tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post3860267246405766371..comments2023-12-18T17:32:03.325+00:00Comments on Kindred of the Quiet Way: A waymark or milestone or somethingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-65880630166578428622016-08-22T11:36:12.423+01:002016-08-22T11:36:12.423+01:00Hello Gerard! Waving!
:0)Hello Gerard! Waving!<br /><br />:0)Pen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-50830058914696159792016-08-22T11:25:36.465+01:002016-08-22T11:25:36.465+01:00Just came across your site and love it. I live in...Just came across your site and love it. I live in rural County Longford on a 2 acre smallholding and a lot of what you write resonates with me. St. Francis was a great saint and is a profoundly attractive personality. So Italian though! He had his guru and it is the same as myself so we share that. God bless you.Gerard Bradyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05974351020665470702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-39777490791844379062016-08-13T20:30:18.048+01:002016-08-13T20:30:18.048+01:00Thinking of these things I am drawn to the scriptu...Thinking of these things I am drawn to the scriptures (Corinthians and Colossians if I remember correctly) that say God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Integration is precisely the task. It asks everything, yet wants of us not more and more but less and les. Like the Passion of Christ - 'passion' is the same word as 'suffering' (and same root as 'passive'), not it the sense of masochism but of surrender - trusting, giving permission. That Chinese word 'wu-wei', the art of non-doing. As some popular Evangelical writers express it, 'let go and let God'. <br />The word 'confidence' means 'with faith'. I suspect this whole thing has to do with joy and gladness - with the eagerness of trust in God, the ability to open one's hand in the stream of life rather than vainly trying to snatch and clutch at the water. Letting grace and life flow through oneself washing away bitterness and debris. x Pen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-85641928342906260842016-08-13T14:54:36.341+01:002016-08-13T14:54:36.341+01:00This last comment so resonates with me. I have jus...This last comment so resonates with me. I have just returned from a week's silent retreat and am now home wondering which me is me. Which one is the fraud or is it just a case of that is how it is.Patriciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05124987111650146853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-42108724144211327322016-08-11T14:35:32.145+01:002016-08-11T14:35:32.145+01:00Yes, you are right on the nail.
"Sometimes I...Yes, you are right on the nail. <br />"Sometimes I feel as if I'm two different people living in the same body. The one who would sit quietly at the feet of Jesus and the other who must continue with the ordinary living and being. How, I wonder, does one bring the two together?"<br />This is exactly what the simplifying/minimalising does.<br />Blessings on your adventures and continuing discovery! xPen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-60223096600567385832016-08-11T12:35:52.538+01:002016-08-11T12:35:52.538+01:00I very much like what you have written here Pen. Y...I very much like what you have written here Pen. You are a master at being able to express your thoughts and feelings. Sadly I don't have that ability. We live (just the two of us) in a too big house with way too many things. I am slowly letting go, but it is taking time. I have also sought that someone that helps make it all clearer. We are all so different though, each one on his own journey. I have found that this walk with my Lord is a constant discovery where I can almost touch the understanding and then it moves up a notch and I am left with knowing there is so much more to receive. I so want the full understanding. The more I know the less I realise I know. So very difficult to put into words. Maybe this is what it means to be in the world but not of the world. Sometimes I feel as if I'm two different people living in the same body. The one who would sit quietly at the feet of Jesus and the other who must continue with the ordinary living and being. How I wonder does one bring the two together. One seems so far apart from the other.<br />Blessings Gail.gailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11474172270399240621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-80832625986687518092016-08-10T08:33:26.437+01:002016-08-10T08:33:26.437+01:00Thank you, Tech Teacher - yes, our online connecti...Thank you, Tech Teacher - yes, our online connections are a source of strength and encouragement. <br /><br />Hi Rebecca - yes, I have a pile of books-to-go that I want only the right people to have!Pen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-46204675747213606902016-08-10T00:29:36.563+01:002016-08-10T00:29:36.563+01:00Yes! Exactly. And when I couldn't find "...Yes! Exactly. And when I couldn't find "it" in people, I buried myself in books...<br />Recently, I've committed myself to sorting out and paring down my book collection. It is painful! I notice that a large part of my collection centers on the development of the characteristics and lifestyle you have longed for. These I cannot part with. Yet...rebeccahttp://lifeandgodliness-rebecca.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-58261342453865813142016-08-10T00:23:45.361+01:002016-08-10T00:23:45.361+01:00Your writing and these comments bring me comfort. ...Your writing and these comments bring me comfort. And challenge me. And make me think and pray and sit in silence. Thank you.TechTeachernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-21874203765153659112016-08-09T14:10:40.391+01:002016-08-09T14:10:40.391+01:00What you say resonates with me completely.What you say resonates with me completely.Pen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-12942124854618881972016-08-09T13:25:32.904+01:002016-08-09T13:25:32.904+01:00I may have said this before here so apologies if I...I may have said this before here so apologies if I am repeating myself. But I think that as we set off along the path of silence, stillness, solitude, simplicity we maybe think we can dip in and out or stop at a certain point. But for some of us there comes a point of no return and we cannot stay were we are nor go back. And our lives may seem increasingly odd to those around us. <br /><br />The more silence and solitude I build into my life the harder it is to carry out what is considered normal social activity. I find I am not storing up energy to deal