tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501386398734660682.post444418097814664063..comments2021-04-19T22:08:53.701-04:00Comments on MY FLESH IS TRUE FOOD: A Weekend of Peace...Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624843397283907934noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501386398734660682.post-62485748641972581282011-01-11T18:31:26.218-05:002011-01-11T18:31:26.218-05:00Yea, I had read that the claim that Kempis was bur...Yea, I had read that the claim that Kempis was buried alive was not true. Imitation of Christ is my daily devotional. I carry it with me almost all the time. <br /><br />Thomans Merton wrote, "If my soul silences my flesh by an act of violence, my felsh will take revenge on the soul, secretly infecting it with a spirit of revenge. Bitterness and bad temper are the flowers of an ascetism that has punished only the body." <br /><br />I think this was the Brother's point. He is the novice director for the monastery and probably has to break some people of the false notion that monastic life is a life of self inflicted pennance made intentionally devoid of joy. That isn't what God wants of us anyway and not what Kempis writes about either. <br /><br />-Tim-Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14624843397283907934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501386398734660682.post-12930108296061667662011-01-11T10:04:56.810-05:002011-01-11T10:04:56.810-05:00I am not sure what the monk's point was concer...I am not sure what the monk's point was concerning Thomas a Kempis, but no where is there any real documentation about him being buried alive. The Imitation of Christ, like all books, is not for everyone but it has been one of the most important and most loved books for centuries. Next to the Gospels, St Therese says it was her favorite book and Ronald Knox died while he was preparing a translation of it. Even in the past 20 years a number of new editions have come out and gone through many printings.<br />perhaps the good monk should be a little more humble next time he says something about old Thomas!!patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12649642843714758175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501386398734660682.post-37636813913100151592010-10-23T21:09:26.419-04:002010-10-23T21:09:26.419-04:00Thanks for posting Mindy and thanks for the kind w...Thanks for posting Mindy and thanks for the kind words. I'm not too sure I fully understand what Father meant myself. Reading your question now has started me pondering and I thank you for that. <br /><br />Hmm, just thinking out loud...<br /><br />Anyone who has read The Imitation of Christ will agree that it does not exude hope and enthusiasm. Kempis' focus seems to be on severe pennance, mortification, and suffering to the point of "Drinking the bitter chalice of his passion."<br /><br />Contrast this with Merton who writes of God knowing that we are not perfect, that we will inevitably make mistakes, and of God being pleased with the fact that we tried to please him - what he calls pure intention - even though we sometimes fail. Merton writes of God taking more pleasure in our pure intention than in our perfect performance. <br /><br />I don't know enough about Kempis' life nor death to be able to say for sure, but based on Father's claim that Kempis was buried alive, I think Father was trying to say that a life of severe pennance and mortification for it's own sake is a tortured life - which for Kempis (accoring to Father) was so strong that it manifested itself physically, even to the grave.<br /><br />Not enough space here but Chapter 6 of No Man is an Island by Thomas Merton talks of "False Asceticism" and the soul silencing the flesh by "An act of violence." I think father was warning me about pennance for pennance sake and mortification for mortification's sake.<br /><br /><br />-Tim-Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14624843397283907934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501386398734660682.post-3777590365344935272010-10-22T15:26:38.115-04:002010-10-22T15:26:38.115-04:00What a stunning post...I hope you can write more h...What a stunning post...I hope you can write more here about Thomas Kempis and exactly what Fr. Elias meant by his response about the grave, etc. I'm confused by that.Mindy Goorchenkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05818946142482561957noreply@blogger.com