Our Quiet Asceticism

We know that, in the early Church, asceticism was a big thing. Many men and women went to live in deserts, surviving on very little and praying a lot. Some did spectacular things, like praying all 150 psalms every day.

We have an asceticism though we don’t live in a desert. Ours is quieter and practically hidden. So, we believe in spite of our secular world. We hope in Jesus  Christ in spite of constant mass killings.  We trust that the Holy Spirit is shaping the Truth in us while the media spread weird prejudices and lies. 

Parents have to have an asceticism. The adolescent has an asceticism. The elderly have one too, enduring in patience. We get  up every morning and greet the Lord with prayer, though one in four of our American citizens are “nones,” claiming no religion. And lots deny God. We remain chaste while sex riles up everything around us.  

Our world doesn’t see our asceticism and if it does, it scoffs.  But we quietly continue praying, trusting God, and loving one another in the Name of Jesus Christ. That’s our asceticism.

Fr. Joe Tetlow, S.J.