my domestic monastery

A new-to-me idea has taken up residence in the forefront of my active thoughts (along with the heap of laundry, discipline or lack thereof, the season of Advent beginning this Sunday, the suddenly shorter length of all the elder lad's pants, self-care or lack thereof, pumpkin roll for Thanksgiving, and random other things).  Those are, obviously, all over the place, but this one is hefty: it's the concept of our homes being domestic monasteries.

Yup.  Monasteries.  Homes with young children being monasteries.  As if. 

I know better than to say I stumbled upon the idea, because truly the Holy Spirit led me to this piece by Fr. Ron Rolheiser in which he describes a monastery following the discipline of the monastic bell and grafts those principles onto home life.  When the bell rings, it signifies the beginning of a new activity, regardless of the person's readiness to undertake that activity because of his or her involvement in some other activity at the moment.  Responding to the bell requires the development of discipline, a stretching of one's heart to allow God's will to prevail over one's own, and a submission to the will of God, whose time it is that we are spending -- not our own.  

The monastery, then, is "a place set apart" -- not just for vowed religious, but for anyone who is trying to use the time God has given each of us in this lifetime for God's glory and according to God's will.  In the home as monastery we are removed from what Rollheiser describes as "the centres of power and social importance" and placed in close proximity to those who are among the mildest of the mild -- i.e. young children (though they don't always seem so mild!). 

Beyond seeing myself as the heart of the home or even striving to create a home sweet home, as an inhabitant of the monastery I am attuned to the sounding of the monastic bell (or bells, as it sometimes seems, sounding simultaneously) so as to be attuned to the voice of God speaking to me through these particular people and circumstances. With each passing day I constantly reminded that my time is not my own -- it is God's, and conforming myself to his will is my primary objective.  He sees fit for me to serve him by caring for this family, right here and right now.