Reading for Feb 9, June 10, Oct 10

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

February 9, June 10, October 10

Chapter 7: On Humility

The twelfth degree of humility
is that a monk not only have humility in his heart
but also by his very appearance make it always manifest
to those who see him.
That is to say that whether he is at the Work of God,
in the oratory, in the monastery, in the garden, on the road,
in the fields or anywhere else,
and whether sitting, walking or standing,
he should always have his head bowed
and his eyes toward the ground.
Feeling the guilt of his sins at every moment,
he should consider himself already present at the dread Judgment
and constantly say in his heart
what the publican in the Gospel said
with his eyes fixed on the earth:
"Lord, I am a sinner and not worthy to lift up my eyes to heaven" (Luke 18:13; Matt. 8:8);
and again with the Prophet:
"I am bowed down and humbled everywhere" (Ps. 37:7,9; 118:107).

Having climbed all these steps of humility, therefore,
the monk will presently come to that perfect love of God
which casts out fear.
And all those precepts
which formerly he had not observed without fear,
he will now begin to keep by reason of that love,
without any effort,
as though naturally and by habit.
No longer will his motive be the fear of hell,
but rather the love of Christ,
good habit
and delight in the virtues
which the Lord will deign to show forth by the Holy Spirit
in His servant now cleansed from vice and sin.

Some thoughts:

I have to say that the first section of today's reading is hard for me. The Lord has been graciously disposed to heap blessings on me the last few years that is very hard to remember what a sinner I am because I am so caught up in gratitude. Oh sure, I do screw up and I certainly feel rotten about it, but somehow i have learned to admit my fault, apologize, ask forgiveness and move on. I can no longer sit there and dwell, brood on how horrible person I am. The Lord has just been so good to me that it would feel like slapping His face. Perhaps i am being disobedient to the Rule, but this is where I am.

As for the second section...I pray for us all that we will be motivated by the love of Christ, good habits and delight in virtues

Insight for the Ages: A Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html


This paragraph is, at first reading, a very difficult excursion into the tension between the apparent and the real. Bowing and scraping have long since gone out of style. What is to be made today of a dictum that prescribes bowed heads and downcast eyes in a culture given to straight-shouldered, steady-eyed self-esteem?

What Benedict is telling us is that true humility is simply a measure of the self that is taken without exaggerated perfection or exaggerated guilt. Humility is the ability to know ourselves as God knows us and to know that it is the little we are that is precisely our claim on God. Humility is, then, the foundation for our relationship with God, our connectedness to others, our acceptance of ourselves, our way of using the goods of the earth and even our way of walking through the world, without arrogance, without domination, without scorn, without put-downs, without disdain, without self-centeredness. The more we know ourselves, the gentler we will be with others.

The chapter on humility is a strangely wonderful and intriguingly distressing treatise on the process of the spiritual life. It does not say, "Be perfect." It says, "Be honest about what you are and you will come to know God." It does not say, "Be flawless and you will earn God." It says, "If you recognize the presence of God in life, you will soon become more and more perfect." But this perfection is not in the twentieth-century sense of impeccability. This perfection is in the biblical sense of having become matured, ripened, whole.

The entire chapter is such a non-mechanistic, totally human approach to God. If we reach out and meet God here where God is, if we accept God's will in life where our will does not prevail, if we are willing to learn from others, if we can see ourselves and accept ourselves for what we are and grow from that, if we can live simply, if we can respect others and reverence them, if we can be a trusting part of our world without having to strut around it controlling it, changing it, wrenching it to our own image and likeness, then we will have achieved "perfect love that casts out fear (1 Jn 4:18.)" There will be nothing left to fear--not God's wrath, not the loss of human respect, not the absence of control, not the achievements of others greater than our own whose success we have had to smother with rejection or deride with scorn.

Humility, the lost virtue of the twentieth century, is crying to heaven for rediscovery. The development of nations, the preservation of the globe, the achievement of human community may well depend on it.

Reading for Feb 8, June 9, Oct 9

February 8, June 9, October 9
Chapter 7: On Humility

The eleventh degree of humility
is that when a monk speaks
he do so gently and without laughter,
humbly and seriously,
in few and sensible words,
and that he be not noisy in his speech.
It is written,
"A wise man is known by the fewness of his words"(Sextus, Enchidirion, 134 or 145).

Some Thoughts:

Ah, me. Not really wanting to think about how far short of this ideal that I fall. How about you, Gentle Reader?

