Filed under: Thomas Merton, monasticism | Tags: contemplative life, monasticism, spirituality, Thomas Merton
It seems to me that monks are not the only ones who can take part in the ‘contemplative life’….and this life is not defined by becoming a monk. Rather, this sort of life is one that is characterized by a “life totally abondoned to the Holy Spirit”.
There can be no doubt that the monastic vocation is one of the most beautiful in the Church of God. The ‘contemplative life’, as the life of the monastic orders are usually called, is a life entirely devoted to the mystery of Christ, to living the life of God Who gives Himself to us in Christ. It is a life totally abondonded to the Holy Spirit, a life of humility, obedience, solitude, silence, prayer, in which we renounce our own desires and our own ways in order to live in the liberty of the sons of God, guided by the Holy Spirit speaking through our Superiors, our Rule, and in the oblation to God, in union with Jesus Who was crucified for us and rose from the dead and lives in us by His Holy Spirit.
Thomas Merton, The Monastic Journey (Sheldon Press: 1977) 11.
Filed under: monasticism | Tags: monasticism, simplicity, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation
Recently I’ve become more and more fascinated with spiritual disciplines and spiritual formation. Along this journey I’ve found a growing interested in monasticism. I think I’m drawn by its simplicity and the freedom found in the discipline of letting go of outside distractions– success, wealth/material accumulation, and social status. More and more I’ve found myself noticing God and finding life in the small things such as washing dishes, tiling a wall, reading prayers, or cooking a meal.
At first glance, I doubt that I could ever journey into monasticism or a more contemplative life in general. Don’t you have to be catholic? celebate? holy? Do I have to start using words like ‘thee’ and ‘thou’? I’m totally a novice when it comes to this sort of thing. But I think that possibly the heart behind monasticism is a way of life that breeds a sensativety to the spiritual and all things real.
