The Value of Monasticism
by Abbot David Altman,
OCSO
When
individuals go into monasteries, they take on much the same identity as the
average family: they live by themselves peacefully, sustaining themselves by
making small contributions to the local economy and the social well-being of
surrounding peoples. In that
exterior sense, monks donŐt do anything out of the ordinary, but how many of us
do? Monks live the Christian,
human life as others do, but on a more intense level: a life of prayer,
community, and personal commitment.
The problem
in not appreciating the value of monasticism is that we live in a utilitarian
society, where individual worth is largely measured by exterior
accomplishment. This problem can
be ours. If we are not doing and
producing, we begin to question our own worth. The result of this mentality is chilling: those incapable of
making functional contributions are considered valueless and therefore
disposable. ThatŐs why human
beings who are very young and very old are in fact eliminated, by abortion and
euthanasia.
The problem
lies not in monks or monasticism but in the lack of appreciation and poor
evaluation of monasticism. We are
not called by the Lord to be human doings but human beings. Our value is in our identity before
God, not our physically related accomplishments.
What value
is there in monasticism? Monks
practice great love. Love is the
greatest good there is. God is
love. To practice love, we simply
choose to unite good to the object of our love: ourselves or others. Love is good will.
The
cardinal principle of life is that it is only through challenges that people
grow. We see this in our formal
education system, as we grow in knowledge and skills through the challenges of
classroom work, study, and exams.
Love, or
good will, grows in strength through the challenges of relationships. Some think that people become monks in
order to escape from life, but what do people want to escape from? The difficulty is relationships, and we
have three relationships in life: with God, with other people, and the most
burdensome, demanding relationship of all—with ourselves.
Outside the
monastery there are legitimate escapes from problematic relationships. Simply drop them and go somewhere
else. In a monastery, however,
there is little or no escape. The
monk must put forth great effort to make many relationships work and to grow
through them.
In other words, monks face great
challenges to their good will. Persevering love in the face of great challenges is a great love. Add the fact that the primary dwelling
place of God is in people. We alone have an eternal destiny, and we are the most highly developed
beings on our planet. Since God
dwells in us, whatever we say, do, or willfully think toward anyone, good or
bad, we say, do, and think toward our Creator, in each other. The great love we practice toward
others, then, is primarily practiced toward God, and we are relating to a God
who is not going to be outdone in generosity. God rewards us with the proverbial hundredfold beyond our
efforts, and not only us but our loved ones and all the peoples of the world.
After all,
we are threefold in our humanity: physical beings, mental-psychological beings,
and moral-spiritual beings. Monks
relate to everyone primarily at the moral-spiritual level, the deepest level of
our being. At that level we are
all brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the one heavenly Father. This means that when a person becomes a
monk, he goes, not into isolation, but into solitude, and he becomes more
intimately related in love to his brothers and sisters in the world, by drawing
closer to God, who is Father to all. Monasticism is a universal vocation.
Monks are
men and women of love and of prayer. We know that relationships depend on communications. Good relationships mean regular,
congenial communications, or else the relationship weakens and dies. It works the same way with God, and our
communication process with God is prayer. The closer we come to God, the more we bring all of humanity closer to
God, just because we are human, and we are praying in the name of all
humankind, another aspect of our universal monastic vocation.
Who knows
but that in GodŐs providence a monkŐs life of self-sacrificial love and prayer
may be intimately connected with the success of anotherŐs personal life outside
the monastery. If that monk left
the monastery, or did not enter at all, the supporting sacrifices would not be
there for others, and their lives would fall apart.
With all
this love and prayer going on, why is there still so much war, division, and
conflict in the world? Between the
LordŐs offering of happiness and peace, and our acceptance, there is the awful
barrier of human free will. We
have other agendas that we like to pursue, other gods that we would rather
worship: money, fame, power. People worship the gods that rule them: their anger, their lust, their
ideas, and their ambitions. Who is
capable of making a sacrifice, such as giving up a dish of delicious food or a
movie at a time when they desire it?
With our free will, in other words, too many are
saying that they donŐt want GodŐs gifts of life and peace. This is not a question of the value of
monks or religion, but free rejection by too many people. Look at the statistics. An important example is that all the
countries of Western Civilization are dying because of artificial
contraception. People want
pleasure, but without the responsibility of children. The result is that whole countries have fallen far below replacement
levels. If contraception fails,
abortion is used as a backup. Both
are country-killers. History is
also filled with people who want to gain more power by conquest, and
consequently destroy peace.