I've sat here staring at these words for 10 minutes now, thinking about all the times I have put my foot in it. It will not edify you for me to list a number of examples, but I am convicted in my heart of attention-getting that makes me nervously excited and then I babble followed by unintentional giving of offense.


Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

Humility, Benedict teaches, treads tenderly upon the life around it. When we know our place in the universe, we can afford to value the place of others. We need them, in fact, to make up what is wanting in us. We stand in the face of others without having to take up all the space. We don't have to dominate conversations or consume all the time or call all the attention to ourselves. There is room, humility knows, for all of us in life. We are each an ember of the mind of God and we are each sent to illumine the other through the dark places of life to sanctuaries of truth and peace where God can be God for us because we have relieved ourselves of the ordeal of being god ourselves. We can simply unfold ourselves and become.

The Tao teaches:

"The best people are like water

They benefit all things,

And do not compete with them.

They settle in low places,

One with nature, one with Tao."

"Settling in low places," being gentle with others and soft in our comments and kind in our hearts and calm in our responses, never heckling, never smothering the other with noise or derision is an aspect of Benedictine spirituality that the world might well afford to revisit.

Reading for Feb 7, June 8, Oct 8

February 7, June 8, October 8
Chapter 7: On Humility

The tenth degree of humility
is that he be not ready and quick to laugh,
for it is written,
"The fool lifts up his voice in laughter" (Eccles. 21:23).

Some thoughts:

People who think it is funny to be sarcastic or insulting, often through this passage in my face. I think people who model their sense of humors on the smart ass, insulting, dysfunctional garbage that passes for humor on America sitcoms, have proved the wisdom of what Benedict says here.

We have enough of that nonsense in this world. Benedict has nothing against joy and neither does this passage.


Insight for the Ages: A Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html


Humor and laughter are not necessarily the same thing. Humor permits us to see into life from a fresh and gracious perspective. We learn to take ourselves more lightly in the presence of good humor. Humor gives us the strength to bear what cannot be changed, and the sight to see the human under the pompous. Laughter, on the other hand, is an expression of emotion commonly inveighed against in the best finishing schools and the upper classes of society for centuries. Laughter was considered vulgar, crude, cheap, a loud demonstration of a lack of self-control.

In the tenth degree of humility, Benedict does not forbid humor. On the contrary, Benedict is insisting that we take our humor very seriously. Everything we laugh at is not funny. Some things we laugh at are, in fact, tragic and need to be confronted. Ethnic jokes are not funny. Sexist jokes are not funny. The handicaps of suffering people are not funny. Pornography and pomposity and shrieking, mindless noise is not funny. Derision is not funny, sneers and sarcasm and snide remarks, no matter how witty, how pointed, how clever, how cutting, are not funny. They are cruel. The humble person never uses speech to grind another person to dust. The humble person cultivates a soul in which everyone is safe. A humble person handles the presence of the other with soft hands, a velvet heart and an unveiled mind.

Reading for Feb 6, June 7, Oct 7

Feb. 6 - June 7 - Oct. 7

The ninth degree of humility
is that a monk restrain his tongue and keep silence,
not speaking until he is questioned.
For the Scripture shows
that "in much speaking there is no escape from sin" (Prov. 10:19)
and that "the talkative man is not stable on the earth" (Ps. 13[14]9:12).

Some thoughts:

First of all, my apologies for omitting to do this on Oct 7. I was out the door early in the AM and didn't return until after 10PM.

If there was ever passage of the RB directed at me personally, I guess this is it. I just don not know how to keep my mouth shut and oy vey the trouble I get into. And were Benedict writing this today, I'm sure he'd have something to say about keeping silent on the Internet too!!

I believe all of us can so deeply relate to what he says here, that there is really nothing much i could say. I am reminded of Mark 7: 15b "the things that come out are what defile". Not what goes in.




Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

When arrogance erupts anywhere, it erupts invariably in speech. Our opinions become the rule. Our ideas become the goal. Our judgments become the norm. Our word becomes the last word, the only word. To be the last one into a conversation, instead of the first, is an unheard of assault on our egos. Benedict says, over and over, listen, learn, be open to the other. That is the ground of humility. And humility is the ground of growth and graced relationships on earth. Humility is what makes the powerful accessible to the powerless. Humility is what allows poor nations a demand on rich ones. Humility is what enables the learned to learn from the wise.

Reading for Feb 5, June 6, Oct 6

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

February 5, June 6, October 6
Chapter 7: On Humility

The eighth degree of humility
is that a monk do nothing except what is commended
by the common Rule of the monastery
and the example of the elders.

