Christmas letter, 2020
3 years ago
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
proximite
The other night I rented the film "Into Great Silence." It's a film that beautifully portrays the spirituality of Carthusian monks living out their days in a monastery nestled in the French Alps. Stylistically, the footage is incredible--serene and sublime. Frame after frame artistically displays the simple and dedicated monastic life of those seeking transcendence.
The clip above was one of my favorite scenes as a blind monk relates his belief of what constitutes the happy life. Of course man does not possess the faculty of "bringing oneself closer to God" in the moral sense; such closeness would be the greatest terror apart from Christ. The divine proximity we will know at our death will be the greatest cause for all happiness because Christ has done far more than "help us," He has become sin for us. Expiation is what eradicates fear and "because of this a Christian should always be happy, never unhappy."
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Thanks for this post, Jen. I've been watching old episodes of The Flying Nun. (Where Sally Field plays a nun in a convent in Puerto Rico. Not exactly the same intellectual level as the clip you showed, but it makes you think.) I sometimes think that it would be nice to live a solitary and undistracted life, but then I realize most of my days are solitary and undistracted enough to give me plenty of time alone with God, solitary time in the yard, or doing laundry, or reading my friends' blogs, and then I also get to enjoy great times with my husband, watching movies and going to jazz clubs, and having small gatherings of friends, and taking Rufus for a walk, all of which activities can be a time of honor to God, serving Him by doing the fun things that Jay enjoys, taking care of our dog, making our house a nice-looking and restful haven, showing hospitality to our friends and sharing our stuff with them. So, as much as I enjoy some time to myself wherein I can worship God and talk to Him, I also enjoy the diversions of life, the diversions of family and friends.
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