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How to Know if You Have a Monastic Heart
What distinguishes
monastic religious life from apostolic religious life includes some
straightforward lifestyle differences. In a nutshell, we pray, live, and often
work together. We live in a monastery together. We enjoy leisure together. More
difficult to articulate is something we often refer to as the "monastic heart."
While you may be born with some monastic instincts, others take a lifetime to
develop. Read what several of our Sisters say about it here, and see if anything
resonates for you. When Stefanie MacDonald was living and teaching in Chicago,
the constant noise and congestion of the place got old fast. She couldn't wait
to get home to Dubuque, Iowa, to hear ... nothing. She couldn't wait to rest her senses.
Looking back on it, Stefanie says she must have been born
with a monastic heart. Her clues? Craving quiet, especially the quiet and peace
of nature and the Eucharistic Chapel at her church, was one. Also, she loved to
read slowly and deeply, and ponder what she read. Unknowingly, she was already
following parts - keeping silence and reading contemplatively - of Benedict's
Rule.
"I didn't put it together until I took a survey on the
Vision Web page," the 39-year-old Benedictine novice says. "The results
suggested monastic life. And when I visited the monastery, I realized I was
home."
"Home" is St. Mary Monastery in Rock Island, Ill. Surrounded
by woods and lake, the grounds offer paths and benches for quiet reflection.
The chapel and Eucharistic chapel offer peaceful haven. And the daily practice
of Lectio Divina* - Holy
Reading - promotes the deep listening that
is foundational to Benedictine Life.
"Lectio Divina allows
us to listen to the Word of God in Scripture," Formation Director Sr. Mary Core
says. "The first word of the Rule is 'Listen.' Listen with the ear of
the heart. We listen to the voice of God in
Scripture, in others, in ourselves."
Sr. Cabrini Rael says the monastic heart cannot grow without
listening.
"You have to be quiet - not only with your mouth but inside
yourself - to listen," she says. "You won't hear a thing of importance
otherwise."
While Sr. Mary says a need for quiet and love of
contemplative reading are signs of a monastic heart, we develop these gifts at
different rates and different times in our lives. Key monastic characteristics
grow throughout our lives, both in and outside the monastery.
"One of the most important gifts is learning to look for
fulfillment exclusively in relationship with God," she says. "Right
relationship with God helps us build right relationship with one another. And
it helps us see that we will never gain fulfillment in acquiring 'stuff,' or
new things.
"You can have a monastic head, but until you allow it to
take root in your heart it will remain simply information," Sr. Mary says. "It
becomes a lived experience as it enters the heart. We begin to live the notions
of simplicity, respect for others, peace and presence. We begin to live the
truth that we are all children - gifts - of God. We begin to say to ourselves, That
is enough."
*Lectio Divina is a method of reading Scripture that incorporates
time and space to hear God's voice. It's a simple practice that involves
reading a short Bible passage four times slowly and without trying to puzzle
out the meaning in any scholarly fashion. Rather, it is a time for simple
reflection - are there any phrases that stand out for you? Any thoughts that
simply occur? - allowing God to speak to you through God's Word.
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