DESERT FATHERS: KOOKS OR SPIRITUAL ENTREPRENEURS

For many years I thought the Desert Fathers were kooks.  Now I think of them as spiritual entrepreneurs, not for fame or fortune, but for the riches found in intimacy with God.

In the early centuries of the Christian church, they were known for abandoning the community life of the church in the major cities and trekking out into the desert to live the solitary life of a hermit.  This was the beginning of the monastic movement.  St. Anthony, the Father of Monasticism, was one of the early ascetics.  He left Alexandria and journeyed out into the western desert into what is now Libya.  At first he lived in an abandoned tomb, then in an old dilapidated Roman fort.  At one point he returned to Alexandria during a time of persecution hoping to be martyred. It didn’t happen.  In spite of his bold behavior proclaiming his faith, he was ignored and eventually he moved into the eastern desert of Egypt.  Pilgrims found him wherever he resided and sought his teachings.  Disciples followed him and sought his teachings. His overarching desire was to escape the attractions and distractions of urban life and find peace and solitude in the quietness of the desert hoping to pursue a life of holiness.  It wasn’t meant to be.  Anthony became so famous that the Emperor Constantine asked Anthony to pray for him.  He became known as Saint Anthony the Great.  While he was believed to be illiterate and never wrote a book, his sayings in Coptic became famous and published in Greek.

St. Anthony sought neither fame nor following.  What he desired was an environment that transformed. The desert life was simple, uncomplicated, and devoid of distractions.  It was and still is a place where the fast paced, frenetic nature of contemporary life can be left behind and a single focus on God can be pursued.  We do the same today in various fashions.  Monasteries today welcome visitors and guests who seek a weekend or a week’s retreat of silence.  Second homes, cabins and cottages serve a similar purpose.  They are a get-away, an escape, a refuge from the semi-chaotic life with all its pressures and distractions.  Sadly, such havens of solitude are poorly designed for what people need the most, a place where God hears the faintest whisper of our hearts and we in return hear His. 

Is it possible to design such a setting?  Can environments intentionally serve in ways that transform? Just as homes for sale are staged to increase the probability of an attractive offer, environments can be staged to increase the opportunities for drawing nearer to God and promoting a dynamic, intimate exchange.  Just having one’s Bible out and open on the desk, or placed on one’s pillow to be read at night increases the probability that it will be read.  Having sacred music, literature, and DVD’s readily available all contributes to an environment that potentially transforms.  The many means by which God shapes the clay of our lives may be managed intentionally into an environment of intimacy with God.  We need not take up residence in the deserts of North Africa to benefit by a salutary environment of transformation.  Our home, office, or car can be staged to facilitate greater faith and a more intimate journey with God as environments that transform.  Thanks be to God.