Podcasts about Desert Mothers

In this introspective episode, Jackie invites listeners to explore a foundational question: What is your native way of being in the world? Rather than diving straight into behavior or belief, she challenges us to uncover our truest self—our Imago Dei—before the world told us who we should be.She introduces the concept of a rule of life, not as a rigid list of dos and don'ts, but as a gentle structure or trellis that supports spiritual growth rooted in who we truly are. Drawing from ancient Christian practices, the Desert Mothers and Fathers, the Rule of St. Benedict, and modern voices like John Mark Comer and Parker Palmer, Jackie suggests that a life of flourishing begins with reclaiming our birthright self.Jackie shares her own journey, reflecting that her native way of being is captured in the word WITH—a value that has shown up across her life in relationships, presence, and ministry. She encourages listeners to consider what has always been true about themselves, especially before the pressures of performance, ego, or cultural roles set in.This episode blends spiritual reflection with practical tools, offering questions for personal discovery and inviting listeners to create a rule of life rooted in their truest identity, not their striving. It's an empowering reminder that we aren't here to manufacture a holy life but to live from the goodness already woven into us.Links for the episodeJohn Mark Comer, https://www.practicingtheway.org/Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak https://www.amazon.com/Let-Your-Life-Speak-Listening/dp/0787947350Three Questions: Take a moment to think about who you were before the world told you who you should be. What do you think is your native way of being—who you've always been at your core? If you were exactly the same person you were at age 7—but grown—what would still be true about you? What's stayed unchanged about how you move through the world? Take a breath and think of a moment when you felt most yourself. Not performing. Not proving. Just present. What did that version of you feel like?

How can we follow the example of the Desert Mothers and Fathers by finding inner stillness in the face of chaos and violence?

Episode Summary:Dr. Rachel Wheeler joins me today on Holy Heretics to discuss ecospirituality and the practice of rewilding both our life and faith.Let's be honest, Christians have a horrendous relationship with the natural world, best understood through a combination of harmful historical, theological, and cultural influences. Growing up evangelical meant believing the world was bad and, as a result, ecological well-being and the health of the planet were seen as secondary or unimportant compared to “getting saved.” In addition, an overt emphasis on the afterlife as well as a history of colonialism has often led to a devaluation of our earthly home.From a theological perspective, one of the most influential ideas shaping Christian attitudes toward nature is the concept of dominion described in Genesis 1:28, where humans are given authority over the Earth and its creatures. Historically, this idea was interpreted as humans being granted the right to exercise control over nature and exploit its resources. Western Christianity interpreted "dominion" not merely as stewardship but as mastery or ownership over creation. This led to an anthropocentric (human-centered) worldview, where human needs and human desires were placed above the health of ecosystems and non-human creatures.Thankfully, we are evolving.Ecospirituality has gained significant attention and popularity in the modern world due to a convergence of ecological, spiritual, political, and social challenges. It refers to a spiritual perspective that recognizes the interconnectedness of all life and emphasizes the sacredness of the natural world. It involves an awareness of the Earth's ecosystems, the understanding that human beings are part of a larger web of life, and the recognition that spiritual growth is inherently tied to the health and well-being of the planet.Ecospirituality often incorporates elements from various spiritual traditions, including indigenous wisdom, pantheism, animism, Buddhism, and environmental ethics. It seeks to address the environmental crises through spiritual practices, such as reverence for nature, rewilding, meditation, forest bathing, and radical kinship with all sentient beings.This rising interest reflects a growing recognition that environmental issues cannot be addressed solely through scientific or political means, but also require a profound shift in our worldview, values, and spirituality.So, where do you start? How can you change your relationship with the natural world as an integral part of your faith journey?Dr. Rachel Wheeler invites us to see ourselves and the world around us in radically new, yet ancient ways. Drawing from the deep wisdom of the Desert Mothers and Fathers, Dr. Wheeler reminds us that we humans aren't separate and distinct from creation, but in fact we are mutually dependent. While still emphasizing our human responsibility to steward the Earth and its resources, Dr. Wheeler sees human beings not as masters but caretakers and co-creators with nature. Her book, Radical Kinship: A Christian Ecospirituality, is available now!Bio:Professor Rachel Wheeler teaches courses on the Bible, Christian spirituality, ecospirituality, and spiritual practices at the University of Portland. She earned a PhD in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union Berkeley and her other degrees reflect interests in monastic studies, literature, and music. She is particularly interested in the so-called desert Christians who lived in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian deserts during late antiquity and her first book, Desert Daughters, Desert Sons: Rethinking the Christian Desert Tradition, offers a feminist critique of these Christians' practices. She is also interested in how people interpret their pro-environmental behavior as spiritual. An enthusiastic knitter and cyclist, she enjoys very much living in Portland, Oregon, with her spouse and two cats.Please follow us on social media (use the buttons below) and help us get the word out! (Also, please don't hesitate to use any of these channels or email to contact us with any questions, concerns, or feedback.)If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review, or share on your socials

From the very beginning of The Practice, we have always appreciated the important lessons we can learn from various Christian traditions throughout the history of the Church. This summer, we will spend time learning about our sisters and brothers, some you may know and others you may not. We hope to not only learn about them, but also to listen to what they might have to teach us in this day and age.   This week, we looked to the Desert Mothers and Fathers. There are remarkable similarities between our culture today and the culture of the fourth century. What word of wisdom might these wonderful saints offer to us in this day and age? What can we learn from their resistance to being carried along by cultural currents? What if God is inviting us to be a little weird, to flee from power, comfort, and significance, and to do it all for the sake of love? For additional resources, please visit our website. If The Practice Church is your home community, please join the Core Team. If The Practice Church has been meaningful to your journey, would you consider a tax-deductible gift? You can give at https://thepracticechurch.com/give/ 

Whether fleeing persecution or prosecution, thousands of people fled to the deserts of Egypt in the 3th through 5th centuries to seek something bigger, maybe smaller, maybe safer, or maybe riskier. People heard of the “word from God” that the monks were sharing with those who came, and so they went, desperate for guidance, respite, and wisdom. It was the ancient desert mothers and fathers they went to hear from. In Emily Wright's sermon we hear from them as well.

Do our thoughts matter? Can we redirect "afflicted" thoughts like anger and dejection? What do the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers have to teach us about managing our thoughts? Those are some of the questions addressed in this episode of Deacons Pod featuring Sr. Mary Margaret Funk, OSB, a Benedictine nun of Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, IN. Sr. Meg is author of "The Matters Series" and other books from Liturgical Press. She also is a leader in interreligious dialogue. ABOUT THE SHOW: Deacons Pod is a podcast for everyone. But, it's especially created to inspire and give hope to people on the “threshold of faith”: Those who are thinking about going to Church and those who are thinking about leaving Church. Deacons Pod is hosted by the Paulist Deacon affiliates. The podcast is a production of the Paulist Fathers. More at deaconspod.com

While some Christians were gathering in councils and devising creeds, others were fleeing the cities to be alone with God. These were […]

In 250AD a young man named Paul walked out into the Egyptian desert in fear of his own life and was never to return. He did not find safety or comfort but rather communion with God. 100 years later, Anthony the Great, a man who had taken Paul's way of life and turned it into a burgeoning communal approach to spiritual living, met the elderly hermit on the day of his death.  These two great men were the example for the thousands of monks and hermits that came to live in Egypt, Syria and Palestine that would go down in history as The Desert Mothers and Father.  In this episode, we take a look at The Desert Mothers and Father: who they were, where they came from and what they got up to. At a time of great upheaval throughout the Mediterranean world, they would come to set a foundation of not only monasticism but all Christianity. This episode forms part of a series on the Desert Mothers and Father and in the next episode we will be heading to Egypt to see the lives of the people who continue to live out this tradition.  Thanks to Lebot for our new theme music, more of which can be found by clicking this link. 

