10 August 2011, 15:46
This just arrived in my inbox, and it seemed worthy of sharing. Enjoy.
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We are addicted to noise. We find it impossible go drive our vehicles without the radio on or a CD playing. Our televisions are running from the moment we’ve returned from work. We take our runs with ear phones filling our minds with music. We even walk with our friends while listening to our own music. We live as though we are afraid of silence, as little children who have to sleep with a night light.
Our reasons for filling our hours with noise are varied. Some find silence disturbing and a reminder that they are alone. Others use noise as a way of keeping out the sounds of the city, or the voices of their children. There are those who use noise as a way to keep from having to communicate with others. Some even use noise to avoid themselves.
Whatever the reason, noise keeps us from connecting with our inner self, wherein we have the opportunity for communion with God. Without silence we are unable to hear the voice of God speaking in the stillness of our heart.
It is not just monks who should be seeking out moments throughout the day where solitude and silence allow us to enter into communion with God, for the humble soul and a penitent heart are fed by solitude and silence. The human heart is open to the voice of God when in silence and solitude.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
— christina
Ponderings Unwitting Hermit
3 July 2011, 13:33
This morning, I was asked to describe where Prospect is, where I’m living for the time being. “It’s on the edge of nowhere,” was my response, which resulted in a few chuckles. And it is. The drive from Medford takes about an hour, my phone quits working about halfway up, and the population of the town is a few hundred. There is nothing much other than forest and state parks farther up the road. To be honest, there really is not much in Prospect, either.
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23 June 2011, 17:38
I moved to Oregon three weeks ago.
It was rather sudden, really. One Saturday, toward the end of May, I was unemployed and increasingly dejected, with nothing on the horizon. That night I dreamed that a monk I didn’t know, but who I was going to hear speak in a few days, told me, “Christina, your answer will come tomorrow.” I promptly forgot about it. But Sunday evening, my dad had a message from his sister that their cousin was looking for someone to take care of her mother, Dad’s aunt. Monday and Tuesday were a flood of phone calls discussing details and informing the necessary people. Wednesday night, while I was at the monk’s presentation, my flight was booked. I said goodbye to my home parish on Sunday and flew out early Monday, Memorial day.
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11 May 2011, 22:40
What a strange juxtaposition of events. One day we were singing joyously “Christ is risen!” and only a week later came the news “bin Laden is dead.” I wonder if I am the only one who feels the tension of that contradiction, or even sees the contradiction at all. Surely I cannot be alone in this.
It is not that I am denying death. I know too well that death is still something we all must face. The contradiction I see is in self-styled Christians announcing in the media that this was a necessary outcome. The contradiction is in the celebrations that broke out after the news came. O Judgement! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason! How can we shout “Christ is risen,” then in the next breath celebrate the death of a man- any man?
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3 May 2011, 13:42
So much has happened in the last week or so. Seems like the entire world has changed. Everything I thought was certain isn’t. Even death. I mean, if what happened Sunday doesn’t shake up a man’s world, nothing will!
There was too much noise. I needed to get away from the Passover crowds, away from the guys, away from the noise in my own mind. So I told Andrew I was going to the sea. He knew better than to go with me. A few of the others tagged along, though. We sat there for a while. I sat in silence a little bit apart from them. I still couldn’t even meet their eyes like a man.
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