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Ignatian spirituality is a spirituality for everyday life. It insists that God is present in our world and active in our lives. It is a pathway to deeper prayer, good decisions guided by keen discernment, and an active life of service to others.

Getting Started with Ignatian Spirituality
Beyond the Basics of Ignatian Spirituality
For the Ignatian Expert

Getting Started with Ignatian Spirituality

Where Can I Find God?
Ignatian spirituality is rooted in the conviction that God is active, personal, and-above all-present to us.

How Can I Pray?
Overview of the Examen, a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day.

10 Elements of Ignatian Spirituality
An overview of its unique insights, attributes, and history.

The Ignatian Way
A series of online presentations that introduce the main ideas of Ignatian spirituality, based on materials written by Brian Grogan, SJ.

31 Days with St. Ignatius
A month-long celebration that serves as a good introduction to the riches of Ignatian spirituality.

God in All Things Video
"The key insight of Ignatius Loyola is that we can find God in all things."

St. Ignatius Loyola
Biographies and other resources for learning about Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits and the namesake for Ignatian spirituality.

Beyond the Basics of Ignatian Spirituality

Magis Video
"Magis," Latin for "more," is a key concept in Ignatian spirituality.

Magis (PDF)
By Fr. Fran Daly, SJ
Short essay from Partners magazine explaining the Ignatian concept of the Magis.

AMDG Video
This short video features students from Jesuit high schools explaining what "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" means to them.

For the Ignatian Expert

Searching for Meaning Today: An Ignatian Contribution (PDF)
By Brian O'Leary, SJ
In this 2005 article from the Review of Ignatian Spirituality, O'Leary brings the 16th century Ignatian experience and insight into dialogue with our postmodern search for meaning. The article is best suited to those already at an advanced level of knowledge about Ignatian spirituality.

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Ignatian spirituality is a spirituality for everyday life. It insists that God is present in our world and active in our lives. It is a pathway to deeper prayer, good decisions guided by keen discernment, and an active life of service to others.

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What's your preference:
Mac or PC?
Coke or Pepsi?
Dunkin' or Krispy Kreme?

It's nice to have options, isn't it? We do not live in a one-size-fits all world. Folks have different tastes and preferences when it comes to computers, cola drinks, and donuts, just to name a few.

Well, the same can be said for spirituality. When it comes to exploring and nurturing one's relationship with God, there are options available. One of the most popular options in Catholic spirituality is Ignatian spirituality. So, just what is Ignatian spirituality?

In his book, Christian Spirituality (Loyola Press), George Lane, S.J., defines spirituality as "a way to holiness." Christian spirituality, of course, seeks holiness in and through Jesus Christ. Even within the Christian Tradition, there are numerous spiritual paths that come to us from the traditions of various religious communities such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Benedictines. One of the most popular and widely practiced spiritual paths in the Catholic Tradition is Ignatian Spirituality-a path articulated by Saint Ignatius of Loyola who founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1540. St. Ignatius outlined this spirituality in his Spiritual Exercises, originally written as a handbook for a thirty-day retreat. With this in mind, let's take a closer look at the characteristics of Ignatian spirituality.

According to Fr. Paul Brian Campbell, S.J., Ignatian spirituality encourages us to...

1. find (recognize) God in all things

2. develop a personal relationship with Christ and love for the Church (bruised and broken as it often is)

3. live a life of reflection (self-awareness/discernment) leading to gratitude and a life of service (becoming a man or woman for others)

4. live a life of contemplation in action-not a monastic existence, but an active one that is, at the same time, infused with prayer

5. live with an inner freedom (the result of self-awareness and discernment)

6. translate our faith into working for justice-the realization that there can be no true expression of faith where concerns for justice and human dignity are lacking

7. recognize, like Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins, that "the world is charged with the grandeur of God"-the positive, energetic and engaged vision of God's constant interaction with creation

8. live according to the maxim "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" (For the Greater Glory of God)-praising God and dedicating oneself to participate in God's healing work in the world

9. be flexible and adaptable, following the example of the 16th century Jesuits who wore Chinese robes and generally adapted to various cultures; respecting people's lived experience

10. seek the union of minds and hearts-as brothers and sisters, we listen for the God who is present among us, admitting no division based on ethnicity, nationality, background, age or gender

These principles and ideas are not unique to Ignatius. Rather, they flow from the Gospel of Jesus. However, Ignatius has gathered and synthesized them in such a way as to create a path to Jesus-a path that countless millions of Catholics have traveled over the past 450 years, a path called Ignatian spirituality.

Joe Paprocki, D.Min.

Joe Paprocki, D.Min., has been a catechetical leader and religious educator in the Chicago area for more than thirty years.

See More

Books by Joe Paprocki, D.Min.

Living the Sacraments

Finding God at the Intersection of Heaven and Earth

Joe Paprocki demystifies the Catholic sacraments and presents them as a way of life to be experienced each day, rather than as standalone events.

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Llamados por nuestro nombre

Prepararse para la vocación de líder catequético

El libro Llamados por nuestro nombre se centra en la vocación del líder catequético y en lo que el líder catequético necesita ser, en contraste con lo que este necesita saber o hacer.

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The Catechist's Backpack

Spiritual Essentials for the Journey

Written by two nationally known, expert lay catechists, The Catechist's Backpack gives catechists the resources that speak to the spiritual dimension of their call to share the Catholic faith.

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Practice Makes Catholic

Moving from a Learned Faith to a Lived Faith

Why do Catholics do what they do? Practice Makes Catholic from Loyola Press gets to the heart of the question-and to the heart of what it really means to be Catholic.

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Called by Name

Preparing Yourself for the Vocation of Catechetical Leader

This book focuses on what catechetical leaders need to be, as opposed to what they need to know or do, if they are to lead effectively.

