St. Anthony of Egypt and Broadband Access
The life of St Anthony of Egypt was celebrated on Monday this week. He a was desert hermit who left a wealthy inheritance to live without any means of support in the desert in the mid fourth century. His goal was to live in complete solitude as a sacrifice and worship to God, but over time he attracted followers and even a community of hermits started up around him, despite his protests. At one point the emperor Constantine wrote a letter to him asking for his prayers. (No Constantine didn't start the Catholic Church. It was already growing and flourishing since 33 AD , but I digress.)
Our priest at morning Mass on Monday gave a nice homily about the importance of "getting away from the city" and taking time everyday to be alone with God. He said we needed to somehow find a way to have our own little time in the desert away from the city. It seems that everything in my life is constructed to take me further into the city and to increase my involvement- beeper, cell phone, social media of the internet etc. Now that Verizon is going to carry the iphone, I am even considering upgrading from my ipad touch which has only wi-fi connect-ability. This would give me instantaneous access to email, the net, news, fb, my blog etc. Will this enhance my walk with God or detract from it? What would St. Anthony of the Desert say? I think I already know.
I suspect that one of the true paths to sainthood in our generation should involve a complete lack of broadband access. But on second thought, I could see St Paul using Twitter to exhort his disciples and the churches...in 140 characters or less.
Our priest at morning Mass on Monday gave a nice homily about the importance of "getting away from the city" and taking time everyday to be alone with God. He said we needed to somehow find a way to have our own little time in the desert away from the city. It seems that everything in my life is constructed to take me further into the city and to increase my involvement- beeper, cell phone, social media of the internet etc. Now that Verizon is going to carry the iphone, I am even considering upgrading from my ipad touch which has only wi-fi connect-ability. This would give me instantaneous access to email, the net, news, fb, my blog etc. Will this enhance my walk with God or detract from it? What would St. Anthony of the Desert say? I think I already know.
I suspect that one of the true paths to sainthood in our generation should involve a complete lack of broadband access. But on second thought, I could see St Paul using Twitter to exhort his disciples and the churches...in 140 characters or less.
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