Rule of St Benedict Reading for September 2, 2009

January 6, May 7, September 6
Prologue
So we have asked the Lord
who is to dwell in His tent,
and we have heard His commands
to anyone who would dwell there;
it remains for us to fulfill those duties.

Therefore we must prepare our hearts and our bodies
to do battle under the holy obedience of His commands;
and let us ask God
that He be pleased to give us the help of His grace
for anything which our nature finds hardly possible.
And if we want to escape the pains of hell
and attain life everlasting,
then, while there is still time,
while we are still in the body
and are able to fulfill all these things
by the light of this life,
we must hasten to do now
what will profit us for eternity.

Some thoughts:

People took the "pains of hell" more seriously than we do. It was quite the inducement to do good or to make up for the bad one had done. We might do well to re-think how we think about hell. Is it a fiery pit full of perpetually burning bodies? Does it have several layers and each reserved for a specific group of sinners with the torments getting consecutively worse?

I imagine hell to be the absence of God. Since we have immortal souls, something has to happen to all of ours. What would eternity be like separate from God? Fiery pit? The utter cold of outer space? Since the immortal soul is aware, it will have to experience something.

We humans are a resourceful bunch and we can manage to adjust to lots of things. I am diabetic for example, and if I forget to take my meds, I don't feel it right away which in turn does not help me to remember to take them. The changes in my body are slow and I just adapt. In fact, I might not notice for a goodly while. Eventually though I begin to have symptoms. I use my glucometer and then am staggered by what I see there and all the things I ought to have done come rushing back at me.

Our need for God is that basic. Unless we are with God, no matter how well things look on the surface there is a whole lot of other stuff going on that we may never even notice until the changes are so many that they slap us in the face. This is where the RB helps us. It is a regimen to develop the best possible spiritual health. We start it because we must and then as we absorb the RB within us, we do it out of love.

Rule of St Benedict Reading for September 5, 2009

January 5, May 6, September 5

Prologue

Hence the Lord says in the Gospel,
"Whoever listens to these words of Mine and acts upon them,
I will liken to a wise person
who built a house on rock.
The floods came,
the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it did not fall,
because it had been founded on rock" (Matt. 7:24-25).

Having given us these assurances,
the Lord is waiting every day
for us to respond by our deeds to His holy admonitions.
And the days of this life are lengthened
and a truce granted us for this very reason,
that we may amend our evil ways.
As the Apostle says,
"Do you not know that God's patience is inviting you to repent" (Rom. 2:4)?
For the merciful Lord tells us,
"I desire not the death of the sinner,
but that the sinner should be converted and live" (Ezech. 33:11).


Some thoughts:

Doing what the Lord wants us to do, that's a on a firm foundation. It's not built on the vicisstudes of the latest fad, keeping our options open or the whims of others. One of the things that Benedict stresses is the habit of regular prayer. In the monastery, it's fairly easy to get that habit. The bell rings, the monks cease what they are doing, go to the oratory and pray. For us it is not that simple.

Jeremy Taylor, one of the Caroline Divines, wrote in his _Holy Living_ how we can make prayer habitual:

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/taylor/holy_living.toc.html



17. Set apart some portions of every day for more solemn devotion and religious employment, which be severe in observing: and if variety of employment, or prudent affairs, or civil society, press upon you, yet so order thy rule, that the necessary parts of it be not omitted; and though just occasions may make our prayers shorter, yet let nothing but a violent, sudden, and impatient necessity, make thee, upon any one day, wholly to omit thy morning and evening devotions; which if you be forced to make very short, you may supply and lengthen with ejaculations and short retirements in the day-time, in the midst of your employment or of your company.

Rule of St Benedict Reading for September 3, 2009

January 3, May 4, September 3

Prologue

And the Lord, seeking his laborer
in the multitude to whom He thus cries out,
says again,
"Who is the one who will have life,
and desires to see good days" (Ps. 33[34]:13)?
And if, hearing Him, you answer,
"I am the one,"
God says to you,
"If you will have true and everlasting life,
keep your tongue from evil
and your lips that they speak no guile.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek after peace and pursue it" (Ps. 33[34]:14-15).
And when you have done these things,
My eyes shall be upon you
and My ears open to your prayers;
and before you call upon Me,
I will say to you,
'Behold, here I am'" (Ps. 33[34]:16; Is. 65:24; 58:9).

What can be sweeter to us, dear ones,
than this voice of the Lord inviting us?
Behold, in His loving kindness
the Lord shows us the way of life.

