Report of the "Roots in the Desert”
School Seminar at the Marywood Retreat Center for Spirituality and
Ministry near Jacksonville, Florida
February 11-13, 2004
by Connie Price
On February 11-13, 2004, at the Marywood Retreat Center for Spirituality
and Ministry near Jacksonville, Florida, Kim Nataraja, International
School Coordinator for the W.C.C.M., led a seminar on the “Desert
Fathers and Mothers” of the fourth Century. Some thirty persons
attended this course on an important segment of the beginnings of
spirituality in the Christian faith. The “Desert Fathers and
Mothers’ ” practices included meditation, hermitage,
monastic community, and the contemplative life.
In leading the seminar, Kim communicated her findings with depth,
enthusiasm, and vivid clarity. Friday night’s session included
an introductory video showing the present-day Egyptian monasteries
that continue some of the ancient traditions. Kim summarized the
dramatic history of these phenomenal early Christians: their massive
retreats from the cities, their rich intellectual pursuits, and
their lives lived on the basis of believing that Christ intended
for joy and fulfillment to be the essential and pervasive qualities
of human experience.
Kim encouraged her seminarians to discern, from original texts,
the values that gave the early visionaries a bond and a sense of
purpose. Humility, detachment, and inner peace were considered as
attributes of a personhood that would be centered in the Holy Spirit.
Above all else, they believed, must one abstain from anger, pride,
and “speaking ill of others.” The meaning that the passionate
believers treasured was in fact not based upon speaking, nor even
thinking. Thoughts, they said, are distortions of the indwelling
of the living God. A spiritual existence was to be found in silence.
The silence of (what has come to be called) meditation was not considered
to be symbolic and not merely representative of an idolized and
absent power. They perceived meditation as the mystical (or, direct)
encounter with life’s reality, that is, with the mindfulness
of God’s love for us.
The early Communities grew to the tens of thousands in very short
periods of time in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, Arabia, and
Persia. Ironically, the disciples were fleeing from the Roman domain
that had been Christianized by Constantinople. They chose to create
communities of the heart rather than endure “the Church”
in its existing sophistication. Many women participated in the movement,
and famous writers emerged from it, such as John Cassian and Evagrius.
The Desert Parents influenced two millennia of theology and philosophy
in incalculable ways. Figures that come readily to mind as those
who showed this influence are Meister Eckhart (13th C.) and Thomas
Merton (20th C.).
The “Roots in the Desert” retreat seminarians studied
the writings and biographies of some of the “Abbas and Ammas”
in an atmosphere of freedom and inspiration. Kim was an encouraging
presence whose humility bespoke her profound wisdom and vast knowledge
of the subject matter. Several times she asked the students to discuss
some of the early texts in breakout sessions, then to report in
plenary their ideas and insights.
Local organization and facilities enhanced the meeting. Many thanks
to the Retreat Center Administration and the Director, Sr. Kathleen
Power. Community leaders in the Jacksonville area were also helpful,
especially Gene Bebeau and Linda Kaye.
Connie C. Price
Tuskegee, AL
March 19, 2004
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