There Was A Man

[LouisvilleFan]

There was a man who took great pride in the fact that he could drink anyone under the table. 

 

 

Later in life he had a religious conversion and wanted to change his ways.

 

 

He became a Trappist monk.

 

 

He became very ascetic and then took great pride in the fact that he could fast better than anyone else in the monastery.

 

 

Any improvement?

 

 

 

Discuss..... 

 

 

Good question. I like it. My thought is he's possibly worse off as it's better to take pride in meaningless things than holy things, and perhaps he was less of a hypocrite before his conversion.

 

That being said, it's obviously a greatly simplified story to serve as a lesson. I wouldn't speculate on it if we were talking about a real person's situatin.
 

[Egeria]

If asceticism was not decidedly capable of fostering pride, the ascetical and monastic literature would not be so full of warnings on the danger of pride - and so insistent of the relative worthlessness of asceticism in comparison to humility and obedience.

 

I can't remember where I read or heard it, but this reminds me of the account of a (very ascetical) Trappist monk whose doctor told him that he seriously needed to put on weight. His abbot gave him the obedience of eating a chocolate bar every day during Lent. He struggled greatly to do so, but later said that it was the most spiritually profitable Lent he'd had.

[Vincent Vega]

There was a man who took great pride in the fact that he could drink anyone under the table. 

 

 

Later in life he had a religious conversion and wanted to change his ways.

 

 

He became a Trappist monk.

 

 

He became very ascetic and then took great pride in the fact that he could fast better than anyone else in the monastery.

 

 

Any improvement?

 

 

 

Discuss..... 

This is a very, very bad limerick.

[Graciela]

Nunsense,

A great little story to foster some thoughtful discussion in formation.

May God be praised for your recent experiences with this Carmel, the psych evaluation and some healing of past negative experiences! It was a blessed reminder of God's tender love and faithfulness in drawing us along the (sometimes tortuous) paths of our lives.

Be assured of my prayers. (And I confess to an ardent desire to know which Carmel is so healthy and caring.... God have mercy on me, another woman with a Carmelite obsession.)

Grace and peace,
Graciela

[marianroses]

If, instead of entering the monastery, for example, the man in the story had given up drinking and then gone to work in a mission helping the poor and diseased in a Third World country, he might have learned more about humility than he obviously had in the monastery. St Therese's parents discerned that they didn't belong in religious life, and that they should have children, and they ended up with a saint as a daughter, saints themselves, and possibly more children being canonized over time.

 

Actually, neither of St. Therese's parents were admitted.  Zélie wanted to become a nun, but was turned away by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul due to respiratory difficulties and recurrent headaches. Zélie then prayed for God to give her children and that they would be consecrated to God.  Although Louis intended to become a monk, wishing to enter the Augustinian Monastery of the Great St Bernard, he was rejected because he did not know Latin.  They were a lot like St. Gianna Molla in that way.   As for a third world country, St. Therese always wanted to do that instead of going to the convent, but she was too sick so she wasn't allowed.  However, Blessed Mother Teresa (whose ministry was in India) named herself Teresa after St. Therese.
 

Edited August 24, 2014 by marianroses

[AccountDeleted]

Nunsense,

A great little story to foster some thoughtful discussion in formation.

May God be praised for your recent experiences with this Carmel, the psych evaluation and some healing of past negative experiences! It was a blessed reminder of God's tender love and faithfulness in drawing us along the (sometimes tortuous) paths of our lives.

Be assured of my prayers. (And I confess to an ardent desire to know which Carmel is so healthy and caring.... God have mercy on me, another woman with a Carmelite obsession.)

Grace and peace,
Graciela

 

 

Graciela, thank you for your warm and kind comments. Yes, the discussion was fruitful, but it seemed to happen such a long time ago and so much has happened since then, that I can't even remember what we talked about now.

 

My healing process is being helped by a lovely spiritual director who focuses on ongoing transformation within a person. Formation is really all about transformation, and transformation is a life-long experience. I don't know where I am at right now but I know I am on a journey of discovery, learning to love God more every day and becoming closer to Him through the sacraments, through silence, solitude and prayer. The thing is that He is in charge of the speed, the direction and the company I keep along the way, so all I have to do is be awake, aware, attentive, appreciative and accepting of the process by which He is moving the Spirit within me towards closer union with Him.

 

As for where I am - well, all in good time. This is not the time to look at the plant and try to pull it up to make it grow faster. In fact, as we approach autumn and winter here in the US, I like to think of that beautiful song that Bette Midler sang so poignantly that it touched my heart - and still does...

 

"The Rose"
 

Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
An endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
And you its only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
Who cannot seem to give,
And the soul afraid of dyin'
That never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose.

 

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a Carmelite obsession either! :) Be happy.

 

edited because I spelled Bette Midler's name wrong! :)

Edited September 9, 2014 by nunsense

[Graciela]

Awwwh... I do love this lyric too! The beauty of creativity, especially in music and poetry, has been an especially strong reflection to me of God's amazing love this summer. Your post was another in a series of such reminders, thanks be to God.

I totally agree about letting the roots go deep rather than pulling up the plant to see how they are growing. Perhaps the latter is a reflection of our hectic, time-oriented age. Instead, let us relax into God's good time with "courage and confidence, " as St. Madeleine Sophie Barat said. (She was another woman who desired Carmel, but God wanted her to found the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus...)

[AccountDeleted]

Awwwh... I do love this lyric too! The beauty of creativity, especially in music and poetry, has been an especially strong reflection to me of God's amazing love this summer. Your post was another in a series of such reminders, thanks be to God.

I totally agree about letting the roots go deep rather than pulling up the plant to see how they are growing. Perhaps the latter is a reflection of our hectic, time-oriented age. Instead, let us relax into God's good time with "courage and confidence, " as St. Madeleine Sophie Barat said. (She was another woman who desired Carmel, but God wanted her to found the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus...)

 

 

As I tried to say in another thread - only God knows the future. That's why it's useless to speculate on what's going to happen. I take it one day at a time, and thank Him for every one of them.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

I think it depends if the pride and recognition of the gift of supreme fasting is being proud of himself or being proud of GOD for granting him such a grace.