An Unexpected Desire THE FIR S T P R O F E S S I O N O F BR. MAXIMILIAN MARY ANDERSON, OSB What first attracted you to monastic life? What first attracted me to the monastic life was an unexpected desire for the vocation to virginity, for belonging to God in a unique way. I really didn’t know what that was going to mean concretely for my life, but I knew Br. Leven, Fr. Simon, Fr. Jay, and some of the other monks here. That was enough to get me to come on my first Come and See retreat here and I kept coming back because I saw a way of life and a way of following Jesus that was attractive to me.
What, in your upbringing, prepared you for the monastic life? My parents raised me Catholic. I think I can sometimes wrongfully devalue that by trying to focus on the holes in what I received from them. That’s not the point, though. God gave me to my parents, entrusted them with bringing me up in the Church, and the important thing is that God gave me through them what I could not have given myself, namely life. I received a lot of good things from them over the years, but the faith that they tried to pass on to me for the sake of my eternal life is definitely the best.
What has surprised you since you entered the postulancy? I was most surprised by how bad I was at being a monk. I had some attitudes and habits that I brought in with me that I kind of expected I was going to need to drop, I was just surprised by how quickly. I will never forget Fr. Jay telling me “you have to stop dabbing.” [It’s a popular dance move]. That was a moment where my immaturity was shown to me in a way that was really fruitful. Fr. Jay’s correction was a gift because it helped me recognize where I was, accept my need to grow, and surrender to the way of life God was leading me to.
16
Kansas Monks
