The Monastery of the Holy Spirit
A canopy overhead of oak tree branches,
a shaded park bench by a reflective lake, absolute stillness, serenity, and
peacefulness… Sounds ideal, doesn’t
it? That’s where I spent my afternoon
yesterday- at a nearby monastery.
If
you’re anything like I was, when you think of monks, you think of strange
religious recluses dressed in white and black, praying, meditating, and reading
the Bible all day long. That’s what I
thought… until I visited the Monastery of the Holy Spirit.
It’s
true that the monks at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit do dress in white and
black and do pray, meditate, and read the Bible throughout the day, but they
aren’t at all like the stereotype people have come to associate with
monks. They aren’t strange at all and
there’s nothing secretive about their way of life. Contrary to what some may think, they aren’t
prisoners to the vows that they’ve made; they chose that way of life and stay
monks because they want to, not because anyone is forcing them to.
I
hold a great deal of respect and admiration for the Trappist monks at the
Monastery of the Holy Spirit, and in fact, I’m always telling my parents that
if I was a man and if I was Catholic, I would join them in their monastic life
even. But I’ve learned that you don’t
actually have to be a monk to have the heart of a monk, which is something I’m
still striving to acquire fully.
After
visiting the monastery for the first time, I wrote a report that evening about
my experience. Below is that report, and
I hope that you’ll take the time to read it and that your opinion about the
monks will be influenced by it, if even in the least.
If
you live near to Conyers, Georgia, or ever find yourself near the city, I
encourage you to take the time to visit the monastery. It’s worth the trip. A few tips of advice to enhance your
experience: You may want to pack a lunch
to enjoy by the property’s wooded picnic area; the lake is especially beautiful
and so peaceful. Be sure to watch the
video in the Monastic Heritage Center and to walk through the museum in the
barn- it really deepens your appreciation for the architecture of the chapel immensely. I highly advise you to stay for a service in
order to get the full experience of the monastery and understand best what the
monks’ heart truly is all about-seeking the Lord and His presence (I personally
always attend the 5:20 p.m. liturgy). Keep
your eyes open for the cats that live near the retreat house; they’re so
adorable! And if you visit in the
summer, be sure to wear something cool.
The bonsai store and the church do not have air condition and can get
very warm even with the fans, especially if you prefer to sit in the balcony of
the church like I do. I consider the
view from the balcony to be well worth tolerating the heat though; rarely does
anyone else sit up there, so if you’re seeking some quiet alone time with God,
the balcony is desirable.
For
more information about the monastery, check out their website at www.trappist.net.
Contrary to what I had expected, I found the monks to be
open, amiable, and welcoming, eager to share the peace and contentment they
have found with their guests. It was not
at all like the reclusive group of monastic hermits I had quite made them out
to be in my imagination. Despite the
sacrifices of many modern-day luxuries, their countenances do not bear the
agony of one in miserable want and yearning for the things of the world as one
would imagine and would see upon the face of most ordinary men, but instead
there is a reflection of peace, of insuppressible joy and contentment in the
life of simplicity and solitude they have chosen to live. One might ask how this could be so, and the
answer would be quite simply replied. It
is only by their absolute devotion and dedication to God and their faith that
they can enjoy such rich contentment without the luxury and entertainment of
the things the world has to offer, for only in total surrender to God does a
man ever find any true contentment at all.
These men are satisfied with what they have; the only thing I observed
that they seemed to desire beyond what they have already obtained is more of
God and His holiness and presence. They
have a never-satiated desire, thirst, for the things of God. They strive to love that which He loves and
to hate that which He hates. They have
dedicated their whole life to serving the Lord and furthering His kingdom,
which is more than can be said about many men about us, but then, they are not
ordinary men. There is a distinct
characteristic in them that is not easily found in most men today. They seem gentle, but not effeminate. They speak softly and have a great deal of
patience, but their manhood is not diminished in the least. They are a creative, engineering group that
believes in the value and rewards of physical labor, and among them, there is a
sense of unity and brotherhood as though the whole assembly at the monastery
has formed a strange sort of family living in perfect harmony with one another
where neither background nor race nor prior religion matters. They have vowed to live a life of poverty,
chastity, and obedience to authority.
Man's inclination is to
give all for gain and to gain all he can get.
This is true for the monks as well, but not in the regard that most seek
their gain to be. For the monks, they
give all- their lifestyle, their wealth and material luxuries, sometimes even
their families- for the cause of gaining an opportunity to simplify their lives
and remove themselves from the temptations and pressures of the world that so
easily entangle and snag. To distance
themselves from all that may hinder them in their walk with God. In the same manner, they strive to gain as
much intimacy with God as a man can acquire.
To walk as closely to Him as possible and to seek His face in every
aspect of their day. This is not to say
that they are different from other men in the passions they feel and the
emotions they must contend with. They
are every bit as human as any one of us and therefore deal with the same
temptations and emotions as we must, but by separating themselves from the
things of the world, they strive to remove that which potentially could become
a hindrance and stumbling block to their resistance to such temptations. They have disciplined the desires of their
flesh and exercise sobriety and self-control in all things, daily striving to
overcome in extinguishing man's sinful nature's thirst and passions. They have sacrificed all that the world deems
normal to follow a journey that the Lord has called them to.
