3 minute read
Modern “prodigal son” meets the brothers
BROTHER RAY MORRIS, B.H.
Brother Ray Morris’ ministry at Florida State University can seem like play. “Basically I walk around campus playing sports and sharing meals with students,” he says. But don’t be fooled. The point, he says, is “building relationships and (hopefully) leading them closer to God. It’s fun at times and disheartening at others but always worthwhile.” He loves working alongside his brothers to reach out to students in part because he was once spiritually
adrift himself. Leer en español en la página 111.
Did you have a dream for your life growing up?
Like many kids, I dreamed of doing something great, something heroic. At some point though, that dream died. Instead, I became content with making a decent amount of money and just carving out a comfortable life for myself.
How did you meet your community?
I met members of Brotherhood of Hope through a desk job I had at the Catholic Center while a student at Rutgers University. At that point in my life I wasn’t even going to Mass. I was searching for happiness in all the places this world tells you to look, and like the Prodigal Son, I eventually became fed up. I decided to try going back to church instead of just working at one. “If I don’t like it, I can just stop,” I told myself. About 10 years later, I’m still here!
What did your family and friends think about you becoming a brother?
My family never actively practiced our faith growing up, so they were polite but suspicious. Over time, they began to see the fruits of it in my life and in others. Now they’re pretty supportive.
What do you do for fun?
I love to read (classics especially), run, and relax with the bros!
Your favorite way to pray?
Sitting in silence and beholding my Beloved Master as he beholds me. Many times my prayer is distracted and I have a hard time even staying awake! So I really treasure those rare times when I can sit with my whole heart, mind, and soul fixed on God.
SPIRITCITINGS
THE VALUE OF STAYING PUT
Many who join monastic and contemplative religious orders take a vow of stability, committing themselves to a particular community.
THE VOW of stability means that a monk stays put. Unless he’s sent somewhere else by his superiors, or gets a dispensation from Rome, a monk must remain in the monastery of his profession. [Cistercian writer Thomas] Merton explains: “By making a vow of stability the monk renounces the vain hope of wandering off to find a ‘perfect monastery.’”
There’s a lesson here for happiness. It’s often tempting to think that we’d be happy if only external circumstances would change. Sometimes it’s true that some external change would make a huge difference to our happiness . . . [But] sometimes we need to embrace a vow of stability and make our happiness in the situation in which we find ourselves, instead of searching restlessly for perfect circumstances.
From “Monks Take a ‘Vow of Stability.’ Maybe You Should, Too” by Gretchen Rubin, on Slate.com. God invites us to find a home along the borders, in the margins, among the least.
Where is God calling you?
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