Follow the way....

By now, we have learned that Benedictine spirituality is not simply a collection of religious practices. It is a way of life—simple, disciplined, and centered on God.

Sister Joan expresses this beautifully when she reminds us that the Benedictine life is a single-minded search for God. Everything—prayer, work, silence, study, hospitality, obedience—is intended to turn the heart toward that one desire.

John Mark Comer speaks of the same journey as becoming an apprentice of Jesus. An apprentice does more than admire the teacher or agree with his words. The apprentice remains close, gradually takes on the teacher’s character, and eventually learns to do what the teacher does.

This is the purpose of the Benedictine way: to be with Christ, to become like Christ, and, by grace, to live as Christ lived.

The Rule offers this desire in a daily form. It teaches us to seek Christ in prayer, in Scripture, in community, in the stranger, in our work, and in the ordinary demands of every day. Slowly, faithfully, these practices reshape us. We learn to listen more carefully, surrender more completely, love more generously, and place God at the center of all things.

The Gospel does not merely ask that we believe...it asks that we follow...to walk the road he walked, to love as he loved, and to surrender ourselves to the transforming work of grace.

We are called, quite simply, to Follow the Way.

Always mindful....

Chapter 50 of the Rule of St. Benedict addresses the practical reality of members who are traveling or working at a distance. Benedict’s primary concern is that while monastics may be far from the physical monastery and unable to return to the oratory in time for prayers, they must never forget their identity. They are called to perform the Opus Dei (the Work of God) wherever they find themselves, proving that physical distance does not diminish one's true purpose in life.

Sister Joan Chittister focuses our attention on this dynamic by citing a wisdom found in a Sanskrit proverb: necessity may require us to change our course, but we must never change our goal. By way of example, she stresses that Benedictine spirituality is remarkably flexible, sensible, and realistic. It sets loud, clear goals, yet graciously yields in the number of ways we might achieve them.

It is in these moments of adaptation that Sister Joan recognizes how spirituality acts as an anchor. It is the force that stabilizes us in the middle of confusion and grants us the energy to go on. Stability in life—as we actually live it—is priceless; it defines who we are and who we strive to be. We are not called to chase an idealization of the holy, but rather to sanctify the real. In the actual, everyday lives we lead, we are called to recognize that every moment is lived profoundly in His presence.  May we be always mindful of His presence.