My name is Brother John, and I am a monk at Croyland Abbey, a monastery on the east coast of England.
This monastery is a religious community of men who live together in seclusion and raise their own food.
Croyland Abbey is self-sustaining, so monks rarely need to leave the monastery, and most never do.
Since this is a Benedictine abbey, we live according to the Rule of St. Benedict, a set of rules created long ago by St. Benedict.
He was an Italian monk who started a monastery about six hundred years ago, just south of Rome.
We spend our days praying, praising God, and working at various jobs in the monastery.
Most of the time, we do not speak. The year is 1150, and I have been here for twenty years.
I am the youngest son of a wheat farmer, and by law, only the oldest son may inherit the family farm.
This law makes it very difficult for younger sons to make a living, so my future was very uncertain.
This worried my father, so when I was seven years old, my father decided to give me to the monks at Croyland Abbey.
My mother cried, and so did I, but my father said the monks would educate me, and I would learn a trade or profession.
He thought I'd have a better chance at a meaningful life, and did not want me to end up as a menial laborer on my brother's farm.
My mother finally agreed to let me go.
For the next five years, I worked in the monastery kitchen and tended the sheep in the pastures.
Every afternoon a monk taught me and the other boys how to read and write using the Holy Scriptures.
We attended chapel, but not as much as the monks.
The monastery cook noticed that I had an interest in herbs because I spent all of my spare time in the garden.
He thought I might make a good herbalist some day, and that made me happy, since I had grown to love the quiet of the monastery gardens.
At the age of 12, I chose to become a novice, which is the first step to becoming a real religious member of a monastery.
During a special ceremony, an older monk shaved a bald patch on the top of my head, which signified that I was a servant of God.
Then I made a vow to follow the Rule of St. Benedict, obey God and the monks, cherish silence, and fulfill all my duties to the monastery.
When I was 15 years old, I took my final vows to become a monk, and I promised never to marry.
I also gave up everything I owned and promised to obey the abbot, the head monk.
There was no turning back, and I would be a monk for life.
Now I work in the herb garden, where I grow many different kinds of plants to make medicine for the other monks or for the village people seeking help.
Another rule of St. Benedict states that the sick should never be forgotten.
Of course monks know that human life is in God's hands, but plants are made by God too, and we believe they should be used to ease human suffering.
To educate myself I spend many hours reading books by the ancient Greeks and by a Persian named Avicenna.
These books have important information about hundreds of plants and the diseases they cure.
They contain instructions on how to grow the plants, and recipes for how to prepare them for certain maladies.
For example, mint is very common in the meadows around the monastery.
When I add mint leaves to boiling water, I can make a tea that cures a stomachache!
Any part of a plant can be used to make medicine, but I usually use the roots, leaves, and seeds.
I collect the plants from the garden and allow them to dry out;
then I crush them into powder so they mix easily with oil, water, honey, or vinegar.
Many times I put the powders I make into small bags and place them on a patient's skin to ease soreness.
A powder made from a yellow flower called feverfew, when mixed with honey, can be taken by mouth to calm a cough and reduce a fever.
If mixed with water and rubbed on the skin, feverfew also stops the itch of an insect bite.
When I became a monk, I was given a plain robe with a hood.
Sometimes I cover my head with the hood when I am in deep thought and do not want to talk to anyone.
Silence is so important to everyone here at Croyland Abbey that monks use hand signals in order not to disturb the stillness.
We have more than one hundred signals that we use at mealtimes alone!
For instance, if I want someone to pass me a plate of fish at dinner, I make a swimming motion with my hands.
One of St. Benedict's rules says that a monk must be ready at all times to serve God, so we sleep in our clothes every night.
Then we awake very early and rush to the chapel to praise God with songs and prayers.
We also have a special prayer book, called a book of hours, which we carry to prayer eight times a day.
When the bell sounds, it means it is time for prayer, and we must stop whatever we are doing and go to the chapel immediately.
We first pray before sunrise, and the final call to prayer is just before bedtime.
Luckily the gardens are not far from the chapel, so it is easy for me to get there without too much trouble.
I love being a monk and a herbalist.
The years of working in the garden and helping my patients have taught me much about the world and God.
It is a quiet, serene life, and I am grateful to my father for putting me on this path so long ago.