Posted on 10/04/2014 10:07:37 PM PDT by Morgana
Father Cyril is a monk of the monastery of Le Barroux in Provence.These cloistered Benedictines in this remote mountain hamlet of 615 souls have grown so rapidly in recent decades that they have outgrown their (new) quarters – and still the young vocations keep coming. In this revealing interview, Pere Cyril takes us into the story of his vocation and the lives of the more than 60 monks in this extraordinary monastery, the Abbey of St Mary Magdalene.
What attracted you to the cloistered life?
I was drawn to the cloistered life by the desire for a true interior life lived as a friendship with Christ present in the Eucharist, “Christ, the Life of the soul,” of whom Blessed Columba Marmion had given me the taste. There was also the prospect of Trinitarian life present in my soul to teach me to gradually “forget myself completely,” in the words of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity.
What further attracted me was the fraternal life I discovered in picnics with brothers who proved wonderfully helpful and charitable. I have not been disappointed since then.
(Excerpt) Read more at reginamag.com ...
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Wasted lives. Christ didn’t sit around while on earth.
They’re not sitting around, either. Their job on earth is to pray constantly. Praying is not a waste of time.
They also farm, bake, publish, and engage in other activities to support themselves. Makes mine look like a “wasted life” in comparison: all I do is cook and clean and take care of children, don’t earn a dime.
Jesus’s family thought He was wasting His life, after He quit His day job to wander around talking about God. “They said, ‘He is beside himself.’ “
Wasted? Who are YOU to be their judge?
Besides, those monks WORK in their monastery. They work and pray all their lives...not "sit around" idle. Some produce foods like jams or candy. Check it out. These monasteries and convents are working/praying machines. That is how they support their life-style.
Or did you think that somehow they got money from the Vatican? Lol. The Vatican is very clear: sink or swim.
Their prayers, along with many others’, sustain the earth. IMO. Hardly wasted, if so.
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