I have a friend who is a Benedictine monk.  The way we live out our lives is vastly different, but I feel a real kinship, a oneness of spirit with Brother Sam.  One of the most memorable evenings, one to which I return often in my mind, is the time he and I spent together alone in our home in Nashville, sharing our Christian pilgrimages.  The vivid highlight of that evening still alive in my mind was his sharing with me the occasion of his solemn vows, the service when he made his life commitment to the Benedictine community and the monastic life.  Now you have to know how serious that is.  Because when a person makes a decision to be come a monk, they make the decision to really remove themselves from the world and to be separated from the world for the rest of their life, and they take t…