In my surfing around the net I came across this mission in Toronto that is exactly what I was thinking of. The website is: http://www.stjohnsmission.org/ This is just what the Orthodox Church needs to do. Their mission is as follows: Our purpose is to be and to build an inclusive community through the gifts and the needs that each of us brings. This Community of Love is a place of healing and nourishment occurring through awakening the God-given dignity and value of each person, while responding to each person’s needs. This is very much in line with the vision of Dorothy Day. We need to study this more.

It has been a long time since my last post which was only my second post. The idea behind this blog was for random thoughts on my monastic journey. Not much has happened since my last entry so it would appear that this blog is a failure. I have a very different view towards the monastic life that would be traditional in the Orthodox Church. My feeling is that monks should not hiding out in some monastery but should be visible members of the church. My vision is for monks to live in a simple house and interact with the community. Taking that all the way to the end, perhaps monks should run shelters for homeless people or a mission of some type. Why is it that others can do this but we feel that monks need to be in monastery and left alone. Just some random thoughts.

Today is Veterans day here in the US. I often find myslef thinking of all of those men and women who have gone before us in service to our country. We owe a great debt of gratitude to these people.

I also wonder about the present conflicts that our country is involved in. Can we support the troops and not support the war? Do we have to agree with everything that the government tells us and if we do not, does that make us un patriotic? Very deep questions with many answers I am sure.

As we look at all the flags fluttering around our cities and towns today lets pause and just say thank you.

Greetings,

This is my first entry of what I hope to be many. I am an Orthodox Priest and very interested in monasticism. I was a monk in the western church before my conversion to Orthodoxy. I hope that we will all learn from each other.