Who cannot relate to that season of young love, where the object of our affection consumed our thoughts and directed us to actions now humorous or comic, perhaps, but very much the display of the power of attraction?  The monastery is a place where the lovesick can feel right at home, and the wise will never scorn our watching at the gate!

         The Shunnamite in the Song of Solomon wrote, “He brought me to His banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.  Sustain me with raisin cakes, and refresh me with apples, because I am sick with love.”  (Song of Solomon 2:4,5)

         The true monastic can’t get enough of Jesus, and to him or her, that means a life of unending relationship through worship, intercession, solitude, Lectio Divina (the interactive study of the Word of God, with prayer,) and meditative focus during work and recreation and even during meals.  The idea is never to leave him alone for a moment and never to spend a moment of life without Him.

         Most husbands and wives, let’s be honest, would soon find that kind of love somewhat suffocating.  Jesus doesn’t!  “Seek with your whole heart,” He tells us!  “Abide in me . . . and I in you!”  The monastery is for those who have that kind of love to give; perhaps we should say that the monastery is for those who would like to give that kind of love.  None can, at first, and few would say they have mastered “nearness” even after decades of enclosure, but that is the goal.

         How many are there in society today who have been labeled “needy,” who are, in fact, only monastic.  They just have not learned where to direct their keen desire to love and be loved.  This kind of love does not demand enclosure, but rather abiding in Christ, giving heed to His matchless promise to come into the tabernacle of our souls and remain with us.  Truly, He never gets enough of us, never bores or tires of the pleasure of our company.  (John 15:7-11)

         Tomorrow we will look at one of the orders that have chosen an almost absolute solitude, to see what we can learn.  While solitude is not for us, yet we bring ourselves into the Lord’s Presence, and here we practice never leaving, no matter where we go or what we must do.  Ours is a marketplace monasticism, but it is as real as the Nearness of the Lord, here in Cor Unum, the monastery of the heart.

John 15:7-11 …If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Dominican Cloister

Alconcaqua, by permission