A Monk's Diary Archive

I knew a monk once who, every time he stood up at liturgy to read anything written by a Church Father about our Blessed Mother—he began to cry. The first time it happened, I was a novice, and it so surprised me, I wasn't sure for a few moments what to make of it. Poor man—it was really distressing watching a grown man come apart like that at the lectern in the center of the church with all the monks sitting pensively in the shadows, to see him finally lower his head, motionless for a moment, and then shuffle back to his choir stall. He had put himself through this ordeal more than once.

According to a very ancient monastic teaching, a monk should never be concerned for himself but think only of what would benefit his brother. That's easier said than done. I remember a story about a certain brother, earnestly aspiring to be a true monk according to this lofty ideal, who was munching away at the mid-day meal one day and to his horror discovered a dead mouse floating in his soup. Mindful that a true monk takes no thought what so ever for his own good but thinks always and everywhere only of what is best for his brother—he was at a loss what to do. Oh my.

Our Bro. Placido, a Junior monk, was a practicing lawyer in Chicago before entering New Melleray Abbey in 2007, and studied Constitutional Law with Barack Obama at the University of Chicago in 2000. He is very intelligent and, immersed now in the study of philosophy, is impressing his teachers at St. John's Seminary in Collegeville. As a practicing lawyer, Placido ministered to orphans and used his legal expertise to find them happy and secure foster homes. He was good at what he did, combining legal skills with an intuitive insight into people's hidden motivations.