“My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense.”  2 Chronicles 29:11

            What makes a man or a woman decide to leave day-to-day life behind and close their lives up in a convent or monastery … with the hope of leaving, never?

What makes a young person give up the social life and the aspirations of independence, as well as the hope of marriage and family, in order to enter a cloistered community?

Contrary to what we may have heard or sometimes been taught, most monastics are not there in order to make points with God.  Rather, they have somehow learned to value His company and to value the privilege of worship and prayer in extraordinary ways.  Extra-ordinary, yes, but not unreasonable.  This is GOD we are talking about.  Worthy of all praise.  Monastics believe that!

Here is something to think about: how many monastics, whether enclosed in a monastery or in a devoted heart, and missionaries would there be on earth if all those who had considered a life of devotion had pursued that end?

It is pitiable sometimes that those deep desires are not expressed, esteemed, and nurtured more fully in homes and schools, because there are certainly many more members of Cor Unum than we will ever know, men and women and young people who thought they had to leave home in order to live lives of deepest devotion.

How many of them have dismissed their deepest devotional desires through lack of understanding or simple counsel, never having been reassured of the simple and universal reminder to God’s people that any one of us may have all of God at all times all the days of our lives?

Today is a good day for giving thanks for those dedicated places that we fill and faithfully maintain, such as marriage and parenthood and even career and civic involvement when those are sustained “as unto God.”  For us in this very real cyber monastery, we share a mutual encouragement that what we do, the ways that we press in, the small steps we take toward  purity of heart and devotion, are all effective and purposeful.  There will be result and, as the Lord has said, reward.  Not points, but great reward.

On this first day of Lent, may the blessings of God be upon your smallest step in a devoted direction and upon your truest desire for God however limited your time and ability may be.  If you are raising children, your forty minutes of stillness and worship and prayer and four hours of parenting sum up to a full measure of devotion!

If you, on the other hand, are alone and have an entire day stretching before you, be sure that the Lord does not get bored with you!  He never tires of your company, and the Lord’s work may be carried out daily through intercession and worship and in the pure enjoyment of His Presence.  Whatever the boundaries of our cloister, may we find leisure and relaxation in Him and fullness and satisfaction in His Word, and may we come to know with all our hearts, that the work of God is to believe on the One whom He has sent.  Amen.

John 6:29 … Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

public domain photo, Wikipedia