Why Monasteries?

 

The Catholic Times conducted an interview with a priest who has led pilgrimages to monasteries for nearly 20 years. What lingered in the interviewer's mind was not any specific answers to questions she may have had, but the feeling she was left with. 

There were ample explanations for why this journey had lasted so long, but what ultimately stayed with her was the question of 'why do people seek monasteries?' This question goes beyond personal preferences or spiritual experiences and prompts reflection on what has sustained Christian faith over time.

The paths to the monastery pilgrimages were always the same. The mere fact that it had continued for a long time was not the point. A monastery is not a place for adding more, but a place where one gradually removes unnecessary layers to reveal the essence. In this sense, these pilgrimages were primarily a process of reaffirming the core, source, goal, and path of faith within the monastery.

While conducting the interview, she was reminded of the power that an old monastery holds. Monasteries began from a desire to live out perfect gospel values; the monks have repeatedly fallen, failed, and risen again. Gospel perfection is not an ideal achieved at once, but the result of choices that embrace human weakness and never gives up.
 

Viewed this way, monastery pilgrimages are not a longing for the past. In an era in which religion is often treated as a choice, it is a process of asking where faith originally began. Rather than seeking a better experience, it is closer to confirming the form of life in which faith first took root.

Seeking a monastery ultimately means asking these kinds of questions. Isn't it about asking yourself whether you can, today, choose once again the essence that the church never ultimately let go of and considered central?