Nocturnal Radio

Now and then I wake up in the wee small hours and in an effort to get back to sleep, I sometimes put the radio on.

Thus at 3.30am on Sat I was was vaguely aware of a programme on the World Service about silence. It was presented by Peter Stanford. Alas I switched on to , '... said Fr (Br?) Cyril from Parkminster.' Then it was on to Fr Extrovert from London, describing his two years in the Benedictine Novitiate, who seemed to conclude that it was all rather cold and austere, because it wasn't for him. Seemed a bit odd to suggest that living a monastic life is negative on the basis that it's not your vocation. I wonder how many Benedictines there have been down the ages? Quite a few, plus all the other Orders, plus lots of other folks before. Aside from the praying, what about the horticulture, scholarship, music, art, education, care for the sick etc fitted in to a day whilst devoting all that time to their Offices? That's an awful lot of good stuff contributed to the world. By the same token, the Olympics should be cancelled, because I'm rubbish at sport.

Then the point was made that although Our Lord spent 40 days in the desert, He didn't stay there, though they did concede that He did seek lonely places at various points. The Church seems to have worked out that there are lots of different vocations and we all have different things to do work wise and some people should be in enclosed religious orders. We are all different after all and lots of people need a lifetime ( some of us slow learners longer,) to get good at one thing never mind trying to do everything.

Then they moved eastwards and were all positive suddenly. No dissenting Buddhists. Do they hide them away? The slightly snidey unenthusiastic ones have to do the washing up or something when the radio people arrive?

Fell asleep and woke up for 'Farming Today' or 'On your Farm,' and am now an expert on battery farming.

Sunflower update. They are germinating. Tallest 1cm. Feel worried, feel very worried.