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A Church on the Move

52 Ways to Get Mission and Mercy in Motion

52 specific, practical, and achievable strategies to help Catholic parishes embody the broad themes of Pope Francis' papacy-mission, mercy, and evangelization.

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Vivir la misa

Cómo una hora a la semana puede cambiar tu vida

Explica detallademente cómo cada parte de la misa se relaciona con la llamada que recibimos en el bautismo, poniendo en estrecha relación la misa dominical y el resto de nuestra semana.

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Under the Influence of Jesus

The Transforming Experience of Encountering Christ

In Under the Influence of Jesus, Joe Paprocki explains that by opening ourselves to encountering Christ, we can learn how to live the Gospel and be models of faith.

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La mochila del catequista

Lo indispensable para el camino espiritual

La mochila del catequist brinda a los catequistas recursos que atienden a la dimensión espiritual de su llamado a compartir la fe católica.

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What's your preference: Mac or PC? Coke or Pepsi? Dunkin' or Krispy Kreme? It's nice to have options, isn't it? We do not live in a one-size-fits all world. Folks have different tastes and preferences when it comes to computers, cola drinks, and donuts, just to name a few.

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Welcome to the Parish of St. Ignatius of Loyola

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As a Jesuit parish community, animated by the spirit of St. Ignatius, we welcome all to share in the joy of the Gospel and to come to "know, love and serve" God and one another. Read More...

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Ignatian Spirituality | Ignatian Spirituality

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Ignatian spirituality is grounded in the conviction that God is active in our world. As the great Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote: "God is not remote from us. He is at the point of my pen, my pick, my paintbrush, my needle-and my heart and my thoughts."

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In order to foster and facilitate relationship with God, through prayer and contemplation, Carmelite spirituality proposes certain means, both personal and communal, namely meditation on the word of God, liturgy, silence and solitude, and asceticism. The Rule of St.

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Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Patron of the Order of Carmelites! The Sacred Scriptures speak of the beauty of Mount Carmel in Palestine where the Prophet Elijah defended the faith

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Carmelite Spirituality - In the Spirit and Strength of Elijah

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Franciscan Spirituality includes as a fundamental component obedience and loyalty to the Church and Magisterium. Franciscan Spirituality has an engaging, inviting stance toward the world encouraging dialogue along with a healthy and prophetic critique of modern secular culture and its values.

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francis franciscan sister sisters little falls minnesota community serve gospel peace donate clare women prayer music mission earth franciscan sisters little falls francis music music center  jesus christ roman catholic  francis music center
st francis

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The Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minnesota, is a community of Roman Catholic women religious who follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi.

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When people ask us "What is a monk", we often have to decide on the short, medium or long answer.

SHORT: We are 40 Benedictine monks of the Roman Catholic Church living in Subiaco, Arkansas, USA. We follow the 1,500 year old Rule as written by our holy father Saint Benedict who lived in Italy (you can learn more about that Rule by clicking HERE). This Rule and monastic way of life flow from the ancient biblical model of radical Christian discipleship as found in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-35. Those men and women who lived out this radical way of life (most often alone in the desert) were referred to as "monks" or "monastics". Our balanced life of prayer and work (known in Latin as "Ora et Labora") has existed in Arkansas since our founding in 1878 by monks from St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana.

MEDIUM: The life of a monk is concerned with the one thing necessary: quaerere Deum (to seek God). He lives in the Monastery, submits to the authority of the Abbot, and follows the Rule of Our Holy Father Benedict. Monasticism is the most ancient manifestation of the religious state in the Church, which itself has always been held to be the highest and most privileged means to the universal end of the Christian religion.

Through the three vows of Obedience, Stability, and Conversatio Morum a monk pursues the perfect fulfillment of the Gospel precepts. He sacrifices the lesser goods of this world in order to make room for Christ above all and before all, who is Goodness Itself. The monk accepts Christ's words to the rich young man: "If you wish to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." (Matthew 19.21). This Rule and monastic way of life flow from the ancient biblical model of radical Christian discipleship as found in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-35.

The monk seeks here and now that union that Jesus Christ shares with the Father. Like the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament, or St. Paul in the New Testament, the monk leads a celibate life as a means to this union. This is an eschatological sign of his exclusive dedication to God, the infinite Good. This union grows through prayer and charity, and the daily joys and sufferings of life in this valley of tears. In prayer the monk spends time with the one he loves. In as much as the neighbor is made in the image of God and redeemed by Christ's Precious Blood, the monk practices Christian charity towards his brethren for the sake of God and in God. A similar dynamic occurs in marriage.

The monk seeks God exclusively. Detached from all creatures, he gives himself totally to the Creator. For the sake of Our Lord, he renounces the highest natural goods: marriage, children, and free will. The monk makes an oblation of his whole being to God, intellect and will, body and soul.

As monks called to such a vocation, unworthy though we be, we hope in the words of Our Holy Father Benedict to "persevere in fidelity to God's teaching in the monastery until death so that through our patience we may be granted a share in the sufferings of Christ, and so receive a share in His Kingdom." ( Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue).

LONG: Because of the long and varied history of Benedictine Monasticism over the past 1,500 years, it would take volumes of books to do justice to the subject. We will, though, show you one really cool papyrus and direct you to one nicely written LONG article.

