Mount Carmel in the Rockies: A 'Channel of Grace to the World'

Headline Bistro (Knights of Columbus) – By Elizabeth Hansen – January 13, 2010

An interview with Father Daniel Mary of Jesus Crucified, M.Carm.

Something intense is brewing at Mystic Monk Coffee’s Wyoming monastery: and it’s not just the dark roast.

Just under the northern border of Wyoming, in the high desert plains at the foot of the awe-inspiring Rocky Mountains, 15 Carmelite monks are enclosed within their cloister walls, interceding for the world and seeking profound union with God. It’s a life of poverty, sacrifice and, most importantly, intense prayer – eight hours a day of it.

Beds are a small mat. Fasting is the norm. Sleep is interrupted at midnight for the first of eight rounds of the daily Liturgy of the Hours.

Conversation occurs an hour a day – during “recreation time.” The rest of the time not spent in prayer is likely dedicated to manual labor, whether roasting coffee beans or working the monastery grounds. Far from undemanding, the monastic life is anything but an escape from life’s travails.

“To attain union with God requires radical sacrifice,” said Father Daniel Mary of Jesus Crucified, M.Carm., prior of the Carmelite Monastery in Clark, Wyo.

“We’re not afraid to do the penances that our saints have done,” the Carmelite priest continued. “When you unite prayer and penance together … that’s where the power is.”

Founded less than six years ago, the monastery has gained attention in Catholic circles with its claim of being the only Carmelite monastic community living a strictly cloistered life, its ardent pledge of fidelity to the teachings of the Church and the flood of young men from around the world seeking to enter its walls.

But what has drummed up perhaps the most publicity in both Catholic and secular press is the Mystic Monk roasted coffee – an idea that started with one monk’s musing question of “what if…?” and is now the primary way the community supports itself.

“This is something we can do out here in the sticks,” Father Daniel Mary said. “We can go roast our coffee during our work hours and then go to prayer … it’s very simple work that (melds) with our way of life.”

While the physical and spiritual life of the Carmelite monastery is intense, it’s in no way dour – “the spirit here is one of the greatest joy,” according to Father Daniel Mary.

In their shared sacrifices, he said, there is a real sense of unity among the brothers, “a charity in our midst.”

“Together we grow in holiness, we become stronger together,” Father Daniel Mary said. “Our life is so full.”

There is charity, and also a sense of good-natured camaraderie that comes from over a dozen young men living, working and praying together.

With no TV, the brothers entertain themselves during their period of recreation, playing instruments, regaling the group with stories or – weather permitting in this expanse of the Wyoming wilderness – partaking in a rousing game of football within the monastery’s cloistered grounds.

There are hints of creativity and monk-ish humor on the monastery’s business website, www.mysticmonkcoffee.org, where the “About Us” section proudly describes the precision and passion for coffee of the monastery’s master roaster … “Brother Java.” And for the monk struggling to stay awake for nighttime prayers, there’s the Midnight Vigils Blend – a dark roast.

Despite the monastery’s demands of sacrifice (good luck finding it on Google Earth), men are flocking to enter – in fact, Father Daniel Mary believes that it is because of the strict regimen of work and prayer, and an unapologetic embrace of the Church’s Magisterium, that he receives hundreds of phone and letter inquiries each year from young men around the world. In each of their stories, he sees an intense longing for greater union with God.

Young men are really searching for something higher,” he said. “They’re looking for something that’s authentic – a religious life that’s orthodox.”

“If you’re going to sacrifice your whole life,” he continued, “you want … the whole thing.” And not just “Father Daniel Mary’s thing,” he added. “They want to follow the saints of Carmel.”

What isn’t appealing to a 21st-century man considering a monastic vocation?

“They don’t want anything watered down anymore,” Father Daniel Mary said with a convinced tone. And in what he sees as an emasculating culture, “they want a manly life.”

Those high expectations from aspiring applicants are met by high demands in the monastery’s screening process.

“We’ve very staunch in our discernment of vocations,” Father Daniel Mary said. “We expect the highest caliber type of guys – very virtuous, very wholesome and balanced young men. We only take the cream of the crop.”

As prior, and with more than a decade of previous experience as a hermit before coming to Wyoming, Father Daniel Mary knows that a strictly observed, cloistered way of life isn’t for everyone.

“You’ve got to be a very strong young man to do well in this,” he said. Monks must be willing to “really sacrifice themselves for love of Our Lord,” absolutely dedicated to seeking a deep spiritual life …

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