I found a really nice blog entry today in my ongoing technorati search for all things monastic.
Check out http://loudandclear87.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/learning-from-monks/, a college student who writes:
So, I have Church History at 7:50 in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays and sometimes its a real bear to get up and go to a lecture that early to just hear about the early church and its practices.
Yes, going to class is a spiritual disciplinw for me.
This tuesday, my professor, Dr. Bud Bence gave a lecture on the Monastic Movement in early Christianity. Just by the topic of monks and their practices, I will admit I kind of zoned out for awhile. About 15 minutes into the lecture, my prof got quiet and started to tell a story of how when he was in college he visited a monastery and how fascinated he was by the monks and their practices.
One of the monks expressed to my professor that he was concerned with protestants and their practices. After asking for clarification, the monk explained,”You little protestants are always running around doing and doing. You never take time to just be. Just be and pray for the world and for people you know.”
My prof later told us that one of the other monks at the monastery had stayed up all night praying for all of the visitors to the monastery by name. ALL NIGHT…to pray for people he didn’t even know.
All of this got me thinking. I am doing school. Doing work. Doing relationships.
When do I stop and truly unplug. When was the last time I just stopped and prayed for people.
When do I take time just to BE one of God’s children and rest in the pleasure it is to know HIM.
Needless to say, I learned from the seemingly boring lecture. I am changed by it. Even though Monks might have silly practices in some ways, I found TRUTH in some of it.
This story of a Protestant visiting Catholic monks and hearing about being and doing is not unique. My spiritual director, a fellow Vineyard church planter, heard the same thing as well.
The heart of this issue is abolutely worth considering: Where are our practices hampering just, simply, being with God?
pat loughery 