Christ Was Never Closed Up In A Monastery!

[Amy G.]

[url="http://en.gloria.tv/?media=106317"]http://en.gloria.tv/?media=106317[/url]

Here's an interview of the Benedictine Abbot of the Abbey in Le Barroux, France. It's in French - the translation below is from 11 min. - 16 min. into the video.
I think the Abbot gives a really good explanation of the essence of the contemplative vocation. Maybe it will help someone who is struggling with friends/family members who have misconceptions about contemplative life.

My rough translation (about 11 min. -16 min. into video):
The Abbot talks about his own vocation story, then responds to questions about monastic/contemplative life in general.



[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 myelf 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](Later in the video, the Abbot responds to the criticism that monastic life - with its daily silent prayer and all the offices sung everyday - is a waste of life, it "serves no purpose - it serves nothing." The Abbot says that this is the most beautiful compliment he can receive...because it is true that the monks don't serve some[i]thing[/i], they serve Some[i]one[/i]. I liked what he said too about our hearts taking on the dimensions of the world. I visited a Carmel several months ago and asked the Mother Superior about the strict enclosure. She said entering the walls of the cloister was like entering the Heart of Christ. The grilles and walls were outer signs that the nuns are guarded safe within His Heart. They choose to be enclosed within this Heart. This space is dedicated ONLY for the Bridegroom of the house to enter to be alone with his beloved nuns - no one else. And, she said, as you get to know Christ more intimately, you get to know His Heart more deeply. The sufferings and joys of His Heart are the sufferings and joys of His people in the world. So you're enclosed in a monastery, but knowing Christ's Heart, you know and care about what happens to people in the world even more! I can't quite put it as eloquently as she did, but I hope that gives you the general idea )

[Lisa]

this is beautiful!

[Chamomile]

Thank you... how beautiful!

[Pax_et bonum]

[quote name='Amy G.' timestamp='1299378719' post='2218429']
I visited a Carmel several months ago and asked the Mother Superior about the strict enclosure. She said entering the walls of the cloister was like entering the Heart of Christ. The grilles and walls were outer signs that the nuns are guarded safe within His Heart. They choose to be enclosed within this Heart. This space is dedicated ONLY for the Bridegroom of the house to enter to be alone with his beloved nuns - no one else. And, she said, as you get to know Christ more intimately, you get to know His Heart more deeply. The sufferings and joys of His Heart are the sufferings and joys of His people in the world. So you're enclosed in a monastery, but knowing Christ's Heart, you know and care about what happens to people in the world even more! I can't quite put it as eloquently as she did, but I hope that gives you the general idea )
[/quote]

Beautiful!

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='Amy G.' timestamp='1299378719' post='2218429']
I visited a Carmel several months ago and asked the Mother Superior about the strict enclosure. She said entering the walls of the cloister was like entering the Heart of Christ. The grilles and walls were outer signs that the nuns are guarded safe within His Heart. They choose to be enclosed within this Heart. This space is dedicated ONLY for the Bridegroom of the house to enter to be alone with his beloved nuns - no one else. And, she said, as you get to know Christ more intimately, you get to know His Heart more deeply. The sufferings and joys of His Heart are the sufferings and joys of His people in the world. So you're enclosed in a monastery, but knowing Christ's Heart, you know and care about what happens to people in the world even more! I can't quite put it as eloquently as she did, but I hope that gives you the general idea )
[/quote]


That is my favorite description of what contemplative life is like. I read that on a Poor Clares' website and was just in awe of the beauty of contemplative life.

[franciscanheart]