AMMA SYNCLETICA SAYINGS HOW TO

When we become better at contemplation we risk being distracted by our success. One of the fathers said: “Just as it is impossible to see your face in troubled water, so also the soul, unless it is clear of alien thoughts, is not able to pray to God in contemplation.” “God is not hiding from us,” Chittister notes, “we are hiding from God” because we fill our lives with noise that prevents us from listening and obeying. It is possible to be a solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his own thoughts.” God can be found everywhere, but we need to be able to hear Him.

In the words of Amma Syncletica, “there are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in town, and they are wasting their time. She critiques our consumerist culture through the example of Brother Serapion, who sold even his Bible – “the very word which commanded me: ‘Sell everything, and give to the poor.'” Time mattered more to the desert monastics than money, Chittister writes, because “if you lose time you cannot replace what you lost.” Then she uses the example of the learned Abba Arsenius asking a simple peasant for advice to remind us that “Arsenius’ strength lies in knowing that his own wisdom has its limits, its boundaries.” And if Arsenius is willing to break down the boundaries of class and education to listen to the peasant, would we be willing to do the same with immigrants or with people from other social backgrounds?Ĭhittister reminds us that just withdrawing from the world doesn’t make contemplatives of us.

AMMA SYNCLETICA SAYINGS HOW TO

Moreover, why would someone want to be nasty about such a wonderful book? Through short, simple commentaries on thirty-five sayings from fourth century desert monastics, Chittister gives us practical, down to earth advice about how to seek God while He may be found. He wants deep down basic commitment, not simply blue ribbons for winning the spiritual marathons we’ve run to make ourselves feel holy.” The gentle Jesus wants clean hearts from us, not sacrifice. In doing so, our hearts will be softened to serve those whom Jesus served. “In the spiritual life,” she says, “we are meant to prod our souls to regular discipline. And she warns us against focusing on fasting, isolation, or asceticism as ends in themselves. To begin with, she preaches what she calls “slow spirituality,” or taking one step at a time instead of trying to jump to supernatural holiness in a matter of hours. But this is not how Chittister approaches them. Like the great runners or discus throwers or gladiators around them, they denied themselves the comforts of live in order to excel in the pursuit of God.” You might be forgiven for thinking that these “Olympians of the spiritual life” are too advanced in holiness for us to be able imitate. Chittister describes the Desert Mothers and Fathers as “the spiritual athletes of the time. We read them because we want the same success the authors have had and we forget that the unique circumstances that shaped them are lacking in us. If I wanted to be nasty about Joan Chittister’s In God’s Holy Light (2015), I might say that at first sight it looks like a spiritual version of the how-to-make-a-million-dollars books that are written by millionaires.

The third style was a blend of the first two: the semi-hermitic lifestyle, where between two and six monks or nuns with a common spiritual leader would meet together on Saturdays and Sundays to pray and spend time together.Joan Chittister, In God’s Holy Light: Wisdom from the Desert Monastics. communities of men or women who lived together and shared work and religious practices together.

The second type was what has been called the cenobitic life i.e. The first was that of being a hermit, often living in a cave and having little or no contact with anyone. There were broadly three main types of lifestyle. We might call them monks and nuns now, but back then, they were mostly laypeople who were drawn to a life of prayer and study of the scriptures. a significant number of Christians were drawn to move to the deserts of Egypt and Syria to get away from worldly distractions and focus on the spiritual life. This has been especially true for older people cocooning and those living alone. Not the desert of intense heat so much as the experience of being isolated from family and friends with less activities to amuse and distract us. Covid 19 and the restrictions on movement these past few months, have brought a lot of us into a sort of desert.

Amma syncletica sayings