bro. Fred's Reflections
by Fred Schaeffer, SFO (© 2006)
#19
Occasionally we hear something
attributed to "the desert fathers." I didn't quite know
who these desert fathers were so I looked it up and perhaps you'd
like to know what I found.
At the time when St. Pachomius
(292-346) and St. Anthony (ca. 251-356; he is thought to have
lived 105 years) lived, there were thousands of monks in Egypt
and Palestine whose names we do not know because this information
was never recorded. But we do have certain writings, proverbial
tales and stories from that time. These sayings were passed on
from generation to generation by word of mouth and at some point
they were committed to paper.
A number of people, fairly
recently, have translated these writings into English. The desert
fathers and mothers were sometimes somewhat radical but a great
deal of wisdom has come from them. I found some of these
proverbial writings quoted in a book I just finished reading
"Essential Monastic Wisdom" by Hugh Feiss, O.S.B.,
1999, Harper SanFrancisco. I would like to quote just one of
these: "If you are at your manual labor in your room and it
comes time to pray, do not say: 'I will use up my supply of
branches or finish weaving the little basket, and then I will
rise,' but rise immediately and render to God the prayer that is
owed him. Otherwise, little by little you come to neglect your
prayer and your duty habitually, and your soul will become a
wasteland devoid of every spiritual and bodily work. For right at
the beginning your will is apparent." (ibid, p. 40)
This situation happens all the
time in a monastery. A monk is working and then it is time to
pray. Looks like these desert fathers foresaw that situation.
There is a real possibility of work extending into prayertime in
religious life. It's not a healthy habit.
What would your employer have to
say when you extended your lunch period habitually into his work
hours? What would your spouse say when you're cooking and there
is no food on the table when your mate comes home from work? What
would God say if I'm constantly late for prayer? Consistent
lateness isn't good in any phase of society whether it be in the
office, at home or at a prayer service. Habitually coming late
for Sunday (and even, weekday) Holy Mass is not so good either.
What are you telling Jesus? Are you telling Him that "doing
your thing" (whatever that may be) is more important? If you
have invited business consultants or very good friends you don't
see often, for dinner, you'd be sure to be on time. But Jesus is
the ultimate Guest—so before your spiritual life is
negatively affected you should strive to be in Church on time.
There is no question that if you come late once in a great while
it would be OK but I know people who arrive just before the
Gospel is read every time. Then there are also people who
religiously leave immediately after Holy Communion. They claim
that they need to go to beat the traffic out of the Church
parking lot. But why? Is anything we do more important than time
with Jesus? Seems to me the desert fathers knew what they were
talking about, in this instance anyway.
Index to bro. Fred's Reflections
by Fred Schaeffer, SFO (© 2006)
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