Catholic Fire

On October 6, we celebrate the feast of St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian order. He was born at Cologne, Germany around 1030. He studied at the school of the Cathedral of Rheims (France) at an early age. He became Canon of the Cathedral and was made the Rector of the University in 1056. Bruno was one of the most remarkable scholars and teacher of his time: "...a prudent man whose word was rich in meaning." Following an attempt at a solitary life of short duration, he entered the region of Grenoble, where the Bishop, the future Saint Hugues, offered him a solitary site in the mountains of his diocese. In June 1084, the Bishop himself led Bruno and six of his companions to the primitive valley of Chartreuse on a wild mountain range on the edge of the French Alps. There they built a hermitage, consisting of a few log cabins opening towards a gallery which allowed them access to the communal areas of the community -- church, refectory, and chapter room -- without h...

I love this reflection on Lent by Our Holy Father that I found over at Eagle and Elephant - it's just beautiful! The desert is the place of silence, of solitude; it is the absence of the exchanges of daily life, its noise and its superficiality. The desert is the place of the absolute, the place of freedom, which sets us before the ultimate demands. Not by chance is the desert the place where monotheism began. In that sense it is a place of grace. In putting aside all preoccupations we encounter our Creator. Great things have their beginnings in the desert, in silence, in poverty. It is not possible to share in the mission of Jesus, in the mission of the Gospel, without sharing in the desert experience, its poverty, its hunger. [Go here to read the rest .]