Some thoughts

This is another place where Benedict, did he but know it, challenges our modern confusion of individualism and individuality. Or perhaps individualism was alive and well back then too. The comments he makes about gryovagues and sarabites leads me to believe this is true.

We already know that Benedict has no truck with those who would buck tradition or make it up as they go along. Perhaps Benedict views this degree of humility as the one that demonstrates sincerity of purpose to follow and embrace our Lord? Perhaps also expression of one's originality is not a right but a privilege to be earned?


Insight for the Ages: A Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

"It is better to ask the way ten times than to take the wrong road once," a Jewish proverb reads. The eighth degree of humility tells us to stay in the stream of life, to learn from what has been learned before us, to value the truths taught by others, to seek out wisdom and enshrine it in our hearts. The eighth degree of humility tells us to attach ourselves to teachers so that we do not make the mistake of becoming our own blind guides.

It is so simple to become a law unto ourselves. The problem with it is that it leaves us little chance to be carried by others. It takes a great deal of time to learn all the secrets of life by ourselves. It makes it impossible for us to come to know what our own lights have no power to signal. It leaves us dumb, undeveloped and awash in a naked arrogance that blocks our minds, cripples our souls and makes us unfit for the relationships that should enrich us beyond our merit and despite our limitations.

Our living communities have a great deal to teach us. All we need is respect for experience and the comforting kind of faith that it takes to do what we cannot now see to be valuable, but presume to be holy because we see the holiness that it has produced in those who have gone before us in the family and the church.

Reading for Feb 4, June 5, Oct 5

Today's reading from the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

February 4, June 5, October 5
Chapter 7: On Humility

The seventh degree of humility
is that he consider himself lower and of less account
than anyone else,
and this not only in verbal protestation
but also with the most heartfelt inner conviction,
humbling himself and saying with the Prophet,
"But I am a worm and no man,
the scorn of men and the outcast of the people" (Ps. 21:7).
"After being exalted, I have been humbled
and covered with confusion" (Pa. 87:16).
And again,
"It is good for me that You have humbled me,
that I may learn Your commandments" (Ps. 118:71).

Some thoughts:

The ideas here are just as unsettling as the ideas yesterday, would you agree? Once again this goes against our modern views regarding self-esteem, sense of self-worth, etc.

Oh the other hand, if more of us did as St. Benedict writes, maybe there would be a whole lot less sense of competition, "Me Firsters" and all that insulting that passes for humor that we see in TV sitcoms.

Something I noticed is that the quotation "I am a worm..." comes from the Psalm variously numbered 21 or 22. The Psalm that begins "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" which are also the words Jesus cried out from the cross. Which in turn reminds me of the kenosis passage in Phillipians, where Paul writes about Jesus emptying himself.

Perhaps if we consider that Benedict sees Jesus as the role model for the 7th degree of humility, perhaps it makes the ideas here more understandable. We are who we are and we do what do because God loves us, created us. All human beings are loved by God and created by Him. Therefore we can just get over our fine selves and think about how to look for the face of Jesus in every person.

Perhaps also this passage tells us that one aspect of humility is our own self-identification with the poorest, the sickest, the most cast out of our society.


Insight for the Ages: A Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

At one stage of life, the temptation is to think that no human being alive could ever really believe themselves to be "inferior to all and of less value." At a later stage in life you begin to understand that secretly everybody thinks exactly that and that's why we deny it with such angst to ourselves and such unfairness to others. We set out systematically to hide the truth of it by clutching at money and degrees and positions and power and exhaust ourselves in the attempt to look better than we fear we really are.

The only difference between that stage of life and this degree of humility is that in the seventh degree of humility Benedict wants us to realize that accepting our essential smallness and embracing it frees us from the need to lie, even to ourselves, about our frailties. More than that, it liberates us to respect, revere and deal gently with others who have been unfortunate enough to have their own smallnesses come obscenely to light.

Aware of our own meager virtues, conscious of our own massive failures despite all our great efforts, all our fine desires, we have in this degree of humility, this acceptance of ourselves, the chance to understand the failures of others. We have here the opportunity to become kind.

Reading for Feb 3, Hune 4, Oct 4

February 3, June 4, October 4
Chapter 7: On Humility

The sixth degree of humility
is that a monk be content
with the poorest and worst of everything,
and that in every occupation assigned him
he consider himself a bad and worthless workman,
saying with the Prophet,
"I am brought to nothing and I am without understanding;
I have become as a beast of burden before You,
and I am always with You" (Ps:22-23).

