The Future is Always Now

In the early 1980s I did the Erhard seminar training, EST, for short. It was there I had the phrase, "The present is successive moments of now." What I learned from that phrase was to "be here now.." Good grief, how 70s that sounds, but you know what...can you say that you are always present to the moment, every moment? That is what be here now means.

Where have I been? Growing, making renunciations, preparing myself to become a canonical hermit. You might wonder why? And the links listed have to serve as my answer. In future posts I will talk about my experiences with the renunciations as listed by John Cassian. Each is important and difficult. I do not expect this process to be easy, neither do I fear it. God has led me to this place, God will take care of it. As Julian of Norwich said, "All is well, All will be well, and All manner of things will be well."

What does EST have to do with this decision? It is in an effort to always be here now with Christ, in prayer, and remembering the needs of those for whom I pray. Writing will be an important part of my ministry and potentially of my livelihood. I ask your prayers for this wonderful adventure in my life.

The Present

The present moment is the only moment we have in which to live, to repent, to love, to plan, but most of all it is the present moment in which we must act. In this present moment I am moved after months of silence to publish an entry which this site moved me to do, to act. What is it? Human Rights Watch.

We moan and complain about our lives, with a right to do so, sometimes, but when you see what is happening to people around the world, our minor complaints become very, very unimportant. A young man said to me yesterday "a Cistercian monk is a doctor of prayer." Many of my readers are Lay Cistercians, and we too must see ourselves as doctors of prayer.

All I am asking of you is to look at the site. Consider signing the letter about child soldiers -- you will be shocked how many nations tolerate this -- and at least sign up for the newsletter. Their pain, is humanities pain. As Christians, can we fail to pray for this pain with a clear conscience?