Some thoughts:

Through the RB, St Benedict establishes a school in which we will learn how to do all the things mentioned on 9/2. Knowing that we are just ordinary people, he promises nothing harsh or burdensome. Although he prompts us to a little strictness, he asks that we do not become discouraged. We will learn to appreciate the discipline imposed upon us by the Rule. In time what we first due out of obedience, we will do out of love because we will discover how living the Benedictine path increases the love we share with God on an individual basis and with each other human being.

Rule of St Benedict Reading for September 2, 2009

January 2, May 3, September 2

Prologue

Let us arise, then, at last,
for the Scripture stirs us up, saying,
"Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep" (Rom. 13:11).
Let us open our eyes to the deifying light,
let us hear with attentive ears
the warning which the divine voice cries daily to us,
"Today if you hear His voice,
harden not your hearts" (Ps. 94[95]:8).
And again,
"Whoever has ears to hear,
hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Matt. 11-15; Apoc. 2:7).
And what does He say?
"Come, My children, listen to Me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps. 33[34]:12).
"Run while you have the light of life,
lest the darkness of death overtake you" (John 12:35).

Some thoughts:

The Rule is centered on Christ and the Christian life. Any christian can accept this rule of life as an aid to living a virtuous life within the Church. The RB reminds us of the order we should have in our lives, the priorities and the disciplines. St, Benedict realizes that we have already been called to the Christian life by baptism, but if we have become lethargic in living out that commitment, this Rule is for us. St. Benedict tells us to begin this manner of following Christ right now, today. We can't live in the past or the future

Rule of St Benedict Reading for September 1, 2009

January 1, May 2, September 1

Prologue

I S T E N carefully, my child,
to your master's precepts,
and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20).
Receive willingly and carry out effectively
your loving father's advice,
that by the labor of obedience
you may return to Him
from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.

To you, therefore, my words are now addressed,
whoever you may be,
who are renouncing your own will
to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King,
and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience.

And first of all,
whatever good work you begin to do,
beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect it,
that He who has now deigned to count us among His children
may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds.
For we must always so serve Him
with the good things He has given us,
that He will never as an angry Father disinherit His children,
nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions,
deliver us to everlasting punishment
as wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory.

Some thoughts:

"Listen carefully," St. Benedict says. Although he wrote a rule for monks, monks are not the only ones who benefit from it., Nuns, lay folk, priests have all adapted the RB to their vocations. As I have myself.

St. Benedict had a lot of common sense, as has been noted by more than one person over the centuries. There is something about common sense that is simply timeless, would you agree. Benedict knew his audience: ordinary people. In one of the later chapters, Benedict has the RB read to novices 3 times and ion ch 66 he says that the Rule is to be read often. He realized that we need to be reminded over and over again. No matter how closely we pay attention, the message has to be repeated over and over again. We don't achieve perfection by reading the RB once. Nor, for that matter, will perfection be ours even by practicing the RB our whole lives. Benedict will be the first to admit that no one is perfect. He wrote a Rule for imperfect people such as you and I, Gentle Reader.

Maybe more of us would give the religious life a try if they didn't believe that the had to be exceptionally holy people. Which they don't have to be. Nor will the religious life necessarily make one exceptionally holy. All that is requires, as if required of any Christian, that we keep trying to improve our lives.

This is what St Benedict teaches us. He teaches us to be practical, moderate, steadfast through sharing his common sense with us. He wants all of us to love the liturgy, to pray the psalms and meditate on Scripture, to see Christ in all to who we welcome into our churches and our homes, to take good care of the property we own, to take good care of our bodily as well as spiritual needs, to be kind and helpful to one another.

Reading for 01/07/08

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

January 7, May 8, September 7
Prologue

And so we are going to establish
a school for the service of the Lord.
In founding it we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome.
But if a certain strictness results from the dictates of equity
for the amendment of vices or the preservation of charity,
do not be at once dismayed and fly from the way of salvation,
whose entrance cannot but be narrow (Matt. 7:14).
For as we advance in the religious life and in faith,
our hearts expand
and we run the way of God's commandments
with unspeakable sweetness of love (Ps. 118:32).
Thus, never departing from His school,
but persevering in the monastery according to His teaching
until death,
we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:13)
and deserve to have a share also in His kingdom.

Some thoughts:

This is it. We have the invitation. Benedict offered the cost benefit analysis. We have been warned of the consequences. Are we going to start the course, do the homework, allow the Rule to be more important than our own personal wishes, desires and egos? I ask this of myself all the time.