Some thoughts:

Now this hardly jives with our modern notions of self--esteem, a good self-image, does it? What a contrast this is with our consumerist society with its emphasis on buy buy buy.

Perhaps Benedict is reminding us that there is a connection between humility and humiliation? In this sense perhaps also a reminder that we Christians are to be out of step with our society and culture, holding dear a different standard? It seems to me Benedict would have us live with this concept in the forefront of our minds. It is an uncomfortable place, to be sure. Even quite painful.

But and it's a big "but", look at the bit from the Psalm... no matter what degree of humiliation, God wants us. And that, of course, is what the RB is all about: loving God, being loved by Him.

Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

In a classless society status is snatched in normally harmless but corrosive little ways. We are a people who like embossed business cards, and monogrammed leather briefcases, and invitations to public events. We spend money we don't have to buy cars with sliding glass windows in the ceiling. We go into debt to buy at the right stores and live on the right street and go to the right schools. We call ourselves failures if we can't turn last year's models in on this year's styles. We measure our successes by the degree to which they outspan the successes of the neighbors. We have lost a sense of "enoughness."

Benedict tells us that it is bad for the soul to have to have more than the necessary, that it gluts us, that it protects us in plexiglass from the normal, the natural. Benedict says that the goal of life is not to amass things but to get the most out of whatever little we have. Benedict tells us to quit climbing. If we can learn to love life where we are, in what we have, then we will have room in our souls for what life alone does not have to offer.

The Tao Te Ching teaches, "Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations."

Reading for February 2, June 3, October 3

February 2, June 3, October 3
Chapter 7: On Humility

The fifth degree of humility
is that he hide from his Abbot none of the evil thoughts
that enter his heart
or the sins committed in secret,
but that he humbly confess them.
The Scripture urges us to this when it says,
"Reveal your way to the Lord and hope in Him" (Ps. 36:5)
and again,
"Confess to the Lord, for He is good,
for His mercy endures forever" (Ps. 105:1).
And the Prophet likewise says,
"My offense I have made known to You,
and my iniquities I have not covered up.
I said: 'I will declare against myself my iniquities to the Lord;'
and 'You forgave the wickedness of my heart'" (Ps. 31:5).

Some thoughts:

Whom do you have in your life with whom you can be as honest as in this passage? Do you even want to be this honest? There's a question of trust, isn't there?

Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

The fifth rung of the ladder of humility is an unadorned and disarming one: Self-revelation, Benedict says, is necessary to growth. Going through the motions of religion is simply not sufficient. No, the Benedictine heart, the spiritual heart, is a heart that has exposed itself and all its weaknesses and all of its pain and all of its struggles to the one who has the insight, the discernment, the care to call us out of our worst selves to the heights to which we aspire.

The struggles we hide, psychologists tell us, are the struggles that consume us. Benedict's instruction, centuries before an entire body of research arose to confirm it, is that we must cease to wear our masks, stop pretending to be perfect and accept the graces of growth that can come to us from the wise and gentle hearts of people of quality around us.

Humility such as this gives us energy to face the world. Once we ourselves admit what we are, what other criticism can possibly demean us or undo us or diminish us? Once we know who we are, all the delusions of grandeur, all the righteousness that's in us dies and we come to peace with the world.

Reading for January 31, June 1, October 1

January 31, June 1, October 1
Chapter 7: On Humility

The third degree of humility is that a person
for love of God
submit himself to his Superior in all obedience,
imitating the Lord, of whom the Apostle says,
"He became obedient even unto death."

Some thoughts:

Something struck me odd when I was looking at various commentaries on this section of the Rule. The comments are more wordy than than the passage. Which causes me in turn to comment on the admirable simplicity of the RB. Which I probably in no way emulate, following in the footsteps of the commentators.

What is the 3rd degree of humility? Obedience to a superior, is it not? Is your reaction like mine? "ouch"

This passage reminds me of a basic struggle within the American self-identity: that between individuality and individualism. Maybe I read this somewhere recently, is so I forget where and actually I've forgotten all except the juxtaposition of the 2 words.

The U S Constitution is in favor of individualism, but it is not in favor of individualism. And many Americans think the 2 words describe the same thing. Which of course they don't.

Individuality is that God-given unique personality God created person by person. The more we get to know ourselves, the better we are able to know God through Jesus Christ and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Individualism is that ego-centric, self-centered view of the world that says no other consideration but me,myself and I works. It's a selfish, relativistic and situational world view, is it not?

It is also an insidious one because we all fall prey to it at some point, whenever we assert our own stuff above the common good. I can't stand to me a member of a committee, for instance, because I have zero toleration for those who assert their own personal ideas above the needs the committee is there to solve. I cannot tell you the rancor that went on over new sofas for the "living room" of my church.