What has happened throughout history is that
people commit the cardinal sin of humankind. They forget God. When you realize that all good comes from God, then those who forget God
reject good and are left with evil. By contrast, monks spend their lives remembering God.
In the face of moral and social problems, there is
monasticism. The great love or
good will that monks practice is the antidote for all the hatred and disorder
in the world. Love, or good will,
is the only factor that can offset hatred or bad will. As monks grow in love, they become ever
more effective solutions, contributing to the peace and happiness of the
worldŐs people. Their
prayer-petition becomes more powerful. The love-lives of monks also serve to make up for the evil choices that
people make. Monks offer their
lives in sacrifice, the highest form of love, for all humankind. Parents perform this kind of love for
their children, and monks practice love for the benefit of everyone. Monks can be justifiably proud to be
part of this redemptive effort. This is the valuable redemptive aspect of the monastic vocation.
Multiply any pleasures and satisfactions by
infinity and you get some idea of the opportunity everyone has in life for an
eternal happiness. This is the
opportunity that monks are living and giving witness to. In failing to seek the Creator of all
that we have and are, many are missing out on what monks enjoy: the greatest
and most rewarding and important adventure in life.
Thomas Merton became famous s a monk. His wife and child were killed in the
London blitz, so that he had no obligations when he entered monastic life. When a priest leaves the active
ministry, it depends on how he leaves. If he leaves with a Church dispensation, it is probably for the best,
since as a priest he was frustrated and unhappy. He might serve God and the Church much better as a married
man.
Vatican Council II recognized the contributions
that non-Catholic religions can make to spirituality. The bottom line in a personŐs relationship with God is not
his formal religion. It is love,
because God is love. God is not
Catholic or Protestant. God is
good will.
At the same time, greater truth about God will
lead to greater love. Monks are
people of the book. By reading and
praying, they grow in knowledge and love. The late Frank Sheed wrote in Theology and Sanity: ŇIf a person loves God
knowing something about Him, he should love God more from knowing more about
Him, because each new thing learned about God is a new reason for loving
Him.Ó Thus the true religion of God,
the religion that possesses the fullness of truth, offers the greatest
opportunity to grow in love of God.
Individuals do leave the Catholic Church because
of poor preaching in their parish church, and they are attracted to another
church on account of a ministerŐs personality or ability to preach. That is not necessarily sinful in each
case, but it does show a lack of appreciation for Church doctrine. The problem is almost always:
inadequate catechesis. Individuals
who leave the Church do not know or appreciate what they are giving up.
Each religion offers its own path to God, which is
to say, a path to personal holiness. Like paths on different sides of a mountain, they are all in different
locations, but they all lead upward to the same summit.
Before Vatican II, Trappist monks were spending
time and energy going from one difficult penitential exercise to another. Now, after Vatican II, the emphasis has
changed. We appreciate the value
of close community life as a source of challenges for growth in love, understanding,
and compassion. Human
relationships are penitential and disciplinary enough.
Monastic religious life is much like a marriage,
where the primary focus is on efforts to make relationships work, and this is
challenging work. It costs great effort
at times to practice love in the context of stability.
Monastic life is primarily an interior life of
mind and heart, because there is so much aloneness with God. The powerful challenges of
relationships force a monk to turn to prayer in order to maintain love of
neighbor and interior peace.
When a man gets married, he chooses a spouse on
the basis of mutuality: shared religious beliefs, social, economic, education
backgrounds, and compatibility in interests, character, and personality. When a man becomes a monk, these
luxuries are not afforded him. He
commits himself to a community that often comprises great differences in all
these areas. The personal challenges
are great, and the corresponding call to great character-growth or holiness is
great. The monkŐs value as a
person of love and prayer becomes great.
The primary challenge in the interior life of a
monk is his thoughts. Various
kinds of thoughts come into play in response to the challenges of daily
monastic life: the demanding schedule, different kinds of people, personal
psychological and physical challenges. Success is measured the same as in marriage: how you handle conflict,
whether in your relationship with God, with others, or with yourself. The greatest conflict is interior, between
oneself and God.
(April 25, 2007)
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