Day Forty-Five – God's Desire

: You’ve often said, Br. Curtis, that the reasons you came to the Monastery are not the reason you stayed, and that most of your Brothers could say the same.  What does that mean, then, in terms of vocation and discernment?

Br. Curtis Almquist: The first thing to remember is that any vocation—call—whatever name you care to give it—begins with desire.  God’s desire.  God’s desire that we be and become all that we are intended to be.  And in order to get through to us, in order to break in, God will use just about anything, including (perhaps usually) something that is broken. My own experience tells me that those places of brokenness and suffering, of vulnerability are the places where God has the best chance of reaching us. All of my Brothers are incredibly talented, gifted men, and everyone of us is incredibly broken, in need of grace each and every day.