How can we tend the garden of our souls? Meg Funk turns to the
wisdom of the desert fathers for the means of removing obstacles to
spiritual growth, which include thoughts of food, sex, possessions,
anger, dejection, and pride, among other preoccupations.
Redirecting thought away from such weeds in the garden of the
spirit can lead to a greater awareness of God and purity of
prayer.
This method to mental discipline may seem impossible at first,
Funk admits, but those who succeed at it are rewarded with a
liberating experience as they come to observe and control
individual thought processes. Drawing on the writings of the
fifth-century monk John Cassian, Funk goes on to explore deeply
using such tools as memory, imagination, and rational
thinking-tools right out of early Christianity-to work on inner
healing. She also explains how other positive tools, such as
ceaseless prayer, manual labor, and isolation, may lead to
uncluttering the mind and purifying the heart.
"Mary Margaret Funk is a Benedictine nun of Our Lady of Grace
Monastery, Beech Grove, Indiana. From 1994 through 2004, she served
as executive director of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, which
fosters dialogue among monastics of the world's religions. In
addition to the volumes of the Matters Series, she is the author of
"Islam Is... An Experience of Dialogue and Devotion" and "Into the
Depths: A Journey of Loss and Vocation.
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