Courtesy, etiquette and non-violent communication require that one writes in terms of the first person: my thoughts, my feelings, my values, etc. Sometimes it feels quite egotistical as if what I think, feel, believe is more important than what God has to say to me. I cannot tell you how much I wish to dissolve into God, to have Him speak through every word, act in every deed.

What choice is there, then, but to enter the school? Begin the work again? Identify with Christ? This is my choice. What God has given to me, I offer back to Him for His use and disposition.

Reading for Jan 5, 2008

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

January 5, May 6, September 5
Prologue

Hence the Lord says in the Gospel,
"Whoever listens to these words of Mine and acts upon them,
I will liken to a wise person
who built a house on rock.
The floods came,
the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it did not fall,
because it had been founded on rock" (Matt. 7:24-25).

Having given us these assurances,
the Lord is waiting every day
for us to respond by our deeds to His holy admonitions.
And the days of this life are lengthened
and a truce granted us for this very reason,
that we may amend our evil ways.
As the Apostle says,
"Do you not know that God's patience is inviting you to repent" (Rom. 2:4)?
For the merciful Lord tells us,
"I desire not the death of the sinner,
but that the sinner should be converted and live" (Ezech. 33:11).

Some thoughts

I find myself wondering if in St. Benedict's day they already observed that there are those who go to church on Sunday, who seemingly pay attention, but who on Monday act as if they never did hear a word that was said in that church? I suppose, human nature being what it is.

Do you see the astounding way the second stanza begins? God personally assures us, God personally waits on us. It is so easy to take God for granted. So easy to postpone until tomorrow what we need to do today because God will always be there.

In what way do you take God for granted?

Reading for Jan 04, 2008

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

January 4, May 5, September 4
Prologue

Having our loins girded, therefore,
with faith and the performance of good works (Eph. 6:14),
let us walk in His paths
by the guidance of the Gospel,
that we may deserve to see Him
who has called us to His kingdom (1 Thess. 2:12).

For if we wish to dwell in the tent of that kingdom,
we must run to it by good deeds
or we shall never reach it.

But let us ask the Lord, with the Prophet,
"Lord, who shall dwell in Your tent,
or who shall rest upon Your holy mountain" (Ps. 14:1)?

After this question,
let us listen to the Lord
as He answers and shows us the way to that tent, saying,
"The one Who walks without stain and practices justice;
who speaks truth from his heart;
who has not used his tongue for deceit;
who has done no evil to his neighbor;
who has given no place to slander against his neighbor."

This is the one who,
under any temptation from the malicious devil,
has brought him to naught (Ps. 14:4)
by casting him and his temptation from the sight of his heart;
and who has laid hold of his thoughts
while they were still young
and dashed them against Christ (Ps. 136:9).

It is they who,
fearing the Lord (Ps. 14:4),
do not pride themselves on their good observance;
but,
convinced that the good which is in them
cannot come from themselves and must be from the Lord,
glorify the Lord's work in them (Ps. 14:4),
using the words of the Prophet,
"Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
but to Your name give the glory" (Ps. 113, 2nd part:1).
Thus also the Apostle Paul
attributed nothing of the success of his preaching to himself,
but said,
"By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).
And again he says,
"He who glories, let him glory in the Lord" (2 Cor. 10:17).


Some thoughts:

The Prologue, I suppose, could be called the invitation. No one could accuse St. Benedict from sugar coating the life he describes. I am pretty sure my loins are girded with faith and the performance of good works, even if I do say it myself. And anyone who knows me even a little would agree I speak from the heart... a little too much so, in fact. But I make no claim for: who has not used his tongue for deceit; who has done no evil to his neighbor; who has given no place to slander against his neighbor." I am confident I have been guilty of these.

We are all human. Merely human. Just human. We all have done these and more. One could be cast down in despair because we have so far found it impossible to do otherwise. Benedict does not leave us in that place, though. He reminds us that any good we do is from and of the Lord. Shall we all breathe a sigh of relief? We will use our tongues for deceit. We will do evil to our neighbours and slander them. We can't avoid it. Not unless we turn ourselves over to the Lord.

By God's grace and only by God's grace can we ever do what is different.



This is a time when many are making New Year's resolutions. Below is something I read last year around this time and saved to read again. It seems in keeping to me with what I've written above:

RESOLUTIONS AND PRAYERS

Today the gym will be full of people. My guess is that it will stay that way until the end of the week and then it will get back to normal.

Most of them will disappear: they will catch colds, or have two early meetings in a row, or just not be in the mood. Or they will get on the scale and not see the subtraction they want to see and get discouraged. Or they will miss a few days and mess up the perfection of their compliance with their resolution about exercise in the New Year, and then they will say to themselves Oh, what's the use? and that will be that.

