READING THE SPIRITUAL MEADOW: Our temptations have a purpose in the plan of God

There are few books in the spiritual library of our Church that are more edifying and spiritually instructive than The Spiritual Meadow, written by the sixth century monk St. John Moschos, who was a member of the community, at various different times, at the Great Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified and the monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai. The book takes its title from the introductory dedication, which the author wrote to his beloved student, Sophronius the Philosopher, who was later to become the Patriarch of Jerusalem, a principle witness to the brutality and degradation that engulfed the Near East, when that territory was wrested from the Roman Empire by the Muhammadans. In this introduction, John Moschos tells Sophronius that the Christian life has been for him a fragrant meadow in springtime, filled with all manner of beautiful flowers. He goes on to explain that he has plucked a bouquet from that meadow for Sophronius’ edification and instruction.

The book may appear to be a collection of random stories about John’s experience of monastic life in the Holy Land before the Muslim cataclysm that destroyed that culture irreparably, but a closer examination shows that the work is bound together by commonalities both geographical and thematic. The first part of the book is made up of stories concerning the elders of the monasteries of Sinai and the Jordan Valley that are bound together by the theme of obedience and resignation to the will of God. It is in this context that the author, John Moschos, gives to us the story of the priest-monk Conon who was entrusted with the ministry of baptizing converts to the Christian faith in the monastery at Aenon near Salim, where St. John the Baptist had baptized the Lord Jesus Christ. The priest Conon always found his ministry to be a terrible trial, because it required him to anoint the female converts with oil before their baptism (in those days, this anointing was done when the convert was completely naked, just before she would enter the fount to be baptized). This was the occasion of violent temptations for the priest, and he often resolved to flee from the monastery in order to escape this ministry. But, every time, St. John the Baptist would console him in prayer and promise to make his temptations easier to endure. Finally, one day, faced with the prospect of having to anoint a particularly attractive convert, Conon fled. He was not far from the monastery, when St. John the Baptist met him, consoled him as before, and assured him that, if he returned to his monastery, St. John would make his temptations easier to endure. But Conon would not hear of it, but said to the saint, “many times you have promised to do so, and you have done nothing.” Therefore, St. John the Baptist said to the priest, “I wanted you to receive some reward from God for these sufferings, but since you will not hear of it, I will take them away.” From that time onward, Conon anointed and baptized numerous converts and had no recognition whatsoever whether they were male or female.

The message of this story for us is clear. Our temptations in the Christian life have a purpose in the sight of God. As the Scriptures tell us, “the Lord tests every son He receives.” In just the same way, the Lord Jesus tests the faith of the Canaanite woman in the Gospel reading today. The purpose of our testing is so that we can become better as human beings and Christians, so that the image of God can grow in the likeness of God. We must not follow the example of our culture and surrender to our temptations with self-justification and rationalization, but we must not be like the priest Conon either. We must not want and pray that our temptations go away. Anyone who has done any weight training knows that you cannot build muscle mass on the moon. You need resistance to make progress in that endeavor. So too in the spiritual life. We need the spiritual resistance that temptation provides. God knows this and He wills it. Thus, we pray for the resources that are needed to meet those temptations, the specific virtues that are necessary to root out the bad habits that have taken root in our life. All of these resources are available to us for the asking. They are available in Christ Jesus, Who is Himself the fullness of them, an endless supply.