First, we know that monks exhisted in the Church from its earliest days. In fact, the presence of those Christians that we now call monks were attested by scholars well before the end of the first century. These were men and women who were called by God to live out the radical Christian discipleship that was lived by the early church found in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-35. Some of these men and women lived alone in the desert ("monochos"), others lived in cities, and even others lived this way of life as a group in a single monastic community (sometimes referred to as "coenobitic monasticism"--St. Augustine was a monk and liked to quote Psalm 133:1 in this regard--"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!") The earliest "written" use of the word "monk" ("monachos") can be found in a petition that was written in Greek by Arsinoites of Karanis (south of Cairo), Egypt, sometime around 324 AD. The writer was suing his neighbor (and seeking justice) because the neighbor's cow kept getting loose and trampling the writer's garden. The writer was able to grab the cow out of the garden, when the owner and friends with clubs started beating him. Luckily, a Deacon named Antonius was traveling on the road with a MONK named Isaac. They came to the aid of Arsinoites so he was not killed (If you would like to see a copy of this actual papyrus, then click HERE. You can also click the link on this page to see the Greek with it's English translation). The existence of Christian monks certainly pre-dated this, but this is the first instance we have of where the actual word MONACHOS was used in writing. We also know from the ancient Pilgrimage Diary of Egeria that a diverse group of monks (coenobitic and anchorites/hermits) were present in vast numbers throughout Egypt and the Holy Land when she made her pilgrimage in 381-384 AD.

Next, the history of monasticism (and in particular where St. Benedict enters the story) is so extensive that a former Abbot Primate, Jerome Theisen, took the time to provide a brief introduction for the general public. This introduction has numerous links which you can use to further explore this fascinating subject. You can find this introduction by clicking HERE

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When people ask us "What is a monk", we often have to decide on the short, medium or long answer. SHORT: We are 40 Benedictine monks of the Roman Catholic Church living in Subiaco, Arkansas, USA.

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The Benedictines: An Introduction by Abbot Primate Jerome Theisen OSB. Liturgical Press.

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Abbot Primate Jerome Theisen OSB writes about the Benedictines for the New Catholic Encyclopedia published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN 56321, Saint John's Abbey.

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Christian History | Learn the History of Christianity & the Church

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I t is difficult to fathom today why the desert fathers did what they did, or why the church, East and West, was so taken by their example for the next millennium. It requires a great deal research and historical imagination to see what the desert monks were getting out of their ascetic discipline.

Belden Lane, a Presbyterian professor of theology at St. Louis University, is one who has done the research and has the historical imagination. His The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Mountain and Desert Spirituality (Oxford, 1998) is a brilliant analysis of how geography has played a vital role in the history of Western spirituality. Christian History asked Professor Lane to help us grasp the attraction of desert asceticism throughout Christian History.

Why did the desert fathers choose to work out their spirituality in the desert?

They sought God, first of all, and they knew that God was most easily found in a place without distractions. Second, the desert was also a marvelous laboratory for dealing with the self, which was their other major spiritual project.

How do you handle the ego and its anxiousness, its constant need for support? You walk into the desert, which doesn't care one bit about who you are or what you bring to it. That kind of terrain offers a marvelous antidote to the problem of the ego, the false self.

In the Bible and Greco-Roman culture, the desert is not so much a place of spiritual growth but a place of evil and temptation. Didn't the monks believe that?

They did, and that is another reason they went into the wilderness. They found precedents in the life of John the Baptist (you won't find a desert monastery without an icon of John the Baptist) and especially in Jesus. Throughout his life, Jesus withdrew into the desert to pray. He began his ministry in the wilderness, being tempted for 40 days. Likewise, Antony started his ministry by going into the desert to empty himself and face temptation there.

The desert is a place where you expect the temptations of hunger, of power, of beauty-the things the desert lacks are the things you find yourself wanting desperately. The monks looked on demons and temptation as aides to their spiritual lives. But they were not overwhelmed by trials and temptations. Instead, they found God in the midst of temptation and struggle.

Today, many go into the wilderness to "get back to nature." Was that part of the monks' motivation?

No. It's so easy for us to romanticize their motivation today. Abba Macarius in Egypt was said to be a lover of the desert, but this was only after spending years there. For the monks, the desert was primarily a training ground.

How did the desert as such shape these monks' spiritual lives?

The desert asks two questions: What do you learn to ignore? And what do you learn to love? In other words, how do you let go, and what do you hold onto? Those are the basic dimensions of the spiritual journey that the desert monks went through as they embraced the desert.

Let me paraphrase one of the best illustrations of this, found in Sayings of the Desert Fathers: A young man, a spiritual groupie of sorts, comes to Scetis, west of the Nile, to seek out the great monk Abba Macarius. He asks Abba Macarius, "How do I get to be a holy man? I want to be a holy man. And I want to be one tomorrow."

Macarius smiles and says, "Spend the day tomorrow over at the cemetery. I want you to abuse the dead for all you're worth. Throw sticks and stones at them, curse at them, call them names-anything you can think of. Spend the whole day doing nothing but that."

The young man must have thought the great monk was crazy, but he spent the next day doing everything he was told. When he returned, Abba Macarius asked him, "What did the dead people say out there today?"

The young man responded that they didn't say a thing. They were dead. Macarius said, "Isn't that interesting? I want you to go back tomorrow, and this time spend the day saying everything nice about these people. Call them righteous men and women, compliment them, say everything wonderful you can imagine."

"The desert is a perfect
place to let go of the
need for recognition"
-Belden Lane

So the young man went back the next day, did as he was told, and returned to Macarius. The monk asked him what the dead people said this time.

"Well, they didn't answer a word again," replied the brother.

"Ah, they must indeed be holy people," said Macarius. "You insulted them, and they did not reply. You praised them, and they did not speak. Go and do likewise, my friend, taking no account of either the scorn of men and women or their praises. And you too will be a holy man."

It's a wonderful story that asks two questions: What do you ignore? The answer is the scorn and praise of others. The other question is more indirect-What do you love? That is, since you are not going to be motivated by what others think, what are you going to give yourself to fully?

But how is it possible to learn love when you're solitary?

The monks learned that the desert teaches you how to live apart from others, how to live without compulsively needing them to give you worth or make you feel loved. In the desert, you learn how to live with yourself. Only then are you capable of giving love-sacrificial love that accepts or needs nothing in return.

