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When the hermit lifestyle was institutionalized by the church in the 4th century,the charism began to be lost.Increasingly,hermitmonks,the original and still the most authentic of monks,began to accept and to parrot the partyline of the main church.Century after another,they would parrot the writings of the previous generation who became considered "Fathers" and"Ancients." The effect was that each age of hermits lost increasingly the original charism of "prophet" and "forerunner" in the proclamation of truth in the face of religious and societal convention and corruption.Such were not the Hebrew Prophets who stood against Priest and King whenever they "backslid." Today,a new generation of us are being irresistibly drawn to this way of life. Some just want to get off the treadmill.Some express their protestation of absurd societal/cultural values by living as "Contraries." Some seek the life for spiritual reasons.Some are a combination of all the above.Most of us are not "iconoclasts" in the original sense of the term,i.e. those opposed to using images in churches.Far from it! Yet all of us MUST resist what is a very real "temptation" to become "conformed to the world" which we have left behind.THAT ALSO MEANS THE CHURCHWORLD,if that is applicable to our vocation.Neither the Deity nor this world needs us deliberately "marginalized" people to be just like clergy and laity out in general circulation.We must,to be effective,show a completely different sense of values and standards actually lived out daily.I do NOT mean that we have to be paragons of piety and devotion.Indeed we must often be quite the opposite in order to be parodies of the false versions of both too often seen among people in the mainstream.It is by parody,mimicry,satire that we often say what we must to the few who have ears to hear.For us,it is our lot to be despised and neglected,treated like tramps and bums,parasites,oddballs,freaks.Let these labels satisfy us and be our inner garments,our monkhabits.We do not live this life for acclaim nor approval.Indeed,if that is what we are receiving from the outside,WE ARE DOING IT WRONG! |
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