Posted on 10/28/2011 7:34:08 AM PDT by marshmallow
The words 'monk' comes from 'monos' or 'alone'. In other words, 'alone with God'. Nobody but me and God. Everything else and everyone else given up for God. Alone with God. God alone.
This example was first set by the desert fathers in the early fourth century. Christianity had become fashionable. The emperor and his mother embraced the faith. People were converting in order to be part of the inside circle. So St Anthony took off to the desert to live in a cave.
The desert fathers of Egypt therefore set an example of renunciation. They deliberately walked away from the power, the privilege, the prestige, the prosperity and the pride that could have been theirs. Instead they lived in caves, did quiet, repetitive work, kept silence and learned to pray.
Now the thing I have always loved about the monastic founders--whether it was St Anthony of Egypt or Pachomius or Benedict--is that they didn't set out to start a 'movement'. They just did what they had to do. They were faithful to their vocation and calling. That others joined them, and that a movement developed was not only an unexpected growth, but often an unwelcome one at that.
Furthermore, they changed history, and that is also something they didn't set out to do. Anthony and Pachomius and Benedict went out to mind their own business, work hard, pray hard and study and be true to themselves and their God. They ended up preserving classical learning, laid the foundation for a new christendom, and established a refuge for what was left for civilization, thus planting a seed for a new civilization.
You thought monks were just cutting themselves off--doing something radical and a little bit misanthropic. In the meantime they were doing something beautiful for God. Hidden away in the desert, they are cultivating the power of prayer and planting the seed of God in the world.
I just thought they were running away from the responsibilities and temptations of the world. No difficult wives, bosses, neighbors, life as most of us have to live it and deal with it. I thought they were cowards who found a way to mask their cowardice with honor and praise.
I also thought it was (and still is) a place for men or women to hide who have sexual appetites and proclivities that they wish to hide from the world, and even from themselves.
I can see where the solitude and lack of distraction could serve the purposes of contemplation and deep thinking though. No distraction from the self and the Self and God.
It’s a nice theory, but nowhere does the scripture tell us to remove ourselves from the world. (It tells us to remove the world from ourselves)
As per human nature, when we leave a place, we drag its detritus with us and Bingo! There it is waiting for us in our place of withdrawal!
No, it’s worse than that...they bake FRUITCAKES. Yes. Those cylinders of candied incorruptible confection. They remove themselves from this world, and yet intrude into it with the most obnoxious overtures of Christmas “joy”. So remember, next time you receive a fruitcake from some well-meaning distant cousin, it may have sprung from the mind of a mad monk. “I am not IN this world...but my fruitcakes bear witness that evil does indeed exist... MUWHAHAHAHA...”
what a dorky response to marsh. You know who you are. Can’t do better than that?
You talk like a Liberal/Progressive. You dodge the issue completely and insult the messenger.
Do not let your misunderstanding fool you. People were so in awe of them. They had visitors wanting Christ because of them. If you read about some you will see they educated through out. They are still interacting. The real solitude is in their prayers with God for others. We also forget the unseen war in the spiritual realm. I have personally seen amazing results to prayer from monks and nuns. The crass stereotypes do not really hold up because it is really not true.
guess the Baptizer was AWOL from his factory job.
What a stereo type you present. Just Amazing.
In some cases the monks were even known to make efforts to track down poor souls who, lost or alone after dark, found themselves in need of emergency shelter. At Aubrac, for example, where in the late sixteenth century a monastic hospital had been established amid the mountains of the Rouergue, there rang a special bell every night in order to call to any wandering traveler, or to anyone overtaken by the intimidating forest darkness. The people dubbed it "the bell of the wanderers."
In a similar vein, it was not unusual for monks living near the sea to establish contrivances for warning sailors of perilous obstacles or for nearby monasteries to make provision for shipwrecked men in need of lodging. It has been said that the city of Copenhagen owes its origin to a monastery established by its founder, Bishop Absalon, which catered to the needs of the shipwrecked. In Scotland, at Arbroath, the abbots fixed a floating bell on a notoriously treacherous rock on the Forfarshire coast. Depending on the tide the rock may be scarcely visible at all, and many a sailor had been frightened at the prospect of striking it. The waves caused the bell to sound, thereby warning sailors of danger ahead. To this day the rock is known as "Bell Rock." Such examples constituted only a small part of the concern that the monasteries showed for the people who lived in their environs; the monks also contributed to the building or repair of bridges, roads, and other such features of the medieval infrastructure"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods43.html
Dedicate your life to prayer and penance — isn’t that what St. Paul says?
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
The monks most certainly kept Western civilization alive for many long years, past the Black Plague, but who will do that work now? If there is going to be a “winter” of economic decline, will there be anyone to do this now?
The Western monks (starting with Benedict's leadership) began to work more in community.
The monks did a tremendous amount in the centuries they were active.
The best witness of all.
If that doesn't float your boat, try to get your hands on some Bourbon Chocolate Fudge from (I think) Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. The bourbon gets poured on (I believe I read) during the cooling process, and does not lose its potency!
And let's not forget that brandy was invented by monks! Apparently, asceticism sharpens the gustatory senses!
Seriously. They ARE delicious! I was just joking around about the proverbial fruitcakes this morning. But when I worked at Williams-Sonoma we sold the fruitcakes made by monks, don’t ask me right now which ones, but I know they still sale those fruitcakes. They were always one of the first things that flew off the shelves when they came in, so one year I decided I HAD to try one. It was HEAVENLY. I don’t know what they do, but they do it right! :)
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