As a service, then, a few words of unsolicited advice:

1. Don't try to keep your resolution all by yourself. Stop thinking of it in terms of willpower. In fact, consider not thinking of it as a resolution at all: think of it as a prayer. You are not alone--no one on earth is alone. God is with us, and can do things we can't do. Just ask God for the help you need, in a childish way that may feel pretty foolish to you in the beginning -- do it anyway. Try approaching it for a time as if you trusted God more than you really do -- you have nothing to lose by doing this, and you may find God more trustworthy than you imagined.

2. Don't expect or demand perfection of yourself. Think instead of developing a habit, laying down layer after layer of the behavior you want to see in yourself. People build habit from the bottom up, layer by layer -- not from the top down.

3. Don't be harsh with yourself when you fail. Everybody fails. If you are mean to yourself about it, you will hurt your own feelings, and then you will run in self defence to the very behavior you're trying to change, as a source of quick comfort. You have no right and no reason to love yourself any less than God loves you. Failure is a chance to let God help us.

3. Don't start big and shrink. Start small and grow. Don't set too ambitious an agenda at first--set a small one. Otherwise you'll give up when you fail to meet your enormous goal. Instead, make a small change and allow it to cement itself into the routine of your life.

4. When you break your stride, don't try to make it up. Just get back on the horse. Don't spend two hours at the gym on Tuesday because you didn't spend on hour there on Monday. Just go in and do your hour. Don't fast all day today because you ate an entire cake yesterday. Just get back on your plan. Every day is a new day.

Blessings on you in 2007. May your New Year's prayers bear the fruit you need, and may you become, more and more, the person God had in mind in forming you.

Copyright © 2007 Barbara Crafton - http://www.geraniumfarm.org

Reading for Jan 3, 2008

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

January 3, May 4, September 3
Prologue

And the Lord, seeking his laborer
in the multitude to whom He thus cries out,
says again,
"Who is the one who will have life,
and desires to see good days" (Ps. 33:13)?
And if, hearing Him, you answer,
"I am the one,"
God says to you,
"If you will have true and everlasting life,
keep your tongue from evil
and your lips that they speak no guile.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek after peace and pursue it" (Ps. 33:14-15).
And when you have done these things,
My eyes shall be upon you
and My ears open to your prayers;
and before you call upon Me,
I will say to you,
'Behold, here I am'" (Ps. 33:16; Is. 65:24; 58:9).

What can be sweeter to us, dear ones,
than this voice of the Lord inviting us?
Behold, in His loving kindness
the Lord shows us the way of life.

Some thoughts;

Can we all hear how much the Lord wants us? Are we willing to risk having our false perceptions of God transformed by His revelation to us of His true nature?

We are to keep out tongues and lips from evil. The issue is not what we might do, see, read or hear. The issue is what comes out of us, what passes through our lips. The issue at this moment is what we might say. Seems to me the implication is that the proof that we have turned from evil is in what we say.

Of course, later on in the Rule, Benedict does turn his attention to thoughts and deeds. But just for today, let's think about what sorts of things pass through our lips.

Reading Jan 2

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

January 2, May 3, September 2
Prologue

Let us arise, then, at last,
for the Scripture stirs us up, saying,
"Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep" (Rom. 13:11).
Let us open our eyes to the deifying light,
let us hear with attentive ears
the warning which the divine voice cries daily to us,
"Today if you hear His voice,
harden not your hearts" (Ps. 94:8).
And again,
"Whoever has ears to hear,
hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Matt. 11-15; Apoc. 2:7).
And what does He say?
"Come, My children, listen to Me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps. 33:12).
"Run while you have the light of life,
lest the darkness of death overtake you" (John 12:35).

Some thoughts

This time as we begin again with the Rule, the days are getting longer. More and more light is breaking into the darkness. Every morning we see again the miracle of light piercing darkness. All too easy to take this phenomenon for granted. Those of us who have experienced any personal darkness know the power of this image.

We heard John's Gospel on Christmas with all its piercing light images. Today the RB recalls us to this dynamic. I never really noticed it before, but this Prologue seems to tell us that we can either be light bringers or darkness dwellers.

Which would you prefer?

Reading for Jan 1, 2008

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

January 1, May 2, September 1
Prologue

L I S T E N carefully, my child,
to your master's precepts,
and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20).
Receive willingly and carry out effectively
your loving father's advice,
that by the labor of obedience
you may return to Him
from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.

