Page 19 - Priorities #50 2011-June/July

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carved out a decent living for myself with only a high school education,” he admits. “I was an avid reader. But I never ceased questioning, what is the true meaning to be? What I am do- ing? Why I am doing it? Even when I reached the point where I felt that I had a very comfort- able and established existence, the question was always there.”
An answer came, somewhat unexpectedly, in the form of Father Leopold, one of the found- ing monks at Priory. The small Hungarian church in Canada that young Father Maurus had helped found was without a priest, and Christmas was coming. Maurus had heard about Priory, and he appealed to Father Egon for help. Father Egon sent Father Leopold, who came for Christmas and again at Easter, when he invited Maurus and two friends to visit Priory.
One visit was all it took. Although he had just
been made a Canadian citizen, Father Maurus left Canada for good. “On the 10th of August,” he says, “I packed up. I gave away all my belongings, and with two suitcases on a Greyhound bus I arrived here. It was in 1963, almost 48 years ago. And that was the beginning of my Priory existence.”
True to his faith, Father Maurus does not question his forced de- parture from family and country or his peripatetic early years. “The Holy Spirit pushes you in certain directions, sometimes against your logical way of thinking. It happened, and there must be a reason for that. It had to happen for whatever Providential reason.”
“God writes straight with crooked lines,” he says with a smile.
Now seventy-four, Father Maurus reflects, “The monastic life is a continuous learning process. When we become monks, at a young- er age, obviously we are full of energy, full of ideas. Sometimes we have a savior complex. Then we learn that the most important thing is to be open. And to listen. To listen primarily to the voice of God which is coming to us not necessarily in some kind of a mysterious way, with flashing and big sounds, but mostly in the quiet moments. And sometimes in moments of trial.”
The key, he says, is “to learn to listen, to hear His voice, and con- sequently to listen to one another. And as we get older, to mellow a bit, and listen more. To trust in God’s infinite care and love and ulti- mate mercy. And that He cares for us. I think that’s the biggest lesson. As we get older, we see it clearer and clearer that He cares for us.
Father Maurus has woven that faith through his teaching, and yet he values Priory’s openness to students of different religions and beliefs. “I hope what makes us different,” he says, “is the acknowl- edgement and cherishing of the presence of God even though we
have a community made up of many differ- ent approaches to God.” Some students are agnostics or atheists, he says, but they can still feel at home at Priory.
“I am thinking of one of my students now whom I love dearly who is able to tell me that he doesn’t believe in God. And I’m able to tell him, I still love you. God loves you. We can differ. I respect your nonbelief, I hope you respect my belief. And the rest is in God’s hands. He declares that he loves the place and he loves to be here. I told him, maybe one of these days—he is a saint, but—he will be a de- clared saint. He laughs at me, but that’s OK. He’s not the first person to laugh at me. That’s all right.”
As finishes up his last semester as a teacher, Father Maurus is both grateful for the past and looking toward the future. “My last little group in
my AP Biology class, I told them, I consider them a wonderful gift, a blessing. They gave me a beautiful last year of teaching.”
“EvennowIlovetoteach,”headmits.“But Iseethatthetimehas come when hopefully with grace I can bow out and can let the young- er generation continue the work we started here fifty years ago.”
When asked what he’ll do with his extra time, he laughs. “I never ever in my life, ever, felt bored,” he says. “I always find things to do without looking for them. I love gardening, I love traveling, I love just to listen to people and try to give them a helping hand. So there will be few hours when I will be able to say, Now, give me something to do!” He will continue his work with the local Hungar- ian community and the school, including helping to bring Hungar- ian students to Priory each year. “This is my home! If I’m no longer teaching, it doesn’t mean I can or I would want to disassociate my- self from what was my life for the last 50 years.”
It’s hard not to wonder, as Priory faces this milestone, what will happen as our four beloved monks continue to age. Father Maurus says, “People ask me, So, what if, and when, and soon, these few black-robed monks disappear from these premises? My only answer is, we place it in the hands of God. He will take care of it. I don’t know how! But he will take care of it. This place is going to move on, there will be good people who care, hopefully trusting God’s provi- dence. And it will have a next fifty years, and hopefully beyond that. If it was God’s will to start it, let it be His will and His care to con- tinue it.”
“God is good,” he says. Evidence? He sent a young man here on a Greyhound bus forty-eight years ago. Best wishes from all of us as you switch tracks, Father Maurus!
A 24 year old Bela Nemeth in Canada, before he came to the Piory.
“God writes straight with crooked lines,” he says with a smile.