Perhaps one of the most difficult parts of our life in monastery is experiencing over and over again the painful, boring truth of our sinfulness and allowing Christ in that very moment to gaze on us with love and exquisite tenderness. It may seem utter madness to allow ourselves to be the objects of Christ’s love and attention precisely in that moment. It is the great reversal, the sublime trick of the monastic vocation- we thought we were coming to the monastery to gaze upon Christ, but it is Christ Jesus himself who wants to gaze upon us in our lowliness and poverty, not to make us feel small and miserable, but because he loves us in excess.
Quotation from Only Jesus by Luis M. Martinez, D. D., trans. Sister Mary Daniel, B. V. M. , B. Herder, St. Louis, 1962. Photograph by Brother Brian.