Benedict provides the balance between individuality and individualism. The nun or monk is in obedience to the monastic superior. Ok, most of us who red this are more than likely not in monastic communities so to whom are we in obedience?

In my case I have made novice promises to my Bishop, Rector and spiritual director. I can't say that any of them supervise me too closely. The Bishop delegates to the Rector and in fact I chat more with the Assistant Rector simply because she has just that tad more free time. I see my spiritual director once a month. You may think this odd, but I count my therapist and psychiatrist as authorities also because of their continued role in my path to mental health.

Do you, Gentle Reader, have someone to whom you look for guidance? Have you a soul friend? ( see Kenneth Leech's book, _Soul Friend_), a priest? spiritual director? Who is the person that provides reality checks in you life?

See... I just knew I'd be more wordy than Father Benedict.


Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html


It is so simple, so simplistic, to argue that we live for the God we do not see when we reject the obligations we do see. Benedictine spirituality does not allow for the fantasy. Benedict argues that the third rung on the ladder of humility is the ability to submit ourselves to the wisdom of another. We are not the last word, the final answer, the clearest insight into anything. We have one word among many to contribute to the mosaic of life, one answer of many answers, one insight out of multiple perspectives. Humility lies in learning to listen to the words, directions and insights of the one who is a voice of Christ for me now. To stubbornly resist the challenges of people who have a right to lay claim to us and an obligation to do good by us--parents, spouses, teachers, supervisors--is a dangerous excursion into arrogance and a denial of the very relationships that are the stuff of which our sanctity is made.

Rungs one and two call for contemplative consciousness. Rung three brings us face to face with our struggle for power. It makes us face an authority outside of ourselves. But once I am able to do that, then there is no end to how high I might rise, how deep I might grow.

Reading for January 30, May 31, September 30

January 30, May 31, September 30
Chapter 7: On Humility

The second degree of humility
is that a person love not his own will
nor take pleasure in satisfying his desires,
but model his actions on the saying of the Lord,
"I have come not to do My own will,
but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:38).
It is written also,
"Self-will has its punishment,
but constraint wins a crown."

Some thoughts:

What does Benedict identify as the 2nd degree of humility? How would we accomplish this? What tools might we need? How do we learn God's will for us? How would we avoid legalism? Over-scrupulosity?

I find myself fascinated with the last quotation. Whenever St. Benedict quotes from the Bible, he identified the book, chapter and verse, but not here. This aroused my curiosity so I turned to a couple of heavy duty commentaries on the RB: Terence Kardong's _Benedict's Rule: A Translation and Commentary_ and Adalebert de Vogue's _Reading St. Benedict: Reflections on the Rule_. Although it doesn't say so in this translation above, the Latin reads "Item dicit Scriptura" , literally "Scripture also says". The quotation itself is not from Scripture as we know it today, but rather is from the Passion of St. Anastasia, a saint venerated in Rome. This saying became a popular proverb. Adalbert suggests that Benedict may not have known the origin of the phrase which is why he didn't provide his usual citation.

I mention this because it brings home to me how fortunate we are in the 21st century that we can go to almost any bookstore and purchase a copy of the Bible which is what will teach us, if we allow it, to model our actions on those of our Lord and seek to do the will of the Father.


Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

The first rung of the ladder of the spiritual life is to recognize that God is God, that nothing else can be permitted to consume us or satisfy us, that we must reach out for God before we can even begin to live the God-life. We must come to understand that we are not our own destinies.

The second rung of the spiritual life follows naturally: If God is my center and my end, then I must accept the will of God, knowing that in it lies the fullness of life for me, however obscure. The question, of course, is how do we recognize the Will of God? How do we tell the will of God from our own? How do we know when to resist the tide and confront the opposition and when to embrace the pain and accept the bitterness because "God wills it for us." The answer lies in the fact that the Jesus who said "I have come not to do my own will but the will of the One who sent me" is also the Jesus who prayed in Gethsemane, "Let this chalice pass from me:" The will of God for us is what remains of a situation after we try without stint and pray without ceasing to change it.

Reading for January 29, May 28, September 29

January 29, May 30, September 29
Chapter 7: On Humility

We must be on our guard, therefore, against evil desires,
for death lies close by the gate of pleasure.
Hence the Scripture gives this command:
"Go not after your concupiscences" (Eccles. 18:30).

