Last week, the Brazos Fellows read from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, a classic collection of spiritual wisdom, and a perennial favorite in our Course of Study. (Be sure to check out Brazos Fellow alum Jess Schurz’s reflection on the desert fathers, “Learning to Be Lonely.”) We were joined by Fr. Jonathan Kanary, who wrote his masters thesis on the tradition of desert monasticism, and had a great time discussing stories and sayings that are at the same time challenging, inspiring, and often bizarre.

I also had the chance to sit down with Fr. Jonathan for “Five Questions in Ten Minutes.” We talked about two spiritually significant practices, spiritual direction and confession,
Here are the various items we talked about:
- You can read Fr. Jonathan’s article on Aquinas, “Transforming Friendship: Thomas Aquinas on Charity as Friendship with God,” here if you have access through a university library.
- Evagrius of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus
- C.S. Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet
- Alexander Schmemann’s For the Life of the World
- Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Alan Jacobs’ “whim of reading” comes from his The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction