Fr Ben Garren

Dear Siblings In Christ,

Today is the fast of Anna and Joachim, the parents of Mary the mother of Jesus. The tradition around them is not based in scripture but early Christian belief that the parents of Mary must have been holy people to guide their daughter to such a deep relationship with God that she would be the bearer of Jesus. I want to take our celebration of this feast to share with you the notes we are using in the Beloved in the Desert Community, the guides we use in hopes that shared reflection on them might help us all to grow deeper in our love of God.

Community: Beloved Members will develop a common rhythm of life to maintain a true Christian Community in mutual love and service. Each Member will view their work as part of the whole. Amidst the difficulties and celebrations of life members will take the corporate life of Beloved in the Desert in mind. Members must be prepared for criticism as well as encouragement in their journey together.

Liberty: Beloved Members will develop their individual talents while maintaining their life in community. Members will encourage each other to develop their personal gifts, gain a greater understanding of self, and live more integrated lives. Each person will look to be true to the person God has created them to be and acquire traits that facilitate love of self and love of neighbor. These pursuits will enrich the offering each member is able to lay at the feet of Christ.

Grounding: Beloved members will set aside time each day as individuals and a community for prayer, meditation, and reflection. Members will understand the importance of defining certain spaces as restorative and comfortable, home spaces, and work to maintain the boundaries needed for these to prosper. Members will recognize that these pursuits are not accessories to their time together and their work in the community but the foundations that maintain both.

Searching: Beloved members will prepare to be curious and resilient in their time together and their work in community. Members will acknowledge that certain spaces are uncomfortable and even distressing, organizing spaces, and work to be open to personal growth and understanding others amidst such. Our life together doesn’t occur amidst ideals and our work in the community is with individuals of all backgrounds and situations.

Joy: Beloved Members will regularly make thanksgiving for God’s love striving for such to be spontaneous and perpetual. Members will enjoy recreational activities, seek to moderate anxiety, avoid despondency, and keep bitterness in check as they understand how this is destructive to their community’s joy as well as their own. Members will accept their share of sorrow and welcome the work which will minister to the joy of others. Their lives shall look toward hearing that most blessed voice say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

Please keep the Beloved in the Desert Cohort in your prayers as the begin their year and know that the people of St. Philips remain in theirs.

Pax,
Ben

P.S. Much thanks to the Oratory of the Good Shepherd, whose Seven Notes of the Oratory are an inspiration, at points whole cloth, for the Five Notes of the Beloved.