So therefore,
since the eyes of the Lord observe the good and the evil (Prov. 15:3)
and the Lord is always looking down from heaven
on the children of earth
"to see if there be anyone who understands and seeks God" (Ps. 13:2),
and since our deeds are daily,
day and night,
reported to the Lord by the Angels assigned to us,
we must constantly beware, brethren,
as the Prophet says in the Psalm,
lest at any time God see us falling into evil ways
and becoming unprofitable (Ps. 13:3);
and lest, having spared us for the present
because in His kindness He awaits our reformation,
He say to us in the future,
"These things you did, and I held My peace" (Ps. 49:21).

Some thoughts:

My first reaction is that this passage hardly needs any comments by me. Sr. Joan herself has only 3 sentences! On closer look though...

Once again, Benedict is still writing about the first degree of humility and here he addresses "evil desires." What are evil desires, I wonder? How do you, Gentle Reader, make of this phrase "evil desires"? Benedict, quoting, says "Go not after your concupiscences." Which is a funny word we don't find in day to day conversation. I found an excellent article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concupiscence if any would like to refer to it.

In brief this article distinguishes between the Roman Catholic and Protestant views of concupiscence. The RC view is that concupiscence might lead to sin whereas the Prot view is that it is already sinful. Benedict's use indicates to me that he has the RC view in mind. He could have had the Prot view in mind, since that dates back to Augustine who lived and wrote before Benedict was born. But the phrases "go not after" indicates choice and free will to me.

Although it is hard to talk about concupiscence without sounding like a prig, it would probably do us good to consider what just might be the sort of desires that lead us to sin. Many are obvious. I myself think the danger is in the subtler desires. Maybe also in the way we allow ourselves to be persuaded.I am thinking here of the emphasis upon consumerism and the buy buy buy mentality which leads us to confuse "want" with "need". I am also thinking here of the justifications we employ to excuse ourselves for allowing this confusion to take place.

Maybe all of us have TVs. If we have TVs, then cable is practically necessary just to have reception. But how many channels do we have to have? Or how many clothes, pairs of shoes, ties, belts, suits, kitchen appliance etc etc do we need? It seems to me that the more things we have the more we are distracted from hearing the Lord. Seems to me that more we give into desires, the more room there is for these desires to become evil, i.e. interfere with our relationship with the Lord.

One good practical test, it seems to me, is what do we do with our money? Do we tithe that 10%? Are we ready to do without "wants" so that we have the 10% to give? Are we willing to chose to donate the money we would have spent on a "want" so that those who don;t have enough might have a chance to get the "needs"?

Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister

http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

The God-life, Benedict is telling us, is a never-ending, unremitting, totally absorbing enterprise. God is intent on it; so must we be. The Hebrew poet, Moses Ibn Ezra, writes: "Those who persist in knocking will succeed in entering." Benedict thinks no less. It is not perfection that leads us to God; it is perseverance.

Reading for January 28, May 27 September 28

January 28, May 29, September 28
Chapter 7: On Humility

As for self-will,
we are forbidden to do our own will
by the Scripture, which says to us,
"Turn away from your own will" (Eccles. 18:30),
and likewise by the prayer in which we ask God
that His will be done in us.
And rightly are we taught not to do our own will
when we take heed to the warning of Scripture:
"There are ways which seem right,
but the ends of them plunge into the depths of hell" (Prov. 16:25);
and also when we tremble at what is said of the careless:
"They are corrupt and have become abominable in their will."

And as for the desires of the flesh,
let us believe with the Prophet that God is ever present to us,
when he says to the Lord,
"Every desire of mine is before You" (Ps. 37:10).

Some thoughts:

As I read this, I recall that Benedict has not yet started to discuss the second degree of humility, so I tend to see this passage as I saw yesterday's. More exposition about what it is to fear God. Does this seem like a valid way to read it to you? What is the relationship between self-will and fear of God? Does self-will interfere with the fear of God? Does fearing God place our self-wlll in conflict with something else in any way?

This passage may be unpleasant to modern eyes. I have often noticed a sort of "Me First" attitude on the freeway, in the supermarket, every where. I notice all the ways I succumb to it. I am terrible at interrupting people, for instance, so eager am I to get a word in. At the same time, I think this passage can be taken to extremes that Father Benedict never meant. For example thinking all the time about what we did wrong. I think that is another form of self-will.

In what ways does Benedict define "fear of God"? He has told us to keep God in the forefront of our minds; remember God's commandments; keep ourselves from sin and the desires of the flesh; that God is always looking at us; to avoid wrong thoughts by praying constantly; to do God's will not our own.

