Humility

Sister Joan makes it quite clear....

...if the preservation of the globe in the 21st century requires anything of the past at all, it may well be the commitment of the rule of Benedict to humility.

Let us begin by realizing that humility is not humiliation. Joan says it most eloquently when she invites us to recognize...

... a proper sense of self in a universe of wonders. When we make ourselves, God, no one in the world is safe in our presence. Humility… is the basis for right relationships in the life.

Sister Joan, and I believe Benedict, believes that no spiritual maturity can be achieved in the absence of a clear sense of God's role in our development. 

Not surprisingly, Benedict chose to use Jacob's ladder as a metaphor for our ascendance and descendants. Pointing out that we descend by exultation and can only ascend by humility.