Let me give an example from our lives, because even when we live in the city, we can have this type of desert experience. There's a point when you realize you have to let go of what you love most if you ever hope to really keep it. And only when you reach that point (e.g., in your career or your marriage or your deepest relationships with others), when you move beyond a compulsive need for them. Only then is it going to be possible really to love for the first time.

It's incredibly painful letting go. But once you do that, there is an incredible sense of the desert, as Isaiah says, blossoming like a rose. Suddenly in the place of abandonment, in the place where you let go of everything you knew, you realize that what you could not hold God gives back. And love is born there in the very place where you had lost everything.

Now as the monks learned, the desert makes no promises. If you're going out there to suddenly become a deeply loving person, if like the young man you want to become holy, there are no guarantees. It is only at profound risk-letting go, ignoring yourself and the distractions of the world-that love and compassion might occur. But as many mystics, East and West, have discovered, "The experience of emptiness engenders compassion."

In a lot of the desert father stories, it feels as if the monks practiced ascetic disciplines to earn salvation.

You could interpret it that way on a surface level. But I see them living out what medieval mystic Meister Eckhart once said, that the spiritual life isn't so much a matter of addition as subtraction.

Though we Protestants talk about justification by faith (versus by works), we often act as if the key to the spiritual life is adding all the active virtues, doing great things for God, sharing the gospel with others, and the like. Eckhart said, no, it's a matter of subtraction. How much can you let go of? It's not a matter of anxiously having to prove yourself to your teachers, to your parents, or to God so as to finally make yourself acceptable. It's a matter of letting go of all those compulsive needs for approval and recognizing that only after you abandon those compulsions will you be able to accept God's utterly free grace that comes in the gospel, in Jesus.

The desert is a perfect place to let go of the need for recognition. I love the image of the canyon cliff that Gregory of Nyssa used back in the fourth century. Being on top of that cliff, in a place of beauty and uneasiness-that's where you discover the majesty, greatness, and glory of God. You look at that canyon cliff, think about it being there thousands, maybe millions of years, and you ask yourself, how did that canyon cliff change on the day your personal world fell apart?

What's an example of that?

For me, that was the day my father was tragically killed when I was 13, and I thought the whole world had fallen apart. What did that canyon cliff do that day? Or how did it change on the day of your divorce, or the day you admitted your dependence on alcohol, or the day you finally shared a hidden shame with someone else?

And you find, sitting there watching that canyon wall, that it didn't change at all. In the midst of your world falling apart, something didn't change. It was waiting, staying there as if for you, in the same way that God does not change. That stone cliff, a metaphor of God, invites you to pour out all the grief and anguish you can muster, then accepts it all without rebuke, receives it all right there in the desert.

Something amazing happens at that point. When you become silent enough and empty enough, pouring out your needs to God in that desert place, you are able for the first time to hear what you had never heard before, and that's a single word whispered by Jesus: love. It's one of those words that you can't hear until you are utterly silent and utterly empty.

Speaking about what the most devout desert monks had experienced, John Climacus wrote, "Lucky the man who longs for God as a smitten lover does for his beloved."

To me, this is what attracted and held monks in the desert, and why it still attracts some souls to this day.

For more on Belden Lane, see his bio at:

Faculty of American Studies Department at SLU
http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/amers/faculty.html

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

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Antony and the Desert Fathers: Christian History Interview - Discovering the Desert Paradox

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I t is difficult to fathom today why the desert fathers did what they did, or why the church, East and West, was so taken by their example for the next millennium. It requires a great deal research and historical imagination to see what the desert monks were getting out of their ascetic discipline.

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The Desert Fathers - Bringing Mysticism to Today's Church

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Desert Fathers | The Center for Early African Christianity

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The Center for Early African Christianity

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"[Christian] Monasticism began in the Eastern empire in the fourth century. In the early stages it was not linked with the church. It was Athanasius who took the first steps that finally brought the monastic movement under Church domination. The excessive austerities practiced by the Eastern monks were not to Benedict's liking. Their traditions had taken a very literal notice of the Christian view that the flesh was sinful. Accordingly they vied with each other who could achieve the rankest state of bodily neglect. To these unwholesome eccentricities the Benedictine rule put a determined stop. Authority and power was placed in the hands of the abbot who was appointed for life."...Early Christianity in Wisdom of the West...by Bertrand Russell

"So who were the Desert Fathers? A majority were native Egyptians, mostly from the poorer classes, but others, from all parts of the Roman world, included men of high rank and high intelligence.Arsenius, for example, had been tutor to the sons of Emperor Theodosius; Evagrius was a subtle theologian; John Cassian, a well-travelled Rumanian, carried the desert traditions to southern France. One at least was black; Moses, first a slave, then leader of a gang of bandits, finally one of the holiest men in Scetis.

"Differences of rank or profession ceased to exist in the desert. There were, however, two levels, based on experience: Brother, a neophyte who needed to spend a few years as a disciple of some more seasoned hermit, and Father, or Old Man - not necessarily old in years - a hermit grown wise and virtuous enough to live alone and give guidance to others.

"A hermit's day typically began before dawn; sleep, though necessary, was an enemy stealing time from devotions. A father would meet with his disciples to recite psalms; all would then return to their individual cells and spend most of the day in solitary work and prayer ("Your cell will teach you everything," Moses said.) Work consisted mostly of weaving reeds or palm-fronds into ropes, mats and baskets which would subsequently be sold in the Delta villages; most hermits prided themselves on their independence and scorned charity. Sometimes hermits would hire out as laborers at harvest time, but this was frowned on, since it involved too much contact with the secular world.

