Lessons From a Monastery: Christ is Enough. By: C.C.

"Still as we all know, even we monks who ostensibly have decided that Christ is enough for us. That is why we have locked ourselves in the monastery and thrown away the key at solemn profession. It is easier said than done. It is a lifetime of conversion, even in the monastery, to accept that Christ is enough for us. That in choosing Him we are choosing everything. That we are losing nothing. That nothing is slipping by us as we keep our eyes on Him. It does not feel that way and that is why we, even in the monastery, start making up for lost time or taking up the very things we had left behind because we find Christ too narrow and too boring. The problem is not Christ. It is our own unconverted hearts that are divided and are weak in faith and want to have our cake and eat it too. This is the cause of the most unhappiness in monasteries as well. That Christ is not enough for us. We come to find Him and then start looking 
elsewhere."(Abott Gerard D'Souza)
  The humble simplicity of a surrendered monk reveals the beautiful complexity of Divine mystery and intimacy with God. It allows one to reflect upon the meaning of true joy and true peace. It invites one to renew a once burdensome idea of solitude as loneliness and find instead the radical fulfillment of the greatest human need. It is not an easy way of life and ultimately the idea of life as easy in any state that one may find themselves is not authentically living but settling for a disillusioned sense of reality.
    The monastery is a place that models the importance of overcoming oneself in order to experience a relationship with the Lord Himself who desires our love, our trust, and our full surrender. If one is open there is a lesson on attachment and dependency;welcoming the embrace of complete reliance on God.  We see that our lives are most rich in the blind giving of ourselves into the service of God. It is a willing and beautiful surrender made out of love for the greatest Love of all time.
     My first encounter with the Abbey of the Genesee, some years ago, was one that called me to question the notion of surrendering to God and how I  lived this out in my own life. Though I live outside of a monastic enclosure and my life differs in many ways, the one unifying reality shared with all of these men is that of belonging to the love of the same Father through faith.
   In a radical way these monks have decided that "Christ is enough". To many who battle with this idea then the monastery may seem more like a prison than a sacrificial paradise. It leads one with a worldly lens to measure happiness and freedom based upon material aspects, financial gain, and self chosen liberties.
  The secular focus of the holiday season can often highlight the reality of consumerism and material consumption. We may forget that the reason for the season is Christ, and lose sight of Him within our families, our celebrations, and our shared time with those we love. 
   By choosing Christ let us strive to acknowledge that He is enough, and through this may we come to believe that "in choosing Him we are choosing everything. That we are losing nothing. That nothing is slipping by us as we keep our eyes on Him." -CC