5What is a monastery? A monastery is a place set apart--a place to learn the blessings of powerlessness, and that time is not ours but God's. Our home and our duties can, just like a monastery, teach us those things. The vocation of monastic men and women is to physically withdraw from the world. But the principle is equally valid for those of us who cannot go off to monasteries. Certain vocations offer the same kind of opportunity for contemplation, and provide a desert for reflection.

In ten brief and powerful chapters, Fr. Ron explores how monastery life can apply to those who don't live in a cloister:
- Monasticism and Family Life
- The Domestic Monastery
- Real Friendship
- Lessons from the Monastic Cell
- Ritual for Sustaining Prayer
- Tensions within Spirituality
- A Spirituality of Parenting
- Spirituality and the Seasons of Our Lives
- The Sacredness of Time
- Life's Key Question