… becoming free

If the monastic ideal is to attain a creative spiritual freedom, if the monastic ideal realizes that freedom is attainable only in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and if the monastic ideal asserts that to become a slave to God is ontologically and existentially the path to becoming free, the path in which humanity fully becomes human precisely because the created existence of humanity is contingent upon God, is by itself bordered on both sides by non-existence, then is such an ideal Christian? Is such an ideal Biblical—New Testamental? (The Byzantine, Ascetic and Spiritual Fathers)

Sánchez-Escobar, Ángel F.. ON ASCESIS AND HESYCHASM, AND THE CHURCH FATHERS (Books on Christian Orthodoxy) (p. 47)

duty

Duty becomes duty by being referred to God, but in the duty itself I do not enter into relation to God. For instance, it is a duty to love one’s neighbor. It is a duty by its being referred to God, but in the duty I do not enter into a relation to God but to the neighbor I love.

Kierkegaard: Fear and Trembling

Jesus calls me to love my neighbour, but that love of neighbour is not my relationship with Jesus. It is my relationship with my neighbour. If I love my neighbour (who, like me, is a sinner in need of Jesus) only because Jesus says so, what does that say about my understanding of my neighbour? Anyway …

online food shopping

What could you try for the first time?

I could try online grocery shopping—and I did yesterday! So, I do not need to leave The Anchorage (enclosure) at all this week. I have used an online store for books, but this is my first food order.

This week, I am aiming for solitude and silence—a new year, a new start. Perhaps that is what I am really trying for the first time: be a recluse without excuses.

two years

Today is my second anniversary in The Anchorage. Much has changed, and much has stayed the same. I thought that the opening song from Spongebob Squarepants is an appropriate thing to share today.

I have no deep insights or epiphanies. My life has evolved (as it should), and I have become clearer about where I am going. I cried for the first time here last week.

An oddball is a person who refuses to accept abstract norms as universal. And I guess I am an oddball. To be honest, that often really hurts. It is nice to be understood by someone and to offer your heart to someone. The life lesson of the last two years is “set your eyes on Jesus.” I have questions that return. And I have no answers. But answers are overrated. Perhaps a line from Thomas Merton will sum up:

I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

3 things

Daily writing prompt
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
View all responses

I cannot swim, so I do not like wide open spaces of water.

I cannot fly, so I do not like heights or flying in an aeroplane.

I like speaking in public, even to large crowds. (I rather not speak with individuals – see next.)

I like to be alone to focus on what is important to me.

I cannot count.

… something to think about

Embracing the Hermit Season

I read the above and thought it was interesting. (I will not quibble about using the term “hermit”!)

There is a difference between being called to solitude—to a life of focus on Jesus—and choosing to isolate yourself for personal growth. In baptism, each person is asked, “Do you turn to Christ?”. It is our common vocation to find a personal and unique answer. Sometimes, we are called to a particular place. Jesus went into the desert after his baptism, and some people are still called to the desert – to “white martyrdom”. (And, like Jesus, to enter a different fight.) So, the desert is not a call to isolation or personal growth but to follow Jesus in a particular place. It is to be anchored both in the person and the context.

Being alone and following Jesus into the desert is not always the same. Anyway, read the post!!!!