As Cistercians we know—perhaps more so than most religious—what Paul describes as our toil and drudgery. Like Saint Paul our daily manual labors are an attempt to support ourselves and not be a burden on the generosity of others. And although this doesn’t mean that everything that we do by way of our daily work is toil and drudgery, it is virtually inevitable that we will repeatedly encounter aspects of our chores and duties less than agreeable and occasionally little more than toil and drudgery. This should not surprise us since Saint Benedict, for example, cautions his monks against becoming distressed if local conditions or their poverty should force them to do the harvesting themselves, while our constitutions speak of work as an occasion for fruitful asceticism that fosters personal development and maturity. Of course, it is hoped that as we grow towards this maturity of which our constitutions speak, there will be a gradual diminishment in the sense of drudgery as a deepening spirit of detachment and growth in constant prayer allow even the most mundane and ordinary aspects of daily life to serve as occasions for encountering God’s presence and love. Accordingly, the goal is not necessarily to try and transcend the toil and drudgery we encounter in many of our daily tasks, but rather by lovingly embracing this toil and drudgery and allowing its frequent ascetical quality to increasingly free us from our constricting self-centeredness and open us to the broad expanses of God’ love and freedom.