purpose in life

All posts tagged purpose in life

Attention to Detail

Posted by Cor Unum Abbey on February 17, 2016
Posted in: devotional life, monasticism, personal devotion, the image of Christ, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

Jack_dempsey_ring_loc_50497v

 

 

 

The Olympic trials were run last weekend for the top three spots on both the men’s and women’s U.S. marathon teams. I heard a report that both of the top two men shared a common vision and practice: attention to detail.

 

I would imagine that most of us would have a hard time comprehending how anyone who can run a mile in close to four minutes, and run 26 miles in just over two hours, would need to devote himself to the tyranny of details. Fast is fast, and that is fast. The winning time for the men was just over two hours and eleven minutes, and the top women were not far behind.

 

We have talked about this before here in Cor Unum Abbey, and to women of devotion, to runners of this race of faith, to those who practice a monastic discipline and look for the joys to be found in it, if there is real help for us, we will have it.

 

We spoke a few years ago about Michael Phelps, the much-decorated swimmer, and how his coach would plan and put in place traps and detours in Michael’s training, like goggles that were rigged to leak in the pool, so that he would not ever be up against anything in a race that would deter him. He scheduled smaller meets and didn’t allow time for any food beforehand. We talked about how the man or woman who has been trained in the proper and most efficient reach for the edge is the one who most often wins by one or two hundredths of a second.

 

How is it possible that men and women who train in all four corners of the globe, in all climates and altitudes, with completely different trainers and styles of training, with vastly different physiques and diets, can come in one-two-three-four in their heat or their race, all within a split second of one another?

 

The first answer must be: every one of them knows the time to beat, so whatever their training, it is geared to shave even one-tenth of a second off that time. So we make this application:

 

It is critical that we keep the goal in mind. What is the goal for us here in this Abbey? It is CHRISTLIKENESS … Christ’s likeness … and ever shall be.

 

What then, knowing the goal and keeping it in our sights, what will help us cross the finish line and receive the crown? All run, but may it not be said that the one who wears the crown is the one who pays attention to detail? Champion runners find a step, a drill, a breathing technique that wins races. Champion swimmers practice their turn and push from the wall thousands and thousands of times over, becoming faster, more efficient, stronger with every passing week. Champion boxers train with deliberation and cannot win big until they learn that they must do much more than throw heavy punches.

 

Boxing is such a great teacher … when the face is bloodied and eyes blood-blinded, the legs are as gelatin, the breath is faint, the mind is blurred, the will crumpled, they all say the same thing, that they rely upon their training and discipline to see them through. So here is another application for us: First they gain victory over defeat, and then they gain victory over their opponents.  It’s all in the details.

 

 

Jack Dempsey in the ring

from the George Grantham Gain collection,

no known copyright, on Wikipedia

 

Boot Camp

Posted by Cor Unum Abbey on January 25, 2016
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MCRD_Parris_Island_entrance

 

 

If you are a nun here in Cor Unum Abbey, you know what it is to wake up before you might otherwise choose, to spend time in worship and prayer that might have been given to movies and books and leisure time delights, and to maintain goals of spiritual and internal change … “Conversatio” … that might be given to more glittering successes outside these walls.

 

You also know what it is to keep your peace in time of trial and terror, to hope against hope, to love when jealousy and hatred demand attention. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal here, but they are mighty, even to the pulling down of strongholds … even to the destruction of those snares that have kept us locked up and lonely.

 

Snares. Strongholds. Traps. All of us have taken refuge in dangerous corners. We have hidden behind pride at times. For some, it is a boasting in strength, and for others boasting in lack and inability works just as well. We have been known to hide even behind fear, which seems to work, even seems sensible, for a while until we hear the firm, quiet, inexorable voice of God telling us, “Fear not … I am with you.” We have hidden behind busy-ness and boredom, behind wounds and words that should not have been spoken. Since Adam and Eve, we hide, but if only we knew, we cower in plain sight. Others can see our deceptions more often than we know, and the better we hide, the greater the danger to our souls.

 

We battle powers and principalities, just as the Scripture says in Ephesians 6, but here in Cor Unum Abbey, and for our own safety, we first take on the strong man, the one who stomps around in our hearts, hands on hips, feet spread, scowling, telling us that we cannot change, and that it would be foolish to try. “He” is a dragon man, guarding his treasure, breathing fire, and his riches are our sins and faults and fears. How he loves them! How he dotes over them! It hardly seems an enviable pile of loot, but oh! – what POWER he claims as long as every little chain stays fastened. What are diamonds and rubies compared with power and lust over the souls of men?

 

So, our warfare will ever be to relieve him of his armor and to distribute his plunder. More on that in the days ahead, but it will take place. Honesty and humility of heart will sustain us, repentance and rest upon the Word of God will save us. Joyfully, even as we bring the strong man down, others are shifting in their cages, testing the locks and rattling the bars, and before we depart to be with the Lord, many will be free and equipped to carry on their own combat maneuvers, to fight and to win, to triumph just as we are meant to do.

 

. . . thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

2 Corinthians 2:14

 

New recruits prepare to step through the silver doors of the receiving building, an action which symbolizes the transition from civilians to recruits and the beginning of their transformation into United States Marines.  Credit: United States Marine Corps photo,  public domain, by permission

 

Cor Unum Barracks

Posted by Cor Unum Abbey on January 22, 2016
Posted in: devotional life, monasteries, monasticism, personal devotion, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

1280px-The_New_Barracks_(18thC),_Edinburgh_Castle

 

 

As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. (1 John 2:27,28, nasb)

 

 

We have spent a few years investigating the divine peculiarities of a modern, monastic lifestyle, and some of us have been practicing those holy oddments, patching together what parts of a monastic mantle we have been able to reclaim in our workaday world. Faithful in thanksgiving, devoted to prayer and ever deepening intercession, delighting in worship and the manifest Nearness of God, we are not cloistered nuns, outwardly, but we are enclosed in Christ. We are learning to abide in Him as He abides in us, the true abbatial life. We are bona fide monastics, taking to heart the ancient meaning of the word, that every born again man and woman stands monolithically before God, each with a holy vocation that cannot be perfectly filled by any other.

 

We have come to trust that our piecework might be, to the Lord, a beautiful labor of love, for our hearts have found great delight in this glorious Opus Dei. For some of us, the world is beginning to have to fit into our Divine Office, more than it once was, the other way around.

 

This year we are seeking to make our devotional lives as mighty and effectual as they have been majestic . . . the full monastic monty, I was about to write, but being a conscientious Abbess, I Googled The Full Monty and learned something I didn’t know. It was a movie about six men, unemployed steel workers, who decide to form a strip act to out-distance all others, and perhaps you can imagine how they plan to make that happen. Nothing, in fact, was to be left to the imagination.

 

Well, thought I, better choose a different expression – but wait! First of all, the Urban Dictionary defines “the full monty” as “the whole thing” or “going the whole way,” and that is completely apt for us. What’s more, it will require a nakedness of soul before God to see this project through. We are never crude, but here is a colorful adaptation we won’t soon forget! Don’t rent the movie, just be prepared to part with those fig leaves that haven’t covered as well as we thought. “Too busy, too weak, too old, too young, too wounded, too many failures.”

 

As to lives “mighty and effectual” inside these cyber walls, consider the scores of Scriptural admonitions toward preparedness and power: “Watch and pray!” “Be steadfast, immovable!” “Continue in prayer!” “Taking captive every thought to the obedience of Christ!” (I love this one …) “Casting down … every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God!” “Put on the full armor of God … we wrestle against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness … !” “… understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch … !” “Be ready!” “Pray without ceasing!” “Rejoice always!”

 

… and these are but a few.

 

We are in this Abbey, and we are glad. Now let it become a barracks for those who are not at liberty to go on liberty! We are not on parade duty, splendid as that may be to spectators. This is a covert operation to bring out many souls into the protection of the Gospel of Christ now, in what time remains, actually behaving in accordance with the shortness of time. If we live into our eighties or nineties, it is hardly time enough to spend in this rescue attempt. Of the millions around us that are lost in darkness, dozens and hundreds are to us a special assignment. Of those that have come to faith in Christ but remain prisoners of war, trapped and crouching in spiritual huts with no more room to maneuver than their fears afford, many await the marshalling of our faith in compassion and intercession, that they may once again see the light of day.

 

This disciplined life, the choices that we make that have kept us enclosed and enabled us to be given to worship and prayer, is its own reward in great measure, but we are numbered among those who bear the burdens of others and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2) It has never been enough to enjoy the stained glass windows and the marble statuary, and even our own Heart’s Desire leads us forth to battle. We are as militant as we are monastic.

 

If these words are, if this ideal is to you a battle cry, two steps forward. We will all have to count upon the Spirit of Counsel and Might to get us where we need to go, to clothe us from on high, to teach our hands to war, to set before us a table in the presence of our enemies. This we know, He won’t fail to equip us for the conflict, perhaps the last great conflict of the ages, and certainly the one for which we were born and brought forth in Christ Jesus. He stands even now at the head of an army of warriors, brave and true … and triumphant.

