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The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part VII)

The monk’s experience of God in the cell occurred in a variety of ways, but the role of meditation on the Scriptures, the Word of God, was central. The Bible was central, but not as an end in itself. It provided a monk, through meditation, with opportunities to encounter the Spirit in prayer for personal guidance and discernment, not simply as “knowledge,” but as encounter. “For interpretation of the Bible, the imperative is to probe

Saint Anthony of the Desert. “You Are Crazy; You Are Not Like Us!”

If the desert elders are not selfish, if they are simply men and women who are learning the hard lesson of sharing, are they perhaps opponents of the flesh? Do they hate the body? It is not difficult to find harsh statements about the passions and against the body in the Sayings. Yet, we should be careful to ask what these statements actually imply. Are the elders speaking of subduing the body or the passions?

The Thirty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. The Voice Calls Out to Us.

EVEN NOW THE VOICE CALLS OUT TO US, asking that we turn, bidding us again to prepare the way of the Lord. And most of us, most of the time, will break our hearts trying to respond as we should. Repentance—that turn of heart and mind—is not so easy to accomplish, nor do our preparations of “the way” ever feel quite complete. Still and always, the voice calls to us from the wilderness and calls

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part VII)

The monk’s experience of God in the cell occurred in a variety of ways, but the role of meditation on the Scriptures, the Word of God, was central. The Bible was central, but not as an end in itself. It provided a monk, through meditation, with opportunities to encounter the Spirit in prayer for personal guidance and discernment, not simply as “knowledge,” but as encounter. “For interpretation of the Bible, the imperative is to probe