Beastly?

Disciples and Disciple-making (10)

For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother…Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord. Philemon 1.7, 20

Paul was grateful for those like Philemon and Titus (2 Cor. 7) who cared for his soul and brought refreshment and renewal to him by their collaborations and love. Discipleship aims at the soul (2 Cor. 12.15), for the soul is that which sets us off from the beasts and, under the transforming work of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3.12-18), impels us onward in our discipleship. Even Paul needed others to tend his soul from time to time, and so do we.

St. Brigid said that a man without a soul friend is like a body without a head. He can’t think clearly, can’t see the world as it really is, and doesn’t even know what’s wrong with him. 

Aelred goes further: “A human being without a friend is like a beast: for he lacks someone with whom he can share his joy in prosperity and his sadness in adversity, to whom he may unburden his mind when he is preoccupied, with whom he may talk whenever he has had a particularly sublime or illuminating insight…That person is completely alone who has no friend.”

Those without a soul friend can be beastly—wary of everyone, consumed only with themselves, lacking anyone to help them carry the burden of life or to share in their joys. Soul friends care about our soul and seek, like Philemon, to refresh and renew us, that we might know joy and comfort. 

We can’t be disciples of Jesus Christ alone. We need others, and they need us.

Disciples are ambassadors of the Kingdom
The mandate to be and make disciples goes all the way back to the garden of Eden and is a community project, as Mike McQueen helps us to see. Click the link above to listen.

Resources for Shepherds
So, what was the tale that humble Oxford Scholar told to his fellow pilgrims on the road to Canterbury? It’s a difficult but charming morality tale, one that bears reading and contemplating for what we can learn from it. Perhaps my little summary will entice you back to the Canterbury road?

Part 2 of our brief series on “Calling and Callings” is now available. Do all Christians have a calling? Do they have more than one? Check out my introductory comments on these questions by clicking here.

Several new reviews of articles are also up on the Resources for Shepherds page, the most important of which is my review of Martin Gurri’s City Journal article, “The Endarkenment.” You can read my summary and find a link to this important article by clicking here.

Our current Read Moore series is taking excerpts from the book, The Church Captive. The first in our daily (5 days) readings begins here.

How did Jonathan Edwards encourage us to think about prayer? Download our free devotional study, based on his writings, Give Him No Rest, by clicking here.

From the Celtic Revival
The Christians in Ireland during the period of the Celtic Revival were much better than we typically are about keeping their eyes on the final goal of the life of faith. Their desire to win a crown of glory from the hand of Jesus shaped the way they lived, as we can see in this excerpt from the Life of Ciaran of Saighir from one of last week’s Crosfigell teaching letters:

Moreover, if any injury were done to him, he would always do some good thing in return, for he always forgave injuries. He would labour with his hands for the love of God, to get what they wanted for the poor. And so he passed his life in this world as to receive the crown of eternal life in the world to come.

  – Anonymous, Life of Ciaran of Saighir, Irish, 17th century, from an earlier ms.^[1]

The spiritual discipline of setting our minds on the things that are above, where Christ is, seated in glory, is much neglected these days, by people and shepherds alike. But the more we can focus on Jesus and see Him with the eyes of faith, the more we will be made like Him to glorify Him in all we do.

To receive Crosfigell in your email box every Tuesday and Thursday at 11:00 am, use the subscription button to update your subscriptions (scroll to the bottom of the home page).

We have much to learn from those ancient monks and how they lived and worked. Our book, Living to Rule, takes a closer look at monastic rules from this period to discern the disciplines that helped them to “save civilization” (Cahill). You can download a free copy of Living to Rule by clicking here.

T. M. Moore
If you have found this issue of Pastor to Pastor helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

Support for Pastor to Pastor comes from our faithful and generous God, who moves our readers to share financially in our work. If this article was helpful, please give Him thanks and praise.

And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

^[1] Plummer, p. 119.