 

photo by Kim Trainer, Wikipedia, by permission

Hanoverian barrack block from the reign of George III, built 1796-99 to accommodate an infantry battalion of 600 officers and men during the war with Revolutionary France.

Introduction to Marketplace Monastics, Part 2

Posted by Cor Unum Abbey on February 24, 2015
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1211px-Sanahin_Monastery

Many of us have had or do have children or employees under our watch-care. How often have we expected of them an adherence to simple rules that we ourselves did not emulate in our private lives?

“Eat your vegetables,” “brush your teeth,” “finish your homework,” and of course, “If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all!” … while we ourselves struggled with the effects of poor nutritional choices and a crushing disorganization or a damaging tendency to gossip? All could have been repaired long ago if we had been obedient to our own good sense. “Eat your vegetables,” “brush your teeth,” “finish your homework,” is to them what “drink less coffee,” “get proper sleep,” “be on time,” and “don’t gossip” ought to be to us.

Here in this Abbey, change will take place, most of it gradually, and all of it in the direction of a closer walk with God, enhanced personal relationships, and a much more effectual life of prayer. We will begin to dwell in Christ in that settled down way that depends upon hearing and obeying, and upon the cultivation of an unfeigned love, of peace, and of joy.

Second rule of Cor Unum Abbey – You, in Christ, are the Superior of the monastery of your heart … and His Spirit will lead you in triumph.

How many, how colorful, how right, how desirable are the Lord’s strictures to us concerning personal responsibility! They range from the commandments given in the wilderness, from which we are not exempt until the law is fulfilled in love (Matthew 5:;17-20), to words that command the impossible:

Deuteronomy 28:1-7 … “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.  And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.  Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.  Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.  Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.  Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. (esv)

 

Luke 10:27 … And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (esv)

 

We know our love for God is not as whole as it could be, we know that we are not yet made perfect in love, but we don’t excuse ourselves from the pursuit, from the race … from the arena. As the Holy Spirit is given to help and inspire and strengthen, we enter into the training about which Paul spoke. (I like thinking of Paul as a man who knew how to “put up his dukes”!) There has never been a coach to compare with the Holy Spirit of God. He tells us how to make the wind work for us on every vault toward greater kindness. He goads us to run a little further or a little faster and tells us which spiritual muscles to call into greater service. He makes sure, if we will submit to his oversight, that we are properly nourished and rested, at least in Christ Jesus our Lord. What a heartbreak it would be to discover how far we might have gone with His instruction and preparation, if only we had shown up for practice!

Accordingly, I don’t run aimlessly but straight for the finish line; I don’t shadow-box but try to make every punch count. (1 Corinthians 9:226, CJB)

 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear . . . (1John 4:18, NIV)

We will remember continually that we are called to seek the Presence of the Lord and to find our pleasure in His nearness. Anyone might balk at the idea of doing more than an already busy life can manage, but it is invigorating to see the difference it makes when at last we put Christ Jesus first, when He has preeminence over all things, and not with lip-service only. Time begins to warp into plenty of time; effort begins to rejoice rather than repress our hearts, in the middle of grave difficulties, we catch ourselves smiling a knowing smile … indeed, we have been chosen to bear the image of our Lord in this life.

Those who are true monastics know that nothing must be practiced that takes away from the rightful joys and sanctity of marriage or parenthood or the honor of work and responsibility. No, the inclusion of a personal Divine Office, if it is really divine, enhances life and relationships. We seek the life to be found in that close place, that closet, of which the Lord Jesus spoke, the life that is manifest when we learn to find God here and find Him now and then begin to display the open reward of the discovery.

“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:6, NASB)

 

Trust in the Lord and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,

your vindication like the noonday sun. (Psalm 37:3-6, NIV)

 

Much more than petitionary prayer will be discovered within these walls, of course. Marketplace Monastics have given up other things in order so to live, but they live well by happy standards, and what they do without is nothing that, in Christ, they would wish to retain. Family and fellowship and feasting and fun are all to be had – and let no one tell you that cloistered nuns do not enjoy all of those, as well, if perhaps on a smaller dietary scale!

Monastic pleasures are, to some degree, measured for those we will call “real” nuns, but the grand weight on the other side of the scale is practiced devotion to God and a boundless sense of His Nearness. They have, as Mother Mary Francis wrote, “a right to be merry,” as do we, the monastics of Cor Unum Abbey.

For us, when we set out to live lives of unfeigned devotion, some things will have to be replaced, because our lives are always full of whatever we do every day, even if it is patently nothing. For many it is overwork, for some it is excessive leisure and play, and for many, many others it is ennui, that elusive nothingness that makes one old and sad and useless and gives no account for itself.

