Monks are people too

After a brief introduction to his lecture, my monastic professor said

               “So, tonight is…”

               The class was clearly baffled as to what the answer was. We were thinking… what religious holiday was November 3^rd? or was he referring  II Vespers for a saint or feast for tomorrow? Or perhaps there is some monastic significance on the date? A few students tentatively responded “The junior class meeting?”

               The junior class meeting is tonight, and I count myself blessed that I am not classified as a junior anymore, but this was obviously not the answer. No, Brother Anselm responded “It is the season premier of Burn Notice”. Although no one could have guessed, no one was really surprised, and I think this says a lot.

               Now I am sure that somewhere on a high mountaintop there are plenty of monks that live much more austere lives than the ones here at Conception, and the very thought of those monks loyally following a television series is a travesty. These monks are not those monks. It is not unusual for the TV lounge to be taken up by the chaplain rooting for his football team.

               I think people need to realize that religious people are ordinary people like you and me. Ok, well I admit that I’m not normal, but then again, neither are you! Being a monk doesn’t mean you can’t be a Kanas City Royals fan, but in my opinion, you are pretty crazy if you are either of them. My point is that spiritual matters are not for ‘some man on a mountain’, but are for each of us… but more on that later. Right now I have an episode of How I met Your Mother that I need to catch up on.