Neighbor

 You might say, “Why don’t I get out of that monastery and get into the real world where you can “love your neighbor like a good priest is supposed to do.”  Well, the problem with that, I have found, is that many of us can “love the neighbor” for a set period of time, such as a ministry or dinner party, or social gathering.  But then we go home and mumble about the person(s) with whom we live, about how messy or full of faults they are, how impossible they are to live with and so on.  I bet those people you were loving at the social or ministry event have just as many faults, but you don’t live with them or overlook them or don’t even know the faults, as they too are putting on the “love your neighbor” face and manner as well.  Here in the monastery there is no escaping the neighbor.  I live with them all day, everyday. I know their dark sides, their character defects, and I am challenged to love them, 24/7.  And if I cannot love them, it is not their fault. It is mine.  I am a work in progress, with varying degrees of success.