To you, therefore, my words are now addressed,
whoever you may be,
who are renouncing your own will
to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King,
and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience.

And first of all,
whatever good work you begin to do,
beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect it,
that He who has now deigned to count us among His children
may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds.
For we must always so serve Him
with the good things He has given us,
that He will never as an angry Father disinherit His children,
nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions,
deliver us to everlasting punishment
as wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory.

Some thoughts;

What a way to start off the New Year but with the joyful loving language of the prologue to the Rule of St Benedict! People everywhere are making their resolutions based on their perceptions of their needs and wants. Is God a part of that process?

Could there be a better New Year's resolution than to "see Him more clearly, follow Him more nearly, love Him more dearly, day by day"? Not to my mind.

What do you think? As you read these words written 1500 or so years ago, does your heart leap up and cry out "Yes! Take me!" ?

Prologue cont'd Jan. 7 - May 8 - Sept. 7

Prologue cont'd

Jan. 7 - May 8 - Sept. 7

And so we are going to establish
a school for the service of the Lord.
In founding it we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome.
But if a certain strictness results from the dictates of equity
for the amendment of vices or the preservation of charity,
do not be at once dismayed and fly from the way of salvation,
whose entrance cannot but be narrow (Matt. 7:14).
For as we advance in the religious life and in faith,
our hearts expand
and we run the way of God's commandments
with unspeakable sweetness of love.
Thus, never departing from His school,
but persevering in the monastery according to His teaching
until death,
we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:13)
and deserve to have a share also in His kingdom.

Some thoughts:

Today's reading concludes the Prologue and in the first sentence, we learn Father Benedict's purpose for writing the Rule: to establish a school for the service of the Lord. The remainder of today's reading summarizes what the school will do and succinctly sums up the essence of the Christian life.

This school is place to both learn and use what we learn. The spiritual life is always a combination of both learning and action. It is not enough to acquire knowledge, one must also put it into practice.

Note too where he says "nothing harsh or burdensome". One of the things I most love about Benedict is the moderation, the balance. Would you agree with me that the world we live in could well use some moderation and balance?

As for a "certain strictness", for some reason I am reminded of those who can't commit, who have to try everything new. Yes, in choosing to implement the RB in our lives, we are turning our backs on some things, narrowing our options, leaving other stuff behind.

The "certain strictness" is not only for the "amendment of vices", but also for the "preservation of charity", of love. Balance. Moderation. I love the warning against running away. How many people shun commitments. Benedict practically promises to stretch our comfort zones which can be dismaying. But what are the results of this stretching?

Something else that sounds like a promise to me is "For as we advance in the religious life and in faith, our hearts expand and we run the way of God's commandments with unspeakable sweetness of love." Is this saying that if we stick with it, even when it is uncomfortable, that we will grow and know the love of God better?

The one who guides and teaches us is the Lord, not Benedict. "His teaching" is the Scriptures, the Word of the Lord to whom we must listen, not primarily the Rule., although the Rule helps us listen to the Bible.

In this selection of the RB, the monastery is named as the place where all this learning takes place. Most of us, I daresay, are not in a monastery or convent. What would be our equivalent? I believe that for each of us, there is a place to which we are committed and a path to which we have given our obedience. If this has not taken place then, according to what I read in the New Testament and the RB, we have not truly enfleshed, incarnated our commitment to the Lord.

Something in our rational, mechanistic view of the world often makes this difficult because to choose to follow Jesus is often a case of choosing blindly because it means giving ourselves to something we could never fully understand. It is hard for us to accept without scientific proof, that the Lord's is a much better way for us. Yet that is what Jesus and now Benedict ask of us every day: to believe that we will be transformed "for as we advance in the religious life and in faith,
our hearts expand". Reads like transformation to me.

Prologue, continued Jan. 6 - May 7 - Sept. 6

Prologue continued

Jan. 6 - May 7 - Sept. 6

So, brothers and sisters, we have asked the Lord
who is to dwell in His tent,
and we have heard His commands
to anyone who would dwell there;
it remains for us to fulfill those duties.

Therefore we must prepare our hearts and our bodies
to do battle under the holy obedience of His commands;
and let us ask God
that He be pleased to give us the help of His grace
for anything which our nature finds hardly possible.
And if we want to escape the pains of hell
and attain life everlasting,
then, while there is still time,
while we are still in the body
and are able to fulfill all these things
by the light of this life,
we must hasten to do now
what will profit us for eternity.


