MONKS AND MERMAIDS (A Benedictine Blog): OCTOBER 6TH: ST BRUNO & INTO THE GREAT SILENCE: LA GRANDE CHATREUSE

EXPAND YOUR READING!!

"Today the concept of truth is viewed with suspicion, because truth is identified with violence. Over history there have, unfortunately, been episodes when people sought to defend the truth with violence. But they are two contrasting realities. Truth cannot be imposed with means other than itself! Truth can only come with its own light. Yet, we need truth. ... Without truth we are blind in the world, we have no path to follow. The great gift of Christ was that He enabled us to see the face of God".Pope Benedict xvi, February 24th, 2012

The Church is ecumenical, catholic, God-human, ageless, and it is therefore a blasphemy—an unpardonable blasphemy against Christ and against the Holy Ghost—to turn the Church into a national institution, to narrow her down to petty, transient, time-bound aspirations and ways of doing things. Her purpose is beyond nationality, ecumenical, all-embracing: to unite all men in Christ, all without exception to nation or race or social strata. - St Justin Popovitch

Thursday, 4 October 2012

OCTOBER 6TH: ST BRUNO & INTO THE GREAT SILENCE: LA GRANDE CHATREUSE

This is a great challenge to our readers. I challenge you to see the whole of this film allowing the silence to penetrate your soul. Do not seek any diversion or interruption. Just allow yourself to enter into the Great Silence in the company of the monks of the Grande Chatreuse. Do not simply watch this video! Listen and pray it Do not just talk about monasticism: enter into the spirit of monasticism. If remain in it, it will cost you much, everything you have and are; but by so doing, you will become a saint, and, in St Seraphim's words, thousands around you will be saved. You will become a source of salvation because Christ will live in you. If you have a lay vocation, you can become a contemplative in the world, bearing witness in hidden ways to the Spirit by which St Bruno lived. Remember the teaching of St Silouan and of the Elder Sophrony (click). Enter, taste and see!!