Lent that is...

 

Irish Celtic Monks assembled these beehive-shaped stone huts on
the rock island of Skellig Michael off the western coast of Ireland.

OUR monastic past have inspired me. Monasteries  were a symbol of power, learning, corruption and scandals. They were also places where men and women remained isolated and holy. In the past both kings and the commons feared monasteries.    

From the outside, I have always looked at a monastery to be a place of grandeur. If not with gold or silver, they were indeed large places were monks could isolate themselves. They were also places of flowers and gardens, chapels and libraries.

In the church history, we often read about the servant-class monks  who live and work in these huge monasteries. These servant-monks had to cook, clean, garden or work long hours in the laundry. Among certain sets of monks, everyone was to do some of these tasks in rotation. When printing was not invented, even skillful works like coping the Holy Scriptures were devotedly done by the monks from these monasteries. We also read stories of monks offering lifelong services in the tough environments of medieval kitchen dungeons. One such famous monk was Bro.Lawrence  who authored the book ‘Practice of the Presence of God’. He literally lived and died in his services at a monastery kitchen in France.

I was pleased at seeing the pictures of another kind of monastery. These structures were built during the period AD 1,400 to AD 900. Irish Celtic Monks assembled these beehive-shaped stone huts on the rock island of Skellig Michael off the western coast of Ireland.  They were built by a technique called "drystone" architecture (no mortar was used---yet even today these stone huts are still perfectly waterproof!).  "Skellig" means "Rock".  During the Middle Ages, high places were often named after the Archangel Michael. Another example would be "Mont St. Michel" on the French Coast. 

Looking at all these and more, I am reminded of the long-standing plurality that Christians exhibited and accepted. Not only the plenty and the rich but also the poor express their richness in faith. From the kitchen dungeons in Europe to the aired deserts of North Africa... from the intellectual shadow of the Byzantium  to the ‘new faith’ ages, the plurality that historical Christian faith witnessed to the world is magnificent. 

Today, as in the monastic past, the call of the church is to be holy and frugal. The Lent is one season when we can disengage from material living in our own terms: try staying away from tea or coffee... and to sharpen our thoughts around the Word and the Way. That is one joy in the Lent.