According to the Catholic contemplative tradition, desire is only possible as the consequence of experience. We can only desire what we have already tasted in some way. And this is exactly how a monastic vocation starts. One day a child (often it begins as early as that), a teenager, or a young adult senses in the midst of ordinary activities that behind and beneath all things and all acts there is a mystery that continually upholds, enlivens, and renews all that exists. There is a fountain out of which everything arises, a fountain of life that irrigates all life. The surface of the world peels back, and the young person glimpses the center, the burning core—burning, but not destroying, like the burning bush.
This mystery, although it is indefinable, has characteristics proper to it. It is holy: in its presence, in the moment of experience, you feel compelled to make some gesture—bow down, take off your shoes, close your eyes, to sing. It is personal. You may not know its name, but you know that it has a name, and that in fact it is not something but someone. More than that: it is someone, par excellence. It is beautiful, and good, and true, and above all, it is love.
BERNARD BONOWITZ, OCSO Truly Seeking God