Some thoughts:

For those who have accepted God's invitation, we must next prepare ourselves for what comes next. How do we do that? We ask God! God not only invites us, He also makes it possible for us to become what He invited us too. Benedict tells us how important this is with images such as "pains of hell", "life everlasting", "eternity". What is it "we must hasten to do now"? We must ask God for His help. Could Benedict have envisioned anything simpler?

I wonder though, if the sophisticated society in which we live has made it more difficult for us to give ourselves to God? Now that we know about meterology, tectonic plates, psychology, medicine, germs, etc how much harder it is for us to see God as the root cause of all things, as they did back in day when the RB was written? Doesn't God seem removed from cause and effect of everyday life?

The word "sophistication" has an interesting etymology in classical Greek. The Greek word "sophis" of course is related to "wise" and to be honest, I forget just this minute what the other Greek word is, but the jist of the 2 in combination is something like "jaded to the things of the gods". So already in the days of Socrates and Plato, Euripides and Sophocles, there were already people who thought they knew so much, they didn't need their gods. Do any of us wish to be sophisticated in that sense? I don't.

The questions the Rule asks of us every day are:

Will I offer myself to Father, Son and Holy Spirit today?

How do I offer myself to Father, Son and Holy Spirit today?

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

There is a poignancy in this paragraph that is little associated with great spiritual documents. First, Benedict stresses again that we are not alone in our undertaking to live above the dregs of life. What is "not possible to us by nature," we must "beg for by grace," he says. This is an enterprise between two spirits, in other words, God's and our own. We will fail often, but God will not fail us and we must not stop.

"God," the elder said, "is closer to sinners than to saints."

"But how can that be," the eager disciple asked.

And the elder explained: "God in heaven holds each person by a string. When we sin, we cut the string. Then God ties it up again, making a knot--bringing the sinner a little closer. Again and again sins cut the string--and with each knot God keeps drawing the sinner closer and closer."

Even our weaknesses take us to God if we let them.

It is a very liberating thought: We are not capable of what we are about to do but we are not doing it alone and we are not doing it without purpose. God is with us, holding us up so that the reign of God may be made plain in us and become hope to others. If we can become peacemakers, if we can control our need to control, if we can distinguish between our wants and our needs, then anybody can.

Prologue continued Jan. 6 - May 7 - Sept. 6

Prologue continued

Jan. 6 - May 7 - Sept. 6

So, brothers and sisters, we have asked the Lord
who is to dwell in His tent,
and we have heard His commands
to anyone who would dwell there;
it remains for us to fulfill those duties.

Therefore we must prepare our hearts and our bodies
to do battle under the holy obedience of His commands;
and let us ask God
that He be pleased to give us the help of His grace
for anything which our nature finds hardly possible.
And if we want to escape the pains of hell
and attain life everlasting,
then, while there is still time,
while we are still in the body
and are able to fulfill all these things
by the light of this life,
we must hasten to do now
what will profit us for eternity.


Some thoughts:

For those who have accepted God's invitation, we must next prepare ourselves for what comes next. How do we do that? We ask God! God not only invites us, He also makes it possible for us to become what He invited us too. Benedict tells us how important this is with images such as "pains of hell", "life everlasting", "eternity". What is it "we must hasten to do now"? We must ask God for His help. Could Benedict have envisioned anything simpler?

I wonder though, if the sophisticated society in which we live has made it more difficult for us to give ourselves to God? Now that we know about meterology, tectonic plates, psychology, medicine, germs, etc how much harder it is for us to see God as the root cause of all things, as they did back in day when the RB was written? Doesn't God seem removed from cause and effect of everyday life?

The word "sophistication" has an interesting etymology in classical Greek. The Greek word "sophis" of course is related to "wise" and to be honest, I forget just this minute what the other Greek word is, but the jist of the 2 in combination is something like "jaded to the things of the gods". So already in the days of Socrates and Plato, Euripides and Sophocles, there were already people who thought they knew so much, they didn't need their gods. Do any of us wish to be sophisticated in that sense? I don't.

The questions the Rule asks of us every day are:

Will I offer myself to Father, Son and Holy Spirit today?

How do I offer myself to Father, Son and Holy Spirit today?

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

There is a poignancy in this paragraph that is little associated with great spiritual documents. First, Benedict stresses again that we are not alone in our undertaking to live above the dregs of life. What is "not possible to us by nature," we must "beg for by grace," he says. This is an enterprise between two spirits, in other words, God's and our own. We will fail often, but God will not fail us and we must not stop.

"God," the elder said, "is closer to sinners than to saints."

