GRANT DESME was a MVP from the Oaklands Athletics baseball team. He won a Most Valuable Player award in 2009 and was drafted with a sallary of $430, 000. However, he gave up everything to become a monk in the Norbertine Order and professes the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In an article by Yahoo news, http://sports.yahoo.com/news/from-prospect-to-priest--grant-desme-leaves-the-a-s--becomes-a-monk-and-tries-to-find-his-peace.html, he said, "I had everything I wanted, and it wasn't enough." He now lives in St. Michael's Abbey near Limestone Canyon Regional Park. He wakes up at 5 am to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, prescribed prayers 10 times per day. The monks attend Mass daily and do manual labor such as mowing lawns, mopping, cleaning and digging trenches. The go to bed at 9 pm in a small cell with a bed, desk, chair, dresser and sink.
Desme retired from baseball in 2009 at the age of 23. He is quoted as saying, "I should be happy about this. But I
wasn't. There was something more. God was just tugging at my heart. That's what
religious life is. God calls us." His new name is Frater Matthew, after the Apostle tax collector, for Desme had an illustrious life but gave it up as St. Matthew did. (Frater Matthew pictured below with incense)
(IMAGE SOURCE : FACEBOOK)
Although he was planning on marriage he says, "I really
wanted to be married," "To come to terms with living a
celibate life was where it really was like, 'OK, do I want to do this?' And I
needed to realize it's not a repression of these natural desires that are good.
We have to learn to sublimate them into God on a supernatural level. We give
them to God."He still struggles in the monastic life but explains, "Living in the present moment. The future isn't ours. The past is done. It's all right now. Every day you have to get up and choose to be here."
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