C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

      One of the best known of the Desert Fathers of fourth-century Egypt, St Sarapion the Sindonite, travelled once on pilgrimage to Rome. Here he was told of a celebrated recluse, a woman who lived always in one small room, never going out. Skeptical about her way of life—for he was himself a great wanderer—Sarapion called on her and asked: “Why are you sitting here?” To this she replied: “I am not sitting, I am on a journey”.        I am not sitting, I am on a journey. Every Christian may apply these words to himself or herself. To be a Christian is to be a traveller. Our situation, say the Greek Fathers, is like that of the Israelite people in the desert of Sinai: we live in tents, not houses, for spiritually we are always on the move. We are on a journey through the inward space of the heart, a journey not measured by the hours of our watch or the days of the calendar, for it is a journey out of time into eternity. *  ...

      “In my view the best equipment anyone has for confronting the adversity that comes with hard times is the possession of a healthy, powerful body and the sense of spiritual equilibrium that comes from being centered and in solid personal control.” ~Bradley J. Steiner*      Bradley Steiner, in the pages of Ironman , penned the words above in 1995.  Apparently, he thought the world was going through some hard times back then, though I’m not really sure exactly what it was.  Bill Clinton was in the 3rd year of his presidency.  Perhaps he didn’t like Clinton—I was a Perot man myself those days—and thought the world was headed in directions that could be detrimental for its future.  Steiner passed on from this life in December of 2020, when everyone was in isolation from Covid.  I wonder what he thought of the world then?  Oh, well.  Whatever it was that he thought in ‘95, his words ring true no matter ...