Friday Frivolity: A novice mistake
Tag: Monk
Wise Words on Wednesday: Celibacy
Celibacy…is not a repression of the natural. It is, rather, a fulfillment of the natural desires by supernatural means.
– First Comes Loves, Scott Hahn
Wise Words On Wednesday: Know God or know about God?
“We may study as much as we will but we shall still not come to know the Lord unless we live according to His commandments, for the Lord is not made known through learning but by the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and scholars have arrived at a belief in the existence of God but they have not come to know God. And we monks apply ourselves day and night to the study of the Lord’s command but not all of us by a long way have come to know the Lord, although we believe in Him.”
– St Silouan the Athonite
Eunuchs for the Kingdom?
Yesterday, I had a conversation on Facebook about a passage concerning the “eunuchs” in Matthew’s Gospel:
10 The disciples said to him [in response], “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.”
11 But [Jesus] said to them, “Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.”
– Matthew 19:10-12
What does this text mean? Here’s a five minute explanation…
Stability
A hermit said, “A tree cannot bear fruit if it is often transplanted. So it is with the monk”
– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V
Desert Fathers: Meribah Men
A grumbler is not a monk. Anyone who gives evil for evil is not a monk. An irritable man is not a monk
– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V
Monks of Golgotha
The other week I got sent an email with a link to a documentary about the Catholic Monks which live up in Scotland:
(Thanks to Mr. Masek for this one!)