Monastic Existence
A monk is one who seeks God. Amid the confusion and distraction of life in this world, he seeks a relationship with the God behind the world who loves the world. He is willing and eager to put all his energy and time into this search. The way to this God is Jesus Christ, his Son revealed in time. The Christian monk seeks to attain life with God by following the commands of his Son. He gives his whole life to this project. He comes to a place where others are living out the same project in a way of life that has been handed down for generations and been proved to lead to God. In the Western Church the monastic project is most widely observed according to the sixth century Rule of Saint Benedict.
In seeking union with God the monk strives to fulfil the commandments of Scripture to love God with one's whole heart and soul and strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself, to love one's neighbor as Christ loved us. He wishes to put God's will ahead of his own. This project entails a lifelong struggle against anything in the monk that would pull him away from love for God and neighbor. The monastic life is a warfare against pride and self-centeredness, the tendency to put oneself before others. The weapons in this struggle are outlined in the Rule of Benedict. First comes obedience, the putting the will of another who represents Christ ahead of one's own will. St Benedict takes care to ensure that the Abbot is a true father to his monks, teaching the law of Christ by word and example and caring for each monk with equal love. It is the monk's faith which enables him to see Christ represented in the Abbot. This faith is nourished in daily prayer. Silence affords the monk the opportunity to remain attentive to the presence and will of God in his daily life. For Benedict the most important daily activity of the community was the liturgical prayer of the hours. The monastic project of obedience to the commands of Christ cannot be accomplished without the constant help of God, and the monk's daily round of prayer is the means of continually imploring that help. The prayers begin, "God, come to my assistance; Lord, make haste to help me."
And the ceaseless interior prayer of the monks is that of the tax collector in the temple:
"Lord, have mercy on me a sinner."
The times not spent in prayer are occupied in the prayerful reading of Scripture and in manual or other work. The monks are meant to support themselves by their own work, since idleness is the enemy of the soul. At Saint Louis Abbey this work includes teaching in a boys' high school and middle school, operating the local parish, study and writing, and doing the various chores required by community life. The combination of a contemplative life with active ministry in evangelization is a challenge and requires constant vigilance and discernment. It provides the monk the opportunity to share with the contemporary world his experience of the beauty and love of God in Christ.
In learning to share in the cross of Christ the monk comes also to know the joy of the resurrection. As each monk advances in faith and charity the monastery becomes a place of fraternal love and mutual support and concern. The goal of Christian monks has always been to strive toward becoming that "one mind and one heart" of the early Christian community. The fraternal charity of a monastic community is the fruit of each monk's personal ascesis and gives glory to God. So is fulfilled Saint Benedict's wish that "in all things God may be glorified."