“Why don’t you become a Lay Cistercian?” he asked me bluntly, not bothering to say hello or trade in small talk. As a monastery employee, I had gotten to know a number of the Lay Cistercians. They were friends of the community who came to the guesthouse once a month for a day retreat, and who seemed to be in the middle of any volunteer activity needed at the monastery. While the thought of studying spirituality with the monks in a formal way certainly appealed to me, I also worried that I, a recent