures

mad crazy respect.

[maximillion]

Watched the whole thing. Fascinating and wonderful. Praise be to God for such lives.

[marigold]

Fascinating. There are many echoes of the Orthodox Church here.

[Amy G.]

For any women interested in a traditional Benedictine life, these monks have a "sister" convent very close by to their monastery - [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCyTSTBD8YY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCyTSTBD8YY[/url] - I'm sure many of you have already heard them sing!
I stayed with the nuns during Holy Week last year, and it was a beautiful experience. They have a guest house, but also welcome discerners into the cloister in order to experience their life. They have 2 American nuns there, too!

[inperpetuity]

What is there not to like? I wonder if they require fluent French?

[Amy G.]

Inperpetuity,

Someone entering the monastery or convent at Le Barroux would eventually have to learn French - for formation, direction, recreation, and study/reading (the nuns - and I'm sure the monks too - have an extensive library in the cloister - even a 'travel' section, which I found a bit comical )!

Even so, the monks and nuns do spend much of the day in silence, using sign language if they need to communicate. Also, the liturgy is in Latin (the hours and Mass). But French is a beautiful language, and easy to pick up if you're in a situation of full immersion. I lived in France for a year to study philosophy, and between the classes being in French and my appartment-mates only speaking French, the language came quickly (and I'm not the type who has been gifted with a facility for languages!) The two American nuns at Le Barroux said that it is a sacrifice to be so far away from home, but also a special calling. They both seemed so happy! One told me on her first visit to the convent she knew she was home - even though it was half-way across the world!

Prayers for your discernment!

Edited February 2, 2012 by Amy G.

[HopefulBride]

I've watched this movie like twice already and I looooooooove it.

"one can't answer a vocation alone" This is so true

[HopefulBride]

gasp, they have a sister community!!!!!!!!!!

[brandelynmarie]

I love VS on PM.

[Amy G.]

[url="http://en.gloria.tv/?media=106317"][color=#0f72da]http://en.gloria.tv/?media=106317[/color][/url]

In case anyone is interested - this is an interview with the Abbot of Le Barroux, who is also briefly interviewed in Watchmen of the Night. No subtitles, but the translation below (from 11-16min into the video) covers his own vocation story as well as some of his thoughts on the meaning of contemplative life.


[b]Abbot: Around the age of 17-18 years old I began to feel the call, but I responded when I was 24. [/b]

Interviewer: Was this call specifically to the monastic life?

[b]A: No, not at all. It was a call to give myself to the Lord. God wanted me for Himself. He wouldn't even let me pray peacefully - He was always there, asking me again if I had finally reached a decision! And when it came time that I must decide, I searched for something that was at the same time traditional and also in communion with Rome. The only place like this that I knew of at the time (this was in 1991) was Le Barroux. So I went to see. And when I saw the steeple of the monastery above the treetops as I approached, I said to myself - yes, this is it, it's there. [/b]

I: Before you even arrived?

[b]A: Before I even arrived. And not even knowing too much about monastic life. [/b]

I: You had this certitude, even knowing that you would spend the[i] rest of your life[/i] there?

[b]A: It wasn't exactly that, no. It was that the Lord was waiting for me there. That was the question. [/b]

I: So this commitment, this vocation, this monastic life, is this something that we find at the origins of Christianity? Is it something that Christ wanted?

[b]A: Christ wanted this, since He was the first consecrated person - He lived a consecrated life. Our monastic life is about following Christ. We try to follow Him, to take the same path that our Lord has taken in a certain aspect of His life, and maybe even the most profound aspect. Many tell me this - and it is the great objection - In fact it was a woman I met who said this to me: "Do not say that you follow Christ the closest, because Christ never closed himself up in a monastery! He went out into the streets, He preached, He evangelized, He healed the sick, He multiplied the loaves...He never locked himself up."[/b]

I: Yes, but that's the feeling you get (when you look at the monastic life)!