"But how can that be," the eager disciple asked.

And the elder explained: "God in heaven holds each person by a string. When we sin, we cut the string. Then God ties it up again, making a knot--bringing the sinner a little closer. Again and again sins cut the string--and with each knot God keeps drawing the sinner closer and closer."

Even our weaknesses take us to God if we let them.

It is a very liberating thought: We are not capable of what we are about to do but we are not doing it alone and we are not doing it without purpose. God is with us, holding us up so that the reign of God may be made plain in us and become hope to others. If we can become peacemakers, if we can control our need to control, if we can distinguish between our wants and our needs, then anybody can.

Prologue cont'd Jan. 5 - May 6 - Sept. 5

Prologue cont'd

Jan. 5 - May 6 - Sept. 5

Hence the Lord says in the Gospel,
"Whoever listens to these words of Mine and acts upon them,
I will liken to a wise person
who built a house on rock.
The floods came,
the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it did not fall,
because it had been founded on rock" (Matt. 7:24-25).

Having given us these assurances,
the Lord is waiting every day
for us to respond by our deeds to His holy admonitions.
And the days of this life are lengthened
and a truce granted us for this very reason,
that we may amend our evil ways.
As the Apostle says,
"Do you not know that God's patience is inviting you to repent" (Rom. 2:4)?
For the merciful Lord tells us,
"I desire not the death of the sinner,
but that the sinner should be converted and live" (Ezech. 33:11).

Some thoughts:

So far, the tone of the Prologue has been invitatory. Benedict's role is that opf messenger as the invitation comes cones from God. Can you hear how eagerly God waits for us?

Yes, we are expected to amend our evil ways, but this section tells me that God will supply what I lack, all I have to do is follow His lead.

Another thing about invitations: they presuppose and RSVP. It's only polite after all, a courtesy to acknowledge and invitation and to respond to it. So, what next? What will we do now? How important is all this Good stuff to us? How much are we willing to give to God?




Commentary from Sister Joan Chittister, OSB (Order of St. Benedict)
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html


Clearly, for Benedict, God is not something to be achieved; God is a presence to be responded to but to whom without that presence, we cannot respond. God isn't something for which spiritual athletes compete or someone that secret spiritual formulas expose. God is the breath we breathe. It is thanks to God that we have any idea of God at all. God is not a mathematical formula that we discover by dint of our superior intelligence or our moral valor. God is the reason that we can reach God. It is to this ever-present Presence that the Rule of Benedict directs us. It is to God already in our lives that Benedict turns our minds. The Hasidim tell the story of the preacher who preached over and over, "Put God into your life; put God into your life." But the holy rabbi of the village said, "Our task is not to put God into our lives. God is already there. Our task is simply to realize that."

The words of the Rule are as fresh on this point as the day they were written. The fact is that we still compartmentalize God. We tell ourselves that we are working on reaching the spiritual life by saying prayers and doing penances and making pilgrimages and giving things up. And we keep score: so many daily masses, so many rosaries, so many fast days, so many spiritual books read, so many conferences attended equal so many steps toward the acquisition of God. The Rule of Benedict sets us straight. God is with us, for the taking, but not for any spiritual payment, only for realizing what we already have.

God is neither cajoled nor captured, the Rule makes plain. God is in the Here and Now in Benedictine spirituality. It is we who are not. It is we who are trapped in the past, angry at what formed us, or fixated on a future that is free from pain or totally under our control. But God is in our present, waiting for us there.

Prologue continued Jan. 4 - May 5 - Sept. 4

Yesterday's reading ended with something I forgot to mention. I am astounded that I did because they are the very crux of the matter, the heart of faith, the entire reason for the Christian life and the Rule.

God calls. Human beings are called. The stuff of life is our response.

Is there anything more important to any one of us than God's call to us to be in a loving relationship with Him? If so, what is it? Why is it more important to you than God? Benedict, of course, presupposes that our response to God is to accept his invitation, that we have found nothing sweeter, better in life than God. Seems to me we could all stand to examine ourselves to see if this is also true of us.



Prologue continued

Jan. 4 - May 5 - Sept. 4

Having our loins girded, therefore,
with faith and the performance of good works (Eph. 6:14),
let us walk in His paths
by the guidance of the Gospel,
that we may deserve to see Him
who has called us to His kingdom (1 Thess. 2:12).

For if we wish to dwell in the tent of that kingdom,
we must run to it by good deeds
or we shall never reach it.

But let us ask the Lord, with the Prophet,
"Lord, who shall dwell in Your tent,
or who shall rest upon Your holy mountain" (Ps. 14[15]:1)?

