monasticism...the power of context

Joan Chittester writes that Benedict intended to “...“to create a way of life immersed in the scriptures, devoted to the common life, and dedicated to the development of human community. It was simple, regular and total, a way of living, not a way of serving; it was an attitude toward life, not a church ministry. Benedict, in other words, is not trying to create a clerical system. He is trying to create a human family. He is not out trying to collect priests though he does recognize that a priest may well have a monastic vocation.”

Simple. Regular. Total. A way of living. Not a way of serving.

This nailed me with particular force this morning. Monasticism (the old or the new, cloistered or friar-ed) was never intended to be a program or an add-on. It is total. It is baptism. It is immersion... in a whole new way of being. This is a major part of the reason it has so much power to form us. It is what Gladwell calls the “Power of Context” in his book The Tipping Point. Context is powerful.

We can read all we want and study all we want and write all we want and blog until we are blue in the fingers but unless we have an environment that supports our formation we might as well be trying to push a boulder up a hill with a spoon.

As I think about monasticism, thanks to Kevin Rains for the above words...for putting it into context for me.

Comments

[Annie]

Fascinating!

Actually, most monks of St. Benedict's day were lay persons. If a priest did join, he joined as any other person, zero seniority--and he was encouraged to practice humility as anybody else, to combat the pride caused by his station.

[ron]

Hi Annie, your exactly right, and I think that is what sister Joan is saying, " he might be a priest with a monastic vocation, but in the midst of the community he is just another brother." The reality that the cross is the center of community, the reality...and at the foot of the cross, the playing field is level.

[Annie]

Oh, okay. I was just making sure. ;)