[b]A: This is a total unfamiliarity with our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ,[i] from all eternity[/i], is turned towards the Father. It's the Prologue of St. John's Gospel: In principio erat Verbum - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Lord, the second person of the Trinity, turned towards the Father. He also, for 30 years, experienced a hidden life in Nazareth. And during His whole public life, again and again He searched for solitude in order to pray. There is a magnificent episode of this - after the execution of St. John the Baptist, our Lord Jesus Christ crossed the lake and found a crowd, so He multiplied the loaves and taught. Then he sent everyone away - the Apostles left to cross the lake, and Christ sent the crowd away. And the scripture says: "He was there, it was the evening, He was alone." Our Lord searched for solitude. [/b]

I: But it wasn't a refusal of the world, as we can sometimes imagine (monastic life is)? Like an exile?

[b]A: (Monastic life) is not a refusal of the world. But there is something of an exile. Because we are not made for this earth. When our Lord went to the Temple and He was found by His parents at 12 years of age, He said 'I must be about my Father's business.' So another world exists, and Christ came to show us this other world - we are made for this other world. [/b]

I: We aren't made for this earth? Isn't it a danger for you (monks) to consider the people in the world just as poor mortals...

[b]A: We aren't thinking this at all when we enter the monastery. Truly, we are pulled strongly by God. It is God that attracts us - His absoluteness, His beauty, His transcendence. And in the measure that we approach God, we cannot forget the world. It's not possible. The heart is made larger. Saint Benedict said that by the measure that we advance in faith, the heart grows. So the heart grows to the dimensions of the world. So there is this dimension which is truly [i]apostolic[/i]. But there is also a true 'fleeing of the world' in the sense that the world does not satisfy us. We want something else, something superior... Saint Augustine has an extraordinary commentary on Psalm 54. In Ps. 54, it says "He will give me the wings of a dove to go into the desert." Augustine says, this is the monk who flees the world. The monk sees that in the world there is much horror and evil. He is afraid to lose his charity, he is afraid to lose his love of God. So, the monk asks for the wings of a dove make this flight into the desert. Augustine makes his point more precise - he says it is by the wings of a dove, not the wings of a raven. Because the dove, this is an animal associated with love, and the raven, it flees out of hatred... St. Therese of the Child Jesus, when she entered Carmel at fifteen years of age, said: "I enter to save souls. I enter to pray for priests."[/b]

[Queen'sDaughter]

[quote name='Amy G.' timestamp='1328380477' post='2380939']
[url="http://en.gloria.tv/?media=106317"][color=#0f72da]http://en.gloria.tv/?media=106317[/color][/url]

In case anyone is interested - this is an interview with the Abbot of Le Barroux, who is also briefly interviewed in Watchmen of the Night. No subtitles, but the translation below (from 11-16min into the video) covers his own vocation story as well as some of his thoughts on the meaning of contemplative life.


[b]Abbot: Around the age of 17-18 years old I began to feel the call, but I responded when I was 24. [/b]

Interviewer: Was this call specifically to the monastic life?

[b]A: No, not at all. It was a call to give myself to the Lord. God wanted me for Himself. He wouldn't even let me pray peacefully - He was always there, asking me again if I had finally reached a decision! And when it came time that I must decide, I searched for something that was at the same time traditional and also in communion with Rome. The only place like this that I knew of at the time (this was in 1991) was Le Barroux. So I went to see. And when I saw the steeple of the monastery above the treetops as I approached, I said to myself - yes, this is it, it's there. [/b]

I: Before you even arrived?

[b]A: Before I even arrived. And not even knowing too much about monastic life. [/b]

I: You had this certitude, even knowing that you would spend the[i] rest of your life[/i] there?

[b]A: It wasn't exactly that, no. It was that the Lord was waiting for me there. That was the question. [/b]

I: So this commitment, this vocation, this monastic life, is this something that we find at the origins of Christianity? Is it something that Christ wanted?

