We are called...

This Rule is Only a Beginning of Perfection

Keep this little rule written for beginners. After that, you can

set out for the loftier summits of the teaching and virtues under

God's protection.

It is not what we read, it is what we become--a change of

heart, a change of life. We are called to become His Holy Word.

A candle on the path

Sister Joan reminds us that what we cannot expect from others what we cannot model in ourselves. Benedictine spirituality, she reminds us, asks that we follow only the good and the wise, only those who call us to our best selves, our fullest selves.  Benedict knows that if we live according to the Scriptures and choose according to the deepest and highest and greatest of human ideals, life will not fail us, whatever it struggles, whatever it's cost.

It is in this theology of leadership that we learn where the great listen to the small, the small will listen to the great and mercy will triumph over judgment. Benedictine spirituality is not an end in itself, nor is it an excuse to oppress the people for whom all law is made. But rather, Benedictine spirituality recognizes that the law is a candle on the path of life, intended to lead us to the good we seek.

Called to follow the good and wise

It does seem obvious that we would want to be lead only by the good and wise. However, life reveals that we frequently follow the sirens call.

Benedict recognized that if we live according to the Scriptures and choose according to the deepest and highest and greatest of human ideals and values, then life cannot fail for us whatever it struggles, whatever it's costs.

Of maybe greatest importance, it becomes clear that Benedict recognizes that we are called to do all of this within community. For it is in community ultimately that we all live, and in which we all grow-- depending on one another daily for our bread as well as our intellectual sustenance and care.

The Spark of the Divine

Benedictine spirituality recognizes the spark of the divine in each of us.  As we move through the world in which we work and live, every encounter with a friend or stranger is a moment to be treasured.  We have the opportunity to encounter the living Christ--if we will but be present. 

All too often it is our story that we want to tell. It is our moment of crisis we want to share. Benedict invites us to recognize the living Christ in the other and to understand that with each person we encounter we have the opportunity to learn and grow – but we must learn to listen – to listen with the ear of the heart.

Chapter 63: The consequences of libration

Freed from societal rankings and judgments, Benedict's monks understood their place was set only by the day of their arrival.  Subject to the same list of duties of prayer, study, and work, each established themselves by their acceptance of and performance of their common duties and responsibilities.

In practice, those who strove to meet the demands of their new world, who acted and spoke with gentleness, kindness, and respect for place and one another--were so recognized for who they were in the world of the monastery--not by former title or station of life but by how they lived their lives.  What would our world be like today if each of us and those around us lived this way?

Hold fast to our humanity....

While discussing the role of a priest in the monastery, Benedict reminds all of us to 

...hold fast to our humanity, to make it our priority and never to let what we have obscure what we are.

Far to often the trappings of our role blinds us to our fundamental call to serve and to live the full life to which we are all called.  Whether doctor, lawyer, mother, teacher--we must never let the privileges of our role blind us to our call to humility, our call from God to serve.

Opportunity to begin again....

 What God gave Adam was not forgiveness 

from sin; what God gave Adam was 

the chance to begin again.

Elie Wiesel   

Sr. Joan reminds us that life is a series of opportunities to begin again.  She frames this in a series of provocative questions:

• is this group, is this place calling out the best in me,
• is this where I fit,
• is this the place where I can become what God wants for me,
• can I see God's footsteps clearly in front of me?

Sr. Joan and Benedict's questions are clear?  Is this where I am called to be?  Am I doing what He would have me do?

There is meaning in every journey...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer observed

There is a meaning in every journey

that is unknown to the traveler.

Sr. Joan drives this point home calling us to open ourselves to learn from everyone. This invites a kind of radical acceptance, recognizing that every conversation we have throughout the day is a chance to experience unexpected learning--but we must be open to the possibility.

We must be prepared to open our eyes to and welcome wisdom from any direction--never to close ourselves to learning--even in the most of challenging conversations.

Letting go....

Benedict knew what most of us learn sooner or later: it is hard to let go of the past, and yet, until we do, there is no hope whatsoever that we can ever gain from the future.

Sr. Joan's admonition is clear:

If we cling to the past, the future is closed to us.

To become what we said we would be

What a simple yet challenging idea.  Sr. Joan's capacity to see and understand the wisdom threaded so Gracefully through the Rule is both a joy and a precious gift.  That a chapter devoted to the offering of children to the monastery could offer us so much today is a clear and present indication that Sr. Joan hears and reflects His word and widom through-out her writing.

Benedict, is dedicated to the spirituality of the long haul--a spirituality focused on simplicity, community, and equality.  Sr. Joan and Benedict insist that we complete in faith what we began in enthusism--true to ourselves--and become what we said we would be.

All too often, we hear and respond to today's call to accomodate what might seem to be the more sensible, the more reasonable, the easier course of life and living--the self-sufficiency that frees us from the overwhelming value of the smelting effects of commuinity.  

Do not give in--prevail.

Let us remember

"In India," Ram Dass writes, "when people meet and part they often say, 'Namaste,' which means: I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides; I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us....'Namaste'." 

It is an important distinction in a culture in which strangers are ignored and self-sufficiency is considered a sign of virtue and poverty is a synonym for failure. 

To practice hospitality in our world, it may be necessary to evaluate all the laws and all the promotions and all the invitation lists of corporate and political society from the point of view of the people who never make the lists. Then hospitality may demand that we work to change things.

 

What DO the Gospels demand of us?

Look closely at Benedict's invitation. Benedictine spirituality is not a set of rules; it is a way of life. We are invited to be who we say we are. We are to be simple, centered in God, in search of higher things.

We are invited to live out the Gospel message

at every moment of every day. Nothing less.

What is your goal?

Benedict calls us to sanctify the real.  The life we are living is holy. We are called to recognize this and live it as if every moment is Holy--lived in His presence

Spirituality leavens our lives; stabilizes us. Stability in life--as we live it--is priceless.  It is who we are called to become.  It is who we strive to be!