WHITE MARTYRDOM

Early monasticism was a way of life commonly described as "peregrinatus," a wanderer or pilgrim, who abandons security for a journey which is extremely costly, and yet whose reward is ultimately everlasting life.

This way of life was romanticized in the "Way of a Pilgrim." But the monk's journey was not a matter of many miles, but his spiritual journey is measured from his leaving the influence of the world to becoming a servant of all men.

The early spiritual writers had a name for this kind of journey: it was called "white martyrdom." This undramatic way of life of Christian sacrifice involves many daily deaths and simple denials but produces a character transfigured by the presence of Divine Love.

It is a journey which celebrates God's love for man and the joyful awareness of God's intervention in every area of man's life. 

(09-04-02)