[b]A: Christ wanted this, since He was the first consecrated person - He lived a consecrated life. Our monastic life is about following Christ. We try to follow Him, to take the same path that our Lord has taken in a certain aspect of His life, and maybe even the most profound aspect. Many tell me this - and it is the great objection - In fact it was a woman I met who said this to me: "Do not say that you follow Christ the closest, because Christ never closed himself up in a monastery! He went out into the streets, He preached, He evangelized, He healed the sick, He multiplied the loaves...He never locked himself up."[/b]

I: Yes, but that's the feeling you get (when you look at the monastic life)!

[b]A: This is a total unfamiliarity with our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ,[i] from all eternity[/i], is turned towards the Father. It's the Prologue of St. John's Gospel: In principio erat Verbum - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Lord, the second person of the Trinity, turned towards the Father. He also, for 30 years, experienced a hidden life in Nazareth. And during His whole public life, again and again He searched for solitude in order to pray. There is a magnificent episode of this - after the execution of St. John the Baptist, our Lord Jesus Christ crossed the lake and found a crowd, so He multiplied the loaves and taught. Then he sent everyone away - the Apostles left to cross the lake, and Christ sent the crowd away. And the scripture says: "He was there, it was the evening, He was alone." Our Lord searched for solitude. [/b]

I: But it wasn't a refusal of the world, as we can sometimes imagine (monastic life is)? Like an exile?

[b]A: (Monastic life) is not a refusal of the world. But there is something of an exile. Because we are not made for this earth. When our Lord went to the Temple and He was found by His parents at 12 years of age, He said 'I must be about my Father's business.' So another world exists, and Christ came to show us this other world - we are made for this other world. [/b]

I: We aren't made for this earth? Isn't it a danger for you (monks) to consider the people in the world just as poor mortals...

[b]A: We aren't thinking this at all when we enter the monastery. Truly, we are pulled strongly by God. It is God that attracts us - His absoluteness, His beauty, His transcendence. And in the measure that we approach God, we cannot forget the world. It's not possible. The heart is made larger. Saint Benedict said that by the measure that we advance in faith, the heart grows. So the heart grows to the dimensions of the world. So there is this dimension which is truly [i]apostolic[/i]. But there is also a true 'fleeing of the world' in the sense that the world does not satisfy us. We want something else, something superior... Saint Augustine has an extraordinary commentary on Psalm 54. In Ps. 54, it says "He will give me the wings of a dove to go into the desert." Augustine says, this is the monk who flees the world. The monk sees that in the world there is much horror and evil. He is afraid to lose his charity, he is afraid to lose his love of God. So, the monk asks for the wings of a dove make this flight into the desert. Augustine makes his point more precise - he says it is by the wings of a dove, not the wings of a raven. Because the dove, this is an animal associated with love, and the raven, it flees out of hatred... St. Therese of the Child Jesus, when she entered Carmel at fifteen years of age, said: "I enter to save souls. I enter to pray for priests."[/b]
[/quote]


This is so beautiful, and so true. He articulates the monastic vocation so well, and I wish I could print this out and hand it to people when they ask me why I am entering a monastic order!

[EJames2]

PAX, did you translate this? if so, since you linked to my Gloria.tv upload, could i use the translation to make English substiles? i speak French but it would save me time! thanks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[quote name='Amy G.' timestamp='1328380477' post='2380939']
[url="http://en.gloria.tv/?media=106317"][color=#0f72da]http://en.gloria.tv/?media=106317[/color][/url]

In case anyone is interested - this is an interview with the Abbot of Le Barroux, who is also briefly interviewed in Watchmen of the Night. No subtitles, but the translation below (from 11-16min into the video) covers his own vocation story as well as some of his thoughts on the meaning of contemplative life.


[b]Abbot: Around the age of 17-18 years old I began to feel the call, but I responded when I was 24. [/b]

Interviewer: Was this call specifically to the monastic life?

