On Intention: A Reflection on Abba Anthony 35

Long-time readers here will know that I’m a big believer in goal-setting. Not because I’m super organized or structured in how I live, but because nothing helps me figure out what exactly it is I want out of my life, and how to try to achieve it, better than going through a big goal-setting project. It’s simply one way of being intentional about life. And, as we’ve seen time and time again here over the years, being intentional is a huge part of the life of faith, and has the capacity to turn anything into a sacred practice. It’s a theme that I think is a helpful one today, as this series on the Desert Fathers starts its final descent.

So, let’s see what Abba Anthony the Great himself has to say about it:

Abba Anthony said: ‘Whoever hammers a lump of iron, first decides what he is going to make of it: a scythe, a sword, or an axe. Even so we ought to make up our minds what kind of virtue we want to forge, or we labour in vain.’ (Abba Anthony 35)

Pardon the pun, but this analogy hits the nail right on the head. Before we get to work on anything, we need to have a good sense of what it is we want to create. That’s why the first question in any planning process is to sort out things like values, vision, and mission. These are the guides that help us to say, honestly and from the heart, what it is we want to do. Everything else — strategy, goals, and the tasks that support them — flows from that intention.

This is as true in the life of faith as it is in business or household management. If I want to become more generous, mindfulness meditation probably isn’t the best place to begin. Instead, we might want to look at our budgets of time and money, and see where we can free more up for charity and volunteer work. (Meditation can still be helpful in growing generosity, but we might want to find a meditation practice that is more oriented towards others, such as Lovingkindness Meditation.)

I think this is a helpful reminder this time of year. Yes, Lent is nearly over, and we have Holy Week commemorations and Easter celebrations ahead. But, before long it will be Pentecost, that great feast where we remember God’s empowering of the faithful with the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so that’s a great opportunity for us to think about what we want our life of faith to look like for the rest of the year. We’ll soon be renewed in the gift of the Holy Spirit; the question before us is what do we want to do with it?