At work today I had a salesman stop in with the St. Louis Post Dispatch. He was trying to sell me advertising spots in there newspaper, and I was doing my best to politely get rid of him. After convincing him that what he was proposing was not meeting my market needs, we began to discuss the Friday Buisness review which seemed to fit more closely with our demographic in the commercial/industrial market. It was during this part of the conversation that he made a statement that has stuck with me all day. He said, the average business executive reads 4 newspapers a day, and that is normally done between 4 and 5:30 am in the morning, so that by 7:00 am when they are sitting in there office(he referred, "like yourself"), they are up to speed with the world today. Wow...are you serious? Of course I played along like the statistic was probably true for us...."executives"...., but....you've got to be kidding me!
What Ascetism! What Devotion! I mean, I 've read stories of this stuff, but it is usually by Monastics! As a generalization I would say the paths take you in extremely differing directions, however the Passion is compelling.
Here is something I was reading tonight in The Orthodox Way, by Bishop Kallistos Ware. In light of this we were talking at coffee this morning about being "enlightened" to something new, be it a word, or circumstance, or thing, and then all of sudden you hear about it everywhere. I guess I had this experience in light of the spiritual journey in regards to my conversation with the newspaper salesman.
" The endurance required from one who climbs a mountain physically is required likewise from those who would ascend the mountain of God."
- Bishop Kallistos Ware
" God demands everything from a man--his mind, his reason, all his actions...Do you wish to be saved when you die? Go and exhaust yourself; go and labour; go, seek and you shall find; watch and knock, and it shall be opened to you."
- The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
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2 comments:
Bishop KALLISTOS is truly wonderful. It is in that very book that I first came across St Isaac the Syrian, and his ideas about the Incarnation, which the good bishop summed up perfectly in one chapter. I quoted it on my blog many moons ago. If you're interested, and haven't come across this chapter of the book yet, the particular section is here. I am still bowled over by the concept, which is so very different from anything I had come across before. Our Fall necessitated Christ's sharing in our death and conquering it by his glorious Resurrection, but it is perfectly possible that the Incarnation and Ascension were part of God's plan for our theosis from the very outset - a complete act of love on God's part. Amazing!
(I'll stop wittering now. :-)).
Michael,
Thank you for your insights, and yes Bishop Kallistos is truly wonderful. Some people have the ability to put into words things that just resonate with you at such a deep level. I apologize for not noticing your posts previously. Thank you for your comments.
Eric
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