Interior Watchfulness

“He said also, 'Just as fish die if they stay too long out of water, so the monks who loiter outside their cells or pass their time with men of the world lose the intensity of inner peace. So like a fish going towards the sea, we must hurry to reach our cell, for fear that if we delay outside we will lose our interior watchfulness.'" -The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Abba Anthony the Great, paragraph 10)

Interior watchfulness.

Whether we be monks or laypeople, we all should strive for this.

We should all have regular intervals where we sit in silence, whether that be in Adoration, while reading Scripture, or praying in front of an Icon.

Interior watchfulness leads to peace.

When we narrow our focus on Christ, the cares of this world fade away from our senses.

Abba Anthony says that “we must hurry to reach our cell.”

We must hurry to find Christ in the silence of our hearts.

He abides there in the depths of our being,

waiting for us to return His Loving gaze.

Saint Abba Anthony the Great, pray for us!