My friend David forwarded me an excellent article - after all that's what he does - about the monastic life and the title and emphasis of the story brought something out about monasticism that I had not previously given much thought.  Its not easy to place oneself in the shoes of a monk and imagine what it would be like to life that life, to make the decision to live that life until death.  At best, most of us have chosen to spend a week or so in a monastery but how many have faced the possibility of never stepping outside those walls except on extraordinary occasions.  We are drawn by many aspects of what the monks are doing, sometimes in terms of how it impacts our own life, but there is also a part of us that wishes we could be in their shoes.  But before I go any further here's a quote from John Jalsevac's post Monastic Life: A Life Without Choices:

At some point I had mentioned that I was going to spend a few days over Easter at a traditional monastery, and this seemed to pique Cindy’s curiosity. Cindy, our realtor,  is a fallen-away Catholic, jaded by the chaos of the sixties and seventies, and the scandals that were brewed in their midst, and expressed her skepticism about the monastic project. “You will probably disagree with me,” she said, “but it seems to me that the life of a monk is a life without choices.” But I did not disagree, pointing out that the lack of choices is precisely the point – that a monk gives up his right to choose in order that he may be able to focus, without distraction, on the one thing that matters.

Irish monasticism is known for its asceticism and evangelical poverty but many do not think about the Irish monastic tradition in terms of learning.  We have dedicated this site to the life of the Irish saints and particularly the Ancient Celtic monks.  Brigid over at Under The Oak does a good job of painting its unique character in her post on the Feast of Saint Anthony:

Neither stone nor wood-and-earth huts would have afforded much comfort to brothers and sisters, who made do with pleasures of mind and soul. Wherever they lived, Irish monks and nuns, who had never known the Romans as rulers, took up Latin as part of their religious training. Monastic communities organized the study of this entirely foreign language, its grammar, and its major religious texts. They also formed their own idiosyncratic ways of making letters and manuscripts, thus initiating a distinguished tradition of book-learning and production. In addition to Bibles, psalters, and grammar books, Irish monks in the seventh and following centuries produced biblical commentary, prayers, letters, astronomical works, laws, penitentials, and many other texts in both Latin and Europe's earliest written vernacular, Irish. They commemorated the lives of their monastic founders in biographies of saints, beginning with Cogitosus's life of Brigit. They also wrote and rewrote the poetry and stories of their ancestors, the kings of ancient Ireland, and the myths of the pre-Christian era. Only the most prosperous communities could muster the supplies and labor to create a great library, or the gorgeously illuminated manuscripts for which Ireland became known (such as the seventh-century Book of Durrow, the earliest known decorated Irish manuscript); others had to borrow and copy what they could.

Pope Benedict XVI has been dubbed by some the Pope of Christian unity.  His intellectual acumen and ability to find the golden mean between the extremes - or perhaps its better said that he can find the complementarity between two apparently opposing perspectives - when combined with his understanding of Catholic doctrine make him the right person to bring disparate elements of the Church back towards unity at the same time.  This past week we heard of two separate events.  A big step forward in the negotiations with the SSPX and other news that some see as a step backwards in the relationship with the LCWR and the Vatican with the appointment of a Bishop to oversee reform of the LCWR.  First the news on the SSPX from Rorate Caeli:

"Today's news means that yesterday Bp. Fellay's response, that had been requested by Cardinal Levada at the last meeting, was delivered to the Congregation, to the Ecclesia Dei Commission, to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Now, this response, it is a reponse that, according to the words of those who could see it, is a very different response from the previous one, and this is encouraging, we proceed forward. But, naturally, we also find in the response the addition of some details or integrations to the text of the doctrinal preamble that had been proposed by the Congregation for a doctrinal agreement, and this response will be discussed, it will be examined first by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in one of its meetings of the next few weeks and, afterwards, it will also naturally be examined directly by the Pope."

Under the Oak is a blog authored by Brigid from Ireland who shares her love for the Irish Saints and the liturgical calendar: "Under the Oak is dedicated to the saints of Ireland, especially to our national patroness, Saint Brigid of Kildare. The main source used here is the 9-volume collection Lives of the Irish Saints, by the Rev. Canon John O'Hanlon, a work in the public domain."  Don't let her claim regarding resources fool you.  Brigid has spent hundreds of hours researching to obtain the many resources she utilizes in her stories on the saints.  Her blog is a rich companion for any lover of the Irish saints.

Here is an example of the quality resources Brigid shares with you:

A 17th Century View of Saint Brigid: Brigida Thaumaturga

Brigid, Under the Oak, February 17, 2012.