In contrast to the world
around us, the community of the monastery is a haven of perfect peace rather
than the chaos and violence we find daily in our society. It is a place of silence and solitude, of
pensive inner meditation, of finding enjoyment in the creation of the nature
about them. They are a distinct people
set apart, but though it feels as if it's another world, the doors to their
serenity are open to all who desire to enter... whether for a few hours, a few
days, a few years, or a lifetime. They
are satisfied and their every essential need is met as they find true happiness
and fulfillment in living in the presence of the Almighty God. Their attire frequently consists of a white
tunic, black hooded garb (scapular), and a leather belt (their whole attire is called a habit I
now know), the unpretentiousness of their attire testifying to the simplicity
they desire in their lifestyle.
Their day is not all
prayer and quiet meditation, however.
Like any man, they too have a desire and a calling to work. To work with their hands and their backs as
men were created to. They find their
occupations in manning the visitor's center, in designing and creating stained
glass, tailorship, growing and manicuring bonsai trees, and many other
professions that are rather similar in many ways to those available to us
outside their community. In their
greenhouse near the visitor's center, many of their bonsai trees are also
available for sale. Many of the monks work
in the monastery's bakery or in the vegetable garden, which they sell the
yields of their labor from both. In
everything that is encompassed in their day, however, they strive to maintain
an attitude of prayer and meditation, keeping God in His sacred place at the
foremost of their thoughts.
Their
services and church are graciously opened as well to the public. However, silence is requested and flash
photography is asked to be refrained.
The beautiful pink and blue stained glass windows shaped in various
fragments of glass cast a serene hue of quiet meditation and reverence across
the sacred place of worship, inviting study and reflection upon the Scriptures
at any time of the day. As the appointed
time of meeting draws near, the monks individually begin to appear, silent in
contemplation and reverence as they enter, bow before the altar, and resume to
their designated seats. The church bells
ring loud and clear, as musical as the chimes that pronounce the beginning of
the Sabbath morning service across the countryside from the steeple of any
church. At this, the last few monks make
their way into the church and to their seating.
When the voices of the men rise in unison to sing it is as though they
sing not with the voice of many, but with the tongue of one. When they pray, they speak not as many men,
but as one soul with one desire. The
sound of the pipe organ rings as though it is a sound coming forth straight
from heaven itself, being played by the very praises the angels offer to the
Lord. Throughout the assemblage, there
is a spirit of reverence that is not easily found elsewhere. A reverence and honor to the greatness and
glory of the majestic King that has become demeaned in the relaxation of our casual
culture. When all fades and the arches
of that great cathedral fall silent yet again, one is left in awe as one might
describe a being that has been entranced by a magical spell, and there is such
a sweet serenity in that place, that one wishes he must never leave.
After a mere three hours,
you have felt as though you would be content to live your whole life there as
well. You respect and admire the men
there that have sacrificed so much for such dedication to the Lord and their
faith. You have experienced the joy of
simplicity and serenity and have meditated in the same places they too
reflect. After attending one of their
services, you have touched God's presence with them and therefore have shared
the same desire that drives them to live the secluded life set apart that they
have chosen, a life of absolute devotion.
It is a life we too are called to, not only the monks. It is a life of absolute dedication and
separation, of devotion and meditation of the Word and things of God, of
service to others and showing the grace and love of God to those around
us. It is this kind of life that God has
called each of us to live, no matter whether we live in the world although not
of it, or whether we have chosen to seek God's face in a community of our own
instead as the monks have. Though dissimilar
in many regards, the monks are truly not as different as one may think. Touch the heart of God through absolute
surrender in your life and find His fingerprints in every encounter of your
day, and you have found the secret to the monks' contentment. Once you find it, like them, you will never
want to leave. The monks walk their
spiritual journey in their haven, but wherever you walk beside the Lord, you
have found yours as well, and it truly feels like home.
*To watch a slideshow tour of the Monastery
of the Holy Spirit and to read a short story set at the monastery, visit my
writing blog at www.theavidauthor.blogspot.com
and check out the post titled The Pain of Pruning.
~We’ve all
heard of the phrase “pulling on her/ his heartstrings,” but heart-chords? I was struggling to decide what to name my
blog. I wanted it to be a name that was
both creative and meaningful. As I
pondered, my gaze fell upon my acoustic guitar where it stands in my bedroom,
and the Lord reminded me that our hearts- our lives- are instruments. They are constantly in song, but what melody
our heart plays is each of our own decisions.
They can play a melody for praise or for entertainment. A musician selects his songs according to his
audience. So do we. Whether our audience is the world or the
Lord, our song will be different. This
blog is designed to first, increase my awareness in finding God and His
guidance in my every day and second, to share the music lessons He teaches me
in tuning my heart to learn the chords of praise He longs to play on my
heart-instrument. Music is a powerful
tool. Use it for His glory. “He
put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in
the Lord.” Psalm 40:3
No comments:
Post a Comment