Today reading about St Anthony, whose feastday is today, and is responsible for starting the life with our Lord... called Monasticism... I was reminded of about a month ago when the power suddenly went off at about 8p... It was pitch black and silent in an instant, and we groped for candles and flashlights. We ate a cold supper of cereal by candlelight, and then I took a small flashlight and crawled under the blankets to read for the hour and a half that it took for the power to come back on. I have often thought, when camping or somewhere away from the modern conveniences of electricity... and all that means for us all night long if we wish... lights, TV, computer, games of all sorts... If we allow all these things to become important to us and rule our time...our life could involve only a few hours of rest away from all of these distractions, and I know of some that tell me that they are addicted to a game on the computer, or something like that, and after working a night shift... don't go home to sleep, but to play some game, and seldom get the sleep that they need!
How simple would the the life of ST Anthony be in the 200s-300s - he lived to be 106... when the sun goes down in his cave... he would probably have a fire, but after selling all that he had and giving it to the poor... I doubt that he had a stockpile of candles and candle holders to read by into the night. His life was controlled by the sun - the light! Such a lesson to us in this day and age... that we should also have our lives controlled by the LIGHT of our lives - the Son of God, Jesus Christ! On our way home last night we stopped at TEC to see John and many wonderful friends and "family." How we love our TEC family - our prayer family, and know that they were so much a part of the army of prayer that we had behind and with us for this last year and a half with John's journey called cancer/healing! For all of them to have John there with them as one of the spiritual director, was a reminder of the miracle that they all had been such a powerful part of! John shared that the tears of grief and the spiritual graces of a loving and forgiving God are overwhelming to him... How we are praying for all of those, who are experiencing God's touch this weekend.Together encounter Christ - TEC is an amazing gift that we have in our diocese, state and country and world! I would encourage one and all to find the TEC in your area, and take this closer walk with our Lord! Prayer has become as the air that I breath, and each breath that I take, as a result of my 3 oldest girls offering and asking and begging me to go... One after the other... they made their first TEC, and came home to ask me to go, after the 3rd one I could no longer say that I was fine with my prayer life and with the Lord. I had to say "yes." My life was enriched beyond belief, and changed forever! My family has been expanded to include so many sons and daughters - you can go at age 16, so there are many young people that we have met there over these last 12 years of our involvement! As well as many amazing people our age and older! So many people on fire for our Lord and our Church... not to mention the wonderful priests and sisters, who love and serve Together Encounter Christ! Our prayers today are with all those there to grow and serve this retreat weekend in Bird Island... and most especially our wonderful healed yet altered son, John, as he shares his life altering and changing Cross- cancer/healing! 
Little sweet one year old David...took grandma's finger as I came out of the beroom this morning, and mom told me that everything he had on had belonged to his dad... a pair of adorable doggy slippers padded along on his little feet and his sweatshirt said Alaska on it - Joe's parents had been stationed there for a year and a half shortly after Joe was born - they were finishing up their lifetime in the Airforce. So special as little Dave brought grandma over to the piano - and looked up at me expectantly- I suddenly regretted that I had quit paino after 3 years, and then forgot the little that I did know... How fun it would have been to sit down and play and sing with him! All the way over as he held my hand and danced - we had been singing our "Jesus" song, so I put him on the piano bench and he was happy to accompany our singing in this special way! Mom needs to encourage him to take lessons someday too! 
Sorry dad... I know that I am being too generous with my pictures of Dave at the piano, but I know that grandma Gail is cheering to see them! Back to our thoughts of the lesson that St Anthony can teach us...After hearing the story of the rich young man, whom Jesus tells to sell all that he has and give it to the poor... "if you wish to be perfect - then come , follow me." Mt 19:21 When he heard this Gospel - "St Anthony the Great sold all he had and abandoned a comfortable life for the solitude of the desert. He inspired countless men and women to follow his example of prayer and asceticism to attune the heart to hear the Word of God and live it intensely." See http://www.magnificat.com/ Definitions of asceticism on the Web:the doctrine that through renunciation of worldly pleasures it is possible to achieve a high spiritual or intellectual state
austerity: the trait of great self-denial (especially refraining from worldly pleasures)
rigorous self-denial and active self-restraint.... For me this was huge, when I first became a Catholic! Fr Thomas A'Kempis was one of my early heros and his entire book called - Of Imitation of Christ is one that speaks of leaving all the wordly distractions behind and following and turning to HIM! THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
Thomas à Kempis
"For five hundred years, this gentle book, filled with the spirit of the love of God, has brought understanding and comfort to millions of readers in over fifty languages, and provided them with a source of heart-felt personal prayer. These meditations on the life and teachings of Jesus, written in times even more troubled and dangerous than our own, have become second only to the Bible as a guide and inspiration." - Not that long ago Maria handed me my worn out old edition, and it brought me back to my young romantic days of being a new convert to Catholicism! A place that I really have never left... I feel a bit guilty to say that, when I know the dark desert places that many of the saints have found their faith journey, but on the other hand I am eternally joyful and grateful for that!
