A Season of Silence - On Break Until Mid-October

Dear Friends and Supporters of Philokalia Ministries, 

The following message is from Fr. Charbel. In it, he explains that recent events necessitate a brief break from the creation of new content for Philokalia Ministries, and a temporary hiatus on weekly groups and retreats. The break is only temporary. Father will be stepping away until October 19. In the meantime, please enjoy the hundreds of recordings available on the website—from past groups and multi-part retreats—and keep Father in your prayers. God bless you all. Looking forward to hearing your voices on the podcasts again soon! 

Ren

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Dear friends,

I want to share something with you simply and from the heart.

Over these past months, and especially in recent weeks, I have found myself being drawn into a depth of silence and prayer that I do not feel free to resist. There has been much loss, change, caregiving, and interior stripping, and I find that increasingly the one thing I can do with any simplicity is pray.

The Name of Jesus has become the place where my heart can remain.

I have tried to continue our groups as I normally would, but I have begun to recognize that I am forcing something that perhaps needs to be laid down for a time. I do not want to teach or speak simply because I have always done so, nor do I want to give you words that are being produced by effort when God seems to be asking something quieter of me.

And so I need to step back from our groups for a season and enter more fully into this silence.

Please do not understand this as a withdrawal of affection. You have become very dear to me, and everything we have shared in the Fathers, in prayer, and in our desire for Christ remains precious to me. Nor do I know what shape things may take in the future. I do not want to anticipate Providence.

For now, I know only that I need to become quiet.

Perhaps after so many years of speaking about the desert, the cell, hiddenness, surrender, and the one thing necessary, there comes a moment when one must stop speaking about these things and consent to them.

I ask only for your prayers.

Keep close to Christ. Keep the Name of Jesus in your heart. Everything we have sought together is there.

With love and gratitude,

Fr. Charbel