Tag: Catherine Doherty

The Importance of the Desert to the Inner Life


A recent post by Orthodox Abbot Tryphon on Poustinia is helpful to those who frequently practice silence and have a “hermit day” to keep focus on preferring God above all things. The Abbot writes,


The Russian word, “Poustinia”, means “desert”, and the importance of the poustinia to the inner life can not be dismissed. If we are to hear the voice of God speaking to us, we must listen to His silence.

If we are to learn to hear His voice, we must learn to be silent. Without recollection and silence, the inner life is impossible, and we will not make spiritual progress.

The desert must be a part of our daily living, for without entering into the desert of the heart, nothing can be gained. With the noise of the Internet, and the world of computers, iPods, laptops, and iPhones, the noise of the world threatens our soul like nothing in the previous history of humanity.

The world of cybernetics has its place, but we must not allow it to overwhelm the spiritual dimension of our humanity.

***As a side note and related, Catherine Dougherty popularized the idea of Catholics taking up the practice of Poustinia in her book on the subject.

Restoring the Earth – Apostolic Farming

One of  my loves is agriculture. Not many would have guessed it. This love has its roots in several places: family, church and the love of food and good health. Catholics and Orthodox Christians have a very long interest in being good stewards of land and water, animals, fish, fowl and agriculture. How we treat these things indicates how we think about ourselves. Neglect and abuse of the land ends badly for everybody. One of the things that I have keenly learned is that too many of have become so disconnected from the land and unconcerned with the quality of our food, the dignity of hard work and the recognition of what we have is given to us as a gift from God.

Benedict XVI reminded us in Caritas in Veritate:

It is necessary, then, to point in a truly unified way to a new balance between agriculture, industry and services, so that development be sustainable, and no one go without bread and work, and so that air and water and the other primary resources be preserved as universal goods (No. 27).

We need to look at some thinking and experience of farming that only begins to put some things together to as to understand work of faith and ecology. Let me propose “Restoring the Earth” some guiding ideas  from Madonna House. We can also call it what Catherine Doherty called, Apostolic Farming.

Just as Pope John Paul gave us a superb theology of the body, we now need to connect that theology with a renewed and robust theology of creation. Many forget that we actually have a theology of creation! This proposal is one that needs to be echoed loudly that shows that farms and farmers incarnate in a particular way God in the world. And because of this fact, we need to be good stewards of the land because God gave us the land and natural resources. Farmers have a vocation  that really mirrors the Order of Deacon: a way to serve and feed others.