Vocation Awareness Week

This morning we heard this bit from No Man Is an Island by Thomas Merton:

Each one of us has some kind of vocation. We are all called by God to share in His life and in His Kingdom. Each one of us is called to a special place in the Kingdom. If we find that place we will be happy. If we do not find it, we can never be completely happy. For each one of us, there is only one thing necessary: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God's will, to be what God wants us to be.

We must not imagine that we only discover this destiny by a game of hide-and-seek with Divine Providence. Our vocation is not a sphinx's riddle, which we must solve in one guess or else perish. Some people find, in the end, that they have made many wrong guesses and that their paradoxical vocation is to go through life guessing wrong. It takes them a long time to find out that they are happier that way.

In any case, our destiny is the work of two wills, not one. It is not an immutable fate, forced upon us without any choice of our own, by a divinity without heart.

Our vocation is not a supernatural lottery but the interaction of two freedoms, and, therefore, of two loves. It is hopeless to try to settle the problem of vocation outside the context of friendship and of love. We speak of Providence: that is a philosophical term. The Bible speaks of our Father in Heaven. Providence is, consequently, more than an institution, it is a person. More than a benevolent stranger, He is our Father. And even the term Father is too loose a metaphor to contain all the depths of the mystery: for He loves us more than we love ourselves, as if we were Himself. He loves us moreover with our own wills, with our own decisions. How can we understand the mystery of our union with God Who is closer to us than we are to ourselves? It is His very closeness that makes it difficult for us to think of Him. He Who is infinitely above us, infinitely different from ourselves, infinitely "other" from us, nevertheless dwells in our souls, watches over every movement of our life with as much love as if we were His own self. His love is at work bringing good out of all our mistakes and defeating even our sins.

In planning the course of our lives, we must remember the importance and the dignity of our own freedom. A man who fears to settle his future by a good act of his own free choice does not understand the love of God. For our freedom is a gift God has given us in order that He may be able to love us more perfectly, and be loved by us more perfectly in return.

Speculum caritatis: Aelred of Rievaulx

And because there is no division in unity,
let there be no outpouring of the mind in various directions,
but let it be one in the One,
with the One,
through the One,
around the One,
sensing the One,
savoring the One --
and because always one,
always resting,
and therefore observing a perpetual sabbath.

from The Mirror of Charity, translated by Elizabeth Connor

Et quia in unitate nulla divisio,
nulla sit ibi per diversa mentis effusio,
sed sit unum in uno,
cum uno,
per unum,
circa unum,
unum sentiens,
unum sapiens;
et quia semper unum,
semper requiescens,
et sic perenne sabbatum sabbatizans.

No mail in snow

Yes, it is true. We had no mail because the mail truck could not get into Conyers. (Please stop laughing, Michigan nephew.)

Here are some pictures of our snow at the monastery:

The world stops

There is enough snow to cover the grass. It is still falling.

No one ventures out on the roads.

I can see my Michigan nephew shaking his head in bewilderment.

However, it is a perfect day to wear those fur-lined boots I received at Christmas from California!

Another new novice

Today in our weekly chapter meeting after Sunday Mass, we clothed another novice, the second one in 2 weeks. We now have a new Brother Antony. Last week we added Father Brendan.

In our abbot's talk he mentioned that this vocation is a rare one. There are only about 3000 Cistercian monks in the whole world. He recalled a picture in our calendar a couple of years ago that showed our novice master with 7 or 8 novices. I am the only one of the group who is still here. That rate of attrition is fairly normal.

I am not quite sure what it takes to stay. Most of what is found here -- prayer, quiet, simplicity -- can be managed in other ways away from here. In fact, I think I am part of a rather large carbon footprint -- my part being much larger than the carbon footprint I was leaving before I entered.

Over and over in my journal I have written about the necessity of accepting crazy decisions or weird processes or just general insanity. That certainly is one of the elements of a monastic vocation: this particular collection of men, with all their idiosyncracies and quirks and irritants, is really a means of leading toward God. In learning to love this irritating guy just as a person worthy of love I am an inch closer to loving God.

It all gets down to finding peace with the other. It is so easy to want people to be like me. Can I actually accept, affirm, welcome, and love those who are so wackily different?

30-day challenge

I read yesterday about 30-day blog challenges: post once a day for 30 days. I looked at some of the challenges and their suggestions for the daily posts: post a picture of yourself, tell about your favorite song, what's your favorite movie? -- and so on.

I have decided not to accept any of these challenges.

Glass

I took over many small stained glass pieces to the store today: several of our crosses, several of our mothers with child, and a lot of random shapes, some with painted designs, some plain.

I am working on a new design. So is Mario. We will see what comes of them.

We finished the cartoons for four large windows for a church in Grendada: Saint Andrew (with Caribbean species of fish -- the church is dedicated to Andrew); Saint Dominic (the church was founded by Dominicans); Mary (in a Dominican habit, holding some nutmeg, which is grown in Grenada); and Christ. Methodius took them up to Statesville where they will be cut, assembled, and packaged for shipping by our sub-contractors.

Here is window that our stained glass studios designed and installed in an Atlanta church several decades ago. It is the baptism of Jesus, which we will celebrate this coming Sunday. Look carefully at all the painted lines that create the patterns.