How do we view our life in this world? Such a simple and straightforward question, and yet one that we contort ourselves so as not to have to answer directly. It can be a frightening question to answer. Who am I? Who is God? What does this mean for my life in this world?
The fathers do not present us with a path that allows us to put on airs. The Christian life, or the monastic life in particular, is not about creating a self image that is pleasing to us, or that gives us a sense of identity that we are comfortable with or that fits in neatly with our perception of reality. What the fathers present us with is an unvarnished view of the gospel, the incarnation and the cross. God entered into our world, took our flesh upon himself, lifted us out of our passions, and then ascended the cross. God did all of these things, not in order that we might receive them in a passive fashion, but that we might enter into that reality to the fullest extent. The Paschal Mystery is the Reality in which we are called to live. The ascetic life is meant to free us in such a fashion that we hold nothing back from God, that we die to self and sin, and so become willing to pour ourselves out in selfless love for God and others.
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Text of chat during the group:
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXV: On Humility, Part IV
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis I, Part III and Hypothesis II, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXV: On Humility, Part III
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis I, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXV: On Humility, Part II
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis I, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIV: On Meekness, Part IV and XXV: On Humility, Part I
The Evergetinos - Conclusion of Volume One
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIV: On Meekness, Part III
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XLVI, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIV: On Meekness, Part II
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XLV, Part VIII
Searching the Depths of the Unconscious: The Desert Fathers and Psychoanalysis
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIII: On Pride, Part V and Chapter XXIV: On Meekness, Part I
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XLV, Part VII
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIII: On Pride, Part IV
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XLV, Part VI
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIII: On Pride, Part III
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XLV, Part V
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIII: On Pride, Part II
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