VOCATIONS WEEKEND
COME AND SHARE IN THE LIFE OF
CISTERCIAN MONKS
FRIDAY 28 – SUNDAY 30 AUGUST
FREE OF CHARGE
SINGLE MALES – UPPER AGE LIMIT 55
PRAYERS – READING – MEDITATION – LECTURES
WALKS ALL IN A RURAL SETTING
CONTACT: whitecastle200@yahoo.co.uk
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A monk is not just a spiritual “superhuman being”.
He is an ordinary human being in reality.
A monk is “a man who has sold himself to God”, he lives entirely for God.
He is one who has resolved to live for God alone, in solitude and silence,
in persevering prayer and in willing penance.
He is a human like you, but completely lives on the grace of God.
WHO ARE MONKS?
These are the men who have “sold” themselves to God, to live apart from the rest of other people, yet they live together, fighting the devil together, living the life of sacrifice for the salvation of their own souls and salvation of the world and for the glorification of God. Meanwhile, the word monk is taken from the Greek word monochoi, derivative of the word monos meaning alone, unique, simple. They are monks, not just because they are living solitary life, life apart from others, but also, because they are men of unity, singled purposed men, living for God alone and with this singleness of purpose and heart constantly striving for union with God in perfect charity.
Like all the baptized, a monk is a prophet per excellence and a priest per excellence. He is a contemplative because he is always about the Father’s business. He spends his whole time, listening to God in discernment, and whatever he gets from God, he goes to the people and give them. He also spends the whole time listening to the people and goes back to God and tell Him about the people. All these he does in silence and in solitude, in persevering prayer and in willing penance. In other words, as a prophet he constantly stands before the people for God and as a priest, he constantly stands before God for the people. He always serves God and the people at the same time. He left everything and lives in the desert not because he hates the people, or the materials goods of the world that he left but because desert is a more convenient place to serve his purpose. It is a convenient place for him to be of service to both God and the people he left, at the same time.
The triple objectives of the monks are as follows:
1 To seek and achieve a perfect union with the One who called them
2 To sacrifice themselves for the salvation for the world
3 To give glory to God with their lives
Thomas Merton summarizes these objectives as follows: “The contemplative life, as the life of the monastic orders is usually called, is a life devoted to the mystery of Christ, to living the life of God Who gives Himself to us in Christ. It is a life totally abandoned 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 …. It is a life of total self-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”, (The Monastic Journey, p. 11).
ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE NOT CALLED TO THIS STATE OF LIFE?
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