Reader AG at The Risk of Truth blog has posted a new monk and cow story! It concerns a naughty abbot who, under the guise of holiness, secretly pushed peasants’ cows over cliffs. He got away with it for several years, having convinced the archbishop of his sanctity. However, his plan goes awry when the Vicar General clues into the Abbot’s bovine fetish. You can read the whole story by clicking here.
To read other monk and cow stories, please click here.
The monk who misunderstood holiness
Among Eastern Christians (both Catholic and Orthodox), there’s a compendium of spiritual texts known as the Philokalia. It’s a sort of spiritual reader, collecting stories from early saints and other monastic spiritual guides throughout the centuries. What follows is one of my favorite stories from the collection:
Two monks were praying on the mountain when the first monk turned to the second and said: “I cannot understand why you enjoy such renown among the people for holiness.”
From ‘untouchable’ to out-of-touch
Anonymous raises an interesting question in the Was Maciel’s ‘medical condition’ contagious? blog discussion:
In reading the followup comments on the linked blog entry, and seeing more than one claim of abuse at the apostolic school, what in these days would make anyone fear exposing abuse in a court of law: I mean we know for better or ill, there are personal injury lawyers that would mop the floor with the LC’s with these kinds of cases, and that would not take into account criminal prosecution of any act still within the statute of limitations.
I think the issue is that Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, until very recently, were considered ‘untouchable’ within the Church. Victims were often sued, threatened with lawsuits and ostracized for speaking out. Maciel was, to a certain extent, protected by Pope John Paul II and several powerful curial Cardinals in Rome.
From the Good Friday Byzantine Liturgy
“Do not let my heart turn toward words of evil, to cover sins with smooth names.”
Don’t worry about Pope Benedict
As we celebrate Christ’s institution of the Mass and priesthood tonight, I should probably be praying and meditating upon sacred texts. However, it seems like many Catholics and evangelicals (yes, I’ve also heard from Benedict’s fans among our evangelical protestant brethren) are concerned about the latest media attacks against the Holy Father.
Don’t be.
Pray for Pope Benedict. Defend him when you come across unfair attacks against him. But leave the worrying to the Holy Spirit who chose Benedict as successor to St. Peter. Simply put, God is not going to abandon such a faithful servant in this time of hardship. And if it be God’s will that the Church’s enemies drive the Holy Father out of Rome, there is little we can do to stop it.