People wonder: "What would it be like to be a millionaire?" Do they ever wonder: "What would it be like to renounce all your possessions; all your money, and never again have any chance what so ever of being a millionaire . . . and to do this with deep, heartfelt peace and joy?" Do people ever wonder what it might be like to be that free? What might surprise them is that, the actual spectacle of a man divesting himself of everything—I mean positively everything . . . isn't actually very dramatic, at least not on the surface. It is a spectacle I am watching unfold now. Bro. Sebastian's number is up. He has lived at New Melleray for more than six years, completed his "Observership" (six weeks), his "Postulancy" (six months), his "Novitiate" (two years) and his "Juniorate" (three years). He is canonically eligible and has made a formal petition to make Solemn Vows as a monk; there was a vote, he was accepted . . . and now—"the hour has come". Sebastian is scheduled to profess his Solemn Vows before God and about one hundred and twenty witnesses on Pentecost Sunday. As a Junior, he retained possession of certain things and a bank account, but renounced all disposition of them. Now, the time has come for him to permanently and definitively divest himself of both ownership and disposition of everything. He can dispose of it as he likes—but dispose of it he must . . . everything. If this were a reality t.v. show, all of this would be worked up into quite a dramatic display of precipitous emotions. But this is a monastery, and in this setting it all happens very quietly. Sebastian is a mature man who spent eight years as a leader in another religious community before coming here. He appears to me to have been born a monk—I mean, he has a profound inwardness and attraction to solitude, love of nature, peaceful acceptance of brothers, and love for the liturgy, that makes it hard for me to imagine him being anything else except a monk. There is little evidence that the process of renouncing everything is wrenching his heart. He goes about the task pretty much as though he were working in his beloved garden. There are tasks to be completed with the changing of the seasons, and so it is with life. "Take up your cross and follow me", Jesus said. A well formed and devout monk like Sebastian takes up his cross with hardly a murmur, in the manner of a man acting with complete trust and joyful confidence.

Father Raphael