Seeing Clearly

Today’s story is about three monks who try out different ways of life to find their way to God.

This story was told: there were three friends, serious men, who became monks. One of them chose to make peace between men who were at odds, as it is written, “blessed are the peacemakers”. The second chose to visit the sick. The third chose to go away to be quiet in solitude. Now the first, toiling among contentions, was not able to settle all quarrels and, overcome with weariness, he went to him who attended the sick, and found him also failing in spirit and unable to carry out his purpose. So, the two went away to see him who had withdrawn into the desert, and they told him their troubles. 

They asked him to tell them how he himself had fared. He was silent for a while, and then poured water into a vessel and said, “Look at the water,” and it was murky. After a little while he said again, “See now, how clear the water has become.” As they looked into the water they saw their own faces, as in a mirror. Then he said to them, “So it is with anyone who lives in a crowd; because of the turbulence, he does not see his sins: but when he has been quiet, above all in solitude, then he recognizes his own faults.”

In our time, we go on retreats to be cleansed, detoxed, restored. We don’t want to pay good money to think about our shortcomings. We’re good people, afterall. Well, pretty good. Most of us vote for politicians who ignore the needs of the poor, perpetuate racist and sexist institutions, and we don’t get too upset about it, if we notice at all. We also may not accept that in other people’s eyes we have been hurtful, whether it is our children, parents or friends. 

The monks were looking for solitude so they could face even their dark side, in the hopes of achieving true self knowledge, and through that, an honest relationship with God. The reward was a sense of calm and divine belonging which they had not experienced in society. In our time, even if we do not toss everything and go into solitude, we can still settle ourselves, like that turbulent water, through daily prayer and/or meditation. Finding ways to be still and unplugged, no headphones, no phones, just silence, is still very powerful, and more counter cultural than ever. And to admit we have faults? Hard, but so worthwhile. We all deserve that still water where we can see ourselves. Peace. 

-Rev. Stephen Milton, Lawrence Park Community Church, Toronto

Quotation Source: The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks, (London, 2003),p.11.

If you would like to subscribe to this series, please contact stephen@lawrenceparkchurch.ca