Learning to integrate an active and contemplative spiritual emphasis in everyday life - influenced by Thomas Merton, OCSO and the Trappists, as well as by the Jesuits (Pope Francis Order) and the Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic.

Pic: Keith on retreat at Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Conyers Georgia, Easter 1978

In the Spring of 1978, I was in N'Awlins attending Loyola University and flirting with the idea of a priestly vocation. Sr. Fara Impastato, OP was one of my instructors whose “Religions of the World” class I was taking at that time. This experience led me to some great travels and practical ways to better manage money, as well as to better understand the purgative, illuminative and unitive stages of spirituality from my own Christian perspective and that of other faith walks .

One of the books we were reading for Sr. Fara's course before Easter was Seven Storey Mountain by the late Thomas Merton, OCSO . I was really intrigued by his contemplative spirituality as I had never before considered that type of an emphasis for a possible vocation with a religious order.

All around me were many great examples of an active priestly ministry, such as with the Jesuits at Loyola – the one affiliated with Pope Francis – and I was very involved in social justice and music ministry per their influence. I had also gotten to know the Holy Cross Priests through our Chaplain at De La Salle High School and the Order's House of Studies nearby to some buddies on Audubon Street in Uptown New Orleans.

So after doing some research, I found out that Merton's Religious Order known as the Cistertians of the Strict Observance, more familiarly known as Trappists, had a monastery in Conyers, Georgia (Monastery of the Holy Spirit) – not as far from New Orleans as was Gethsemani in Kentucky, where Merton had lived. I wondered if their contemplative emphasis in a ministry, based a lot upon the monastic life per The Rule of St. Benedict, might be what God was calling me to?

Being on a low college budget, I arranged for a Greyhound bus trip from New Orleans to Conyers during our Easter Spring Break. It was exciting to anticipate spending Holy Week with the monks who were known to not speak much per their vows of silence – something I'd only experienced once before through the Spiritual Exercises given by the Jesuits at Manresa Retreat House in Convent LA.

Arriving at the rural secluded monastery with a gated entrance and surrounded by beautiful landscaping, as well as some hills was a relief, as I hadn't been able to get comfortable when trying to sleep while seated in the bus. I had put my wallet in my back pocket, like most guys do, but I had trouble keeping it in place with my attempts at cat naps.

After meeting Br. Francis, the Monastery host, and being assigned to a private room, as well as being given a schedule for the upcoming Holy Week days, I decided to volunteer to help with any duties that may be needed. Br. Francis almost made me think of St. Francis of Assisi, as he was so gentle, kind and peaceful in demeanor – not to mention also a very sincere humility. He let me do some housecleaning and vacuuming of rooms.

The next three day were truly humbling, as I got to spend the Triduum - Holy Thursday evening's Mass of the Lord's Supper, Good Friday and Holy Saturday / Easter Vigil with some very holy, human and simple monks. In addition to joining them in waking very early for morning prayers and other times of shared prayer and Mass, I did get the chance to spend some time in spiritual guidance with a priest.

Just being with the monks for that whole retreat experience and other subsequent active and contemplative involvements helped me to further discern that I was called by God to an emphasis of “both/and,” as opposed to an “either/or” re: a vocational faith walk as a lay married person who still tries to daily incorporate both an active and contemplative ministerial outreach and lifestyle.

After I got home from the wonderful Trappist retreat, I unfortunately discovered that I had lost my wallet on the Greyhound Bus and it was never recovered. Sure, I had to get a new Driver's License and had lost a few bucks but learned to put my wallet in my front pocket – which I still do today.

The Summers of 1978 and 1979 were also filled with some great other types of “retreats,” as I was able to do one month of volunteer outreach each of those years with other lay volunteers per the Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic, Sr. Fara's Order, in Yscloskey and Scott Louisiana – reaching out to individuals and families in need.

After graduating with a BA in Social Work from Loyola, Dominican and Xavier and before going to graduate social work with an emphasis in gerontology at SDSU, I was blessed to be able to do a one-year volunteer stint with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in psychiatric outreach to home-bound and nursing home residents in Porterville California.

God blessed me with marriage to a college sweetheart and three wonderful children, and Maria and I recently celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary on the day before the Feast of St. Ignatius (July 31, 2013)!

And God has so richly blessed me over the years with so many neat and varied work opportunities, administrative and clinical, with the elderly. The individuals whom I have been privileged to work with have taught me so much more about active and comtemplative living – especially the dependent and isolated ones. Truly, my grandparents have also left an indelible mark of influence like this upon me as well.

I may have temporarily lost my “identity” on the Greyhound Bus in returning from that Trappist Retreat trip back in 1978, but I certainly gained so much then and countless other times since that time in learning and understanding more how to identify with Jesus Christ's call to all of us to “Come away for awhile” (Mark 6:31) daily, pick up our crosses (and lost, empty [only fully filled by Him] wallets - Luke 9:23) and follow Him!

“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” (Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude)