The new mendicants...

In the Roman Catholic Church a person interested in the religious life has a multitude choices. There are the Benedictines, Carthusians, Carmelites, Franciscans, and many many others. What really are these orders? Certainly the monastic life has a certain flair to it, a certain romantic quality. However, I'm not sure you can find a monastery without air conditioning and without a degree of luxury -- especially if you have ever lived in urban poverty. It is no longer simply about taking up a habit and following a rule. Its about going through an application process, being screened, taking aptitude tests, and asking tough vocational questions. Necessary in these days and time? Perhaps.

It has gotten me to think. Having lived in a monastery I often think about the experience, and I do value those memories. It has gotten me to think about the nature of religious life. Not so much the monastic life, but the mendicant orders. Could someone like a St. Francis flourish in todays world? Would it be possible to put on "common clothes," beg for food, and preach the gospel. I imagine you would get harassed by the police and required to get a han-handling license. You can go to some countries and the practice of ascetic "holy men" is still present -- mainly, it seems, in the Eastern world where Buddhist and Hindu ascetics life. What about in the "Christian world?" I don't consider any institution in the Roman Catholic Church as truly practices holy poverty.

If I were to walk away from all that I own, except the clothes on my back, and start to wander preaching the gospel (although the gospel I would probably preach is called Philip) I would undoubtedly be labeled insane or a freak. Its food for thought.