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  A Prayer Diary

To be a monk in Fiesole--a fantasy~

4/16/2015

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   I talk about my visit to  the Chiesa di San Francesco in Fiesole
in my cottagebythesea.net blog (posted below). Here I want to add some thoughts about faith.
     I am especially drawn to this little monastery. If I were a monk it is where I’d want to live. But then, when I ask myself, “What if you had to stay here for three months (don’t even consider your whole life)  and follow the same daily office and routine every day?” my fantasies disappear. I like routine, but I also thrive on variety and on anticipating future plans, my plans. As a monk, all I’d have would be routine.
   The routine life of the monk is being in God’s presence and anticipating a future in the life to come, in life after death. Variety would only detract from this holy commitment. When I think of being a monk in these terms, I am humbled. Silence, solitude and simplicity, yes, but not all the time and not without variety and future plans in here and now. 



     "One of my favorite day trips from Florence is to Fiesole. Hop on Bus #7 at Piazza San Marco and twenty-five minutes later there you are at the top of the hill overlooking Firenze. The Duomo looms large.
      There is much to see in Fiesole but I usually pass by the Roman forum, the local museums and cathedral, and climb the hill to the Chiesa di San Francesco. I can never resist talking pictures, and of course, blogging about it again.
     On this early spring day, all was silent. I was in solitude, and yet the few visitors who came along offered a comforting sense of community to this  miniature monastic complex. After all, those of us who had ventured to this out-of-the-way place must be kindred spirits in some way!
     Every time I climb the stairs to gaze into the fourteenth century monks cells, I picture myself living in one of them. My AR (angel room) at home is not much bigger, but the comparison stops there. These cells are sparse—board for a bed, a desk and chair, Bible and cross. I won’t even begin to describe the AR! I will say, however, that these cells encourage me to simplify, to get rid of things, mainly books that are from another stage of life, books that I will never read again." 
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The Art of Prayer~

5/16/2014

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Most mornings I read a short section from The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology. Many of selections are by Theophan the Recluse (1815-94), who lived an enclosed life for twenty-eight years in the provincial monastery at Vyshen, Russia. He had plenty of time to write and to pray, and that is what he did--teaching us to open our hearts by repeating the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon us.

      The more I read his writings and try to follow them, the more I am aware that this opening of the heart is the way to God. Here are a few excerpts:

Attention to what goes on in the heart and to what comes forth from it is the chief work of a well-ordered Christian life.

It is well known that the whole purpose of those who are zealous in the spiritual life, is to place themselves in a right relationship with God: and this right relationship is realized and made manifest in prayer.

You must descend from your head into your heart. At present your thoughts of God are in your head. And God Himself is, as it were, outside you and so your prayer and other spiritual exercises remain exterior. While you are still in your head, thoughts will not easily be subdued but will always be whirling about, like snow in winter or clouds of mosquitoes in the summer.

Unceasing prayer overcomes evil through hope in God, it leads a man into a holy simplicity, weaning his mind from its habit of diversity in thought, and from devising plans about himself and his neighbors, keeping him always in scantiness and humility of thoughts.

By unceasing prayer curiosity, mistrustfulness and suspicion are destroyed, and because of this other people begin to seem good in our eyes.




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Experiencing faith through prayer~

4/13/2013

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I just read a fabulous little phrase in one of my favorite books of the moment: The Eremitic Life: Encountering God in Silence and Solitude, by Fr. Cornelius Wencel, a Camaldolese hermit residing at the Hermitage of ‘Silver Mountain’ near Cracow, Poland. I’ve quoted him before and I’m sure I will do so again as I reread this book, a small section at a time.

    Experiencing faith through prayer is the phrase. It is what I find myself doing day by day, hour by hour as I continually converse with God. No question, this conversation is prayer. We chat away, me through words, God through presence. I don’t know when this started, but it’s becoming part of my automatic system. I’m sure that saying the Jesus Prayer has played a major part in the praying without ceasing.

      One of the benefits of this continual conversing/praying is that I have become very honest with God. I don’t hide anything, at least that I’m conscious of, and consequently I find that God is very loving of what I do and forgiving of my mistakes and blunders, my sins. Chatting with God may be one of the best way to know that God is loving and that God loves you. Sooner or later you’ll tell all, the good, bad and the ugly.    


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