Sleep Like a Cistercian

Some laypeople, when they read of what they perceive as the strictures of monastic life, are often puzzled or even shocked. It’s a defense mechanism, I believe, to prevent us from examining our own messy lifestyles. This is not to say that monks don’t have their own personal interior messes, but, when the world is stripped away and you’re left with just yourself, they’re very hard to avoid. I was