Monastic Life: a Life Without Choices?

[Swami Mommy]

I enjoyed this article on the purpose of monastic life.

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/monastic-life-a-life-without-choices

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

Monastic life isn't THAT boring!

 

[DominicanHeart]

It's about obedience to Christ. I think that keeps it interesting.

[Gabriela]

In general, I think the article is well written, makes a good argument, and is a solid introduction to monastic life for people who have no idea about it. But I also think it's got a lot of errors. For one, religious life has changed a good deal over the centuries (although, granted, not as much as secular life). Second, the movie he refers to is Into Great Silence, which is about Carthusians, not Cistercians. Third, Of Gods and Men was probably popular in France because it was about Islamic extremism, not because the martyrs were monks. Fourth, I wouldn't say the monastic reality shows are popular; I've mentioned them in my research and nobody ever had any idea what I was talking about. Fifth, are chant CDs really "selling like hotcakes"? If they were, I'd expect Simon Cowell to be on that bandwagon, but he's not.

In short, I think he exaggerates a lot, and gets some facts wrong, and seems to live in a bubble.

He is a good writer, though. Stylistically, I mean.

 

[Egeria]

This reminds me of visitors who come to a monastery for the first time and keep going on about "How peaceful it is!" And the monastics smile knowingly because, well, they know a thing or two more... It's understandable that people have naive ideas about monasticism, but do they really have to publish them?

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

Of Gods and Men is one of my favorite movies because it shows how a community is made up of individuals who have to work with God's grace to become a community. When I saw that movie I thought of my own community and wondered how we would act/react.

Plus the chant is Dominican and the graces at meals are Dominican! We use the English translation at meals here at Summit! :-)

[Egeria]

Yes, precisely. And they had to make choices, agonising choices, which they did not all immediately upon, and which were even viewed with a certain degree of suspicion within their Order.

But even without the drama of Algeria, monastic life is profoundly confrontational. It is a wrestling with God in which choices have to continue to be made until, in the words of St Anthony the Great, "one's last breath." 

[BarbTherese]

Many decision and choices to make in monastic life - very often different in kind to secular life.

[Gabriela]

6 hours ago, Egeria said:

monastic life is profoundly confrontational. It is a wrestling with God in which choices have to continue to be made until, in the words of St Anthony the Great, "one's last breath." 

Very well said.