Before all else, dear brothers, love God and then your neighbour, because these are the chief commandments given to us.
The Rule of St Augustine starts with the above quote. I have been thinking, as far as a Rule of Life goes, do I need to go any further? Love God, love neighbour.
The monastic life is based on obedience, the anchoritic life on independence; one requires the renunciation of the will, the other the exercise of free choice.
Anchoritism in the Middle Ages: Texts and Traditions
I just wanted to share the above quote. Interesting!!! Yes, ordered life based on choice. Even without a rule, or vows, or a habit.
cf: The Moment
There is, namely, an infinite chasmic difference between God and man, and therefore it became clear in the situation of contemporaneity that to become a Christian (to be transformed into likeness with God) is, humanly speaking, an even greater torment and misery and pain than the greatest human torment, and in addition a crime in the eyes of one’s contemporaries. And so it will always prove to be if becoming a Christian truly comes to mean becoming contemporary with Christ. And if becoming a Christian does not come to mean this, then all this talk about becoming a Christian is futility and fancy and vanity…
Practice in Christianity
I have always liked the above quote from Practice in Christianity. Yes, SK is very Lutheran/Augustinian in it but I think it says something about God: God’s transcendence in being and his imminence in action (in Jesus). It is about the King and the Servant, and love, and surrender.
This is my “goto” album when I am finding life hard. The longer songs, the emotional memory, the “sing-along” effect of the album all add to its significance. It was the first album I ever purchased as a very young boy and it has stayed with me most of my life.
I have often wondered who I wish were here?! I have no answer. But when I listen and close my eyes I am taken somewhere else for a few moments. And that is why I like the album.
I have been thinking for this coming Sunday’s gospel, Luke 13:1-9. Yes, repentance and fruit. But is there something deeper happening? Is it about the eternal now of faith – the moment of choice? That reminded me of one of my favourite SK quotes:
God is present in the moment of choice, not in order to watch but in order to be chosen. Therefore, each person must choose. Terrible is the battle, in a person’s innermost being, between God and the world. The crowning risk involved lies in the possession of choice.
Kierkegaard
A number of great themes in the one quote: moment, choice, freedom, risk. All relate to faith. The moment of choice is that overwhelming point where the past is gone and the future is not yet. That moment between penitence and reward. It is the moment, the now, that is completely God’s and in which I must meet Jesus.
I like the image of God’s presence in the moment. Maybe that is contemporality – Jesus present in the moment of choice, ready to be chosen? But the point is: that moment is always the eternal now.
I have two Merton quotes about silence I have been thinking about. Silence has been my solas for two weeks. While I have felt much more balanced and in control, I wonder if it is due to the periods of silence I have enjoyed.
In so many ways, I think, Jesus is an experience rather (God forbid) a doctrine, teaching, or idea. I think the same can be said of our meeting with other people – in the silence of presence they become an experience and not an object to be used or manipulated.
I think I like this one more for the insight – silence is necessary to understanding. We are often (yes, I!) more willing to make noise than stand in the silence.
In the book I am enjoying the anchoress (sic) is asked by a visitor, “Are you lonely?”. Of course she answers is a resounding “no”. I have been thinking about that answer.
I think it is natural to feel lonely at times. That is only human. Yes, I feel lonely sometimes. I admit very rarely in the last year or so. But the point of the anchorite or solitary life is that “loneliness” is given new meaning in Jesus. And that is the point – Jesus does not change the way I feel but he changes what it means to me.
Today is a public holiday. It changes very little in my day. So I am just trying to be me in the presence of Jesus.
Have I shared this plan of an anchorhold before? Anyway, here it is:
The book I am reading makes mention of the various parts of the anchorhold: the parlour and the window with the black curtain to speak to outsiders, the servants’ quarter and the window for food, and the window into the church with the kneeler and view of the high altar. All very vivid to me at the moment. I feel a little like I am in that anchorhold with Sister Sarah. And, in case you have not worked it out, that is me – I get completely lost in books.
I have not shared any music lately. To be honest, I have struggled to get through the day and music has been background noise at best. I have not been connecting to anything or anyone in the last couple of weeks.
I especially this:
The more I’m leaning
The more I’m flying
Feels less like dying
More like living for Heaven on Earth
Thursday is the day I read a novel. It is sort of like a “sabbath day” (or maybe a “desert day”), that is, a day I try to rest a little more.
So I have been reading The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader. I have a romantic nature and quickly get emotionally involved in books. Not just novels! I fall in love with people in history and find it extremely hard to think of my life without them. But even after a few pages, I have fallen in love with this book. I know it romanticises the anchoress life, and do not get me started on using “anchoress”, but the book feels deeply personal to me.
It makes some points early on. The anchorite lives alone but not without help from other people. The book describes the maids that help Sister Sarah. In a very medieval cast system way, the anchorite has servants do their domestic duties. In fact, Richard Rolle in his rule describes there being two servants – one older and one younger.
The anchorite has contact with the outside world. There is a window inside the cell to look into the church and one outside to allow the anchorite to speak with spiritual disciples. In the book, Sister Sarah makes time to “instruct” her maids in the faith – she reads to them!
So, bringing all that together – I have Zoom, books, and a microwave. I do not have disciples – to be honest, I have no desire to instruct anyone in anything. And I have silence! I am trying to work on the inside silence. Yet I already have some extremely silence.
I am going to read a little more of the book. Sink into that world and try not to lose my heart!
a fool and his prayer book 