What do you think?
Rate this book
Making a Heart for God: A Week Inside a Catholic Monastery
The monastic experience demystifiedan essential guide to what its like to spend a week inside a Catholic monastery. A life of quiet, work and prayer, monasticism has been a part of the Christian spiritual tradition for over 1,700 years, and it remains very much alive today. This book offers you a personal encounter with daily life inside the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, as you might encounter it on a one-week retreat. Including a detailed guide to the monastic places in North America that receive visitors, as well as a detailed glossary, Making a Heart for God is an excellent introduction for anyone interested in learning about monastic spiritualityand it is also the perfect preparation for your first retreat experience. Whether youre simply curious about whats behind the mystery, or interested in experiencing it firsthand, this is the ideal handbook. Also included are a helpful glossary of terms and a listing of monasteries throughout North America that receive visitors.
- GenresSpiritualityChristian
Paperback
First published November 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
18 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 25, 2024
THE ACCOUNT OF A JOURNALIST WHO IS ONE OF THE FEW WOMEN EVER GRANTED ACCESS TO A TRAPPIST MONASTERY
Dianne Aprile is a journalist who has also written books such as 'The Things We Don't Forget: Views from Real Life,' 'A Landscape and Its Legacy: The Parklands of Floyds Fork,' etc.
She wrote in the first chapter of this 2000 book, "While researching the abbey's 150-year history [for her book, The Abbey of Gethsemani: Place of Peace and Paradox (150 Years in the Life of America's Oldest Trappist Monastery)], I also had the chance to get to know, up close and personally, many of the monks who live there... From the inside of the enclosure, I was privy to a perspective on the monks different from that which the typical visitor or retreatant gets.
"And it is this perspective that I share with you in the following chapters. The focus is on the daily routines of the Catholic monk, the fabric of his richly textured spiritual life: the prayers, public and private; the sacred reading, mealtime rituals and workday obligations; the caretaking of the community’s elders, and the relationship among brothers. You will experience all this in the intimate, hour-by-hour way that a retreatant would experience it during a week's stay at Gethsemani. You will also get a glimpse of the day-to-day spiritual and organizational challenges faced by the monks of Gethsemani." (Pg. 8)
She explains, "the paradox of modern monasticism... is part of the huge appeal it has to visitors of all faith traditions, young and old, urban and suburban, serious seekers and the just-plain-curious. Who, after all, wouldn't be intrigued by the particulars of this ancient form of communal living, dedicated... to prayer, mindful work, sacred reading, patient reflection, and the surrender of one's ego in contemplation? Who wouldn't be struck by its contrast to the nonstop information gathering and sound-bite analyses of the broader culture? Who wouldn't wish, in some fashion, for a comparable balance in life? Granted, there has been a sharp decline over the past three decades in what Catholics call 'monastic vocations'..." (Pg. 4-5)
She later notes, "Father Felix ... has a comical image burned into his memory from that era: a parade of eager young monks lined up, tools in hand, sent out in silence to work at jobs they were not always qualified to perform... Those says are over. Few major construction jobs are called for these days; there is no need to expand. The average size of a Trappist monastery today---twenty-five monks or nuns---is less than half what it was in former times." (Pg. 84)
She observes, "Though Gregorian chant went out with the use of Latin, following church reforms of the 1960s, a modern version of that unique choral music is used today at Gethsemani and other Catholic monasteries. Trappists usually complete a full cycle of 150 psalms every two weeks. Standing in a candlelit church at 3:15 in the morning, listening to--or joining---the chanting monks is one sure way to feel yourself transported to the Middle Ages." (Pg. 23)
She points out, "Contrary to popular thinking, there is no formal 'vow of silence.' Silence is an important part of St. Benedict's Rule, one of the basic elements of the Benedictine way of life, and highly encouraged. But it is more of a value than a vow, more a rule than a promise." (Pg. 33) She adds, "But the rule of silence, for all its good intentions, was at times considered to be an end in itself... monks were prohibited from speaking directly to each other, even on the job, and certainly from chatting with visitors. As a result, a primitive form of monastic sign language grew up...
"The medieval silence of Thomas Merton's Gethsemani, the life he wrote about so eloquently in his early books, no longer exists. In the 1960s... monks were given the personal freedom to decide when a conversation valid and when silence better served the community." (Pg. 34-35) Similarly, "Monks abstain from meat at their monastery meals but are free to have a hamburger or steak when eating out, especially if to refuse meat would inconvenience someone else." (Pg. 108)
She states, "In the stricter, more austere days of monasticism... At Trappist monasteries... the abbot might sentence the offending monk to lie prostrate on the floor of the dining room, silently accepting the humiliation of having is brothers step over and around him to get to their meals. Or, he might order him to sit in a footstool rather than a chair as he ate his meal. Such public 'penance'... went out with Gregorian chant and self-flagellation in the 1960s. It is an element of the past that even the most diehard traditionalists harbor few regrets about abandoning." (Pg. 113)
Though obviously more a "journalistic" than an "in-depth" treatment, this book will still be of keen interest to anyone interested in what life is like in a contemporary monastic community.
