John Tran, 8, of the Cac Thanh Tu Dao Viet Nam church in Arlington, is among those who made the trek to Kerens to celebrate the Thien Tam monastery.
Posted on 09/20/2009 10:50:52 AM PDT by NYer
Further proof that the Church is alive and thriving in the South: word that a new Benedictine monastery is being established in the Lone Star State.
From the Dallas Morning News:
Here in cow country about 70 miles southeast of Dallas, amid scattered pecan trees and sloping fields of milkweed, six monks have come to live and pray.There's more at the link.
They came from a monastery in New Mexico and, before that, from Vietnam.
"It's Buddhist, isn't it?" said 65-year-old Charlie Jock, who lives several miles away, making him one of the new monastery's closest neighbors. He'd heard of it, but hadn't gone by to check it out.
"I didn't figure it was gonna be any of my business to be nosy, so I just steered clear," he said.
Actually, these are Benedictine monks – that is, Catholic, not Buddhist. During their opening ceremony Saturday morning, they even received a goodwill letter from officials in Rome.
"On the happy inaugural occasion of the new monastic presence ... in the noble land of Texas," the letter began.
The monks will live a life inspired by the rule of St. Benedict, a sixth-century text that provides directives for daily living, such as communal prayer, meditative reading and manual labor. They'll wake before sunrise each morning for the first of six or seven prayer sessions each day, totaling four hours.
"Some may ask, 'What's the spirituality of the sixth century got to do with today's modern world?' " said Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Diocese of Dallas, speaking to several hundred Catholics gathered under a big white tent – most of them Vietnamese-Americans from the Dallas area.
He told them the monks' long days of praying and honoring God help those who do not have as much time. And the monks, with their sparing lifestyle, can serve as role models, he said.
"The rule of St. Benedict is also often spoken of as the virtue of moderation in our world, a world that enjoys excesses in every shape and form," the bishop said.
The new monastery is called Thien Tam, which is Vietnamese for "heavenly heart." It's an offshoot of a monastery in New Mexico called Christ in the Desert, which is funding the endeavor.
The monks have moved into a home on 300 acres, which they bought for $1 million and used to house an ostrich ranch.
Their goal is to grow – maybe 20 to 40 monks eventually – and become self-sufficient. They'll start by creating a retreat, which area Catholics could pay to attend.
Well, property values are going to go up. In southern California when they built a temple, property values sky rocked within a three mile circle around the place. He sold his house for three times its value, because you could see it from the front yard.
People just came up said “how much do you want for the house?” He picked 3X its value, and the people said “done.” Strange.
Not ‘he’ I meant friend.
Ping.
Texas? No air conditioning? Oh, man. Bless your hearts you monks.
I’m sure the temps are better in Texas than in Vietnam heh.
If everyone followed the example of these monks, the country couldn’t exist. Better Luther’s robust understanding of Christian vocation as being every job done honestly and well as a service to God and to the neighbor. “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (I Corinthians 10:31)
“If everyone followed the example of these monks, the country couldn’t exist.”
_________
Well, yeah, because the people don’t have children. But, aside from that, actually, since monasteries do keep everybody working and often manage to sustain themselves for centuries, I’d say the monasteries would continue to exist, at any rate, whatever happened to the country.
And monks clearly don’t think everybody should live like them. But they have much to teach the rest of us in terms of staying focused on God, and putting our daily activities to His Service.
It’s like we don’t all expect to be professional athletes, but every once in awhile, after seeing them perform, we get out the bike or the tennis racket and get some of the same enjoyment and exercise that the full-time athletes do. I think there’s room for specialists of various types in a culture. What’s wrong with having a few monks?
Not everyone is supposed to follow their example.
Read Paul to the Corinthians....."not all are prophets, not all are teachers..." (I'm paraphrasing). IOW, each has his or her own particular vocation within the Mystical Body of Christ but each helps to build up the Church in his or her own way.
You wrote:
“If everyone followed the example of these monks, the country couldn’t exist.”
Or everyone could just do what Luther did and there would be no Church.
I love this country, but it will end eventually precisely because of views like yours. These monks are pursuing holiness and putting their love for God and neighbor first before all else. If others did the same - no matter what their vocation in life - this would be a better country.
Ah, yes. One of those "traditions of men."
Paul wrote that it is better to remain outside of marriage, and celibate in life, no? But is that a prescription for everyone? It would seem to conflict with the command to "go forth and multiply." Thus, as other posters have commented, we each have our roles to play within the Body of Christ, and I, for one, am quite thankful that we have men who are willing to dedicate their whole lives to worshiping and serving God - without their prayer, I can't imagine how much worse this world would be.
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No. And this year Sai Gon was almost exactly the same temperatures as coastal Northwest Florida all summer. The humidity in Sai Gon was a bit higher, though, many days of 100%. In NW FLA we had temps 7-10 degrees cooler than have been the norm for several years, and nights at 69-74, same as Sai Gon.
and if everybody were a school lunchroom dietician, not much work would get done in the world.
“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
That would seem to include the work and prayer of the monks. Neither God nor Philip Melancthon decreed that all men should be assembly line workers or bank presidents.
A picture is worth a thousand words :-)
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