Well, the results are in. Bro. Stanislaus has come through the mid-term community evaluation, and . . . he's still here. Not that I had any real doubts about him being approved. Even so, he is a Junior and I am the Junior Director responsible for accompanying him through three years of formation, so the process had both of us on pins and needles for a few days. I know well how ticklish a thing it can be for a young monk to be "evaluated" by an entire community of Trappist monks with decades of experience in the spiritual life, who don't talk all that much, and — one or two of whom might actually be saints. Stanislaus is poised and very smart, a pretty self-confident guy. If he had anxiety about being evaluated, it didn't show. He's young, only 28, and still displays the self-assurance of a young monk who has only just glimpsed "the truth about himself" as St. Bernard calls it. Of course, the purpose of the mid-term evaluation is not for the brothers to tell Stanislaus the truth about himself. We do not judge persons — that's God's role. What was being evaluated was not Stanislaus as a person but the evident signs of his vocation to monastic life. There is danger at this moment. Anytime you oblige a child of God to stand up in front of a group of people to be "evaluated" you take a risk. There can be slippage here, and in a direction that can have fearful consequences. A community could find itself replaying that horrific moment in the Praetorium when Pilate stood Jesus up before the anxious crowd and said "Look at the man!" God help the monk who used this occasion to pass judgment on Stanislaus as a person. The judgment to be made concerns only the evident signs or counter-signs of a monastic vocation. If he had not been approved, that would be no statement about his worth as a person. "He is absolutely incapable of maintaining silence!" "He reads the bible for a few minutes — and then spends the rest of the day promoting universal health care!" "Good Lord! The woman can't sit still for fifteen seconds!" These are the notes the abbot would receive if the New Melleray monks were to evaluate Amadeus Mozart, Barack Obama, and Mother Theresa. All three would flunk out — they'd be given a hug, bus fare, and told: "Come again for a visit!", and sent on their way. It doesn't mean they are bad people. They have a different vocation. Being approved by the New Melleray monks doesn't make Stanislaus a saint or even an especially virtuous person, it just means he is one step closer to being confirmed as one of us.

Father Raphael