The mountain meadow glistens as the rays of the sun reflect off the dew-covered grass. The morning air is fresh and crisp and the pasture still as a young monk makes his way across the field, passing by wildflowers and sage as he goes. He is seeking out the lost jersey cow; it’s milking time. This task isn’t what has him captivated though; rather in his heart those first words of the “Hail Mary” resound as a canticle of love. Nonetheless, there is work to be done, but the small grin on his face betrays his inner joy and the peace he knows. At last finding the brown milk cow amongst some spruces, he slowly begins to lead her back to the milking barn. There the lay brothers wait, prepared for the morning chores, which give them much delight. These young monks are radiant with a joy and a happiness that comes from God and their deep union with Him as they, like their forefathers before them, must toil for the bread they eat at the New Mount Carmel.

The first hermits on Mount Carmel were determined men, whose brows knew the sweat of the noonday sun. They were not lazy or idle, rather equally dividing their days between prayer and work. Those solitary inhabitants of Carmel’s heights found great delight to labor in a place where God was so near. Moreover, they took their example of hard manly work from the God-Man himself. In this way, Carmelites found God in their vineyards and amongst their cattle and donkeys. Their life was in truth nothing more than a real and radical following of Christ.

Our Blessed Lord’s hidden life is one of demanding and hard work in St. Joseph’s poor and lowly carpentry shop. There in that wood shop, our Savior gave all men an example: as the Son of God choosing that way of life most pleasing to God. The life of monks has been from its outset a desire to imitate this hidden mystery of Christ working and endeavoring by his labors to put food on the table.

The Carmelite is an heir to this glorious tradition of hard manual labor. He must be like his forefathers of yesteryear who sought to provide for the needs of the solitary inhabitants of Mount Carmel. There in the mountains the Carmelite finds his work a joyful task as he fulfills one of the most basic elements of man’s nature, a desire to work.

We might ask ourselves however, “What is to be gained by suchlabors in the mountains?” My dear friends, a good monk is first a holy man; he must be of stout character and rugged in imitation of Carmel’s hermits. Is it not true that the mountains bring out the very best in a man, testing his character and forming him in selflessness and steadfast virtues? The monastic tradition is filled with stories of mediocre men made great saints by the toughness and demands of good, hard manual labor.

In the hearts of our young monks is a desire to follow in those giant footsteps of our fathers of years now past. We, like them, are called to work in the fields and gardens in imitation of our Beloved Lord. Only in so far as we are faithful to the example of these saintly men who have gone before us shall our monks live up to the name of Carmelite. And shall we overlook what the Holy Spirit has put in the hearts of young men from varied and diverse backgrounds, all being called to this cloistered monastery for the realization of a New Mount Carmel?

Rather, let us each beg the Lord to come to our aid that America might have her Carmel and our monks the manual way of life, amidst cow and beast, that has formed so many saints. As we labor with every last bit of strength in us, we entrust ourselves to your prayers and to your generosity, which can truly help to bring about a manly way of life in a time of so much weakness in our world. I dare to say that nothing could be more urgent for the wellbeing of our Holy Mother the Church than the formation of a whole new rank of generous young men, priests and brothers, who are first and foremost stout and hard working men.