"Around the ninth hour (3pm our time), father and brothers would gather again for the day's only meal, usually consisting of bread (one loaf per person was a normal week's ration) and vegetables such as beans and lentils. After the meal, hermits would visit with one another or ask more experienced elders for 'a word' - some nugget of wisdom, specially designed to apply to the individual concerned, on which one could subsequently meditate. Then they would return to their cells, rigorously examine their conduct over the preceding day, recognise and seek to eradicate their shortcomings, and finally, by the feeble light of an oil-lamp, continue working and praying until sleep overwhelmed them."...History and Hermits - The Desert Fathers of Egypt

Struggling with logismoi
We have learnt, after much observation, to recognize the difference between angelic thoughts, human thoughts, and thoughts that come from demons...Evagrius Ponticus...Texts on Discrimination in respect of Passions and Thoughts

Primacy of Love For All Living Things
What can we gain by sailing off to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it all the rest are not only useless but disastrous. Proof: the great travellers and colonizers of the Renaissance were, for the most part, men who perhaps were capable of the things they did precisely because they were alienated from themselves. In subjugating primitive worlds they only imposed on them, with the force of cannons, their own confusion and their own alienation....Thomas Merton...The Wisdom of the Desert

Asceticism
"...the Roman Empire between the fourth and fifth centuries experienced the development of a new form of Christian piety--the rise of asceticism. Both the Provinces of Egypt and Syria were home to the ascetic discipline; yet, the outward expression of the askesis [discipline, exercise, training] differed between the two areas. The geographical constraints and harsh desert climate severely limited the Egyptian ascetics, confining them to cells, where they practiced the ascetic discipline of fasting, prayer and meditation. Their modes of life differed from the ascetics in Syria, a province with a wide-range of geographical terrain, such as deserts, steppe-lands and mountainous areas, as well as more favorable climatic conditions. This allowed the Syrian ascetics to develop a more rigorous expression of the askesis, emphasizing bodily mortification. Although Egyptian ascetics were occasionally found to self-inflict harm upon their bodies, it was nevertheless mild in contrast to the Syrians, and an exception rather than a rule. The Syrians also aspired to live life as angels in the flesh, emulating the bodiless creatures that live in heaven. Although there was a marked contrast between ascetics in Egypt and Syria, ascetics in both provinces served as spiritual martyrs, as an out-growth of martyrdom that had ceased to play a role in Christianity after the official Imperial adoption of the religion, putting an end to the once frequent and wide-spread persecutions that claimed so many Christians in first few centuries A.D. Asceticism was truly a higher life, and an extreme expression of Christian piety, attested to by the countless men in Egypt and Syria who suffered for Christ."...source: Egyptian and Syrian Asceticism in Late Antiquity: A Comparative Study of the Ascetic Idea in the Late Roman Empire during the Fourth and Fifth Centuries...by Jeffrey Conrad

Hesychasm and Nepsis
Hesychasm is a mystical tradition of experiential prayer in the Orthodox Church. It is described in great detail in the Philokalia, a compilation of what various saints wrote about prayer and the spiritual life. In practice, the Hesychastic prayer bears some superficial resemblance to mystical prayer or meditation in Eastern religions (e.g., Buddhism and Hinduism, especially Yoga)...source: Wikipedia

Contemplative Prayer
"The Desert Fathers...practiced a form of prayer which could be described as meditation. In Buddhist terms, this ancient Christian meditation practice included both mantra meditation and non conceptual meditation. They would take a word, sentence or phrase from the Bible and repeat it over and over again. St. John Cassian, the Roman was based at a monastery in Bethlehem. He made a great contribution to world literature by producing two sets or collections of writings. These were the Institutes which recounted the practices of the monks of Egypt and adapted them for use in the colder, Western regions. Then later, Conferences given by various great Fathers of the Desert."...source: Christian Meditation by Brian Ruhe

Recitation of scripture
The lives of the desert fathers were filled with recitation of the scriptures-during the week they chanted psalms while performing manual labor and during the weekends they held liturgies and group services. The monk's experience in the cell occurred in a variety of ways, but the role of meditation on scripture was central. For them meditation was the oral recitation of scripture. The group practices were particularly prominent in the more organized communities formed byPachomius. The purpose of these practices were explained by John Cassian, a Desert Father, who described the goal of psalmody (the outward recitation of scripture) and asceticism as the ascent to deep mystical prayer and mystical contemplation...source: Wikipedia

Withdrawal from society
The legalization of Christianity by the Roman Empire in 313 actually gaveAnthony a greater resolve to go out into the desert. Anthony, who was nostalgic for the tradition of martyrdom, saw withdrawal and asceticism as an alternative. When members of the Church began finding ways to work with the Roman state, the Desert Fathers also saw that as a compromise between "the things of God and the things of Caesar." The monastic communities were essentially an alternate Christian society. The hermits doubted that religion and politics could ever produce a truly Christian society. For them, the only Christian society was spiritual and not mundane...source: Wikipedia

Panentheism
"A charming story recounts Anthony's relationship with the animals in an era when bearbaiting and torturing of animals was a widespread form of entertainment:

At first wild animals in the desert coming for water often would damage the beds in his garden. But he caught one of the animals, held it gently, and said to them all: "Why do you harm me when I harm none of you? Go away, and in the Lord's name do not come near these things again." And ever afterwards, as though awed by his orders, they did not come near the place.

Such tales of monks' encounters with animals were numerous: an aging monk fed a starving lion with dates, another shared his evening meal regularly with a she-wolf, still another taught an ibex, a desert antelope, which plants to eat and which to avoid."...source: Dictionary of African Christian Biography

Controversy and Banishment in Paradise: Promuglating on the Nature of God and the Afterlife.
"Scholars have seen two monastic camps: "Hellenic or Hellenized monks whose theology was more intellectual and more speculative than the naïve and literal beliefs of their Egyptian brethren."...source: COPTIC PALLADIANA I: THE LIFE OF PAMBO (LAUSIAC HISTORY 9-10)

Visions and Special Awareness

The Hermit Life and Mental Health

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Teachings and Practices of the Desert Fathers

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"[Christian] Monasticism began in the Eastern empire in the fourth century. In the early stages it was not linked with the church. It was Athanasius who took the first steps that finally brought the monastic movement under Church domination. The excessive austerities practiced by the Eastern monks were not to Benedict's liking.