with others at all, it diminishes my capacity for and enjoyment of these things.Yiayia Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09297870095526628163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-58781314769907583372016-08-09T10:48:43.454+01:002016-08-09T10:48:43.454+01:00Hi Becky. You know that scripture about loving the...Hi Becky. You know that scripture about loving the Lord with all your mind, with all your heart and with all your strength? I think it has something to do with that. It's like there are no half-measures; to do this thing we need all that we have and are. Possessions are a distraction and therefore weaken our purpose, ferry away the focus we absolutely need to accomplish singleness of heart.Pen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-39401622698929587712016-08-09T09:35:10.695+01:002016-08-09T09:35:10.695+01:00I missed this one yesterday. I spent all day with ...I missed this one yesterday. I spent all day with my siblings ( I have 6) and their respective families celebrating birthdays and came home longing for that which you have written of. I am very different to my siblings and that always strikes home when I am with them...However much I love them, we have been chosen and are on a very different path to them. I have been so struck this summer by the gospel of storing up treasures in heaven and yet that longing to shine like a light and that means that it's ok to be different. I have a very long way to go :-) but your post so helped me get things back into perspective. Thanks again.Beckyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14092747782481672281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-21674142744274864952016-08-09T09:34:53.403+01:002016-08-09T09:34:53.403+01:00I missed this one yesterday. I spent all day with ...I missed this one yesterday. I spent all day with my siblings ( I have 6) and their respective families celebrating birthdays and came home longing for that which you have written of. I am very different to my siblings and that always strikes home when I am with them...However much I love them, we have been chosen and are on a very different path to them. I have been so struck this summer by the gospel of storing up treasures in heaven and yet that longing to shine like a light and that means that it's ok to be different. I have a very long way to go :-) but your post so helped me get things back into perspective. Thanks again.Beckyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14092747782481672281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-31716854566807995722016-08-09T08:51:46.913+01:002016-08-09T08:51:46.913+01:00Ten thousand miles and then nothing to say. Exactl...Ten thousand miles and then nothing to say. Exactly that.<br /><br />I'm so glad you enjoyed the stories.<br /><br />:0) xxPen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-37721590574939183572016-08-09T07:58:49.850+01:002016-08-09T07:58:49.850+01:00Thank you for this Pen. I have been looking for a...Thank you for this Pen. I have been looking for and failing to find a quote in (I think) The Cloud of Unknowing' or 'Letter of Private Direction' to the effect that we (the contemplative) would travel ten thousand miles to find another who we think shares the experience and then when we find that person be unable to speak, or have nothing to say. Maybe it was from Thomas Merton. Anyway, you get the gist and your post reminded me of this as I have found it to be the case in my own life.<br /><br />As ever your thoughts spoke to much of my own experience, especially in the search for belonging. <br /><br />I can't follow your minimalist lifestyle, although I've been very influenced by your accounts of your researches and experiments.<br /><br />By the way, I have just finished reading the whole of your 'Hawk and Dove' series and thoroughly enjoyed them. They too have given me much food for thought.<br /><br />Bless you.Yiayia Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09297870095526628163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-33581880998126510892016-08-08T15:37:03.036+01:002016-08-08T15:37:03.036+01:00
Thank you, Ros - so interesting to read of a jou... <br />Thank you, Ros - so interesting to read of a journey so similar and so different.<br /><br />:0) xx<br />Pen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-5629835463377991322016-08-08T15:25:14.380+01:002016-08-08T15:25:14.380+01:00Interesting. Thanks for sharing :-)
Like you, I d...Interesting. Thanks for sharing :-)<br /><br />Like you, I discovered St Francis when I was in my teens - primarily because he was featured on my 'Friend to Animals' badge when I was in the guides. I read his story, was captivated immediately and he became my teenage 'hero' almost overnight.<br /><br />For me, it was was about 'the blaze of his compassion and tenderness' together with his willingness to do whatever he felt God was asking of him, regardless of how crazy it seemed and regardless of what other people thought about it. So it was more his unswerving commitment to Christ than the simplicity this produces that inspired me; more his pioneering spirit than the community life that he ultimately founded. <br /><br />Perhaps because of this, I was not attracted by the monastic way of life in the same way that you have been. Nor did I consciously seek out a guru. Where you saw - almost immediately - the benefits of a particular practical outworking of faith in the form of simplicity and community, I passed over all that nitty gritty sort of stuff and focused on the trailblazing: 'What new thing might God be asking of me?' In that sense, I had no interest in either following or leading. It was simply the willingness to carve out a new way because love demanded it that inspired me.<br /><br />So it's taken an almost equivalent number of years and a long journey through illness for the penny to drop with me that it's not about the pioneering any more than it's about the pioneer (St Francis and the like). It's simply about being. Being the people God has created us to be. Ordinary. Human. Loved. The pioneering, the healing, the simplicity, or whatever becomes our 'obedience', flows from there.<br /><br />As you rightly say, it's not about us. It's about the flame that rests upon us. But that the flame does so - that there is no shame in our flawed human ordinariness - that's a reality that still hasn't fully sunk in. It blows my mind. Yet it's so utterly basic to the Christian message, that I don't know how I can have missed it all these years!Roshttps://ripplesinthewind.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com