Contrary to popular thought a monk does not have to live a life of complete separation from the world while solemnly chanting in an isolated, stone cell. Rather, a present day monk is someone who has chosen to live monastic values within their current life setting. Someone who loves the spiritual way of a monkish life and commits to monastic ideals such as:
- Solitude and silence (see Ps 46:10, Jesus’ numerous examples, Paul’s time alone before ministry)
- Faith and compassion (see 1 john 3:16-18 as well Jesus’ and the apostles many examples)
- Friendship and mentoring (again Jesus’ many examples with his apostles and other ‘outcasts’)
- Contemplation and leadership (and again we have Jesus’ examples of time alone with the Father before teaching and leading his followers)
I also feel a strong calling to a life of individual prayer. Prayer here at home but also to make personal pilgrimages to other lands with the main purpose of prayer. As Frank Laubach (successful missionary to the Mora people) put it, “I do nothing that I can see except to pray for them, and to walk among them thinking of God” and in another place Laubach says his duty is, “Just to pray inwardly for everybody one meets, and to keep on all day without stopping”.
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