I struggle with words! What do they mean? Often we use words like spears without ever looking into what they mean. As an aside, that is why Jesus is needed – the Incarnate Word.
Anyway, I have been thinking about what “contemplation” means. And I stumbled onto this video. Enjoy!
I am a Prayer Book nerd. I like the older versions but I also like the modern versions. The Prayer Book has formed me in a particular way. But (an important distinction) my relationship with Jesus is so much more than liturgy.
I was thinking about the traditional structure of the Communion Service in the Prayer Book. It starts with the Collect for Purity (my favourite prayer) and then has this (from Common Worship):
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
The first commandment is this:
‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
The original compilers of the Prayer Book must have felt it was important to rehearse this central message of Jesus. Maybe because it is the Rule of Life for all Christians? Is there really any need to go beyond?
Anyway, I have updated my Rule of Life page to reflect the above.
I have been listening to Poor Bishop Hooper for a while and I am not sure if I love it or hate it. Anyway!?
I like this song. I like the images and they fit well into what I have been feeling and thinking. So enjoy!
The picture above is often associated with the visit of a king to an anchorite, hence illustrating the importance of anchorite spiritual counsel. But …
What if the picture is not a king but King Jesus? What is the picture is about the everyday encounter that the anchorite has with Jesus – the Jesus who is present to the anchorite as King?
I like both but King Jesus is very heart-warming to me.
… I believe most sincerely that the consolation of Jesus Christ, and the sweetness of his love, with the fire of the Holy Spirit who cleanses all sin, shall be in you and with you, leading you and instructing you how you are to meditate, how you are to pray, and what you are to do, so that after a few years you
Richard Rolle
shall certainly have more delight in being yourself and speaking with your beloved and your spouse, Jesus Christ, who is high in Heaven …
The above is written by the English hermit Richard Rolle to an anchorite. The anchorite has asked for a rule but Richard replies rather with a reflection on the spiritual life in general. The text illustrates that, unlike vowed monasticism, there is a certain amount of freedom and choice. Yes, the choice is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Yet the life of an anchorite within the English tradition is less about obedience and more about the freedom to explore the self in the presence of God.
It has been a real insight for me to see that there is a life that is not about rules but about being present with Jesus.
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
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.
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!
I am reading Walter Hilton’s Scales of Perfection. When I read anchorite focused literature, especially medieval, it always strikes me that they draw a sharp contrast between the inner life and the outer. A distinction that Hilton centres on the heart. “One cannot turn to God in the body if one has not turned to God in the heart”.
Vowed life is not about what happens outside. That is the rhythm and routine to give space. It is all about what happens inside – in the heart. And the inside is about all of me and not just the intellect.
Anyway.
this solitary life 