An Orthodox saint...
It seems to me what he says is not so different from saints like Padre Pio. Pio lived bearing the wounds, the sufferings, the rejection and persecution of Christ. That is kind of like 'keeping your mind in hell' when you think about it. The sufferings Christ endured was the chastisement that makes us whole - that which unites us to God.
St Silouan, elder of Mt Athos (1938) (September 11 OC)
He was a Russian peasant who traveled to Mt Athos and became a monk in the Russian Monastery of St Panteleimon. He lived so simply, humbly and quietly that he might be forgotten had not Fr Sophrony (Sakharov) become his spiritual child and, after the Saint's repose, written a book describing his life and teaching: St Silouan of Mt Athos, one of the great spiritual books of our time. It was through Fr Sophrony's efforts that St Silouan was glorified as a Saint.
Following a vision of Christ Himself, St Silouan withdrew to a hermitage to devote himself entirely to prayer; but he was called back to serve as steward to the monastery. Though he now supervised some two hundred men, he only increased his prayers, withdrawing to his cell to pray with tears for each individual worker under his care. For more than fifteen years he struggled with demonic attacks during prayer until he was almost in despair. At this point Christ spoke to him in a vision, saying 'The proud always suffer from demons.' Silouan answered 'Lord, teach me what I must do that my soul may become humble.' To this he received the reply, Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not. Silouan made this his discipline in every moment of his life, and was granted the grace of pure prayer. He said that if he ever let his mind wander from the fire of hell, disruptive thoughts would once again plague him. In his humiliation he was filled with a pervasive love for all — he said many times that the final criterion of true Christian faith is unfeigned love for enemies, and that 'to pray for others is to shed blood.' - Orthodox Saints
Some day I hope to write about how some people protest too much on their blogs and publications - specifically in reference to being gay and Catholic. If they believe that earlier Catholic writers on the subject of gay and Catholic were over-psychologized, the new gay Catholic writers tend to be over-theologized/mythologized on the issue. Although I suppose that's what sells books and garners speaker engagements.
Keep your mind in hell and you won't have problems with chastity.
Keep your mind in gay and you will still want ... Ah! What did a guy on his way to perfection say to me once? I'm gay and I try to be chaste, "but I still want @*ck."
Chick?
