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Our Monastery is Here and Now
by Richard Carter, author of The City is My Monastery: A Contemporary Rule of Life
We plan the holiday in advance
But the holy day is today
The monks knew the ancient wisdom of giving each part of
the day to God
So that they tasted the height, breadth and depth of
God’s presence
The coming of the light, the hopes and struggles of the day,
the intensity of noon,
the shadows of evening bringing the toil to an end,
food and refreshment, the silence and darkness of the night
But we no longer notice the movements of the sun
We do not see the sky just the screen
We have used the remote and become remote
We who have no time for God
Have become time’s prisoners
We have pulled the curtains on the sun and moon and have
closed the windows so that we no longer smell the rain or
breathe the air polluted by our fumes
We have been given this treasure beyond price and yet we scarcely notice it.
Our monastery is here and now
Where you are today
The person you are speaking with
The room you are sitting in
The street where you are walking
The action you are doing now
This is your monastery
This is your prayer
Eternity is now
The city is our monastery.