PHILOKALIA MINISTRIES

A Desert Reflection in Conversation with St. Thomas Aquinas In a recent reflection I wrote on the Evergetinos , I tried to name the scandal many of us feel when we read stories of monks who refuse to defend themselves, who accept theft, insult, or even violence in silence, as if it were a blessing. Everything in our Western formation cries out that this cannot be right. Someone then sent me a series of texts from St. Thomas Aquinas on peace, justice, rights, judgment, scandal

A Personal Reflection on Silence and the Fear of Teaching There is a part of me that longs for silence with a kind of desperation, as if only silence can keep me from unraveling. Not silence as escape or convenience, but the silence that strips everything away, the silence that teaches me who I am without role or title or task. A silence where I no longer speak with authority about anything because I know so little. A silence where the only voice worth heeding is the voice of