Kiss that goodbye. We are meant to be ripe like fruit, lovely and luscious fruit on a healthy vine. The tomatoes in the garden or the potted plants on the back porch tell us, too many days without water will scorch the life out of a prize show of fruit or flower. We can learn much if we will investigate what it is that the monastics of this world, those in and those outside the cloister, do with the twenty-four hours they are given, for they certainly do find the spout of Living Water and plant themselves beneath.

We will look into many such lives, but above all, we will start living them!

Lest we be tempted in any way to say, “Some can, but I cannot,” the profound hope woven into these pages is that nothing will be written that cannot be catalogued under the express will and purpose of God … that we should seek Him with our whole hearts and love Him, heart and soul and mind and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, and that we should take our places abiding in Christ and His Word in us. That we should learn to lose our souls that they might be found. All this must be possible to butcher and baker and candle-stick maker, to wife and mother, husband and father, to widows and college students, single parents and single men and women, even to those wondering in their hearts, where and how long before their hearts find a home. We may have this life of fruitfulness in and toward Christ Jesus, if we will.

Let us begin with this revelation from the Word of God: truly, hope deferred makes the heart sick. It is up to us to defer our hope no longer. Happily or tragically married or single, imprisoned or impaired, never was real hope to be found in any other than Christ Jesus and His Kingdom within our hearts. The one who seeks God and His astonishing Kingdom, will find.

Not only in Bethlehem, Connecticut, within the wall of Regina Laudis Abbey, but in many of the more enduring orders, it has been the more exacting practices that have prevailed, and a spot of exactitude might help us all, here in the workaday world they left behind. Let us follow a young postulant into cloister, and see if we, too, might not benefit from the manifold joys of a more disciplined devotional life.

The ancient monastery (10th century) of Sanahin, in Armenia

hansdewaele, by permission, Wikipedia

Day Five – January 5 – “For There is Nothing Lost that May be Found, If Sought”

Posted by Cor Unum Abbey on January 5, 2015
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DickseeRomeoandJuliet

            Alone is a frightening place to be, and it’s not for cowards.

Having spent more than twenty years as a military wife, I spent a lot of time left alone for a season. This solitude is something else.

Our first year of marriage was spent in Korea, and the only complete phrase I could utter was “Kagee-wah oogie-mo ship-shee-o” … please don’t bring me anymore! The waitresses in the club where we dined were very gracious to the American wife who had come to live in their country with her husband! Frank worked nights quite a lot, and perhaps I’ll tell you sometime about the night I woke up to find a man with a machete in my bedroom! But Frank came home that night; he knew I would be there (and fortunately, I was, still,) and I knew he would come.

A few years later, we were stationed in Germany and in order to get us there more quickly, my husband rented a house on the side of a mountain, not as close to his installation as he might have wanted to be (not close at all!), but at least we could be together – when he wasn’t on maneuvers, which was not very often. Alone on the top floor of a beautiful house with panoramic views in every direction, I was enchanted with our new home, but I could not even say, “It’s nice to see you” to the people downstairs. Horrid! Frank had stocked the kitchen, bathroom, and nursery, but if I had needed anything I could not have driven to Post to get it, even if I’d had a license … I didn’t know the way!

For those of us who find ourselves alone, alone with no one coming home, with half of our heart and life gone and forever, there is a vehicle and there is a way to get where we need to be, to find wholeness and more – to find Romance, Capital R.

First, let’s run a reality check: in every marriage, even the sweetest of all, someone has to die first. We hardly think of that, standing at the altar, and we shy away from that certainty while we live, but it is a fact. In my case, I’m glad my husband wasn’t left without me, but it’s not the same planet without him.

There is a divine romance for women alone. The Scripture speaks of it, and many have found it. We in Cor Unum are those who refuse to refuse the Nearness of the Lord, clinging to what we had or growing bitter over what has been taken from us. We don’t have what we wanted, but we have the Lord, the inventor of love and romance, greatly desiring to live these years with us, and to make them years of fullness and fruitfulness. Nothing was taken more than is now given in Christ Jesus.

We in this Abbey trust the goodness, and we choose the Presence of God. For every opportunity we would have had to minister to our husbands, whether gone through death or divorce, Christ Jesus, Savior and King, will get every ounce of that ministry, which is to say our attention, our esteem, and the warmth of our souls learning to make what matters to Him matter supremely to us. That is love, and we will have it, here in Cor Unum Abbey, monastery of the heart.