That *did* cross my mind ... and I grew out some hair over my 5-day retreat ... but I couldn't wait to clean up when I got back to civilization.
I did read this reflection in a book on some hard-core Franciscan friars whom I respect a lot. I've inserted the quote below. While I may be voluntarily bald, I've never given it as much spiritual thought as this guy did.
http://books.google.com/books?id=33K1H3xpaC4C&printsec=frontcover-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
NEW IDENTITY
One day, when I was eighteen, I was a Mass in my parish and heard a reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles. It ended with the sentence: "At Cenchreae [Paul] cut his hair, for he had made a vow" (Acts 18:18).
I was not at all pleased to hear this particular reading. At the time, I had shoulder-length curly hair, to which I was very attached. Too attached. As I left the church that morning, I knew that God wanted me to do something drastic about it. After a few pained days attempting to haggle with the Lord for a lower price, I finally gave in and decided to shave all my locks. I was very surprised to feel a great sense of peace and freedom after I had made this choice.
As a friar, I am not required to shave my head. In fact, our constitutions state only that "the friars are encouraged to have a plain beard". There could be a temptation to shave it off just because most of the other brothers do, but I try to connect it with my experience as a vain eighteen-year-old. Shaving my head is a small but powerful way of denying myself, taking up my cross, and following Jesus Christ as Saint Francis did. Perhaps in that first call to shave my head and leave behind something the world holds dear, God was preparing me for the utter renunciation of my own will that this Franciscan life requires.
More than ever, I now feel the peace and freedom that only Jesus can give.
-- Brother Columba M. Jordan
