Domestic Monastery

What is a monastery? A monastery is a place set apart—a place to learn the blessings of powerlessness, and that time is not ours but God’s. Our home and our duties can, just like a monastery, teach us those things. The vocation of monastic men and women is to physically withdraw from the world to provide for contemplation and reflection. But the principle is equally valid for those of us who cannot go off to monasteries -- we too can find spiritual peace and grace at home.

In ten brief and powerful chapters, Fr. Ron explores how monastery life can apply to those who don't live in a cloister:

Monasticism and Family Life
The Domestic Monastery
Real Friendship
Lessons from the Monastic Cell
Ritual for Sustaining Prayer
Tensions within Spirituality
A Spirituality of Parenting
Spirituality and the Seasons of Our Lives
The Sacredness of Time
Life’s Key Question

Our home, our duties and routines, our relationships, and the way we use our time, are the monasteries of our lives. It is through these practices that we build our relationship with God, that we find opportunities for contemplation, and deserts for reflection. In this beautiful little book Ronald Rolheiser turns on its head the idea that religious life is the preserve of monks and nuns. Our cloisters are the walls of our home and our work, the streets we walk, and the people with whom we share our lives. The domestic is the monastic.Ronald Rolheiser