Monastery Jerseys

Our Jerseys, Daisy, Buttercup and Rosa, wait to be let into the monastery gates.

June 2002

A theologically interesting photo. Br Gerard Maria is performing an act of Religion because he has the vow of Obedience and all that he does is an act of Religion: Brother Gerard before the Tabernacle and Brother Gerard feeding the calf are equally acts of Religion, acts of the Worship of God. Stephen the postulant is performing an act of patience only, because as yet he has no vow of Obedience and does not from this same act perform an act of Religion. And therefore the brother or priest, “in all that he does through obedience, is sure to do the will of God perfectly and merits by all, not only when he prays, when he hears confessions, when he preaches, or fasts, or practises other mortifications, but also when he takes his food, when he sweeps his room, when he makes his bed, when he takes his rest, when he recreates himself; for doing all this through obedience, in all he does the will of God. St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi said that all that is done through obedience is a prayer. Hence St Anselm, speaking of those who love obedience, asserted that all religious do is meritorious for them. St Aloysius Gonzaga said that in religion, one sails, as it were, in a vessel, in which he even advances who does not row. Oh! How much more will a religious gain in one month by observing his Rule than a secular, with all his penances and prayers, in a year! Of that disciple of St Dorotheus called Dositheus, it was revealed that for the five years he had lived under obedience, there was given him in heaven the glory of St Paul the Hermit and of St Antony the Abbot, both of whom had, for so many years, lived in the desert. Religious, it is true, have to suffer the inconveniences of regular observance: Going they went and wept. But when they are called to the other life, they will go to heaven, but coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves. Whence they shall sing, The lines are fallen unto me in goodly places, for my inheritance is goodly to me. These bonds which have bound me to the Lord have become for me exceedingly precious, and the glory they have acquired for me is exceedingly great.” –(St Alphonsus, Consideration V, Choice of a State of Life) Is God calling you to enter a monastery as a brother or as a priest? An attraction to the life is one of the signs of a possible vocation. Take that attraction seriously and make contact with a monastery very soon.

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