Through 'self-transcendence' one can know the 'true life'. Sounds like Buddha, but it's the Pope commenting on the life of a desert father.
What is that 'self' that i need to leave behind?
I remember a dream in which the Lord called and i flew up to the heavens, yet suddenly i detached, i separated from an ugly, grief-wracked image of myself and soared up higher, leaving my Self behind. Christ beckoned. And the words said have always remained with me: And now that you know, what are you going to do about it?
John Climacus, desert father: Every type of behaviour must be subject to discernment; everything, in fact, depends on one's deepest motivations, which need to be closely examined.
The goal? Tranquility of the soul, he says, by means of which the soul may gaze upon the abyss of the divine mysteries.
Now that i know, what am i going to do about it? This epiphany happened many years ago. I am not now a desert father, nor a 'diligent pastor' watching over Christ's flock, proclaiming God's will to the leaders and ordinary folk, to the rich and the poor, in season and out of season (St. Boniface). I have been stumbling along for years, taking one step forwards to every three back, it seems.
But it is not in total darkness that i walk. There is light ahead, perhaps just enough to see the path from which i all too often wander. Thanks be to God that i can find my way back. Again and again and again. And as i grow older, that Self that had seemed so important, so needy, so arrogant, prideful, slothful, lusty, sometimes deceitful and often blind, now knows this ugly Self as an Earthly image. Made in God's divine image, i am torn, because in awareness i struggle to choose at every step. If i listen with discernment, i can hear reason reminding me of who i really am. If i listen with my faith, i can hear the Holy Spirit reminding me of who i really am. And the path if before me once again, illuminated.
When shall i weary of life's Earthy distractions? When shall i choose to apply earnest, moment to moment effort to my every action? Is the tranquility of my soul and enlightenment and a view of God's true face not a worthy goal for this lifetime?
The choice is mine, now.
It always was, is and shall be.
Deo gratias.
What is that 'self' that i need to leave behind?
I remember a dream in which the Lord called and i flew up to the heavens, yet suddenly i detached, i separated from an ugly, grief-wracked image of myself and soared up higher, leaving my Self behind. Christ beckoned. And the words said have always remained with me: And now that you know, what are you going to do about it?
John Climacus, desert father: Every type of behaviour must be subject to discernment; everything, in fact, depends on one's deepest motivations, which need to be closely examined.
The goal? Tranquility of the soul, he says, by means of which the soul may gaze upon the abyss of the divine mysteries.
Now that i know, what am i going to do about it? This epiphany happened many years ago. I am not now a desert father, nor a 'diligent pastor' watching over Christ's flock, proclaiming God's will to the leaders and ordinary folk, to the rich and the poor, in season and out of season (St. Boniface). I have been stumbling along for years, taking one step forwards to every three back, it seems.
But it is not in total darkness that i walk. There is light ahead, perhaps just enough to see the path from which i all too often wander. Thanks be to God that i can find my way back. Again and again and again. And as i grow older, that Self that had seemed so important, so needy, so arrogant, prideful, slothful, lusty, sometimes deceitful and often blind, now knows this ugly Self as an Earthly image. Made in God's divine image, i am torn, because in awareness i struggle to choose at every step. If i listen with discernment, i can hear reason reminding me of who i really am. If i listen with my faith, i can hear the Holy Spirit reminding me of who i really am. And the path if before me once again, illuminated.
When shall i weary of life's Earthy distractions? When shall i choose to apply earnest, moment to moment effort to my every action? Is the tranquility of my soul and enlightenment and a view of God's true face not a worthy goal for this lifetime?
The choice is mine, now.
It always was, is and shall be.
Deo gratias.
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