You know those mornings when you go about doing your normal devotional time and you read something and it basically knocks you out? Something so profound hits you and it bleeds through the rest of your day and even into the rest of the week? I guess it is like have a full throttle energy drink when the buzz hits and it carries you through a while...

Well, such was my morning. Instead of telling you what hit me in the reading I will simply post the reading here for you. Maybe God will use it for you like He is/has for me.

This is from Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos Ware:
"As soon as we make a serious attempt to pray in spirit and in truth, at once we become acutely conscious of our interior disintegration, of our lack of unity and wholeness. In spite of all our efforts to stand before God, thoughts continue to move restlessly and aimlessly through our head, like the buzzing of flies....
To contemplate means, first of all, to be present where one is - to be here and now. But usually we find ourselves unable to restrain our mind from wandering at random over time and space. We recall the past, we anticipate the future, we plan what to do next; people and places come before us in unending succession. We lack power to gather ourselves into the one place where we should be - here, in the presence of God; we are unable to fully live in the only moment that truly exists - now, the immediate present.
This interior disintegration is one of the most tragic consequences of the Fall. The people who get things done, it has been justly observed, are the people who do one thing at a time. But to do one thing at a time is no mean achievement. While difficult enough in external work, it is harder still in the work of inner prayer."
(From the Power of the Name, by Kallistos Ware)

Labels: Formation, Monastic, Prayer

One common misconception about monastic life is that it is easy. When I would tell folks about my time there they would usually smile and talk about how great it would be to get away and be able to be close with God. They whimsically imagine how peaceful life is in the monastery, and to some degree how wonderful the monks must be.

I have just hinted at about 3 or 4 common misunderstandings but I will address only two of them for now. That is, going to a monastery for an extended amount of time (more than a 1-2 week silent retreat) is not a peaceful get away or vacation with God. I did think this when I entered...boy was I wrong.

You go to battle. What do I mean by this? Many things but I will only mention a few. You face yourself. This alone can be pretty challenging. You begin to see yourself more for who you really are. The saints call this self awareness and it is absolutely essential to life in Christ. It is a primary step in growth in our Lord.

It is a complex subject to be sure but one thing that takes place is you move from looking at your actions to looking at the reasons behind those actions (or the reasons behind those reasons etc...).

You also move from the illusions of certainty to the reality of uncertainty. You simply engage with God as He really is...not what some slick sales pitch wants you to believe! You wrestle with and encounter a mysterious incommunicable God who allows you to go through dry times and one how forms your character at ever deepening levels (as opposed to a God who cares primarily for your comfort).

Enough for now...

Labels: Formation, Monastic

"The fruit of silence is prayer"
-Mother Teresa of Calcutta

"Prayer is the oxygen of the soul...Scripture is food for the soul."
-Padre Pio





Every Friday (pre Vatican II though some still practice this) the Franciscan's would be silent. When they gathered as a community for lunch they would keep silence while having one person stand up and read the Sermon on the Mount while they all ate.

I have used this many times in retreat settings with youth. It is most effective when used after youth have been in silence for a few hours. Why? For a number of reasons...

The ability for you to focus on the reading can be amazing. Not only while you hear it but afterwards too... I think for me it is the realization that the Sermon on the Mount is applicable for today. And that awareness is heightened because you are in the middle of doing Christianity with others. Maybe this makes the Sermon on the Mount seem less impossible or less detached from our everyday experience?

Labels: Formation, Monastic