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In this transcript of a retreat talk, Trevor Miller offers an outline for Understanding Desert Monasticism.

DESERT FATHERS

In the early centuries of the Church's history, spreading as it did along the trade routes of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and Aegean coastlands, places of worship were the homes of believers or the open air, wherever they could meet unseen because there was much persecution of the followers of Christ.

This all changed early in the 4th Century, when the Roman Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity, elevating it to the state religion through the Edict of Milan in 313 AD and by doing so ushered in a major cultural shift. After 3 centuries of 'being homeless in the world' Christians began to find themselves in favour, rather than persecuted. The result was confusion and bewilderment in those who had accepted themselves as aliens and strangers in this world. Many accepted Constantine's edict of toleration but it resulted in the cutting edge of the Church's life being blunted as for the first time nominalism took root (believers in name only) further resulting in mediocrity, accommodation and compromise as social standing became the reason for faith and not love of Jesus Christ.

It was at this point, when Christians began to find themselves at home in the world, where those who had previously persecuted the Christians were putting out the welcome mat and sitting in the 'same pew', that the response to the 'call of the desert' began to gain momentum, beginning at first with a few, and then a multitude.

Thomas Merton wrote "It should seem to us much stranger than it does, that this paradoxical flight from the world attained its greatest dimensions (I almost said frenzy) when the 'world' officially became Christian."

Was this Christian withdrawal into the desert purely a negative move? Was it a retreat from all the complications and compromise in those attempting to Christianise society? Was it a judgmental act, motivated to shame those Christians who had decided to stay and work out their salvation in the city? Which group of Christians made the right response to this new and 'favourable' situation, those who stayed in the 'city' or those who withdrew to the desert? In the mystery of God the answer has to be - BOTH.

One of my favourite stories, which I think will illustrate this point, comes from Elizabeth Goudges' book on the life of St Francis of Assisi. There is a moment when St Francis meets with Cardinal John, and the two embrace. You can imagine the scene, Francis in his robes of poverty and the cardinal dressed elegantly. Yet as they embrace they realise they share the same heart and devotion for the Lord. Yet, one is called to the temptations of poverty, and the other to the temptations of riches or, to put it another way, one is called to the temptations of the desert, and the other to the temptations of the city.

The moral of the story is that we each have to follow our vocation; to be who we are. Our Hild liturgy puts it well as we each pray, 'Lord, show me the right seat; Find me the fitting task; Give me the willing heart.'

The Desert Fathers and Mothers retreated to the outskirts of the cities and into the Deserts of Egypt, Syria and Palestine to think through the meaning of such change and to find a different way of being a Christian in the world.

Paradoxically so many people came to them for spiritual guidance, help and instruction so that within 50 years eyewitness accounts reported that the population of the desert equalled that of the towns. Some of the pilgrims stayed and this became the beginnings of Community. However, the Desert Fathers again sought solitude and withdrew from the new Community expression but the cycle repeated itself, resulting in many Communities springing up all over. Much of what was taught was in the form of pithy sayings and observations of wisdom. Here is a good example:

A brother came to visit Abba Sylvanus at Mount Sinai. When he saw the brothers working hard, he said to the old man, "Do not work for food that perishes, for Mary has chosen the good part." Then the old man called his disciple, "Zachary, give this brother a book and put him in an empty cell." Now when it was three o'clock the brother kept looking out of the door to see if someone would call him for the meal. But nobody called him, so he got up, went to see the old man, and asked: "Abba, didn't the brothers eat today?" The old man said, "Of course we did." "Then why didn't you call me?" he said. The old man replied, "You are a spiritual person, and do not need that kind of food, but since we are earthly, we want to eat and that's why we work. Indeed you have chosen the good part, reading all day long, and not wanting to eat earthly food." When the brother heard this he repented and said, "Forgive me, Abba." Then the old man said to him: "Mary certainly needed Martha, and it is really by Martha's help that Mary is praised'.

MONASTICISM

Antony of Egypt is generally regarded as the original desert father. He exemplified the Anchorites, those who were largely hermits, living in isolation. His life became the first written account of the monastic expression becoming widely read and revered.

Community life in a monastic sense first appeared with Pachomius in the 4 th Century. These were Cenobites, paradoxically described by Pachomius as 'a community of hermits', each living alone in their own cells yet together in work and worship.

The term Monasticism helps us to answer the question, what is a monk? The root word Monachos means 'alone, solitary'. In the beginning it stood for the ascetic who was not married and lived alone. Cenobites did not use this word in the beginning preferring 'brother'. However it quickly acquired a deeper meaning: a person who is 'one' in his inmost being. It means a person united within himself, a person with a single gaze, a single desire. Monos = monk, one, single minded; and this 'one thing necessary' was seeking God in repentance because it was a continual confrontation with the Cross, with self, with sin, with the wrong of the world.

The link between Celtic spirituality and desert spirituality is monasticism and Celtic spirituality embraced the meaning of the desert symbolically and metaphorically. Jesus used the term 'desert' in this way - a good example is Mark 6:31 where Jesus using the word for desert says 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest' Not a reference to desert dryness, uninhabited waste but a picture of solitude, stillness, the heart alone with God. Same word used in Luke 4:42 'At daybreak Jesus went to a solitary place.' Also Luke 6:12, 9:18, 11:1 - a place of privacy, aloneness, often whole nights in close company with his Father, expressive of his single minded devotion to the Father's will. Latin = solitudo. Russian = Poustinia, Greek = Eremos - stillness, desert, lonely place. A further understanding was seen in the example of the Temptations of Jesus. The desert for Jesus was a period of testing and discovery and just as He was 'led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted of the devil' so it would be for those who sought to follow Him. There is a strong tradition that Jesus (like his cousin John the Baptist before him) spent many of the so called hidden years in the desert regions. Jesus spent 18 years hidden; and only 3 years in public ministry.

