It’s not often that the Acknowledgements page of a book brings one up short, but the first line of John Kiser’s The Monks of Tibhirine1 had that effect on me:
Like Trappist monks, writers do their real work alone, but their efforts are sustained and bear fruit only with the help and support of others.
It immediately wonder if the vocation of Trappist monks, as seen by Kiser, can be extended to all Christians:
Like writers, Christians do their real work alone, but their efforts are sustained and bear fruit only with the help and support of others.
And, if this is so, what is the “real work” of the Christian?
- John Kiser, The Monks of Tibhirine : faith, love, and terror in Algeria (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003). [↩]
Surely it is to enter into and grow in the fullest relationship possible with the Trinity. Such a relationship then bears fruit that impacts on and benefits others……….hopefully. Isn’t anything else ‘cart before horse’?
I agree with Crispin Pemberton about the Christian’s ‘real work’. On the other hand (you can tell I’m an Anglican) is a Christian ever actually alone even in solitariness?