Ancient Struggle

This persistent wrestling, this struggle, this restlessness is not a new experience. Sixteen hundred years ago, the Christian monks of the Egyptian desert, the Desert Fathers, noticed a similar phenomenon. When they were at work, they felt drawn to prayer; when they prayed, they felt drawn to work; when they settled in one monastery, they became convinced that true spirituality could be found only in the monastery down the road. The monk's task was not to flee from this restlessness, but to stay put and wrestle with it.

I was ever so surprised when I spent a day with the Desert Fathers now living in one monastery in Egypt. They were not what I expected. They were not hermits, living separated from life. No, the monks I spoke with were outgoing, professionals (doctor, engineer, and a mathematician) who had completed their education before entering the monastery. They had a sense of humor. They went off to work each day; some working to transform the desert into farmland with irrigation and others worked in clinics. Each took turns being with the "daily invasion"; they called it; barbarians in the olden days, tourists nowadays. They were historians, good humored, well versed in many religions. In talking and asking questions I learned that they lived in individual cells and would arise each day at 4:00 am to pray. Prayer and vocation were ways they lived with the struggle.