NOTE: Though I mentioned timestamping, I've decided to forego that for now to allow me to go ahead and get this episode out without additional delay. I may well add it in retroactively at some point but for now you'll just have to survive with the free full transcript, below. https://columbuscatholic.org/chancery https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253959/cardinal-hollerich-there-s-space-to-expand-church-teaching-on-all-male-priesthood  Hello everyone, welcome back to Popeular History, a library of Catholic knowledge and insights and I'm going to be skipping the brought to you daily part because I've switched, at least for the time being, back to a model that basically can best be described as brought to you as I am able: something every month, probably. Which, I admit, doesn't roll off the tongue quite so well, but it's the right move. Anyways, it's good to be back talking with you again, I've been using the time away wisely, taking care of family and household stuff that needed my attention. Thank you for understanding. This is going to be something of a glossary of various roles within the Catholic Church that are gonna keep popping up, so consider this your cheat sheets to consult as needed. Oh and good news, I learned how to timestamp show notes, at least on some catchers, so see if it works for you. Let me know if it doesn't. See the show notes.  Without further ado, let's get into these church roles, starting with church roles you may recognize from the Bible but which are no longer a thing unless you're like a Mormon or something. First, APOSTLE. The most familiar use of this term is referring to one of the 12 Apostles, Jesus' closest followers: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, the other James, Judas (not *that* Judas), Simon, and Judas (yes *that* Judas). At least, that's the listing of the 12 as given in the book of Acts, my favorite reference point as this podcast talks about Church history and Church history actually happens in Acts, unlike the Gospels where it's pre-Pentecost so it's not really Church history yet, per se. And really, *that* Judas, Judas Iscariot, is replaced by Matthias for most purposes when you're talking about the apostles because since Judas betrayed Jesus he's a bit of an embarrassment to the group, which, fair enough. In the end, Apostle is the only one of these titles where I'm going to name the main holders individually in this episode, though of course through future episodes of the podcast I'll name all the Popes and Cardinals I have documentation of any kind for and we should also recognize that the term Apostle is used outside the Twelve as well at various points, including most prominently Saint Paul and even the almost certainly female Junia in his Letter to the Romans. The broader term for one of the earlier followers of Jesus is a DISCIPLE, and while this one does have some use in contemporary Catholicism, for example my parish has a slogan of "making disciples and disciple makers", the title of disciple as a specific identifier is something you're going to encounter in the Bible rather than in the day-to-day, where it's more of a general goal as a follower of Jesus. Meanwhile, an EVANGELIST is one who wrote one of the Gospels. Earlier I committed to the Apostles being the only one of these titles where I'd name all 12 of the main holders and I'm going to stick to that, but yeah, it's that simple. Note that this is actually more restrictive than being one of the writers of Scripture in general, for instance even though he wrote a good chunk of the New Testament, Saint Paul doesn't get described as an Evangelist. That isn't to say there isn't a bit of a tradition of using even this term someone analogously for anyone who spreads the message of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, for example the decidedly non-Catholic phenomenon of Televangelists get their name as a play on this word. Our last Bible-times Church role is that of PROPHET. Simply put, a prophet is someone inspired by the Holy Spirit to deliver a message, John the Baptist being the most famous New Testament example though especially if you look closely at the Book of Acts you can find other examples. There have been a number of folks who have made claims to be prophets in some form or another, generally the Church has frowned on such pronouncements. Officially, all new *public* revelation closed with the death of John the last Apostle around the year 100. However, the door to being a legitimate prophet is not completely closed, since *private* revelation is still possible, for example the various Marian apparitions like Lourdes and Fatima. What makes revelation considered "private" is not so much its actual privacy as its non-binding nature. All Catholics are obliged to accept public revelation, namely the Bible; no one is obliged to accept any private revelation like latter-day Prophets, though such individuals can gain the basic endorsement of the Church, which is what made Fatima, for example, so influential. That bit of a gray area bringing a Biblical role to the present is a good transition to the category of Church roles we'll talk about next, namely the basic roles in and structure of the Catholic Church today. As a periodic reminder, the default perspective and focus of this show is Catholic Christianity. I say that because there are plenty of Christian groups that follow models different than what I'll be describing here, though in broad terms what we'll be talking about is the dominant structure of Christianity and has been for centuries if not millennia. The fundamental concept to understand for this part–and really, to understand much of Catholicism–is APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. Apostolic succession is the notion that the Apostles were the first BISHOPS and picked folks to succeed them in their ministry as bishops. I'm not here to convince you that that's what happened, but since this show runs with Pope-colored glasses, it's what we're rolling with. In this framework, not just anyone can have authority in the Church, only those who have this apostolic succession. You can still get wrinkles, like MYSTICS that influence the bishops, but ultimately, whether a mystic has lasting influence is going to depend on whether any bishops- that is anyone who has apostolic succession- listens to her. And I say her because such mystics are typically female. And actually, I wasn't planning on covering mystics in this overview, but I guess I really should give them their own timestamp in the summary here since I've gone off on a tangent. I talked about them earlier in the context of modern day prophets. Basically, a mystic is someone who has some sort of special connection to revelation, whether God or the Blessed Virgin Mary or whoever. But anyways, back to bishops, because while stuff like mystics are fun, the majority of church admin is done in much more mundane fashion by the regular clergy like the Bishops. Catholic Bishops are always male, because in Catholicism ordination is what makes someone a bishop, and Catholic teaching holds that women cannot be ordained. Another particularity of ordination is that someone who is ordained can't get married, though put a pin in that because it's going to get more complicated when we talk about priests and especially deacons. Only bishops can carry out ordinations, and it involves physical touch so they cannot be done remotely. To minimize concerns about who has apostolic succession and who does not, for many years the standard has been that at least three bishops should participate in the ordination of a bishop, though this is not strictly speaking a requirement. With all of this apostolic succession and ordination business, the Catholic world is divided in two: the CLERGY, that is, those who are ordained, and the LAITY, that is, those who are not ordained. There's also sort of a third category but shush I'm keeping it simple and don't worry we'll get into that before we're done today. LAY, the shortened form of Laity, can also be used as an adjective in Church terminology, for instance in the phrase LAY EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS, or LAY CARDINALS, in both cases emphasizing that the individual being described is not as ordained as one might expect. Meanwhile, CLERG is not a word, pleaae don't try to make it a thing. Anyways, once ordained, bishops are typically assigned a specific geographic area called a DIOCESE. Their main base of operations will tend to be in what's called a CATHEDRAL that's generally in the most prominent city in that diocese, and the Diocese is generally named after the city, for instance my home diocese of Columbus is named after the city of Columbus in Ohio. In some ways bishops are equals, for instance all bishops can ordain successors. But in other ways they aren't, for instance Catholicism is somewhat famously centered around the Bishop of Rome, aka the POPE, who is prominent because the Diocese of Rome was where Saint Peter, the foremost disciple, settled down, never mind that by all accounts he also ran the Church in Antioch for a while. Collectively, all the Catholic Bishops in the world are called the COLLEGE OF BISHOPS, and according to the very handy and highly recommended Gcatholic.org there are well over 5000 such Catholic bishops alive today. Of course, there are also a good number of bishops who aren't Catholic, meaning they aren't in communion with the Pope, especially the Eastern Orthodox. And forgive me if I explain being in communion as like the Church version of being facebook friends. It's obviously more solemn than that, but basically yes, it's a mutual public acknowledgement that you're on good terms with someone else. Bishops who aren't in communion with Rome are still bishops- meaning they still have apostolic succession and can still create their own successors, which has lead to a fair amount of drama, historically. When I mentioned not all bishops are created equally, I wasn't just talking about the Pope. There are several different kinds of bishops to consider, so let's hit the highlights. In addition to a regular bishop who heads a diocese, there's a higher level bishop called an ARCHBISHOP who runs what's called an ARCHDIOCESE or you might see the term PROVINCE. Technically I believe a province is the combination of an Archdiocese and any regular diocese that are under its jurisdiction, which are called SUFFRAGAN diocese in that context while the Archdiocese is called the METROPOLITAN, which is also a shorthand way of referring to the archbishop in that arrangement, or you might more fully call him the METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOP. To return to my home diocese as an example, the Metropolitan for the Diocese of Columbus is the Archbishop of Cincinnati. Not every Archbishop is a Metropolitan Archbishop, because not every Archdiocese has a suffragan diocese. You can also find cases where a person is personally made an Archbishop but is not put in charge of an Archdiocese, those cases are called "PRO HAC VICE", which is basically Latin for "for this occasion”, meaning while the person is being made an archbishop their diocese is not being made an archdiocese. There are weirder scenarios that can pop up as well, but I'm trying to focus on the highlights to keep this manageable and will point out the more unusual stuff when and if it pops up. In terms of territory, the next step above a province would typically be a REGION, which is generally just an administrative subdivision of a national bishops' Conference. Columbus is in a region with all the dioceses–it's hard to pluralize that–in Ohio and Michigan, called Region VI. This particular layer of admin is completely unremarkable and has no special titles or roles associated with it. At the top of the national level there's generally what's called a BISHOP'S CONFERENCE, an organization made up of the bishops and perhaps their equivalents across a given nation. Depending on the scale of things you might also see bishop's conferences that cover multiple countries or I think I've even seen some sub-national bishops' conferences here and there, it just depends on what makes sense given the geopolitics and the nature of the Catholic Community. Though there isn't a special churchy title for the leadership of a Bishops' Conference- they're just called President or whatever- I will tend to note when someone I'm going over holds a leadership post here since it's at the national level. Getting back to church titles rather than standard admin structure, it's worth noting that, in a nutshell, the older a diocese is the more prestige and gravitas it has. Historically, the oldest diocese in a given country had special importance and was something a bit above a regular archdiocese called a PRIMATIAL SEE held by a PRIMATE- not the monkey though sure joke away– oh and see by the way is just another word for a diocese, that's S-E-E. It's specifically referring to the bishop's "seat", which is the same concept that makes the head church of a Diocese called a Cathedral, cathedra being a Latin word for Chair. And yeah, it's a bit weird to have so much focus on what someone is sitting on but keep in mind thrones for kings kind of fill the same concept, it's basically the idea that it's the office that has its own importance that accumulates with each officeholder. Some diocese are dignified at an even higher level and are called Patriarchates, with bishops of those diocese being called Patriarchs. Historically the core group of patriarchates was Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. Others have been added through the years, notably Moscow in the East. Generally Patriarchates are more associated with Eastern Orthodoxy since the highest ranking churchmen there are the Patriarchs, though the Popes would also flaunt their Papal powers over the church generally by setting up some new Western Patriarchates as well, like Lisbon and Venice. I'll definitely be spending a lot of time talking about all the various patriarchates in the main narrative, so stay tuned. Recently a new role has been developed, and of course I mean recently in church terms so, you know, in living memory, and that's the role of what's termed a "MAJOR ARCHBISHOP", just half a hair down from a Patriarch in dignity, and of course overseeing a "MAJOR ARCHBISHOPRIC". Check out my episode on Sviatoslav Shevchuk for more on that, basically the Vatican wanted to grant the Ukranians higher honor but could not fully commit to a new Patriarchate because of pressure from Moscow, so the position was developed as a compromise. There are now a total of four Major Archbishops, all Eastern Catholics. To explain very briefly, now that I'm mentioning Eastern Catholics, the Catholic Church is actually made up of a total of 24 sui iuris- that is, "self governing" Churches, called Particular churches. The one you're probably most familiar with is the biggest, what's called the Latin Church, but the other 23 are equally important at least in theory even though in practice they often get sidelined or overlooked. A single city may have multiple bishops because of these different rites, and also because of non-Catholic bishops, for example there are currently five people claiming the role of Patriarch of Antioch, three Catholic bishops from different sui iuris particular churches in union with Rome, and two Orthodox bishops not in union with Rome. None of these Patriarchs of Antioch are based in Antioch, modern Antakya. It's complicated. Collectively members of these non-Latin Sui Iuris churches are called Eastern Catholics and In most cases these are the results of various splits and reunions throughout Church history, resulting in a variety of local traditions maintained because 1 tradition is beautiful and 2 union with the Pope is more important to the Pope then making everyone do exactly the same thing, though there have certainly been pushes for that, and I hope that somewhat tongue-in-cheek brief overview isn't too insulting but long story short the variety resulting from these different traditions could easily double the length of this episode, but given the main purpose of this was to allow Cardinal-Watchers to follow Cardinal Numbers without getting too lost I'm going to let the Latin rite examples I've given form the core and I'll explain Eastern titles- such as calling most bishops EPARCHS and most Dioceses EPARCHIES- as they appear in individual episodes. Now, believe it or not, there's still a few more bishop-tier titles to go. First, a TITULAR BISHOP is a bishop who has been assigned a non-functional diocese, which sounds like a bit of a raw deal- and to be clear, it is- but it generally allows them to focus on other stuff they need to be doing while officially giving them the status and dignity of being a bishop. There are also titular archbishops and even titular patriarchs, basically the next few terms function as adjectives. Another modifier you might see before someone's bishop title is "Auxiliary". An AUXILIARY BISHOP is a bishop who assists in the administration of a see- typically an archdiocese or a patriarchate- while being titular bishop of another see. This keeps one person as the overall pastor but allows for easing the burden when there's a lot of bishopping to be done. There's another kind of bishop called a COADJUTOR. As the co- part might suggest, a coadjutor bishop acts alongside the regular bishop. Generally speaking a coadjutorship is a short term arrangement, designed to ease the transition when the regular bishop retires, with the coadjutor having automatic succession. Unlike Auxiliary bishops, coadjutor bishops are not typically given a separate titular see reflecting this even closer association with the diocese. Normally the goal is one bishop per diocese and one diocese per bishop, coadjustorships are treated as an exception to that ideal for the sake of smooth transition. Another adjective you'll see applied to someone's title as bishop is emeritus, and this one I think is more familiar to folks. A BISHOP EMERITUS is the former bishop of a diocese. In modern practice most Bishops are required to submit their resignation to the Pope once they turn 75, so that's the typical retirement age, but early retirements due to health reasons or air quotes "health reasons" are not unheard of, and sometimes folks are left in their posts for a bit longer. When a diocese has no serving bishop, that period is called a SEDE VACANTE, or "vacant seat". Most folks hear that in connection with the Pope, though the term can be used for all diocese, not just Rome. If the vacancy is a longer one, you'll often see what's called an APOSTOLIC ADMINISTRATOR appointed for the interim, someone to keep things running who may or may not already be a bishop of another diocese, often the metropolitan. Finally, there's a broader term that includes but is not limited to bishops that I've been studiously avoiding: an ORDINARY. Most often the ordinary is a bishop, but there are some special jurisdictions outside the normal diocesan structure that are served by a non-episcopal-AKA non-bishop- ordinary. Such jurisdictions are called ORDINARIATES. And yeah, don't let the wording fool you, ordinariates headed by an ordinary are not, you know, the ordinary arrangement, those are for special circumstances. The most common type of ordinariate is a MILITARY ORDINARIATE. Given the special needs of armed forces and the families serving in them, many nations have a specific ordinariate dedicated to military families. There is also something called a PERSONAL ORDINARIATE, which in modern times is best understood as a bridge between Anglicanism and Catholicism, something Anglican leaders aren't particularly thrilled about but that didn't stop Pope Benedict XVI from setting up the structure a few years back. This is also as good a time as any to note that a CHAPLIN is like the priest-level edition of an ordinary, in the sense that they're dedicated to a specific group of people that isn't a geographic thing, and also in the sense that it's often something you'll see in a military or other institutional context, and *also* in the sense that a chaplain might not actually be a priest even though they carry out many similar functions, much like an ordinary may not actually be a bishop. Alright, next up, let's start looking at what's going on within a typical diocese, especially at Mass, that most Catholic of ceremonies. As you might have guessed, we're going to be talking a fair bit about PRIESTS today, so let's dive in there. Priests, like bishops, receive Holy Orders through ordination. They effectively function as a stand-in for the bishop, serving as his delegates in the local churches called PARISHES. They have apostolic succession only in a secondary sense- their holy orders are valid because of their bishop's valid apostolic succession, and they cannot ordain successors themselves. Unless of course they also happen to be a bishop, which, yes, Mr Offscreen Pedant, bishops are also priests, but I'm speaking specifically about priests who are not also bishops. All bishops are priests and deacons to boot, holy orders is a three-part deal that stacks up like that. Of course, not all deacons are priests, and not all priests are bishops. It's a squares and rectangles kind of thing. The primary function of a priest is to administer sacraments, especially saying Mass and hearing confessions. I actually have my sacraments series done for the Solemn High Pod, so check out the three part Popeular History episode 0.20 if you want to know more about Mass and the sacraments. If 0.23 and dare I hope 0.31 are done by the time you're listening to this you can check out those as well for more on the Mass. Like Bishops, priests are generally expected to practice clerical celibacy, especially in the Latin church but also in the East in the sense that they cannot get married after ordination. So if they want to join the ranks of the married clergy, they better already have the married part done before they do the clergy part. A priest is the most essential person when it comes to Mass, because priests are the ones who either celebrate or say Mass–either of those verbs will work, by the way, and I'm not actually aware of a difference in meaning. Anyways, this is brought home by the fact that priests can literally say Mass by themselves, with no one else present. And I don't want to go too far into theology in this org chart overview, but I really should note that ultimately, on a theological level, it's not so much the priests themselves saying Mass or hearing confessions, rather it's Christ acting through them. What about deacons? Well, first off, there are two kinds of deacons in current practice: TRANSITIONAL DEACONS and PERMANENT DEACONS. The transitional deaconate is a step towards priesthood, and typically lasts a year. It's the first rung of Holy Orders, the first ordination the future priest will receive. In the case of permanent deacons, rather than a stepping stone the diaconate is its own vocation, with the recruiting focus being on men ages 35-55 or so depending on the diocese. Even in the west married permanent deacons are normal, though still with the same caveat that I mentioned for eastern priests earlier: once you're ordained no more new marriages for you. Deacons have an assisting role at Mass and administering other rites and sacraments but historically their main role has been more in the realm of what's called works of mercy, aka helping the poor, as that was the original idea behind setting up the diaconate as outlined in the biblical Book of Acts. It was only in recent times–recent times in the scale of Catholicism of course meaning in you know, living memory, it's a big timeline–anyways it was only in recent times that the permanent diaconate was revived after a millenium of suppression. Technically, to be sure, there were some deacons in the middle ages–Pope Gregory VII gained his reputation as Deacon Hildebrand- but outside of the Papal court, where titles tend to carry on regardless, DROPDROP they were scarcely more than a step to the priesthood, DROPDROP that transitional model I mentioned earlier. Before that decline, deacons were actually generally more impactful than priests, often serving as the bishop's right hand, especially in the form of ARCHDEACONS. This model is still largely present in the Eastern Churches, especially if you recall that Arkdiyakon role I mentioned in the context of the Thomas Christians I mentioned last month. Finally, I should note that there is strong historical evidence for a female diaconate in the early Church, for example in Romans 16 Saint Paul refers to a certain Phoebe as a deaconess, and unlike in the historical argument over female priests and bishops, the Church accepts a form of female diaconate as a historical reality. However, it is argued that women deacons were not ordained, that their role was fundamentally different from that of male deacons. Whether to revive an unordained form of female diaconate is an active topic of discussion in Rome. Of course, we're well into the weeds now. Things have changed. But before we make our way back to the modern Church, let's take a quick look at how Holy Orders worked prior to the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s. Before Vatican II, Holy Orders didn't start with the diaconate, the priesthood was actually the culmination of a seven-step process that began with what's called the minor orders. The lowest rung of this ladder was the PORTER, being basically the church doorman. After that, the LECTOR, in charge of some of the Bible reading at Mass, and a role which largely survived the council but was taken out of the context of a step on the path to priesthood, to the extent that even shock of shocks women can be Lectors. Next up was the ever crowd-pleasing role of EXORCIST, one trained to cast out demons, and perhaps surprisingly that's another role that's still with us, now taking the form