Seven years ago I started this blog with a post about contemplative pedagogy featuring Br. Monday before he became Br. Monday.
To mark the occasion, I thought I would collect all of his adventures again here.
The Adventures of Br. Monday
1. Abba a Word
The start of the series with a little primer on the origins of the monastic movement and the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.
2. A Tale of the Most Excellent Eavesdropper
Wherein Br. Monday does something he shouldn’t.
3. Once When a Hippopotamus was Ravaging the Neighboring Countryside
Br. Monday still doesn’t like talking about this.
Wherein Br. Monday gets a free brick!
5. If You Give a Monk a Fishing Net
Wait for the exciting sequel: If You Give a Hermit a H…oh never mind.
Wherein Br. Monday learns the true meaning of education.
7. Community, Conversatio Morum, and Crocodiles
Wherein Br. Monday wishes he had chosen a different life.
If you forget anything from this list — don’t worry! — Prof. John will fill you in.
The Continued Adventures of Br. Monday
In Br. Monday’s absence, we learned how a modern monk met the poet Czeslaw Milosz.
10. Br. Monday is Back and the Abbas aren’t Happy about It
Wherein Abba Moses becomes Br. Monday’s favorite by convincing the other abbas to leave him alone.
11. How to Make a Monk Laugh Part 1
Wherein Abba Pambo and Abba Giles have a disagreement.
12. 1500 Years Practice at Getting Along
It has to be a miracle that there haven’t been more Name of the Rose-style homicides in monasteries…
13. How to Make a Monk Laugh Part 2
Br. Monday still doesn’t get the joke, and I’m not sure I do either.
14. What Can the Desert Tell Us about the Researcher/Educator Debate?
Why not both?
15. The Last Thing Br. Monday Wants to Do
Let’s just say he wouldn’t mind taking the “labora” out of “ora et labora.”
16. Waiting for the Barbarians
Br. Monday still doesn’t get why he was the only one who ran.
The Healing of Br. Monday
17. Design
Br. Monday’s first retreat conference wherein he learns:
We are all alive together and bound into varying constellations by the live numbers of the proportions through which we see and touch each thing and the next.
18. First Love
Wherein Br. Monday learns a very important lesson about lying and matches.
19. Dignity
Br. Monday didn’t learn anything here.
20. Lady’s Man
Let’s just face it–every monk is one of these.
21. False Impression
Think you understand other parts of the world? So does Br. Monday…
22. Br. Monday Wishes You a Happy Labor Day
And he did just that, even though every day is a holiday for Br. Monday. Seriously, all he does is stand there with that look on his face whenever I ask him to help out with something.
23. Talking Points with an Abba
Out here in the desert, the Abba’s are always getting stuffy, churchy questions. Be the first to ask the Abba what he thinks about the last season of Arrested Development or if he’s going to wear his robes to the next Star Wars premier. [Wow, that post is so dated now!]
It is good that you are here. It is good that you are here. And most importantly: It is good that you are here.
The Legend of Abba Monday
Wherein I offend Br. Monday deeply. No, I won’t apologize.
Wherein we discover that Br. Monday and the Provincial have run off.
Abba Derrida has something to teach us about hospitality.
28. The Rule of the Thelemites
Gold give us, God forgive us,
And from all woes relieve us;
That we the treasure
May reap of pleasure,
And shun whate’er is grievous,
Gold give us, God forgive us.
– Inscription on the Gate of Theleme
“If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I, and you are you. But if I am I because you are you, and you are you because I am I, then I am not I, and you are not you.”
30. The Hermitage of Br. Monday
This is what happens when you take away a monk’s TV.
Br. Monday the Reboot
Find out how to apply the monastic practice of lectio to your own reading.
32. The Metamorphosis of Br. Monday
Ever wonder how after all of these adventures Br. Monday grew about as much as George Costanza did after nine seasons? Here’s your answer.
33. Sir Monday and the Monks of the Round Table
So the Grail Cycle is supposed to happen around 454 according to Malory. But there are monks from 1098 who are a reform of an order started by a man who was born in 480. Find out why this anachronism not only works but is actually fridge brilliance in this post.
34. Br. Monday and the Domesticans
Br. Monday has a new MLM–I mean “monastic learning module”–and he wants to get you on board at the ground level!
Where might Br. Monday go from here? In Br. Monday is a Punk Rocker, we might look at the genre of Monk Punk and its solitary example, A Canticle for Leibowitz. In Br. Monday and the Bitter Buddha, we might announce that our favorite monk has decided to become one of the sponsors of Pep Talks. We don’t know where he gets his money, and we don’t ask…
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2 Responses
I wasn’t aware of this series. Thank you for compiling all of these posts!
I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it, Lydia!