Looking over that list, I am truly thankful Benedict wrote his rule which is a school. I can only pray that I am teachable enough to learn in this school.




Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

Benedict makes two points clearly: First, we are capable of choosing for God in life. We are not trapped by an essential weakness that makes God knowable but not possible. Second, we are more than the body. Choosing God means having to concentrate on nourishing the soul rather than on sating the flesh, not because the flesh is bad but because the flesh is not enough to make the human fully human. To give ourselves entirely to the pleasures of the body may close us to beauties known only to the soul.

Humility lies in knowing who we are and what our lives are meant to garner. The irony of humility is that, if we have it, we know we are made for greatness, we are made for God.

Reading for January 26, May 25 September 26

January 26, May 27, September 26
Chapter 7: On Humility

The first degree of humility, then,
is that a person keep the fear of God before his eyes
and beware of ever forgetting it.
Let him be ever mindful of all that God has commanded;
let his thoughts constantly recur
to the hell-fire which will burn for their sins
those who despise God,
and to the life everlasting which is prepared
for those who fear Him.
Let him keep himself at every moment from sins and vices,
whether of the mind, the tongue, the hands, the feet,
or the self-will,
and check also the desires of the flesh.

Some thoughts:

"Fear of God" is one of those phrases that has not stood the test of time. At least, IMO. I suspect "fear" has morphed from a word that back in ancient days was full of positive connotations into a word that in our modern era has only negative meanings. "God is love," I've heard people say. "What is there to fear?"

"Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom" or so it says in either Proverbs of Ecclesiastes. But what does this mean? Obviously it's a concept important to St. Benedict. What does "fear of God" look like or mean to you?

For me, this concept is played out near the end of the Book of Job. If ever a person had a right to complain, it's Job, robbed of family, everything that gave meaning to his life in order to serve as plaything of the devil. There's Job, sitting on his ash heap, hurling question after question at God. What does Job discover? Not specific answers to his questions but rather The Answer. Confronted with the living God, all Job's questions melt away because God is Answer, to be in God's presence is Answer. Job's response is adoration, confession, worship.

"Fear of God", it seems to me, must be a short-hand expression to sum up such complicated concepts such as awe of God, recognition of ourselves as creatures, recognition of God as Creator, realization that worms that we are, He loves us which ought to make us re-think calling ourselves worms.


Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

The very consciousness of God in time is central to Benedict's perception of the spiritual life. Benedict's position is both shocking and simple: being sinless is not enough. Being steeped in the mind of God is most important. While we restrain ourselves from harsh speech and bad actions and demands of the flesh and pride of soul, what is most vital to the fanning of the spiritual fire is to become aware that the God we seek is aware of us. Sanctity, in other words, is not a matter of moral athletics. Sanctity is a conscious relationship with the conscious but invisible God. The theology is an enlivening and liberating one: It is not a matter, the posture implies, of our becoming good enough to gain the God who is somewhere outside of us. It is a matter of gaining the God within, the love of Whom impels us to good.

Reading for January 25, May 26, September 25

January 25, May 26, September 25
Chapter 7: On Humility

Holy Scripture, brethren, cries out to us, saying,
"Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled,
and he who humbles himself shall be exalted" (Luke 14:11).
In saying this it shows us
that all exaltation is a kind of pride,
against which the Prophet proves himself to be on guard
when he says,
"Lord, my heart is not exalted,
nor are mine eyes lifted up;
neither have I walked in great matters,
nor in wonders above me."
But how has he acted?
"Rather have I been of humble mind
than exalting myself;
as a weaned child on its mother's breast,
so You solace my soul" (Ps. 130:1-2).

Hence, brethren,
if we wish to reach the very highest point of humility
and to arrive speedily at that heavenly exaltation
to which ascent is made through the humility of this present life,
we must
by our ascending actions
erect the ladder Jacob saw in his dream,
on which Angels appeared to him descending and ascending.
By that descent and ascent
we must surely understand nothing else than this,
that we descend by self-exaltation and ascend by humility.
And the ladder thus set up is our life in the would,
which the Lord raises up to heaven if our heart is humbled.
For we call our body and soul the sides of the ladder,
and into these sides our divine vocation has inserted
the different steps of humility and discipline we must climb.

Some thoughts:

I'll be honest, I've taken some time off from posting about the RB because I have been much too agitated to trust myself or my thoughts. Returning to the RB today, what do I discover but that it is good ole Chapter 7 on Humility, the section of the Rule with which I struggle the most. And I mean struggle.

