Br. Christopher responds to the question, Why do cloistered monks vow to live out their whole lives within the monastery and not to leave?: “To paraphrase St. Benedict, the place in which we monks engage in the spiritual combat, our battlefield, is the enclosure of the monastery and stability in the community. Some folks may think that leaving the world for the monastery is an attempt to escape from life, but actually, the opposite is true: enclosure ensures that we engage in the fight for Faith, Hope and Love in an especially focused way. All of life is here, in needlepoint, at concentrated intensity on these 590 acres, these few people, this land we know so intimately. We find here a depth to our struggle rather than a breadth.”
Blessings from your brothers of New Clairvaux!
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