So putting these together the desert was not just a place, a physical location but a type of Christian experience. It was a journey - an inner journey of the heart. The Bible begins in a Garden and ends in a City but much of the terrain in between is a desert. This was the ethos of what became monasticism - the inner journey of abandonment, stripping away, a place of encounter and discovery, of identity and vocation, of testing and preparation of heart for the life God has for us.

NORTHUMBRIA COMMUNITY

As a Community we are following on in our own generation this tradition. Our core vision is to respond to the call of God to seek Him in and through the embracing, exploring and expressing of a new monastic spirituality as a different way of living in and relating to, today's world.

This is our heart, our reason to be, the constant theme of Psalm 27. 'One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.' It is the daily renewal of our vows encapsulated in our morning office 'Who is it that you seek?'

It is the continual commitment to 'the one thing necessary.' Single minded focus on the mystery of God in Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, not only in the narrow 'evangelical' interpretation of doctrinal exclusiveness but in the deeper awareness that all things come together in and through Christ. Then to offer the fruit of our life in incarnational ordinariness with all who come our way, cross our path in the everydayness of our roles, responsibilities and relationships, asking with them 'How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?'

BACKGROUND

As a Community we have been and are united in this quest for 'a new monasticism' a Northumbrian spirituality. Not as an escapist, nostalgic quest for a golden era that didn't exist or to replicate the past but informed by the Celtic monastic tradition which is our heritage, we are 'looking with them to Him who inspires us both' in order to find a way to engage with the paradox and complexities of real life as it is, by drawing from the well of faith and love for the Lord expressed in that period of our history, and applying it to our contemporary situation.

Two of the more significant milestones in the journey of seeking to understand ourselves was a] the discovery of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and in particular his belief that 'The renewal of the church will come from a new type of monasticism which only has in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. It is high time men and women banded together to do this'

And b] strongly identifying with those believers described by William Stringfellow in his book 'An ethic for Christians and other aliens in a strange land' as the hidden future of the Church 'Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not altogether coherent. Ecumenically open and often experimental, visible here and there, now and then but unsettled institutionally. Almost monastic in nature but most of all enacting a fearful hope for society.'

All this resonated with us as we firmly believed (and still believe) that we are experiencing as a Community, (along with many, many others) a 'holy restlessness' and a 'divine concern' regarding the nature of faith, which for us has only begun to make sense of the nonsense within us and around us through an embracing of monastic values and disciplines. Why is this? Because these distinct values enable us to 'marry' the inner journey, the landscape of the heart - a call to repentance, a call to self denial, and a call to recognise and to resist evil - with the outer journey, the landscape of the land, which has given us a platform to 'find a different way' of being a Christian in the society that we live in.

The whole purpose of the Nether Springs was to have a place, a residential centre, rooted in the spirituality of Northumbria, where we could explore and research this call of God, where we could be ourselves, no pretence or having to behave, while seeking God for Himself and getting to know our own hearts and at the same time, provide a facility for others to join us in their individual search for God.

MONASTICISM OLD AND NEW

In order for us to understand about 'a new monasticism' we needed to understand a little about 'old' monasticism because it was from that tradition that we drew so much. In this we were influenced by the way of life expressed in the monastic Community's at Roslin in Scotland and at Clonfert in Ireland, where Roland Walls and Michael Cullen respectively gave significant example.

We discovered that monasticism is 'a way of life with a spiritual goal which transcends the objectives of this earthly life. The attainment of this goal is considered the 'one thing necessary.' Christian monasticism i.e. that which is centred in and consecrated to Christ being informed, inspired and illumined by His Love) has three essential elements namely, Separation from the world, Ascetical practices, Mystical Aspiration.

A] Separation from the world - the physical separation of the enclosure; a tonsure, a distinctive habit etc. all of which marked the separateness.

B] Ascetical Practices - Poverty, chastity, obedience, regularity of life in a Community under a Rule, stability, self denial, silence, solitude, cultivation of lectio divina, public prayer of the Church e.g. the story in Exodus 17 where the continuous prayer of the liturgical offices is likened to the holding up the hands of Moses, and engaging in spiritual warfare.

C] Mystical Aspiration - Searching for God in his Absolute Mystery and Beyondness. God is both concealed and revealed. Contemplation of Christ the Living Word and of Christ in the written Word, allowing self to be caught up in the movement of repentance, of returning to God. Giving oneself to His action in us thro Availability and Vulnerability, surrender, abandonment, and prayer.

A new monasticism which is 'An interior monasticism of the heart' seeks to draw from these truths and attempts to live a contemporary expression of 'contemplation in a world of action.' So the differences are in emphases

A] Separation - not separatism, isolationist but withdrawal as strategic retreat. An awareness of the importance of the inner journey, poustinia, cloister of the heart, solitude, hiddenness, alone yet together.

B] Ascetical practises - a way for living that incorporates the spiritual disciplines to encourage this interior vigilence. Ascesis = training, living. It is training for life needing a Rule of life, a rhythm of prayer, a reason to be. Seeking God, knowing self so as to better live with others. So we have both solitude and Community, both Alone and Together as spiritual disciplines. This is seeking "truth in the inward parts" Ps 51, a life of repentance, humility and teachableness with a willingness to embrace the spiritual disciplines that bring life.

C] Mystical aspiration - awareness of God as Mystery, seeking God, longing, monasticism of the heart, compunction, a contemplative approach to life and prayer where an awareness of the cell, Desert, dark night, inner life, logismoi, monsters is needed. This is where God is concealed from us yet revealed to us in the paradoxical 'ever-present absence of God'..

