Becoming Jain...

What?
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These men are Jain monks or ascetics - some wander totally naked - no matter the season, so completely detached are they from worldly goods and possessions.  Others actually wear a band over their mouths to maintain silence - I think.  It seems strange to us in the West of course - although Indian food is very popular now days, and many TV shows (Big Bang Theory) have Indian actors.  But I digress.  One shouldn't be scandalized by the nudity, since even in Orthodox tradition, some holy ascetics went around naked - these were often considered to be holy fools for Christ.  None of this would be tolerated in the West today however - although it is still permitted in India.  In Minneapolis there are many people from India and we even have Hindu temples - although it must be noted Jains are not Hindus.
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I heard from a monk friend yesterday, just after reading about Jain monasticism, homeless pilgrims, and Franciscan poverty and asceticism.  It seemed like such a coincidence.
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For more information on Jainism (it isn't Catholic), click here.

That's all.  ...well maybe not:
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The top illustration of ascetics is to replace photo showing real life Jain ascetics. 
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One more unique aspect of Jainism is its ascetics. The Jain ascetics are homeless wanderers, having no possession of any kind. They follow strict celibacy and guide basic layman about the principles of Jainism and principles of nonviolence, which they follow strictly. They never use vehicle and still travel thousands of miles. They renounce the material worldly things and show the people that true happiness lies in non-possessiveness and not in material or sensual pleasures. Their wealth is their spirituality.

Speaking of Cistercian Abbeys...

The sound of silence.
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What happened to the Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank, Wisconsin?  Brother Stephen's blog, Sub Tuum is closed - open to invited readers only.  I couldn't find the Abbey's website, and their company, LaserMonks has been shut down. 
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LaserMonks closes:
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SPARTA — LaserMonks has closed. The multimillion dollar ink cartridge business started by monks near Sparta drew national press and was featured in the New York Times.

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The decision to dissolve LaserMonks Inc. was based on numerous factors, “with financial performance of the corporation’s business being chief among them,” the corporation’s attorney, Kevin Roop of La Crosse, said Friday.
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Roop said the decrease in financial performance can be attributed to many factors, “but the major contributing factors were the downturn in the economy over the last several years and increased competition in online sales of imaging supplies.”
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LaserMonks was started in 2001 by the Cistercian Monks of Our Lady of Spring Bank Abbey near Sparta. The monks support themselves and their charitable projects with various ventures. LaserMonks sold products such as ink and toner cartridges online at www.LaserMonks.com and by telephone mail order.
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On Friday, its website said LaserMonks is no longer in business and “If you are a customer who was waiting for an order, you will be receiving information by mail.”
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Holly Grady, executive director of the Sparta Area Chamber of Commerce, said Friday that she last saw the Rev. Bernard McCoy, who was LaserMonks CEO, in late January. He told her that LaserMonks soon would add a line of baked goods. “He seemed positive about growth,” she said.

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Grady estimated the chamber office has received about 50 telephone calls since late February from people around the nation who had been trying unsuccessfully to reach LaserMonks. Some of the callers said they had ordered but not received items from LaserMonks, she said. - Source
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I've read something about an Anglo-Catholic oratory and some redesign of the current chapel, but that is all I know - although Fr. Z updated his critical post on LaserMonk customer service as of April 20.  It's odd for a community to disappear, but there was a tornado in the area last week, and I haven't heard from Nazareth Priest either.  NP's last post is a cute little Jack Russel abandoned in a raft - no sign of NP.  Oh!  Oh!  Wait!  The rapture!  Maybe they were all raptured! 
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Well slap my...

Bob Simon on Mt. Athos

60 Minutes
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Easter Sunday, 60 Minutes featured Bob Simon's report on Mt. Athos* - the holy mountain in Greece, home to Orthodox monks - for centuries.  Monastic observance unchanged for centuries - the closest observance to the earliest monks, the desert fathers, the world has today.  Even the Carthusians have made some reforms since Vatican II, but not these monks.  They do not have television or Internet, they do not go home for funerals or weddings, and they pray without ceasing - literally.
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The Carthusians and a few monasteries of Discalced Carmelite nuns would be the only monastics I know of in the West to hold a candle to this type of monasticism, all of the others have made extensive compromises with the world.  Interestingly the monasteries on Athos do not advertise for vocations, yet they keep coming.  I know of a Carmelite monastery of nuns who have no access to the Internet, nor do they advertise for vocations.  They never have and continue to resist all outside interference to do so, and the community thrives.
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I'm guessing it is the monastics of the Orthodox Church who would be most resistant to union with Rome, since they fear they would have to modernize according to the legal dictates of Roman canonical laws and discipline.  Perhaps even admitting women to the Holy Mountain... thus opening themselves to the world and Western decadence.   
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I found the report to be edifying.  It left me wondering how one can become holy while living in distraction with media - especially the Internet and all the controversies, rash judgement and gossip it engenders.
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"Pay no attention to the affairs of men, whether they be good or bad, for besides the danger of sin, this is the cause of distractions and the lack of spirit." - John of the Cross
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*Simon's report was excellent and beautifully done and quite appropriate for Easter.