23 October 2021 •  The Monastic Life

Even though I admire it, I have never really been able to fully comprehend how a person could choose the cloistered life of a monastery.   Especially difficult would be vows of celibacy, poverty or silence.  Just obedience is enough of a struggle!  But now that we are at about the midway point of our time here in Rome, I realize that we have taken a definite shift toward the monastic lifestyle.  We have no car.  We don't watch TV or listen to the news.  Our "cloister" is the beautiful piazza surrounded on all four sides by the Temple where we work five days per week, the Visitors' Center where we visit missionaries and play music, our Stake Center where we go to church, and the Foresteria where we live.  And all of our earthly possessions will fit in a suitcase.  We do miss family and friends, but Face Time phone calls help greatly with that.  And with a bus pass that frequently puts us in the heart of the Eternal City in about 45 minutes plus ample access to the best Italian food in the world, we're not exactly Cistercians!  But when we return home at the end of this pilgrimage, I hope we won't let ourselves just slide back into our status quo. Rather, I hope we can retain some of this simplified life. . .with pasta of course!

SILENZIO

The Window of a Monk's Cell overlooking the Cloister of San Marco Monastery

San Marco Monastery

Spaghetti alla Carbornara • A Speciality in Roma