All my life, I've been called names like arrogant, domineering, egotistical, suffering under the burdens of other people's unflattering judgement of me. I can;t tell you how much it has hurt and devastated me. Especially because what I really was most of the time was seriously depressed and terrified of it. Certainly, I must not have carried this cross of depression graciously, overcompensating. I'd spent my life trying to shape myself into the sort of person people would like. Only problem is there was no one persona I could adopt that would please everyone. As I grew older and became better able to sort out my issues from those of other people, I realized that other people were trying to make me take the responsibility for their own discomfort with my obvious depression. Rather than examine themselves to learn why they had such a reaction, they'd blame me for it. As time went on, I despised such people.

Another thing that was/is difficult for other people is that I am smart and intellectually inclined. It was one good thing about myself that I was positive of and I clung to it like a life boat. Spending every single moment of every single day in despair, darkness, aching, yearning for someone to tell me what was wrong with me so i could fix it, I used my brain to get me through, trying to ignore my emotions and allowing my intellect to steer me through. As that worked for me, as my education advanced with the highest possible GPA, I despised those who seemed to resent me for being more intelligent than they.

As a result, this chapter, above all the others, challenges me. It asks me to give up some of those habits I learned in order to survive a life time of Major Depressive Disorder that eventually disabled me. What this chapter asks of me to recognize is that while I am not better than anyone else, i am really also no worse than anyone else. Which was perhaps the biggest lie the Insidious Dark ever told me.

I will always have a strong personality. How could I not? It was shaped in the crucible. There's that hymn that was sung somewhere, I forget exactly how it goes, something like "bend me, mold me, crush me, shape me" and I used to find it unbearable to sing because such was my daily life and if other people only knew what those words meant, they wouldn't sing them so cheerfully.

Part of the razor's edge of humility, it seems to me, is knowing who God called me to be and saying no to everything else. I've spent my life between too extremes. One extreme was my own inflated view of just how brilliant I was. The other extreme was how rotten a person I was. Both are equally wrong in the Lord's eyes.

This may be too personal, but that was my response. Do these words of Benedict call forth anything from you?




Commentary by Sr Joan Chittister:
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html


If the twentieth century has lost anything that needs to be rediscovered, if the western world has denied anything that needs to be owned, if individuals have rejected anything that needs to be professed again, if the preservation of the globe in the twenty-first century requires anything of the past at all, it may well be the commitment of the Rule of Benedict to humility.

The Roman Empire in which Benedict of Nursia wrote his alternative rule of life was a civilization in a decline not unlike our own. The economy was deteriorating, the helpless were being destroyed by the warlike, the rich lived on the backs of the poor, the powerful few made decisions that profited them but plunged the powerless many into continual chaos, the Empire expended more and more of its resources on militarism designed to maintain a system that, strained from within and threatened from without, was already long dead.

It is an environment like that into which Benedict of Nursia flung a Rule for privileged Roman citizens calling for humility, 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, in other words, is the basis for right relationships in life.

Later centuries distorted the notion and confused the concept of humility with lack of self-esteem and substituted the warped and useless practice of humiliations for the idea of humility. Eventually the thought of humility was rejected out of hand and we have been left as a civilization to stew in the consequences of our arrogance.

Benedict's magna carta of humility directs us to begin the spiritual life by knowing our place in the universe, our connectedness, our dependence on God for the little greatness we have. Anything else, he says, is to find ourselves in the position of "a weaned child on its mother's lap," cut off from nourishment, puny, helpless--however grandiose our images of ourselves--and left without the resources necessary to grow in the spirit of God. No infant child is independent of its mother, weaned or not. No spiritual maturity can be achieved independent of a sense of God's role in our development.

Jacob's ladder is a recurring image of spiritual progress in classic spiritual literature, as clear in meaning to its time as the concept of the spiritual journey, for instance, would be to a later age. It connected heaven and earth. It was the process by which the soul saw and touched and climbed and clung to the presence of God in life, whose angels "descended and ascended" in an attempt to bring God down and raise us up. That ladder, that precariously balanced pathway to the invisible God, Benedict said, is the integration of body and soul. One without the other, it seems, will not do. Dualism is a hoax.

Just as false, though, is the idea that "getting ahead" and "being on top" are marks of real human achievement. Benedict says that in the spiritual life up is down and down is up, "we descend by exaltation and we ascend by humility." The goals and values of the spiritual life, in other words, are just plain different than the goals and values we've been taught by the world around us. Winning, owning, having, consuming, and controlling are not the high posts of the spiritual life. And this is the basis for social revolution in the modern world.