Solitude was one of the main disciplines Jesus engaged in throughout His ministry (Luke 5:16. NIV) The sole purpose is to commune with God alone and get rid of things in life that cloud your sight and hinder you from hearing God. It is in this place of close communion with God, the soul opens wide to listen and receive . It is achieved by eliminating anything that can distract you from focusing on God including people. Because I am now aware of this discipline of solitude, it has become a prominent discipline in my life.
Summarise your original understanding of the discipline before the course started
My original understanding of this discipline was that time spent isolated and not doing anything was unproductive and I thought it was unwise to waste time like that. I could see the purpose of listening to God in solitude, but that was the extent of my understanding.
A Significant Christian figure in history who has contributed to this discipline
St. Benedict is considered to be the “Father” of western …show more content…
They believe they are imitating Christ in what they do. In their view: “When [Catholics] see monks, they think we don’t do anything for anybody, but when a person does a good thing, it affects everybody. It’s the Communion of Saints.” The Modern Day Hermits have the same understanding of solitude as we do but their practice of it is varied Because as mentioned, they dedicate their entire lives to it. We only dedicate varied lengths of time to this discipline. They have also stated that Protestants seem to understand “the hermitic life” better than most Catholics. They get a lot of Protestant visitors, the hermits mentioned: Protestants see it in the element of the praying Church. When people come they are evangelized by the place. We have a similar view with the Modern Hermit. It seems Catholics don’t hold solitude in such a high