of a special category of priests. As I understand it, to this day each Diocese has at least one exorcist, though their identities are typically kept secret because, ya know, kooks who won't stop bugging him because, I mean, real-life-exorcist. Cool. Finally, up at the top of the minor orders there was the role of ACOLYTE. Think alter server but one of the more active ones, not just a candle-holder. And yes, a role that was once higher than an exorcist is now generally occupied by a middle schooler. Right above the minor orders was the first rank that required ordination- no, not the deacon, the SUB-DEACON. Like all the other minor orders suppressed in the West, this role has been preserved in the East. Take this how you will, but the East has tended to more scrupulously preserve tradition than the Latin Church. It probably helps that they have no one with sufficient authority to come close to mucking around with tradition. I honestly don't think we'll be talking about sub-deacons much, but just know they're, well, right below a standard-issue deacon in the medieval pecking order, as you might have guessed, assisting at mass in similar but different roles. This office went away in the West with the abolition of the minor orders in Vatican II. After the sub-deacon the medieval and early modern seven stages of Holy Orders culminated with the familiar roles of Deacon- full on deacon this time- and then priest. Note that Bishop was not really considered a part of this progression in this model. Now, let's take a moment to chat through a couple other church roles largely or totally left to history while we're in the neighborhood. First, who can forget the fact that there's a whole Canterbury tale dedicated to the PARDONER. This wasn't someone who specialized in hearing confessions and absolving sins as you might expect after that episode we did on the newly elevated Cardinal Dri, the elderly Argintinian Capuchin with that focus. Instead, the focus of the Pardoner was on selling indulgences, those get-out-of-Purgatory-free cards that brought enough scandal to destroy the unity of western Christendom. And yes, I'm kind of acting like you already know about the Protestant Reformation in the same episode where I explain at a basic level what a priest is. Anyways, speaking of Protestants–or quasi-Protestants, or whatever you want to call them, perhaps just Anglicans– speaking of Anglicans, in many ways they're an even better time capsule for preserving some things lost to modern Catholicism than the East. Obviously not in all stripes of Anglicanism, as that wide tent contains a lot of innovations, but, well, on the traditionalist Anglo-Catholic end of the spectrum you can still find things like CANONS and PREBENDS. Canons with one N of course, the church kind, though of course the martial Pope Julius II was fond of two-N cannons as well. Anyways, even ruling out the military cannons I need to specify, as there are not one not two but three distinct meanings of a one-N canon in medieval Catholicism and actually in contemporary Catholicism as well, though the role of canon- by definition our focus on this episode on roles in the Catholic Church- the role is much less common than it once was. But first, the most common meaning of the term Canon in contemporary Catholicism is in the context of Canon law, because that's the term for way the Church governs itself and specific sections of the overall governing document are called canons. Similarly, church councils, that is, gatherings of church leaders, also tend to produce canons, especially the great ecumenical–that is, universal–councils of old that we'll start discussing when we get to the fourth century. So for example someone might cite the first canon of the Council of Nicea, where the Church of old ruled on the pressing question of how being castrated would or would not impact one's ability to serve as a priest. There's also something called the Canon of the Mass, and really the root word helps to understand the meaning of both this and the law slash council thing, because a canon in Latin is something like a fixed measuring stick. The fixed part of Mass is the section of prayers that are always the same, or at least that were always the same until our old friend Vatican II made other options available (again, as I understand it). Nowadays the Canon of the Mass, also called the Roman Canon, is additionally referred to as Eucharistic Prayer 1, implying the existence of Eucharistic Prayer 2, which isn't just a theoretical thing but a real life shorter form that liturgical traditionalists like myself tend to hate. There's also Eucharistic Prayers 3 and 4, which are less egregious, but still, stick with Eucharistic Prayer 1, aka the Roman Canon, if you would be so kind. The third kind of Canon is, at last, the role, and interestingly the etymology here is the same root as the others, giving the sense of something standardized or fixed in place. In this case, the standardization is because the "Canons" of a cathedral or other significant church were a group of priests who had decided to live communally and establish their spiritual and physical lives around a set of rules, you know, standardizing them. Canonizing their lives, if you will. They were basically members of a religious order, though not one centrally governed. Oh, and I suppose I should also note that the term canonization fits into this overall picture in a similar way: it's called canonization because what canonization does is standardize the cult of a particular saint across the universal church. Oh and stop saying cult like it's a bad thing, in this case that's just the word used. It's not a wink and a nod to kool-aid. Also, a canon in the sense of a cathedral canon or other role in a religious order is different from a canon*ist* or a canon lawyer, which is one who studies and explains or practices Church law, respectively. Clear as mud? Fair. Oh, and the PREBEND I mentioned, well, that's basically just a fancier kind of Cathedral canon. Let's move on though. The last historical Church role I want to talk about today is the KING. Or the EMPEROR. Or, you know, whoever the relevant feudal LORD would be. Because such secular leaders were nevertheless seen as having a critical role within the Church, with the civil government and the Church not then tending to have the separation we're used to these days. Really, nobility in general was a big deal for the church until the last century or so. Ok, so we've talked about the various forms of bishops and their territories, and about who you might see at Mass. What about those between? Well, one of the most important functions in Church organization is training up the next generation of leadership, and that training of new priests tends to take place at special institutes called SEMINARIES. You can basically think of seminaries as universities for future priests, and there's also a junior league of sorts for younger students that's basically a kind of boarding school called a MINOR SEMINARY. Those who study at seminaries are called SEMINARIANS, and those who teach there are nowadays generally titled PROFESSORS having the same basic sense as in the secular world but with Catholicism baked in. Kind of like this show verses a generic non-Popeular podcast. The head of a seminary is generally called a RECTOR, though I'm sure there's some variety in that. As you may know depending on what's common in your neck of the woods, rector can also have the same basic sense in secular institutes of higher learning as well, which makes sense when you take a look at the root word there: basically, "ruler". Etymology is our friend here, there, and everywhere. Outside of seminary education, there's also the topic of the general administrative structure of a given diocese. Obviously the bishop is on top, and as you probably already guessed the priests of the diocese typically have admin roles in addition to saying Mass. As an American Catholic, I'm mostly used to hearing the term PASTOR for a priest who's tasked with running a local church community called a PARISH, though I gather canonically the Anglican sounding term VICAR is more precise. You'll also hear the term PARISH PRIEST used in the same sense. A single parish may have more than one priest assigned to it by the diocesan powers that be. A secondary priest is called a PAROCHIAL VICAR in more  official stuff but ASSOCIATE PASTOR is the term you'll hear in common parlance, at least in American use. You might also see someone described as a CURATE, which in modern use designates a priest who assists the principal Vicar or Pastor or Rector of whatever, but historically would refer to the pastor themselves, and yes, it's complicated. There are higher levels to consider as well, both administratively and in terms of honorary titles. For example, MONSIGNOR is a special honorary title given to seasoned priests at the discretion of the Pope. It's not really a role, since it's purely a title and has no special function, but I figured I'd include it here. There are three levels within being titled a Monsignor, first a "CHAPLAIN OF HIS HOLINESS", second an "HONORARY PRELATE", and finally a "PROTONOTARY APOSTOLIC". These sorts of honorifics are currently out of favor in Rome given Pope Francis' strong preference for simple aesthetics and not seeking honor and titles, but he's pushing against a very long tradition of honors and titles in Roman culture, long enough that it goes back to the Cursus Honorum of ancient Pagan Rome, and I expect with the back-and-forth way the Papacy and the Curia operate, we haven't seen the last of ecclesiastical honorifics. After a fat Pope, the saying goes, a skinny Pope. Oh, there's even a kind of honorific for church buildings that functions in kind of the same way as making a priest a Monsignor, namely the status of BASILICA, which is basically just a way for the powers that be to say "hey check out this church it's extra nifty". Of course, not all higher titles within a Diocese are honorifics, there are functional roles as well. The overall day-to-day admin of the diocese is typically not run by the Bishop personally but by an office called the CHANCERY run by a CHANCELLOR, another term you may have heard in higher education because there's historical overlap between higher education and the admin of the Catholic Church or, you know, medieval courts in general. VICE-CHANCELLORS are also a thing, being second in command, behind the Chancellor. If you want a little more insight into what a Diocesan Chancery does, my home Diocese of Columbus has a write-up on their website that explains it better than I would so allow me to just quote them: "The Chancery includes those offices and persons who directly assist the Bishop in the pastoral and administrative governance of the Diocese of Columbus. The Chancery, on behalf of the Bishop, expedites canonical matters; collects and preserves diocesan and parish records; assists parishes and priests with civil matters; maintains files on priests and parishes; collects statistical information for the Diocese; facilitates communications with other dioceses and the Vatican; provides information on the Church or directs inquirers to appropriate sources; facilitates pre-Marriage dispensations and permissions and transmits to other dioceses pre-marriage files; and oversees diocesan offices." The rough Papal equivalent to the diocesan Chancery is the Roman CURIA. In Rome, the Church bureaucracy is sprawling. It's no secret that bureaucracies tend to grow over time when left unchecked, and historically Rome was just about the last place to look for a check on a bureaucracy. Even the ancient pre-Christian Romans exalted bureaucracy, with their skills as administrators being credited as a major unifying force for the Empire. Of course, administrative skills and bureaucracy can almost be contradictory concepts– after all, getting things done requires moving beyond committee after committee. But ultimately the purpose of the Curia is to spread the faith handed down from the Apostles throughout the world, and with that emphasis on handing down, tradition is a huge part of things. When you combine an emphasis on tradition with a massive scale- there are well over a billion Catholics in the world today- and a global scope–well, the Curia is absolutely massive and, despite repeated efforts at overhauling things, it's complicated as well. It would be deeply ironic but not inaccurate to call it Byzantine, a term for “really really complicated” drawn from another institution derived from ancient Rome, though the Byzantine empire is no more and the papacy is more globalized than ever. Pope Francis has been toying with the formula more than any other Pope in recent history, time will tell if the changes stick. One of the most apparent changes Pope Francis has made to the Curia, certainly in the context of our rundown of specific terms, is rebranding the various PONTIFICAL COUNCILS and CONGREGATIONS to DICASTERIES. The practical effect of this is minor but it's helpful to recognize these terms as referring to high level Curial departments–often but not always headed by Cardinals, indeed Pope Francis has structured things so there is no longer any official bar to Dicasteries headed by, say, a woman, though that hasn't actually happened yet. In any event, the heads of Dicasteries or Congregations or Pontifical Councils or whatever you want to call them are called PREFECTS, with the second in command being listed as SECRETARIES, and then things like UNDERSECRETARIES appearing further down the chain of command but still fairly high on the overall curial org chart. The CARDINALS I mentioned there are a special role connected to the Diocese of Rome. As a group they are called the COLLEGE OF CARDINALS, in much the same way that the bishops throughout the world collectively make up the COLLEGE OF BISHOPS. Most famously, it is the eligible Cardinals under the age of 80 who pick the next pope in a closed voting contest called a CONCLAVE during a Papal Sede Vacante, in a period of “vacant see”, you know, “empty chair”. Meetings of Cardinals more broadly speaking are called CONSISTORIES, because yeah, pretty much everything has a special term here, that's why you're listening to this episode. The office of Cardinal has historical connections to the clergy of Rome but it is not by definition an ordained role, meaning there could conceivably be women as Cardinals in the future as I discussed in my September 28th episode this year. There are three fundamental orders of Cardinals, the names of which are rooted in the origins of the college but which are no longer tied to their respective levels of Holy Orders in any particular way as all modern Cardinals are at least priests and most are bishops. Nevertheless, Cardinals are Categorized as either CARDINAL-BISHOPS, the highest level, or CARDINAL-PRIESTS, in the middle, or CARDINAL DEACONS, the lowest category, though really if you're a Cardinal even at the lowest level you're still pretty high up in the Church's pecking order. Special roles within the College of Cardinals include the PROTOPRIEST and the PROTODEACON, the longest serving of those respective orders. Historically, it was the Protodeacon's job to crown the Pope, though Popes haven't opted for crowns in decades. It's also the job of the most senior cardinal deacon participating in the Conclave to announce the new Pope through what's called the HABEMUS PAPAM, Latin for "we have a Pope". A specific name for a specific speech. Speaking of Conclaves and Papal Sede Vacantes and such, the CAMERLENGO OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH is the one who runs the show when there's no Pope around, assisted, of course, by a VICE CAMERLENGO. And to give you an idea of *just* *how* *wonky* the Curia can be, though the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church is generally a Cardinal, he should not be confused with the CAMERLENGO OF THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS, a role dedicated to administering the financial affairs of the Cardinals which has, mercifully, recently been allowed to lapse. So, yeah. There are a huge number of special roles and titles connected to the Curia. We'll be seeing them in action repeatedly as we go, but I don't want to get too hung up on them in this overview. Needless to say, Rome is a special case, full of special cases. Before we go, I do want to point out the NUNCIOS are effectively Papal Ambassadors, and the offices they head are called NUNCIATURES. A small step down the latter of diplomatic precedence there are PRO-NUNCIOS who have PRO-NUNCIATURES and who perhaps aspire to be full-on Nuncios one day–yes, oddly, in this case the "pro" prefix actually signifies as a *lower* rank. Finally, it would be just plain wrong of me to skip the fact that there is an important role called the LIBRARIAN OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, and which was historically also known as the BIBLIOTHECARIUS. Don't worry, we'll be following them especially closely. Anyways, any more standard diocese, including Columbus, may not have something as deep and extensive as the Curia, but they still have their own complexities not only within but also beyond the walls of the Chancery, often being subdivided into units called DEANERIES, which are groups of parishes. These multi-parish groups are headed, as you might have guessed, by someone called a DEAN, though you might have also guessed that a more official and less intuitive name exists in canon law: a deanery can also be listed as a FORANE VICARIATE, headed by a VICAR FORANE. There are other roles that aren't geographically based but are still critical to the functioning of the diocese, such as NOTARIES, who are permitted to draw up official documents on behalf of the local Church, and CONSULTORS, who, well, are there for the bishop to consult with on specific topics where he may need their advice. Ok, we're getting there. Now, you might think you know what RELIGIOUS means, but in a Catholic context it has a narrower definition. Being *a* religious means you have taken RELIGIOUS VOWS, specifically THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. Obedience, in this case, meaning obedience to a religious superior. Welcome to the world of RELIGIOUS ORDERS, which you might also know variously as RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES, INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE, SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE, or even CONGREGATIONS, depending on a variety of factors and generally distinguished at a deeper level than I want to get into today. A fair amount of the variety comes from the various religious orders having their own distinct rules, called, well, RULES, and particular focuses, called CHARISMS. They also traditionally have distinct uniforms, called HABITS. You can typically recognize members of different religious orders by their habits, for example white and black robes will most often be a Dominican, brown or sometimes gray will trend to signify a Franciscan of some sort, though there are a lot more religious orders than there are basic colors so brown is also the dominant color in the unrelated Carmelite order. Anyways, the most classic form of a religious order is a MONASTERY with the members of the order being known as MONKS in the case of males or NUNS in the case of females– and monasteries have always been segregated by gender though there were historically sometimes what was called DOUBLE MONASTERIES with male and female wings. Given everyone involved had taken a vow of chastity, such a separation was seen as a practical step. Now, you might be surprised to hear me mentioning nuns in the context of a monastery, rather a CONVENT, a similar institution, which in contemporary English is where you'd expect to find nuns, with monasteries being reserved for monks. But I want to give you some historical understanding as well, and historically the distinction between a convent and a monastery was not one of gender but of specific type. Monasteries tended to be more rural and therefore removed from worldly concerns but could be communities of either gender, while convents tended to be more urban and therefore a bit more integrated into secular society. But that historical sense has faded sufficiently in English that you'll get weird looks if you say there are nuns in a monastery or monks in a convent. You may be technically correct, which is indeed the best kind of correct, but just be aware that the non-gendered sense of the terms is now not as common as it once was. Either way, members of religious communities are generally called BROTHER or SISTER as the default form of address unless another title supersedes. The head of a monastery is typically called an ABBOT in the case of a male CONGREGATION or an ABBESS in the case of a female congregation- the congregation being the community itself. Second in command in the case of a larger community or perhaps in overall command of a smaller community that is itself subordinated to a mother house is a PRIOR or PRIORESS, the former for a male community and the latter for a female community. In terms of the overall building, if the person in charge is an Abbott or Abbess then it's an ABBEY, if it's run by a Prior or a Prioress it's called a PRIORY, though it's not unusual for folks to simply fall back on the simplified and gendered newer meanings of monastery and convent I described earlier. A generic term for those in charge of a religious community is a SUPERIOR, or perhaps MOTHER SUPERIOR, with the leadership of the overall global order being typically called a SUPERIOR GENERAL. There's also a middle range of governance called a PROVINCE, giving that word a similar meaning to what we saw on the Diocesan side of things. All of these communities vary in a number of ways. Some are more removed from worldly affairs, with few to no outside visiters, those communities are called CLOISTERED. These communities go back to the origins of Christian monasticism, where an individual would often feel inspired to withdraw from the world and live a life of severe ASCETICISM, that is, renouncing pleasure and embracing prayer and PENANCE-reparations for sins-  in the hope of spiritual rewards. In the common narrative, folks would come out to such HERMITS, who might be called DESERT FATHERS or DESERT MOTHERS, and seek to follow their example, forming a community. The term for the individual ascetic who vows to follow the evangelical counsels is a hermit like I mentioned or you might also call them an ANCHORITE, and that form of monasticism is EREMITIC, from same root word as "hermit". Once you're talking about living in community, that particular form of monasticism is called CENOBITIC monasticism, combining the greek words for "common" and "life". Not all monasticism is that degree of renunciation of the world, though certainly that form was most established in the early Church. But over time other orders with various special charisms- special focuses- emerged, with the rise of the MENDICANT orders- those that essentially live by begging- occurring in the 13th century, with the Franciscans and the Dominicans being classic examples. Male mendicants are called FRIARS. In time there would also be MISSIONARY orders such as the Jesuits or the Salesians, as you might guess those being dedicated to spreading Christianity to areas where Christianity was a minority. Members of missionary orders are simply called brothers or sisters, leaving the monk and nun labels to those living in more traditional communities. In a number of cases the communally living religious orders have established affiliated entities designed to allow those who live outside their actual communal life to nevertheless observe some form of their rule and wear some form of their habit. These are called THIRD ORDERS, the first and second orders being by implication the monks and the nuns in their communities. Members of third orders are also called TERTIARIES. Historically similar to third orders were things like BEGUINES and their male equivalents, BEGHARDS, though those were as much defined by their lack of official status in the Church as anything else, which makes them an awkward addition to this episode. So I'll leave it at that. Anyways, with the permission of their superior- keep in mind obedience is one of the monastic vows–the others being poverty and chastity if you need a refresher–anyway with the permission of their superior male religious are able to receive ordination and become clergy. Religious who become priests are called RELIGIOUS PRIESTS, which is fair enough as a title but does have an amusing effect in that priests who are not members of a religious order are called SECULAR PRIESTS, a term that made me laugh when I first saw it and which still makes me chuckle from time to time. They can also be called DIOCESAN PRIESTS, but what's the fun in that? Believe it or not, this overview has left a lot out. Like, I never told you about how CATHOLICOS was originally a title for a bishop whose territory was more devoted to a region than a specific city, but that it evolved to be the highest title in the Church of the East. But that's in part because while I intend to cover all 23 SUI IURIS–that is, self governing– churches that make up the overall Catholic church, nevertheless the ROMAN or LATIN CHURCH is the dominant stream of Catholic history, making up over 98% of Catholics today. In case I haven't made it clear enough yet, let me emphasize again that this stuff does get complicated and you don't need to feel bad about not knowing it all offhand. I've thought about this stuff for hours daily and I don't meet that bar, this episode required research like every other. But I hope this guide helps bring some clarity and can serve as a useful reference as you go. If I didn't explain it here, and possibly even if I did, I promise I'll explain it when it comes up as we go. Thank you for listening, God bless you all!

To preview their upcoming 4-part webinar for SDI on Desert Spirituality, we invite you to enjoy this quick session with Tessa Bielecki and Fr. David Denny. And, we hope you will consider joining us for a full four part series on Desert Spirituality beginning November 1st (all sessions recorded). https://www.sdicompanions.org/product/desert-wisdom-for-spiritual-directors-and-companions/ Attracted by beauty and responding to sorrow, Tessa Bielecki and Fr. David Denny offer insights about inner work and earth care, peacemaking and social justice, living and dying, and share the nourishing desert wisdom that blooms today. Learn more about their work at https://sandandsky.org/. We extend a heartfelt invitation to all spiritual directors, companions, and wayfarers to join us in exploring the rich and profound tradition of desert spirituality and the wisdom of the Desert Mothers and Fathers. In this enlightening learning opportunity, we will delve into the depths of this ancient path, discovering invaluable insights and practices that can deeply enhance our spiritual guidance practices.

Caroline Oaks is a writer/spiritual director/publicist who is fascinated with the shifts in mind and spirit that slowing down and noticing can bring. She studies and follow luminaries of the perennial wisdom that underlies all religions and spiritual traditions  — thinking of spiritual teachers like Thomas Merton and Mary Oliver and Hafiz  and the Desert Mothers and Fathers, and Richard Rohr's Wisdom School  with Cynthia Bourgeault and James Finley. 

This week we reflect on the following saying from St. Martin of Braga: A brother asked an old man, "What shall I do for my sins?" He replied, "He who desires to be free from his sins shall be freed from them by weeping, and he who wishes to build virtues in himself will build them by weeping. Even the Scriptures are composed of mourning, for our fathers said to their disciples, Wail. There is no other way to life except this.” Support us on Patreon HERE! https://shemasd.org Script by Wilson Ryland and Kevin Portillo Original Score by Julius Obregon Jr.

This week we reflect on the following saying from Amma Syncletica: Amma Syncletica said, “There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town, and they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one's mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of personal thoughts.” Support us on Patreon HERE! https://shemasd.org Script by Wilson Ryland and Kevin Portillo Original Score by Julius Obregon Jr.

In this conversation, we dwell on the saying of the desert mother Amma Theodora, who says: “Let us strive to enter by the narrow gate. Just as the trees, if they have not stood before the winter's storms cannot bear fruit, so it is with us; this present age is a storm and it is only through many trials and temptations that we can obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven.” Support us on Patreon HERE!  https://shemasd.org Script by Wilson Ryland and Kevin Portillo Original Score by Julius Obregon Jr.    

On this episode of Catholic Forum, after a Dialog news update and a cut from the More Than 50 Most Loved Hymns CD, we talk to Benedictine Sister Laura Swan about her groundbreaking book, "The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women." You can see a video of this interview here.

Only be careful and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb (Deuteronomy 4:9,10). Today's text reminds us that we are in the season of Lent. Lent's purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ—to consider his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial, and resurrection. This 40-day period is based on two episodes of spiritual testing in the Bible: the 40 years of wilderness wanderings by the Israelites and, after his baptism, Jesus' 40 day fast in the wilderness ending with Satan's temptations. Moses already understood that self-reflection would be essential to living a faithful life with God. Yesterday, Pastor Anthony reflected on the truth that the law of God is “holistic, relational, and interested in a life of flourishing Shalom for all”. Selfishness and competition for resources get in the way of this vision. Such things come from the human heart, as Jesus said, “For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly” (Mark 7:21-22). Such things live in all our hearts. They hide in crevasses, closets, and the dark attic corners of our souls that we don't visit. Sometimes they slink out of hiding through the back door so that we do not observe them until they are well established patterns in our lives. Other times they jump out so unexpectedly that, before we can stuff them back out of sight, they have caused all sort so damage. Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). This is why Lent is necessary. We need dedicated time to examine our own hearts. Of course, the hope is the 40 days of Lent will create healthy patterns in our lifestyle that stay in place long after it is over. Early in the church's history, Christians realized that doing this hard work of examining the heart's motivations was difficult in the rush of daily life. Thus, a movement developed called the “Desert Mothers and Fathers”. These Christians moved out to the wilderness to be alone with God. They have left us a wealth of wisdom regarding ‘self-examination” rooted in the prayer, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24, NLT). This is the sort of thing Moses encouraged Israel to engage in as they entered the promised land. They were to remember how they had met God at Mount Horeb, how the thunder had rumbled, and the lightning had flashed. God was impressive, worthy of both worship and obedience. Moses wanted them to remember, but he knew life would get in the way, just as it does for us. We need to ‘watch ourselves closely', to ensure that we don't move subtly from a life of justice to one of injustice, from a life of helping others flourish to one in which we are concerned only about our own flourishing. And we need to teach this way of life to our children and grandchildren, passing on an ethic of Shalom from one generation to the next. An ethic rooted in the grace and commands of God. God took Israel out of Egypt because they could not flourish there. Egypt was a place of death, not life for Israel. After deliverance came the law. Learning healthy patterns for life, happens best in a community where it is practiced with joy. What better place for this than in families and churches? Christian families and churches are places in which living is rooted in grace not duty. Paul articulates this when he writes to the Colossians, “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12-14). To know ourselves as chosen, holy and dearly loved, is to know ourselves as people safe, secure, and connected to God by the bond of the cross which cannot be broken. Knowing ourselves as such, gives us the safe place to examine our own hearts, offering our failings to God and sometimes to other Christians, knowing that we will be handled with gentleness. We will be uplifted, not beaten down. In such environments, children can safely discover the beauty of God's law.

Today on the show, we remember St. Paula, among the earliest “Desert Mothers.” @1517 #christianhistory #christian #history — SHOW NOTES are available: https://www.1517.org/podcasts/the-christian-history-almanac GIVE BACK: Support the work of 1517 today CONTACT: CHA@1517.org SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Overcast Google Play FOLLOW US: Facebook Twitter Audio production by Christopher Gillespie (gillespie.media).

Fiction writer A. E Kulze reads from her story "The Ladybugs," followed by a conversation with podcast hosts Andrew Grossman and Kate Sadoff. Kulze talks about her writing process, the role of the unconscious in forming the whole, and the joy of a perfect editorial cut. She also speaks more broadly about gender and domesticity, the failures of contemporary feminism, and the Desert Mothers, who've been largely forgotten to history. "The Ladybugs" was published in NER 43.2 (summer 2022).

Tessa Bielecki is a hermit with a crackling vitality. She prays the Jesus prayer while she's swimming her daily laps and says that sometimes she talks too much (with a sparkle in her eye). She didn't set out to be a hermit–but when she met the Carmelite William McNamara, she said she had never met anyone more ALIVE.Together they would begin several communities of hermits in the desert, mountains, and forest. Steeped in the contemplative tradition, they would blend together the spirituality of the Celtics, Carmelites, and Desert Mothers and Fathers.What does a hermit's life look like? Why would they choose that lifestyle? And what might they teach the rest of us living in the world?Join us on the Spiritual Wanderlust podcast to find out!***Tessa Bielecki is the co-founder of the Desert Foundation (www.sandandsky.org). She calls Teresa of Avila her best friend, and has written several books on the mystic (including Teresa of Avila: Mystical Writings, Holy Daring, Ecstasy and Common Sense). They share much in common: they were both mother foundresses, they are both known for their earthy mysticism, and have a particular wild streak.A popular retreat leader, Tessa now lives as an urban hermit in Tuscon, Arizona._______________________WELCOME TO SPIRITUAL WANDERLUST.Contemplation. Embodiment. Mysticism. Mischief. Join former nun and neuroscience aficionado Kelly Deutsch as she interviews contemplative teachers, embodiment experts, psychologists, and mystics about the untamed frontiers of interior life. Each episode is jam packed with life-changing stories, spiritual practices, and powerful insight to support your journey toward wholeness and divine intimacy.For FREE resources for your own spiritual journey (like the Psycho-Spritual Maturity Assessment!) - check out www.spiritualwanderlust.org.

Who are today's Desert Mothers?

The Desert Fathers & Mothers of Egypt in the 4th century BCE recognized how the constant drive to always be working can be like a "demon," destroying our physical, emotional, and spiritual health and relationships. In this live talk and guided meditation we'll reflect together on their wisdom to seek balance in our fast-paced world.

This is part 2 of 2 episodes profiling the Christian Desert Ammas. These women lived in the 3rd-6th century and helped shape Christianity. Often ignored and undervalued, they had a tremendous impact on the culture and people around them. They were sought after for their advice and connection with the Divine. They worked alongside the Abbas of the desert and many influenced the early Church fathers. This is a labor of love for Chelsea, who has spent the past 3 years studying these amazing and life-giving women. To all they met, they were spiritual midwives helping to transition each person in unity with God. This episode will talk about the desert ammas as spiritual midwives, spiritual guides and unveil their spiritual practices.The two books mentioned (although there are too many to put here - we will list our favorites in our after the show blog next week):Praying with the Desert Mothers by Mary FormanThe Desert Mothers: Spiritual Practices from the Women of the Wilderness by Mary EarleCheck out www.contemplativemotherhood.org for blog posts, bonus content, and to sign-up for our newsletter!

This is part 1 of 2 episodes profiling the Christian Desert Ammas. These women lived in the 3rd-6th century and helped shape Christianity. Often ignored and undervalued, they had a tremendous impact on the culture and people around them. They were sought after for their advice and connection with the Divine. They worked alongside the Abbas of the desert and many influenced the early Church fathers. This is a labor of love for Chelsea, who has spent the past 3 years studying these amazing and life-giving women. To all they met, they were spiritual midwives helping to transition each person in unity with God. This episode will talk about the desert ammas as spiritual midwives, spiritual guides and unveil their spiritual practices.The two books mentioned (although there are too many to put here - we will list our favorites in our after the show blog next week):Praying with the Desert Mothers by Mary FormanThe Desert Mothers: Spiritual Practices from the Women of the Wilderness by Mary EarleCheck out www.contemplativemotherhood.org for blog posts, bonus content, and to sign-up for our newsletter!

A couple of encouraging thoughts about abundance and more in these troubled times.

Christine Paintner, online Abbess at the Abbey of the Arts, joins us today to discuss her new book Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred. Benedictine oblate and author, Christine takes us into the world of breath prayer including what breath prayers are, the unique blessings of incorporating breath prayer into our daily […]

Questions in this Episode 1. When we die are we conscious that we are in heaven, or are we unconscious until the resurrection? 2. Is being slain in the spirit biblical? 3. My mom is a Roman Catholic and has been trying to follow every prescription of that tradition. I am curious what your take on this is. I am sure she is saved. But what do you think of someone following these practices who is trying to get into heaven? 4. My son is an adult who is living at home and he sometimes stays the night at his girlfriend's house. We don't want to create a rift in our relationship with him, or have him think we're overstepping our bounds as parents, but what should we do in this situation? 5. Do the Desert Mothers and Fathers have any place in our Protestant theology? I have heard them spoken of recently by Catholics and evangelicals. 6. Can God not go where he is not invited? Today's Offer Inner Core Request our latest special offers here or call 1-833-THE-CORE (833-843-2673) to request them by phone. Want to partner with us in our work here at Core Christianity? Consider becoming a member of the Inner Core. Resources Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God's Story by Dr. Michael Horton

Today's meditation comes from The Book Of Colossians in The New Testament and from the writings of The Desert Mothers, with music by EVOE.

In this episode I sit down to talk with Lisa about the wisdom of the Desert Mothers and Fathers as well as her new book on spiritual formation, contemplative prayer, and many other related themes.  For information on Lisa's work you can go to: https://lisadelay.com/blog/ you can find her book Wild Land Within there or find information to her show Spark My Muse For more information on this podcast and to get extra content from my colleagues; Trey and Sam please go to: http://www.patreon.com/threeblackmen

So That You May Have Life John 20:19-31 Will Ed Green—Sunday, April 11th, 2021—Foundry United Methodist Church Good morning, friends. My name is Will Ed Green, and I serve as one of Foundry’s Associate Pastors and our Director of Discipleship. As we move into a time of reflecting on Scripture together we are so glad you’re with us. For those of you who are just tuning in, you’ll find links for fully engaging in our service in our Facebook and YouTube comments or on our website www.foundryumc.org. If you are in need ASL interpretation, we invite you to join us at www.foundryumc.org/asl. So I want to begin this morning by talking about the “Apophthegmata Patrum,”—no, that wasn’t a sneeze, I said “apophtegmata patrum.” They are the recorded sayings of a group of monks and nuns known as the Desert Mothers and Fathers. They lived in caves, mud huts, and even holes they dug in the ground in the deserts of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine; sometimes in small communities but, more often than not, alone. There, in the desert, with the busyness of life and the clutter of consumption cleared away, they embarked upon a bold endeavor: through prayer and contemplation, to live more humanely, to become—in modeling their life after Jesus—more human, and thus to become truly alive in the love of God. The “Apophthegmata”are snippets of stories and parables—preserved from the their own self-reflection, or offered to their disciples and visitors, that often begin with the question: “Amma, Abba, give me a word.” Their responses are not theological treatises or Christian self-help one-liners. They are plain and practical; unconcerned with right belief or theology and focused on matters of the heart. This simple wisdom cleaves performative spirituality and self-righteous theology from the practical matters of daily discipleship.  And because of this, they force us to address the ways what we profess is actually transforming our hearts and lives. Something John Wesley might have called “personal holiness” or “sanctification.” During these Great 50 Days—or the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost—our new sermon series invites us, like the Desert Mothers and Fathers, to focus our attention on the work of being and becoming alive. To receive in the fullness of its power the hope of the resurrection we proclaim. To embody, not just in right belief, but in the daily rhythms of our lives the freedom and abundance of life available when we live as those who believe that Jesus IS risen. So now, as we turn to the words of the Living Word, Jesus, and ask of them as those who traveled to the desert so long ago: “Give us a word” let us pray: Order our lives in your Word, O God, that everything we do may bear witness to your resurrection life.  Order our words in YOUR word, O God, that everything we say may bring life into a worry-weary world desperately in need of hope. Breathe the anointing of your Holy Spirit upon all those in the sound of my voice, that in this sacred space we now share together we might be transformed by your Living Word, and in that transformation might take our place in kin-dom work to which you’ve called us. And now may the words of this preacher, faulty and fleeting though they may be, fade into the background of the Word which you would have us receive this day. Amen. I want to begin this morning by acknowledging  that is a sermon about Jesus’ body and our bodies and the way they experience and express trauma. There may be moments when previous experiences of your own trauma rise to conscious awareness, so pay attention to your body. If you find yourself feeling anxious step away or pause and take a break, please know that’s ok. Today’s reading begins with the disciples in the throes of collective trauma. Their doors are barred in fear of what terror may yet occur. Just days before they witnessed their rabbi ruthlessly murdered, were denied by the disappearance of his body the familiar rhythms and rituals of mourning, and are certainly still trying to make sense of his promised resurrection in light of all these things. Suddenly, a surprisingly fleshy Jesus—given the doors to this kiki are locked tight—appears in the midst of their uncertainty, fear, and doubt. Showing his wounds. Speaking of peace. Breathing upon them. And it’s the revelation of his resurrected and scarred body—the text tells us—through which they see and know him for who he is, finally able to rejoice. But Thomas isn’t there to see the wounds and recognize the resurrection. And when told of what happened he insists that his belief will come only when he’s able to touch the wounds, feel the scars, and grasp hold of this body which held the trauma they’d all shared. When Thomas arrives, we’re not told whether or not he actually digs his hand into Jesus’ wounds, but it’s clear he’s given the chance to. And in this moment of direct confrontation with embodied sorrow and suffering—not just Jesus’ own, but that of the community who loved him— Thomas proclaims, “My Lord and My God,” finally able to see through those wounds the full promise of God’s resurrection power. John’s Gospel is the only one that makes the wounds of the resurrected Jesus central to the story, mixing the past pain and trauma of the crucifixion with the present rejoicing in and hope for resurrection. I find it fascinating that these encounters are precipitated by recognition of Jesus’ wounds. It’s not his miraculous appearance among them, not his face or voice, but his wounds that confirm his identity.  John’s Jesus isn’t a face-tuned, blemish-less, social media ready Savior fresh off a few days of rejuvenating rest in the tomb, but one who bears the marks of the cross and yet lives. Over the centuries we’ve conveniently made this a story about Thomas’s doubt. We love the image of one who must root around in the wounds of Jesus to achieve satisfaction—perhaps because we feel the need to excuse our own doubt or to satisfy ourselves with the thought that at least we’ve got more faith than THAT. But this reading also provides a convenient way to ignore the confronting an uncomfortable truth: resurrection doesn’t guarantee instantaneous healing. When the story is more about Thomas’ spiritual faults than wounds he insists on touching, we get to ignore that that resurrected Jesus still bears the marks of the tomb. The life he offers isn’t one in which our past trauma and sorrow is expunged. Instead, John’s resurrection body forces us to confront how they inform and are part of life. Healing cannot be separated from suffering. Resurrection cannot be separated from death. Let me pause and be clear here: this is not a sermon about redemptive suffering. As a pastor I wholeheartedly reject the idea that suffering is a somehow necessary part of the way we grow in faith or love of God and one another. This is bad theology—no tea, no shade, Paul…but maybe a little. And it’s the root of so many excuses for the continued mass incarceration, torture, and violence perpetuated against our black and brown siblings, too often one which traps women in cycles of abuse and neglect in the name of  “faithfulness,” and is regularly used against my queer siblings as they are subjected to theologies of self-loathing and the horrors of conversion therapy. But willingness to erase Jesus’ wounds and focus solely on Thomas’s doubt is dangerous. The wounds, and the pain they embody, can’t be overlooked. Far too many people are taught a theology of comparative suffering, where ‘good Christians’ are taught to minimize their suffering—or the suffering of others— because clearly other people have it worse than “you.” We are taught that our doubt, disbelief, heartache and hurt are an expression of faithlessness in God, that these don’t get to exist in tandem with life in a post-Easter world. Recent developments in psychobiology have given us a deeper understanding of how trauma impacts our brains and bodies. By trauma, I mean any experience which causes acute anxiety, fear, rage, or grief and that activates our desire to “fight or flee”. When this happens, a part of our brain, sometimes called the “lizard brain.” kicks into gear.  This ancient, built-in defense mechanism is tied directly our primary life systems, and can activate them before we consciously pick up on a threat. All of us, I’m sure, can remember moments of acute distress when our heart was pounding out of our chest, our breathing shallow, our palms sweaty, or our stomachs churning. Evolutionarily, these responses are meant to keep us alive until we can escape and process our experience. But what happens, when like the disciples, we encounter grief we can’t process or explain. A tomb left empty, holding more questions than answers. Night after night spent with the door tightly barred with no end to the threat in sight? Significant or repeated experiences of trauma, as author Bessel van der Kolk writes in “The Body Keeps the Score,” alter our perception of reality. We get stuck in the lizard brains, constantly reacting to something which our conscious brain might otherwise recognize as innocuous or inane.  Phrases like “Per my previous email” or “Can we talk?” can send us into fits of rage.  News notifications or unexpected phone calls can leave us panicked and breathless. Left unchecked, these trauma wounds impact nearly every aspect of our lives. We become stuck in cycles of self-sabotage; often in trying to prevent the threat of future trauma, inadvertently causing the very thing we fear.  In real moments of panic or danger, we become unable to distinguish those who want to help from those trying to cause harm, leaving us isolated and suspicious. These repeated trauma reactions build a new kind of knowledge in our bodies, changing the way we exist in and share space with others. Toxic anxiety—or prolonged periods of unabated anxiety—can kill us. Over time, our lizard brain’s over activation of our bodily systems can cause us to gain weight, makes hearts and arteries age abnormally, or our immune systems fail. We brains become so accustomed to our anxiety or the threat of trauma that we unconsciously create a world in which we constantly feel or create it because it’s the only way we know how to live.  One study comparing patients with untreated or significant past trauma to those without it, found that the brains of persons with PTSD literally shut down areas which control and help us define our sense of self in proximity to others. In an effort to erase their experience of trauma, our brains adapt, shutting off the parts of our brain that help us know perceive the world around us and know ourselves outside of our anxiety or fear of future pain or grief.           It’s no wonder it took Jesus miraculously appearing in their midst and revealing his wounds, rather than the words of Mary who encountered him just before, to recognize him. And that was just three days later. Thomas spent another week—another week!—living in that terror and fear. Jesus wasn’t the only one wounded in the story. He was just the only one who’s wounds we see. If you’ve ever read J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, you might remember that goblins are sneaky, burrowing creatures who are terrified of light. Under the cover of darkness however, they leave their caves to wreak havoc and violence on unsuspecting victims, pillaging and plundering everything they can take. I have this image of our unnamed, un-healed trauma operating a little like these goblins. Our trauma goblins burrow just beneath the surface of our conscious awarenness and, hidden by our fear and shame about facing them, co-opt and corrupt our ability to distinguish between despair and hope, life and death, friend and foe. Left unchecked, they impact everyone around us. They change our ability to listen and respond to others. Our capacity to trust and show up authentically, to love and take worthwhile risks. They pillage the wealth of our relationships, our good intentions, and giftedness and in their wake often cause lasting harm to those we love.. But much  like Tolkein’s goblins are terrified of light, of being seen, our trauma goblins lose their agency over us when exposed to the light of conscious awareness. Trauma therapists now understand that the long-term trauma can only be dealt with in our bodies. Employing a variety of mind-body techniques like deep breathing, massage, yoga, and meditation allows survivors of long-term trauma and toxic anxiety to begin to understand how their trauma impacts their bodies, and through their bodies to begin learning what it means to regain control of their lives. By addressing the often-unconscious ways our anxiety and trauma is manifested in our bodies, we’re able to break its control over us. Perhaps this is why it took the wounded AND resurrected body of Christ to break the the coopting cycle of the disciples’ anxiety, fear, and self-doubt. Breathing new life and strength into bodies weary from trauma that never seems to end. Showing the wounds in all their pain and the promise that that there was yet life beyond them. And when that trauma misshaped and Mal-informed Thomas’s perception of himself and others, Jesus extended his hands, wounds and all, without reproach or shame, allowing Thomas to touch the source of his pain so that he might be free to live beyond its control. In her book Resurrecting Wounds, Shelley Rambo writes: “The truth of the resurrection conveyed through the symbols of [Jesus’] scars is that these textures (grief and joy, pain and pleasure) will always be present in life, often simultaneously. Interlaced with joy and pain, a life can be marked as holy even in all this ambiguity.” Jesus shows us how gentle acknowledgment and awareness of our trauma helps us recognize that God is present both in suffering and healing, in doubt and belief; liberating us from the lie that our past trauma and present wounded-ness is all there is to our story. The wounded and resurrected savior bears witness to the real resurrection promise: not that we will always be ok, or skate past suffering in life through slights of hand like comparative suffering, not some glorified, resurrected future free of all our past trauma and grief, but the freedom to see written in our marks our past trauma leaves that while life guarantees suffering and loss, God guarantees life despite of and beyond it. Social worker and author Resmaa Menakem notes in his book on racial trauma in America “My Grandmother’s Hands” that, “…we tend to think of healing as something binary: either we’re broken or we’re healed from that brokenness…but healing from trauma occurs [over a long time and] on a continuum.” If Thomas teaches us nothing else, he shows us that we do not need to be embarrassed or controlled our past traumas. His reach teaches us how to reject the temptations of comparative suffering, and gives us permission to be okay not being ok. To doubt. To be a hot mess express. His recognition and acclamation of the resurrection shows us that by naming our wounds they lose the power to define our experience of others and the world. In honoring our wounds,  in refusing to defer or delay our recognition of trauma, we bring into focus a reality too often denied by binary models of healing: that we can be both hurt and healing, broken and being made whole, in the tomb and yet returning to life.In that way, his demand to confront the wounds, to run his fingers over the still-fresh scars of the cruxifixion isn’t an act of doubt. But an experience of his own resurrection. And while Thomas may, in fact, offer us a lesson on doubt, he’s also showing us what it means, in light of the resurrection, to be and become alive. On my hands is a roadmap of my past only I can read. Here a deep scar, left when a frantic dash out the door pulled artwork off the wall that bit back. There an almost invisible pockmark from chicken pox long healed. Joints left crooked after broken bones, callouses left from picking up heavy things. They may not be pretty, but all those marks and scars on my hands remind me—in all their beauty and brokenness—despite it all I am still alive. Pentecost will mark the 19th anniversary of the first time I ever preached and publicly acknowledged my call to ministry. It will also mark the beginning of a profound and painful internal struggle with my God-given identity as a gay man and the ordination process of a church which actively told me that identity was incompatible with Christian teaching. There’ve been plenty of wounds along the way. Having to leave my home and family behind in order to be ordained in the church I felt called to. Living in fear of what would happen if a picture of my partner and I got posted on the wrong account or parishioners encountered me holding hands on a first date. Hiding my identity from my colleagues for fear it might be used against me in a court of…well, church law. Much like looking at my hands reminds me I'm still alive, every day I choose to name them, acknowledge, touch and know them reminds me that it’s ok that  I am healed and still healing. I am broken and almost being made whole. And that I am, in the words of that old Charles Wesley hymn, despite it all, yet alive.  The Abbas and Ammas of the desert often remark on the way has a funny way of entering in through the wounds we bear and slowly, imperceptibly, beginning the work of healing. And though I’m not sure I’ll ever stop fighting those old trauma goblins, God’s grace—new each day—gives me fresh hope that they don’t have to define what comes next. I know I don’t need to enumerate for you all the ways that we are these days, individually and collectively holding and bearing witness to trauma. But I do know that it’s okay to hold doubt in one hand and hope in the other. That in the light of the resurrection your scars and wounds aren’t proof of your failure or lack of capacity or worthlessness. No, they are proof you’re a badass. You can do and survive hard things. You already survived the worst moments of your lives. No one else has ever done that. No one else could. Best of all, I know that in the midst of all the trauma past, and all the trauma to come, we are accompanied by a Savior who’s love allows us the grace and space to know that—no matter how broken or wounded we may be—we are loved. And meets us in moments when they in all their death-dealing power threaten to overwhelm or overcome us with open arms, proclaiming peace and promising though our scars may remind us of where we’ve been, and what we’ve been through, they may inform but don’t have to dictate what comes next. I think that may be what it means to become in alive in God’s love. And, for now, at least for me, that’s resurrection enough. https://foundryumc.org/

