I have some serious color deficiencies, but even I can see the wonderful shades of green in this very alive photograph. In the spring we can see masses of transparent frog eggs in the still waters of a pond. Then seemingly thousands of tadpoles appear which transition over the next weeks from a tiny animal that is mostly tail to this amazing creature of eyes, legs, camouflaged skin and capacities for life in and out of water. From egg to tadpole to frog, it is a spring symbol of transformation, transition, change, personal evolution.
Change is at the heart of the Christian spiritual life. Some people don't get it: "This is who I am, take it or leave it," a defensive person might say, or, "I couldn't care less what you think, this is the way it is..."
Thomas Merton writes that a man enters a monastery to change. That might strike some folks as odd, having looked upon monasteries as centers of religious industry, prayers, disciplines and asceticisms. St. Paul sums it up in Romans 12:2:
"Don't let the contemporary world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-make you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and mature."
Notice this - Paul's advice or injunction is that our mind be changed. He uses the word "re-made". "Christ, you have come to disturb us," Dostoevsky wrote. Jesus Christ is supposed to be a thorn in my side, not a sedative. I would suggest that this change or renewal will manifest itself primarily in how we think of other people and how we treat them.
In a monastery everyone is welcome. Guests are not asked about their dogma or church census form, morals and values, nationality, voting record, party affiliation, prayer life, sexual orientation, marital status, social security number or legal status. Everyone is welcomed - for free! The rule of St. Benedict says that the only time someone is told to leave is if his/her behaviour is disrupting the rhythm of the place.
And a monastery is a symbol of how we ALL might live, as if to say, "See, we all can live peacefully and in love." Love is actively seeking the good of the other. To love is to accept other people as they are or, "as they may become." That is a very great challenge. The transition to love is everyday.