All the spiritual disciplines and monastic values are there not as ends in themselves but as aids, tools, signposts to the heart of it all which is Christ. Thus we have many of our daily meditations (e.g. Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 17, 21 etc ) pointing to the inner journey as paramount and foundational.

This is our ethos, our heart, that which gives us identity. It is something we can only do alone but we are Together in our Aloneness. We have many Companions sharing our journey. It is the 'single minded search for God' given coherence by desert and Celtic spirituality which was essentially monastic and any expression of Monasticism stands in the wisdom tradition which is not an accumulation of knowledge for its own sake, but a constant application to life actually lived 'A wise person does not gather and dispense insights, but rather has the heart to live those insights'

1] MONASTIC DISCERNMENT - Relationship with God, self and others

2] MONASTIC DISCIPLINE - Rule of life - Availability and Vulnerability

3] MONASTIC DAY - Rhythm of prayer and life, giving a pattern to my days

MONASTIC DISCERNMENT

This was the purpose of going to the Cell. Your cell may have a physical representation; a hut or poustinia, a chair in a corner of a room etc. But whatever it is, it is symbolic of the heart alone with God. This is the heart of the inner journey. It is encounter and discernment of that which is constructive and destructive, enabling us to choose life and not death.

That process of looking inward in order to discover the true self as opposed to the false self, the deeper meaning of all your actions and reactions, and this 'going to the cell' would eventually teach you everything and so bring you closer to the true humanity of Christlikeness.

One of the first effects of 'going to the cell' is the release of the energies of the unconscious, which gives rise to two different psychological states:-

a] Exposure to the love of God: expressed and experienced in our personal development in the form of spiritual consolation; experiencing his mercy, grace and forgiveness in Christ through his Cross.

b] Exposure to the sinfulness of humanity: experiencing our own human weakness through humiliating self knowledge and encounter with the false self, the dark side of our personality. 'It takes a moment to get you out of Egypt but a lifetime to get Egypt out of you.'

This dual awareness is what the Fathers called 'compunction' and it's captured in the hymn 'Beneath the Cross of Jesus two wonders I confess: the wonder of his glorious love and my own worthlessness.

MONASTIC DISCIPLINE

This is why a Rule of life is absolutely essential to any monastic expression. It says this is who we are, this is our story and all who are part of us must keep to and live in the story that God has written as foundational. Monastic stability is to be accountable to a Rule of life NOT to a set of rules that restrict or deny life. It is, to use the words of Benedict 'simply a handbook to make the very radical demands of the gospel a practical reality in daily life'.

A Rule is like a pair of eye glasses (spectacles) - we don't look AT them but THROUGH them to life. How foolish to constantly look at them, the gold frames the bi-focul lenses and never look through them so as to actually see.

The word comes from the Old English REULE. In Latin it is REGULA which means 'rhythm, regularity of pattern, a recognisable standard' for the conduct of life. Esther De Waal writes that the Latin REGULA 'is a feminine noun which carried gentle connotations'. Not harsh negatives that we often associate with the phrase 'rules and regulations' today.

Esther De Waal tells us that the word has a root meaning of 'a signpost' which has a purpose of pointing away from itself so as to inform the traveller that they are going in the right direction on their journey. It would be foolish to claim we have arrived at our destination if in fact we are only at a signpost, however near or far from the destination it is.

Another root meaning of REGULA is 'a banister railing' which is something that gives support as you move forward, climbing or descending on your journey.

A Rule of life gives creative boundaries and spiritual disciplines while still leaving plenty of room for growth, development and flexibility. It gives us something to hold on to as we journey in our search for God, and when we be blown off course, it gives a safe haven to come back to. It gives us a means of perception, a way of seeing so that we can attempt to handle our lives and relationships wisely. This is why we can all be helped by embracing a

MONASTIC DAY

A workable rhythm to your day that draws from Monastic values that actually works for you according to your own unique situation and circumstances. It has to bring life and freedom not straightjacket you.

Our Rule of life is deliberately flexible and adaptable. It is also timeless because it does not PRESCRIBE, it PROVOKES. It is descriptive rather than prescriptive! It's the very opposite - its seek God for yourself, who you are, where you are - with your unique experience, knowledge and understanding of life. With all your idiosyncrasies, prejudices and crap - bring it all to the Rule of Availability and Vulneraility. We must hold it loosely so as to make our own discoveries. To realise there won't always be an answer so we keep asking/living the questions.

How then shall we live? Who is God? Who am I? What is Real?

It is to realise that God gives different answers to different people in different situations and circumstances, which is why we can't prescribe, can't meet individual agenda's and expectations.

In many ways it would be so much easier to say this is the prescription - do this, don't do that - take 3 Hail Mary's, 2 Our Father's 4 times a day. It has to be broad strokes, general principles to which you apply your specifics - your own unique set of circumstances and relationships.

Henri Nouwen expresses it well when he speaks of the spiritual life being a constant reaching out in the midst of paradox and chaos to these three areas of connectedness. This Reaching Out constitute the three Movements of the Spiritual Life.

1] Connecting in relation to self - From loneliness to solitude. With courageous honesty to our inmost selves, facing inner restlessness, our passions, weaknesses.

2] Connecting in relation to others - From hostility to hospitality. With relentless care to others, despite our mixed feelings and hostility.

3] Connecting in relation to God - From illusion to prayer. With increasing prayer to God, facing our doubts, disappointments and darkness. Living in incarnational reality.

It is the call to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength - to love our neighbour as ourselves - to love one another as Christ has loved us.

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Understanding Desert Monasticism - Northumbria Community

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In this transcript of a retreat talk, Trevor Miller offers an outline for Understanding Desert Monasticism. DESERT FATHERS In the early centuries of the Church's history, spreading as it did along the trade routes of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and Aegean coastlands, places of worship were the homes of believers or the open ...