I Am A Pig

I have survived life's journey so far. I am quite an old hand at keeping the ego in its place now - or so I was telling myself until I read these words of Rowan Williams. Reflecting on the monastic communities of the desert fathers, he describes living alongside each other as a converting process in which we are all called to be involved in converting each other to Christ by sacrificing something of ourselves. He writes: the neighbour is our life; to bring connectedness with God to the neighbour is bound up with our own connection to God. The neighbour is our death, communicating to us the death sentence of our attempts to settle who we are on our own terms and cling to what we reckon are our achievements.

This reminded me of something Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche communities, said: When I lived alone I thought I was a saint. When I lived in community I realised I was a pig. That, friends, is why I am in a bad mood.