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Opening Prayer: Prayer of St. Basil the Great
(329-370, Greek Father)
O God and Lord of the Powers, and Maker of all creation, Who, because of Thy clemency and incomparable mercy, didst send Thine Only-Begotten Son and our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind, and with His venerable Cross didst tear asunder the record of our sins, and thereby didst conquer the rulers and powers of darkness; receive from us sinful people, O merciful Master, these prayers of gratitude and supplication, and deliver us from every destructive and gloomy transgression, and from all visible and invisible enemies who seek to injure us. Nail down our flesh with fear of Thee, and let not our hearts be inclined to words or thoughts of evil, but pierce our souls with Thy love, that ever contemplating Thee, being enlightened by Thee, and discerning Thee, the unapproachable and everlasting Light, we may unceasingly render confession and gratitude to Thee: The eternal Father, with Thine Only-Begotten Son, and with Thine All-Holy, Gracious, and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
(http//:aggreen.net)
Story
A story is told about a young brother who once came to Abba Macarius, one of the great desert fathers, asking how he could become a holy man. The old monk told him to go to the cemetery nearby and spend the day abusing the dead; yelling at them for all he was worth, even throwing stones. The young man thought this strange, but he did as he was told and then returned to the teacher. "What did they say to you?" Macarius asked. "Well, uh, nothing," the brother replied. "Then go back again tomorrow and praise them," answered the old man, "call them apostles, saints, righteous men and women. Think of every compliment you can." Next day the young brother again did as he was told, and returned to the monastery, where Macarius asked him, "What did they say this time?" "They still didn't answer a word," replied the brother. "Ah, they must, indeed, be holy people," said Abba 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 will be a holy man."
(Belden C. Lane, “Desert Indifference, Desert Love,” www.csec.org)
Comments
The Early Desert Fathers and Mothers sought apatheia, or transformation of attachment to a calm abiding in life. They retreated into the desert to learn detachment from negative emotions, or the passions. To do this, they learned detachment from even positive emotions.
Passions pertain, especially, in church history to what is called the Seven Deadly Sins. These are pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony (or greed), anger, and sloth. These are negative emotions, which evidence in negative actions. Likewise, these emotions can overwhelm and drive out positive emotions; for example, gluttony, and as applied not just to food and drink but all things, drives out temperance and contentment.
But, how did the desert ascetics pursue what I call loving detachment? They did this by living a life of simplicity, with single-focused attention on the pursuit of God. They sought to simplify both the inner and outer environment. An example of this was the way they would pray. Spoken prayers tended to be brief, uncomplicated, and they prayed often in contemplation, sitting in Silence. This detachment from wordiness, even in prayer, was a means of grace toward loving detachment.
This loving detachment is not simply, however, emptiness, or a void. Laura Swan, O.S.B., writes that this apatheia was “nourished by simplicity grounded in abundance of the soul.” ("Osculta! Wise Elders and the Desert Tradition,” Monastics and Mentoring: Re-Founding the Tradition, www.osb.org)
When we detach, emptying ourselves of attachment to things, we find within a wealth. The clutter of things, outside and inside, deters experience of the wonder and beauty of the ground of the soul, the Most Holy Place, from which flow the divine energies of God. These energies, as taught from the Early Church in the East, are manifestations of the good that comes from the grace of God. We do not receive God as God Is; we receive the gifts of God, these gifts are antithetical to the passions that are harmful and create division within the human community, creation, and ourselves. The good, consequent of the divine energies, or grace, bring blessing to all creation; we become means of grace. We become persons who respond, rather than react. We become persons who see the world with compassion, rather projecting on it judgments that lead to division. We become men and women of peace, not because we are trying to make peace, but because we have become immersed in an overflowing of a fullness of Love, the very qualities of the Holy Spirit, who alone makes possible this loving detachment that fills us with the Fruit of the Spirit.
Finally, this loving detachment entails the detachment from even our images of God, or the thought that we know God as God. Meister Eckhart spoke, "Love God as God is a not-God, a not-mind, a not-person, a not-image” (Matthew Fox, Passion for Creation). And, Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Divinity is incomprehensible” (Matthew Fox, Sheer Joy). Therefore, faith leads us to love what we cannot know directly, but only indirectly, and it leads us to detach lovingly from our attachment even to the words, images, and teachings we dearly hold about God. This detachment is not abandonment; rather, we use the words, images, and teachings to celebrate and love the One We Cannot Understand. We detach lovingly from applying absoluteness to our imaging God and, thereby, we know God more truly, but not in words, in the depths of the soul, the Spirit.
Reflection
What spiritual habits do you engage in to grow more in loving detachment?
How could you simplify more your life as a means of Grace?
How does the opening story pertain to loving detachment, or apatheia?
Spiritual Exercises
Seek to learn and practice a form of daily prayer that uses no words or few words, like Breath Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, Christian Meditation, and the Jesus Prayer.
Pray about getting involved in one ministry of outreach through your church or community?
Consider, if you are not already, sponsoring a child through Compassion International. You can find out more about Compassion International by going to www.compassion.net to read about sponsoring, in the name of Jesus, children living in poverty. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
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