As I was writing that last statement - it struck me that I was describing the life of St Anthony - "dark desert place"- This is the life that St Anthony embraced, and modeled for many to follow as well as ST Theresa of Calcutta and St Therese of Lissieux - they asked to join in the suffering of the Lord, and although they did not go to the actual desert... they had that dryness in their faithlife, and had to trust in the hours of daylight to follow the light in their lives with the tremendous faith, hope and trust that took for them in the "dark night" of their souls. There is so much that we can learn from these men and women, who looked to the True Light to guide them and no other distractions were allowed into their world of love and service of Christ! How we need to weed those things out and strive to keep our eyes on him and when the darkness closes in around us to trust and sleep in Him until the daylight arrives to greet the new day of love and service to our brothers and sisters and families and those that we work with and come in contact with - the face of Christ!
Oh those adorable doggy slippers and the 1 year old boy wearing them - grandma couldn't get enough or pick just one... think of him playing his adorable and sweet "Jesus" song for us as I write today.... Then the reading from the morning prayer this morning.. Mark 8: 34-37 "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life?" How powerful is it,when Jesus speaks directly to us,and tells us what it takes for us to find HIM,and our eternal HAPPINESS and HOME forever in heaven with HIM!
Monkey and doggy slippers! Too much for a grandma to take it all in! The Lord asks so much of us as He tells us to take up that miserable cross that hurts and gives us suffering... yet we find there our tree of life and the joy is so complete and so appreciated when the suffering brings us to that weak place where we must have Him carry us in His loving and forgiving arms to go forward and to face what lies ahead of us on this journey of life - for us in the last year and a half on the journey of cancer/healing we had many times where we needed Him to carry us! We could see that this is where some of us have to be in order to turn to Him. When life is going along without a hitch and we are climbing higher and higher with power and money to burn - why look to Him? That is why St Anthony took to heart the preaching of the Gospel! 
Back to the real world where most of us live - life is closing in on me at the moment and I need to tend to the needs of life - but then I am thinking of St Anthony in his cave for all those years... although he lived with much fasting he still needed to get himself some food and water. He maybe grew some vegetables in a garden or had to go and gather things to eat from nature of hunt for meat or go begging to the doors of those that lived near him and share the Gospel there. It would require of him daily to go and tend to his needs and at the same time to share all that he had learned and gathered from his life of study of the Gospel... Much like the little Sisters, who live in poverty and depend on divine providence to live - they also become the Word of God through study and prayer and then take it out to the world as our Lord asks all of us to do! 
We all have many things that are required of us each day to survive and to care for those that depend upon us... WE must not neglect them and they are not distractions - they are our lives of service to our family and our work... Yet, with spending time with him at daily mass, if possible, and morning and evening prayer, and the rosary where we follow Christ through His mother's eyes and intercessions - we can always be walking in the light and sharing the Gospel with those around us- as St Francis is famous for reminding - "Always the preach the Gospel, and when necessary use words." Praise Him! 
Jesus, there is so much for us to rejoice over this day! You fill us to the brim with your Truth and your Love! We feel excited and motivated to go forward, and use our lives more and more to your glory and honor... and to find the place where we can bask in your Sonlight and feel the warmth of your love! Our caves of simplicity... uncomplicated by the distractions that are constantly trying to pull at us... we enter them when the darkness closes in and then emerge into the daylight with the coming of the dawn! Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb"In the days when he was in the Flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him." Hebrews 5:1-10
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