What is this awesome mystery that is taking place within me? I can find no words to express it; my poor hand is unable to capture it in describing the praise and the glory that belong to the One who is above all praise, and who transcends every work...My intellect sees what has happened, but cannot explain it. It can see and wishes to explain but can find no word that will suffice; for what it sees is invisible and entirely formless, simple, completely uncompounded, unbounded in its awesome greatness. What I have seen is the totality recapitulated as one, received not in essence but by participation, just as if you lit a flame from a flame, it is the whole flame you receive.
St. Simeon the New Theologian
Brother Jonah entered the monastery in late fall of 2004 and made his Solemn Profession in October of 2010. He is currently a key member of the Spencer Brewery project. He assists the Belgian brew engineer and is helping to fine-tune the new bottling operation. And like all of the monks, Jonah shares in the regular household tasks and liturgical duties.
Brother Jonah experiences the monastic life at Spencer as the path that brings him "home to God
in Christ," to his brothers and to his deepest self. He continues,
"The rich balance of solitude and community life in a setting more
beautiful and supportive than any other I have known makes all of its struggles
and hardships worth enduring and growing from."
He concludes, "There is no greater or more rewarding adventure in life than following Christ daily in the often surprising ways He calls us and in devoting one's life to the One who has devoted Himself so completely to us. The monastic life is a radical departure from many of the ways that most people live, but the deepest love is radical. The monastic life is a rare and brave way of entering into the radical love of the Gospel, the radical love of Jesus. And should God call anyone to it, it is certain that He will also provide the strength and grace for that person to live it out.
