The Monasticism

Monasticism

Monasticism is a way of life in which the person goes far from  the outside world and dedicates his/her life to spiritual exercises. The word monasticism  comes from the Greek monos that means alone, according  to the explanation given in the last paragraph this complements the real meaning of the word.

 People who practice this way of life are called in the Christian tradition monks or brothers for males and nuns or sisters for women. The places in  which they live are called monasteries for monks and convents for nuns.

It is important to note that the Christian religion is not the only religion that has this kind of practice. Also religions like Buddhism has their own kind of monks and nuns; these are called Bhikkhu for males and Bhikkhuni for females. The real translation of Bhikkhu is “beggar”, this is because the Bhikkhus only live with the minimum of materials possessions.

  Another example of monasticism in different religions can be the Hindu monks; they are called Sannyasa,  as well as other religions  they offer  their votes to chastity, poverty,  and prayer.

In some monasteries or convents there is a big difference between the monastic life a century ago and the monastic life in the 21^TH century. One hundred years ago the monk used to live in castles with a minimum of external contact only dedicated to serve God and work for themselves because they said that the good that they provided to society was the prayer for all humans.

However, nowadays this situation has changed.  It is true that this kind of monasteries that I mentioned before still exists; but now monks and monasticism in general are more open to help society, to be an example but a practical example of life.

An instance of this is the Salesians monks and priests; they offer  their life, and votes for the young people and work for their  future and life.

 I think that this is the type of  monastic life that should be practiced because this helps to improve society and the life of many people that need it.