Monks

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Churchman25

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In 2016 my sister went on a tour of her colleges monestary and learned that monks in that monestary had to follow strict guidelines on how they lived.

My question is, why would monks be , for example only allowed talk at certain times of the day?
 
Churchman25 said:
In 2016 my sister went on a tour of her colleges monestary and learned that monks in that monestary had to follow strict guidelines on how they lived.

My question is, why would monks be , for example only allowed talk at certain times of the day?
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Silence is an encouragement to prayer, and the life of a monk in the contemplative orders is supposed to be about prayer.
 
Churchman25 said:
My question is, why would monks be , for example only allowed talk at certain times of the day?
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That would be the rule of their order. The rule is established by the founder or formed by the current leader, and are based on their charism or however they feel they are called to best serve the Lord.
 
There are also priests that join the order of Saint Francis and wear the brown clothing with Rosary beads at their side in some places. There is quite a variety of celebrating Saint Francis.
 
Churchman25 said:
In 2016 my sister went on a tour of her colleges monestary and learned that monks in that monestary had to follow strict guidelines on how they lived.

My question is, why would monks be , for example only allowed talk at certain times of the day?
Click to expand...
Most western monks follow the Rule of St. Benedict. Here’s what it has to say on silence: osb.org/rb/text/rbejms3.html#6

It’s part of discipline and maintaining a prayer-centered life. But I believe it also hearkens back to the origins of monasticism in the desert with the Desert Father’s and hermits (some hermits eventually formed into communities, and developed rules to govern their way of life, thus becoming the first monastic communities). There’s a deep theology behind “Desert spirituality”.

Desert spirituality is basically solitude, silence, and prayer, but it’s also penitential and also purges/“cleans” the souls. The desert is also preparation for salvation (…Moses in the Desert…Elijah…even Jesus in the desert). Lent leading up to Easter can be thought of as a “desert” experience. Anyway, the silence in monasteries in its own way goes back to the desert origins, and helps maintain that “desert” experience.
 
CatholicSpirit said:
There are also priests that join the order of Saint Francis and wear the brown clothing with Rosary beads at their side in some places. There is quite a variety of celebrating Saint Francis.
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(Somewhat) minor point: Franciscans would be mendicant friars, not monks strictly speaking, although many people aren’t aware of the distinction.
 
Churchman25 said:
In 2016 my sister went on a tour of her colleges monestary and learned that monks in that monestary had to follow strict guidelines on how they lived.

My question is, why would monks be , for example only allowed talk at certain times of the day?
Click to expand...
Proverbs 10:19: Where there is much talk, sin will not be lacking.

Dan
 
From the Rule of Saint Benedict:
Let us do what the Prophet says:
“I said, ‘I will guard my ways,
that I may not sin with my tongue.
I have set a guard to my mouth.’
I was mute and was humbled,
and kept silence even from good things” (Ps. 38[39]:2-3).
Here the Prophet shows
that if the spirit of silence ought to lead us at times
to refrain even from good speech,
so much the more ought the punishment for sin
make us avoid evil words.
Therefore, since the spirit of silence is so important,
permission to speak should rarely be granted
even to perfect disciples,
even though it be for good, holy edifying conversation;
for it is written,
“In much speaking you will not escape sin” (Prov. 10:19),
and in another place,
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21).
For speaking and teaching belong to the master;
the disciple’s part is to be silent and to listen.
And for that reason
if anything has to be asked of the Superior,
it should be asked
with all the humility and submission inspired by reverence.
But as for coarse jests and idle words
or words that move to laughter,
these we condemn everywhere with a perpetual ban,
and for such conversation
we do not permit a disciple to open hisr mouth.
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Sky_River said:
What do monks pray about usually?
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Monks pray the Divine Office, the prayer of the entire Church, for the entire Church. In other words the Liturgy of the Hours, except usually the monastic form which has greatly expanded psalmody, with typically all psalms recited over the course of a week instead of 4 weeks like the secular Liturgy of the Hours. They usually pray 7 times a day instead of 5 like the LOTH specifies for secular priests: Vigils (during the night, equivalent to the Office of Readings in the LOTH), Lauds (morning prayer), Terce (mid-morning prayer), Sext (noon prayer), None (mid-afternoon prayer), Vespers (evening Prayer), and Compline (night prayer).

To this individual monks will add their own private intentions, and the monks will also pray for people who ask for specific intentions. For example two years ago my son and three of his friends spent 3 months on a bicycle tour of Chile and Argentina, crossing the Andes 3 times. I asked our oblate director to pray for them. Each time I bumped into a monk at the abbey, whom I did not inform of their trip, I would get an inquiry about how the trip was going, and a promise to keep praying for them. So clearly they were praying!

It is a duty that they take extremely seriously.
 
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