I foresee a significant growth of monasticism in the near future. And people will be looking to monasteries for inspiration and insight. The reasons for this prediction of mine are many.

When Thomas Merton first experienced the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, he wrote, "I had wondered what was holding the country together, what has been keeping the universe from cracking in pieces and falling apart.... This is the only city in America -- and it is by itself, in the wilderness."

A monastery is a city in the ancient meaning of the word, a "civitas," a place which stands for human culture in the largest sense and exists to serve the common good.

The monastery represents culture and the real world at their best because it exudes a community atmosphere where people gather to be at peace with each other and to meditate on God's selfless love.

Monasticism will grow because our society hungers for a place where it can regain these treasured values. The present rat race is not only draining our world, but clouding the meaning of real enjoyment. The more our world possesses, the more it worries about holding onto its possessions and living comfortably. But our world finds that it doesn't know what it means to be truly comfortable.

Prayer and contemplation -- and peace of mind, which is their offspring -- are monasticism's hallmarks, containing the answer society is seeking in its search for true joy. On the physical level the monastic environment enables a person to repair jangled nerves and experience true rest. On the spiritual level it allows one the needed time to reflect on God's plan and to put life in perspective.

Ironically, monasticism will grow in leaps and bounds because society is losing its memory for God. Today, a rise in secularism has made mention of God taboo. Whenever societies have sensed that God was being ignored, there always has been a reverse reaction, movement in the direction of revering God. It won't be long before this type of reaction picks up speed, and it is to the monastery that people will look to regain their sense of worship.

Sociologists tell us that we live in an age of rugged individualism when people desire less to be a part of others' lives. Yet God -- the Trinity -- is communal, and we are meant to be communal.

Although some focus on the individual is fine, when overdone it leaves a person too much alone, too wrapped up in the self. G.K. Chesterton once warned that this can turn us into lunatics. We can only put up with ourselves for just so long.

A monastery not only is a symbol of community par excellence, but of God's sanity. For the monastery reminds us of the essential role community plays in our lives.

Our increasingly hectic and complex times are raising havoc with our human spirit. When our spirit feels that its space is being choked, it cannot stand still for long. It will do something to regain its life.

Father Eugene Hemrick is a syndicated columnist with Catholic News Service.