[b]A: No, not at all. It was a call to give myself to the Lord. God wanted me for Himself. He wouldn't even let me pray peacefully - He was always there, asking me again if I had finally reached a decision! And when it came time that I must decide, I searched for something that was at the same time traditional and also in communion with Rome. The only place like this that I knew of at the time (this was in 1991) was Le Barroux. So I went to see. And when I saw the steeple of the monastery above the treetops as I approached, I said to myself - yes, this is it, it's there. [/b]

I: Before you even arrived?

[b]A: Before I even arrived. And not even knowing too much about monastic life. [/b]

I: You had this certitude, even knowing that you would spend the[i] rest of your life[/i] there?

[b]A: It wasn't exactly that, no. It was that the Lord was waiting for me there. That was the question. [/b]

I: So this commitment, this vocation, this monastic life, is this something that we find at the origins of Christianity? Is it something that Christ wanted?

[b]A: Christ wanted this, since He was the first consecrated person - He lived a consecrated life. Our monastic life is about following Christ. We try to follow Him, to take the same path that our Lord has taken in a certain aspect of His life, and maybe even the most profound aspect. Many tell me this - and it is the great objection - In fact it was a woman I met who said this to me: "Do not say that you follow Christ the closest, because Christ never closed himself up in a monastery! He went out into the streets, He preached, He evangelized, He healed the sick, He multiplied the loaves...He never locked himself up."[/b]

I: Yes, but that's the feeling you get (when you look at the monastic life)!

[b]A: This is a total unfamiliarity with our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ,[i] from all eternity[/i], is turned towards the Father. It's the Prologue of St. John's Gospel: In principio erat Verbum - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Lord, the second person of the Trinity, turned towards the Father. He also, for 30 years, experienced a hidden life in Nazareth. And during His whole public life, again and again He searched for solitude in order to pray. There is a magnificent episode of this - after the execution of St. John the Baptist, our Lord Jesus Christ crossed the lake and found a crowd, so He multiplied the loaves and taught. Then he sent everyone away - the Apostles left to cross the lake, and Christ sent the crowd away. And the scripture says: "He was there, it was the evening, He was alone." Our Lord searched for solitude. [/b]

I: But it wasn't a refusal of the world, as we can sometimes imagine (monastic life is)? Like an exile?

[b]A: (Monastic life) is not a refusal of the world. But there is something of an exile. Because we are not made for this earth. When our Lord went to the Temple and He was found by His parents at 12 years of age, He said 'I must be about my Father's business.' So another world exists, and Christ came to show us this other world - we are made for this other world. [/b]

I: We aren't made for this earth? Isn't it a danger for you (monks) to consider the people in the world just as poor mortals...

[b]A: We aren't thinking this at all when we enter the monastery. Truly, we are pulled strongly by God. It is God that attracts us - His absoluteness, His beauty, His transcendence. And in the measure that we approach God, we cannot forget the world. It's not possible. The heart is made larger. Saint Benedict said that by the measure that we advance in faith, the heart grows. So the heart grows to the dimensions of the world. So there is this dimension which is truly [i]apostolic[/i]. But there is also a true 'fleeing of the world' in the sense that the world does not satisfy us. We want something else, something superior... Saint Augustine has an extraordinary commentary on Psalm 54. In Ps. 54, it says "He will give me the wings of a dove to go into the desert." Augustine says, this is the monk who flees the world. The monk sees that in the world there is much horror and evil. He is afraid to lose his charity, he is afraid to lose his love of God. So, the monk asks for the wings of a dove make this flight into the desert. Augustine makes his point more precise - he says it is by the wings of a dove, not the wings of a raven. Because the dove, this is an animal associated with love, and the raven, it flees out of hatred... St. Therese of the Child Jesus, when she entered Carmel at fifteen years of age, said: "I enter to save souls. I enter to pray for priests."[/b]
[/quote]