Dianne Aprile is a journalist who has also written books such as 'The Things We Don't Forget: Views from Real Life,' 'A Landscape and Its Legacy: The Parklands of Floyds Fork,' etc.
She wrote in the first chapter of this 2000 book, "While researching the abbey's 150-year history [for her book, The Abbey of Gethsemani: Place of Peace and Paradox (150 Years in the Life of America's Oldest Trappist Monastery)], I also had the chance to get to know, up close and personally, many of the monks who live there... From the inside of the enclosure, I was privy to a perspective on the monks different from that which the typical visitor or retreatant gets.
"And it is this perspective that I share with you in the following chapters. The focus is on the daily routines of the Catholic monk, the fabric of his richly textured spiritual life: the prayers, public and private; the sacred reading, mealtime rituals and workday obligations; the caretaking of the community’s elders, and the relationship among brothers. You will experience all this in the intimate, hour-by-hour way that a retreatant would experience it during a week's stay at Gethsemani. You will also get a glimpse of the day-to-day spiritual and organizational challenges faced by the monks of Gethsemani." (Pg. 8)
She explains, "the paradox of modern monasticism... is part of the huge appeal it has to visitors of all faith traditions, young and old, urban and suburban, serious seekers and the just-plain-curious. Who, after all, wouldn't be intrigued by the particulars of this ancient form of communal living, dedicated... to prayer, mindful work, sacred reading, patient reflection, and the surrender of one's ego in contemplation? Who wouldn't be struck by its contrast to the nonstop information gathering and sound-bite analyses of the broader culture? Who wouldn't wish, in some fashion, for a comparable balance in life? Granted, there has been a sharp decline over the past three decades in what Catholics call 'monastic vocations'..." (Pg. 4-5)
She later notes, "Father Felix ... has a comical image burned into his memory from that era: a parade of eager young monks lined up, tools in hand, sent out in silence to work at jobs they were not always qualified to perform... Those says are over. Few major construction jobs are called for these days; there is no need to expand. The average size of a Trappist monastery today---twenty-five monks or nuns---is less than half what it was in former times." (Pg. 84)
She observes, "Though Gregorian chant went out with the use of Latin, following church reforms of the 1960s, a modern version of that unique choral music is used today at Gethsemani and other Catholic monasteries. Trappists usually complete a full cycle of 150 psalms every two weeks. Standing in a candlelit church at 3:15 in the morning, listening to--or joining---the chanting monks is one sure way to feel yourself transported to the Middle Ages." (Pg. 23)
She points out, "Contrary to popular thinking, there is no formal 'vow of silence.' Silence is an important part of St. Benedict's Rule, one of the basic elements of the Benedictine way of life, and highly encouraged. But it is more of a value than a vow, more a rule than a promise." (Pg. 33) She adds, "But the rule of silence, for all its good intentions, was at times considered to be an end in itself... monks were prohibited from speaking directly to each other, even on the job, and certainly from chatting with visitors. As a result, a primitive form of monastic sign language grew up...
"The medieval silence of Thomas Merton's Gethsemani, the life he wrote about so eloquently in his early books, no longer exists. In the 1960s... monks were given the personal freedom to decide when a conversation valid and when silence better served the community." (Pg. 34-35) Similarly, "Monks abstain from meat at their monastery meals but are free to have a hamburger or steak when eating out, especially if to refuse meat would inconvenience someone else." (Pg. 108)
She states, "In the stricter, more austere days of monasticism... At Trappist monasteries... the abbot might sentence the offending monk to lie prostrate on the floor of the dining room, silently accepting the humiliation of having is brothers step over and around him to get to their meals. Or, he might order him to sit in a footstool rather than a chair as he ate his meal. Such public 'penance'... went out with Gregorian chant and self-flagellation in the 1960s. It is an element of the past that even the most diehard traditionalists harbor few regrets about abandoning." (Pg. 113)
Though obviously more a "journalistic" than an "in-depth" treatment, this book will still be of keen interest to anyone interested in what life is like in a contemporary monastic community.
July 9, 2015
It's really about the life of the monks living at Gethsemani in Kentucky. She does talk about her experience there on her one week experience retreat. It is well written and though dated gives names of abbeys and monasteries giving retreats at the end for those so interested.
June 10, 2011
Pretty good account of a writer's week spent in a Catholic monastery. Interesting look at how these monks spend their lives.
July 27, 2011
Very Interesting and doable except the getting up at 3 am to pray...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews