Kategoria BISAC: Religion >> Monasticism

After fifty years of monastic life, prayer, and spiritual direction, Meg Funk knows what it means to listen with the ear of one's heart to the Holy Spirit. In"Discernment Matters," she shares what she has learned. This book is a resource for those who want to learn and practice discernment as taught by the early monastic tradition. It includes an accessible summary of teachings about discernment from monastic traditions of late antiquity, consideration of important tools for making decisions today, and practical examples from the lives of St. Benedict and St. Patrick, as well as from the...

How can we tend the garden of our souls? Meg Funk turns to the wisdom of the desert fathers for the means of removing obstacles to spiritual growth, which include thoughts of food, sex, possessions, anger, dejection, and pride, among other preoccupations. Redirecting thought away from such weeds in the garden of the spirit can lead to a greater awareness of God and purity of prayer.

This method to mental discipline may seem impossible at first, Funk admits, but those who succeed at it are rewarded with a liberating experience as they come to observe and control individual thought...

"Humility Matters" makes the claims that humility is for a disciple of Jesus Christ what enlightenment is for a Buddhist, realization for a Hindu, surrender for a Muslim, and righteousness for a Jew. It is the unmistakable character of one who has accepted the vocation to undertake the spiritual journey. It is at the core of our experience of life in Christ.

Meg Funk guides readers deeper into a life of humility by following the movement of what the early Christians called the four renunciations: to renounce our former way of life, our thoughts of our former way of life, our self-made...

Cassian taught that real intimacy with God in prayer demands renouncing one's former way of life, the thoughts belonging to that former way of life, and one's very idea of God. In Thoughts Matter, Mary Margaret Funk focuses on the second of these: renouncing the thoughts belonging to one's former way of life. Her eight chapters focus on different "thoughts"--food, sex, anger, dejection, acedia (profound weariness of the soul), vainglory (taking credit for good actions), and pride.

Funk explains well how failure to control these thoughts can undermine our spiritual...

Basil of Caesarea (AD 329-78), called the Great" by later generations, was one of the fourth century's greatest theologians and pastors. His influence on the foundation of monastic life was enormous.

As he toured the early ascetic communities, members would ask Basil about various aspects of living the Gospel life. Their questions and Basil's replies were taken down by tachygraphers and eventually became the "Small Asketikon," first published in 366. The "Regula Basilii" is a Latin translation of this work, done by Rufinus of Aquileia in 397. It is one of the major sources of the Rule of...

Calm and spirituality--the true hallmarks of Carthusian writings--distinguish this book. The first part sets out the principles of the interior life; the second works out a method of prayer. There follow eleven sermons, originally given to monks in chapter, which illustrate this approach. The final portion discusses the complex doctrine of the Trinity: the extraordinary clarity. Broken into short chapters, the book is designed for personal reflection and meditation.

Mystagogy: A Monastic Reading of Dionysius Areopagita proposes an interpretation of the Pseudo-Dionysian corpus in light of the liturgical and ascetic tradition that defined the author and his audience. Characterized by both striking originality and remarkable fidelity to the patristic and late neoplatonic traditions, the Dionysian corpus is a coherent and unified structure, whose core and pivot is the treatise known as the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. Given Pseudo-Dionysius' fundamental continuity with earlier Christian theology and spirituality, it is not surprising that the...

The thirteen Discourses of Philoxenos of Mabbug (445-523) were delivered to new monks at a monastery under his episcopal care. Written in elegant Syriac, the Discourses deal with the fundamentals of the monastic and ascetic life-faith, simplicity, fear of God, renunciation, and the struggle against the demons of gluttony and fornication. This is Philoxenos's longest work and his most popular. It avoids the strident character of his letters and commentaries that were composed to advance the anti-Chalcedonian movement.

This is the first English translation of an important...