What an extraordinary reading!  We've been considering Hypothesis I about repentance and not falling into despair. Tonight we began with the writing from the life of St. Synkletike. She's one of the Desert Mothers and considered by many as equal to Saint Anthony the Great. The counsel she offers is psychologically subtle and spiritually beautiful. She encourages us always to support others, especially neophytes, and encourage them in the struggle for the good. No matter how small their virtues deeds might seem we must lift them up and praise them in order to encourage them in the spiritual battle. Likewise, no matter how great a fault may be we must, in front of them, treat it as though it is the least an on worthy of note. The evil one wishes to destroy their efforts and so we must in every way lift them up and encourage them to continue. God‘s compassion and mercy is unlimited and she gives us multiple examples from the Scriptures to remind us: Saint Paul Rahab the prostitute from the Old Testament, and St. Matthew the tax collector. In all of these we see the worth of repentance and the compassion of God towards the repentant man. Those who struggle with pride God himself will prune so they do not begin to attribute their growth and virtue to themselves. He will humble them in order that they might continue to cling to Him and to His grace. Next, the holy Palladios recounts for us the story of Saint Moses the Ethiopian. We see in him how the passion of anger unchecked and murderous in its nature and conduct can be transformed by the gift of repentance. After a violent existence, Moses was moved to contrition and the incensive faculty within him redirected the anger towards sin and drove him in the ascetical life to war against the demons. He became so virtuous that he rivaled even those elders of Skete. By the time he died, there were 70 disciples who joined him, many of whom were his fellow former criminals. All of this is meant to lead us to set aside the judgments of our own reason when it comes to love, compassion, and mercy. We are called to imitate God who, while we were still enemies, had mercy upon us and gave us His only begotten Son. ---- 00:21:02 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2017/01/05/100099-venerable-syncletica-of-alexandria 00:22:25 Eric Williams: sin-kle-ti-kee (not sure which syllable gets emphasis; Fr Ivan?) 00:23:00 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: St Nikolai Velimirovich's Prologue of Ohrid: Syncletica was of Macedonian descent. She was educated in Alexandria. As a wealthy and distinguished maiden she had many suitors, but she rejected them all and fled from her parents' home to a convent. In great self-restraint, vigil and prayer, Syncletica lived to her eightieth year. Her counsels to the nuns have always been considered true spiritual pearls, for this righteous one did not attain the heights of wisdom through books but through sufferings, pains, daily and nightly contemplation, and spiritual communication with the higher world of the Divine. Her soul took up its habitation in that higher world in the year 350 A.D. Among other things, St. Syncletica was known to say: "If it is the season for fasting, do not dismiss fasting, claiming illness, for behold, even those who do not fast succumb to the same illness." She further said: "As a treasure, when uncovered, is quickly seized, …. 00:23:03 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: so it is with virtue: when it is made public it becomes eclipsed and is lost." 00:23:55 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: her feast is Jan 5 in the Byzantine calendar 00:26:16 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: The Life and Conduct of the HOLY AND BLESSED TEACHER SYNKLETIKE by St. Athanasios the Great was published in English in 2015. 00:29:29 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: Σύγκλητος means “senate” or “assembly”; hence, the name Συγκλητική denotes what is “senatorial” or “noble”; in this instance, a noble in the “heavenly assembly” of Saints.  The accent is on the last syllable in Greek: syn-klee-ti-KEE.  In English it is "Syncletica". 00:43:21 Joseph Muir: tax collectors are still hated today

Welcome back for more stories - and audio - from our trek on the North-West Mounted Police Patrol Trail on Treaty Four territory. We're on the path of Everett Baker, talking about everything from the Desert Mothers to walking with one's Ancestors!

On the meaning and history of solitude, and how thinkers from the past 2500 years weigh in on the Coronavirus quarantine with Drs. Melissa Lane and Adam Graves. Further Reading (direct links at anchor.fm/dphi): Sikkim, Sannyasins, Sadhu, Athanasius, St. Augustine, Montaigne, Plato, Aristotle, Desert Fathers, Desert Mothers, Phaedrus, Transcendentalism, Romanticism, Praktikos, Nicomachean Ethics, Epicurus, Machiavelli, Emerson, Thoreau, Rousseau, John Cassian, Anchorite, Episode Image Thanks to Kelsey Percival, Hannah Warner, and Gabriel Grinsteiner. To learn about D-phi and joining our live events, visit dphi.org

Are you familiar with the early Christian mystic mothers of the faith who overcame so much in their single-minded devotion to Jesus? Send us questions, comments, or talking points at: podcast@thefirehouseprojects.com or anchor.fm/high-on-god-podcast/message Buy the High on God book: www.thefirehouseprojects.com/high-on-god-book Follow our ministry at: www.thefirehouseprojects.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/high-on-god-podcast/message

O Lord, Let your light shine on me and guide me Introduction. Gospel Reflection: (John 12:35-50). Women of faith: The Desert Mothers. How do I prepare myself for Jesus? Walking in the Light. The promises of God. The power of the Word of God. How can I be empowered by God? How I see myself and … Continue reading Title Podcast#:0336 O Lord, Let Your Light Shine On Me & Guide Me | 16/05/2020 →

Rickey Cotton, Ed.D., is a trained and experienced spiritual director and a commissioned presenter of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina. He serves on the faculty for the Living Flame program of Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. As a spiritual speaker and workshop leader, he has presented around the country on such topics as John of the Cross: Beyond the Dark Nights; The Desert Mothers and Fathers; Divine Therapy; and Meister Eckhart: Passionate for Our Awakening. In recent years, Rickey has been assisting nationally known retreat leader Fr. Bill Sheehan in the annual Florida Centering Prayer retreats, a 3-day retreat every January and a 7-day retreat every June. Now Professor Emeritus, for over 30 years, Rickey taught English and Religion at Southeastern University, a Christian university in central Florida. The parents of three adult daughters, he and his wife Anna make their home in Lakeland, FL. Information about his work with Christian spirituality and contemplative prayer is available at rickeycotton.com.

A Journey Through The Great Lent.  Many of the Churches started Lent) Gospel Reflection (Mathew 6:19-33)   Women of Faith: Reflection on Desert Mothers. What does faith mean to you? How  Psalm 103. Coptic Voice Radio is a Family of young people. St. Armanious the Hermit. dHow to make prayer a priority.

The church today has been heavily influenced by thoughts and principles coming from the Roman Empire. But there are other Christian heritages from other groups such as the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Have a listen to learn more. The post What is the Common Thread? appeared first on Common Thread Church.

Loneliness is hard--and boldly following God into uncharted territory can risk its own kind of loneliness. The good news is that the great spiritual teachers--and even some scholars--have a lot of thoughts on how to find the kind of connection and relationship that our hearts crave. Mentioned on this podcast:   Theology of Joy: Lisa Miller and Matt Croasmun from the Yale Center for Faith and Culture   James 1:5-8   Desert Fathers and Mothers

Tasting Notes: Dropping out of the patriarchy, the Desert Mothers and Fathers, alternative communities, deserts, class conflict, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the woman who actually compiled the Bible. Reading Notes: The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Apophthegmata Patrum), The Lives of the Desert Fathers (Historia Monachorum in Aegypte), https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-rebel-virgins-and-desert-mothers-who-have-been-written-out-of-christianitys-early-history,

Check out this episode for a morsel of timeless wisdom from the Desert Mothers and Fathers. We can spend our whole lives struggling and striving, trying to be good enough; trying to earn love. If we will, however, we can become all flame!

Rev Brad shares a reflection on a powerful quote from one of the Christian, Desert Mothers. Great athletes have to contend with powerful enemies. What enemy do you contend with? Inquiries and feedback can be sent to podcast@soccerchaplainsunited.org. From the Touchline is a short-feature (10 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney and occasional guests touching on […]

Their story starts in the 3rd century. The Roman Empire was still in power, and it was still making life a little difficult for Christians, and it was still representing values that Christians didn’t. So a group of early Christians ran away to the deserts of Egypt and the Middle East. They ran to escape the heavy hand of Roman rule on top of them and to finally live free. They ran from their wealth toward a life of poverty, from comfort toward a life of wilderness wandering.

The remainder of season three is dedicated to the women who have shaped my faith and carried the church forward through history! This week we are talking about Saint Thecla, Rebel virgins who defied Rome, Desert Mothers, and street preaching female prophets in drag! Exile Liturgy https://ryancagle.com/exileliturgy/ Subscribe to Signposts! http://eepurl.com/bFY_qv Music provided by Alex Sugg, and songsforstory.comSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/ryancagle)

Dr. Rossi interviews Fr. David Mezynski about a course he taught at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary about the Desert Mothers of the Church.

Dr. Rossi interviews Fr. David Mezynski about a course he taught at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary about the Desert Mothers of the Church.

Dr. Rossi interviews Fr. David Mezynski about a course he taught at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary about the Desert Mothers of the Church.

In today's episode, Greg Richardson joins me to talk about his strategic approach to spirituality. Greg is a Spiritual Leadership Coach that helps people learn and strengthen a specific set of skills and abilities to develop a particular part of their lives. Much of what Greg does as a leadership coach begins with guiding people as they bring their core values, principles, and inner strengths to bear on matters of work and leadership. He knows that leadership begins with knowing and sharing your truest self. He has been a leader in a wide variety of situations and organizations. As a criminal prosecutor and a university professor, an executive and a volunteer, he has helped bring out the best in the people around him. Early on, Greg decided to give himself an incentive. If he met one of his main goals, he would get his first tattoo. It took him some time to decide what he would get. He considered some options, then chose his favorite story of the Desert Mothers and Fathers. These people who left the comforts of cities to live in the wilderness, planted the seeds of Western monasticism. You can learn more about Greg and what he has to offer at www.StrategicMonk.com, and if you are interested, Greg would be very happy to show you his tattoo. You can learn more about Consciously Speaking and our other guests at www.MichaelNeeley.com or follow us on Facebook.

In the fourth century, Christian mystics renounced their material possessions and moved to the desert where their spiritual practice flourished so much that thousands became desert monks and nuns—known as The Desert Mothers and Fathers. Meet a few of these spiritual ancestors and drink in their wise stories and sayings—along with inspired songs from Daniel Nahmod's desert sabbatical.

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Sister Mary Forman, OSB, is a member of the Monastery of Saint Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho. She is the editor of One Heart, One Soul, Many Communities and the author of Praying with the Desert Mothers, as well as numerous articles on Benedictine spirituality. Currently, Sister Mary teaches undergraduate theology at the College of Saint […]

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