After this question, brothers and sisters,
let us listen to the Lord
as He answers and shows us the way to that tent, saying,
"The one Who walks without stain and practices justice;
who speaks truth from his heart;
who has not used his tongue for deceit;
who has done no evil to his neighbor;
who has given no place to slander against his neighbor."

This is the one who,
under any temptation from the malicious devil,
has brought him to naught (Ps. 14[15]:4)
by casting him and his temptation from the sight of his heart;
and who has laid hold of his thoughts
while they were still young
and dashed them against Christ (Ps. 13[14]6[137]:9).

It is they who,
fearing the Lord (Ps. 14[15]:4),
do not pride themselves on their good observance;
but,
convinced that the good which is in them
cannot come from themselves and must be from the Lord,
glorify the Lord's work in them (Ps. 14[15]:4),
using the words of the Prophet,
"Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
but to Your name give the glory" (Ps. 113[115:1]:9).
Thus also the Apostle Paul
attributed nothing of the success of his preaching to himself,
but said,
"By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).
And again he says,
"He who glories, let him glory in the Lord" (2 Cor. 10:17).

Some thoughts:

I am struck here by the fact that for Benedict, there is no separation between faith and good works. He seems them as united, indivisible. Benedict is always concerned with the practical issues of how to live out God's call, how each of us must enflesh His invitation, give it incarnation within us.

This incarnation of God's call to us must be both faith and works. One alone is not enough for God because God calls to our entire being: body and mind, soul and spirit, as indivisible in this life as are faith and good works.

I realize that in a way, this is the same stuff we all hear sermon after sermon. But is it not true that it takes very few words to state the essence of the Gospel and that it takes a lifetime to learn how to live it out? Unlike other books which we read because we don't know what they say, the Bible is a book we read because we do know what it says.

We can't take it all in in only one read. We don't read the Bible to be informed about it's content, we read the Bible to let it have its way with us, to form us, to remake us, to reshape within us the image and likeness of God which sin has distorted.

The Rule of St. Benedict is for beginners. It's a school where we are taught the hows of living for and with God. Let us not concentrate on what we cannot do, let's concentrate on each day's reading and work only to absorb that, one baby step at a time as Benedict would have us.

Benedict next turns to Ps 15:1 for the important question: who is called and how do we get there? I believe Benedict is telling us that Ps 15:2&3 tells us things we need to learn on the journey to the tent of the Lord.

This section reminds me of 2 books by Sister Margaret Funk, a Benedictine nun. The books are called _Tools Matter_ and _Thoughts Matter_. In them she writes of the way the habits (Tools Matter) and the voices in our heads (Thoughts Matter) are important. These books complement the Rule and I recommend them. Her website is:

http://megfunk.com/


Benedict knew something that modern Christians may need to rediscover. We need give in to all the voices inside us pulling this way and that. Not all of these are in our best interests, after all. We live in a world of too many options. We live in a world which sees itself as so pressed for time, that we admire those who multi-task. "Way too busy"is seen as a good thing.

Benedict would tell us that is not the way to the tents of the Lord. Benedict would have us listen, learn and choose. To say 'no' and concentrate on what God would have us do. The Holy Spirit will tell is were but to listen to Her.

One thing we could learn from the RB, is that all of those voices which want us to divide ourselves up can be seen as temptations, a very unfashionable world. But let's face it. Anything can be a temptation, even good things, if they are not what God would have us do. We must learn to select from all the good things we might do and find the far fewer things that are the ones God has set aside for each of us individually.

I am reminded of the image of a train on its tracks... runs smoothly. What happens to a train off its tracks? Modern Christians seem to me to like the train off the tracks because we haven't learned to choose, say yes to some and leave the others behind. We are afraid, I think, of missing out on all the good stuff. And yet, too much good stuff makes us sick while just enough brings pleasure.

If we take the RB one day at a time, we will learn to hear and to choose, because what could possibly be better for us than learning to become the unique individual God has called us to be. We can also rest easy, because as Father Benedict tells us, we can rely on the Lord to sort it all out for us, if we are but faithful to each day's part of the Rule.

Prologue, cont'd. Jan. 3 - May 4 - Sept. 3

Prologue, cont'd.

Jan. 3 - May 4 - Sept. 3

And the Lord, seeking his laborer
in the multitude to whom He thus cries out,
says again,
"Who is the one who will have life,
and desires to see good days" (Ps. 33[34]:13)?
And if, hearing Him, you answer,
"I am the one,"
God says to you,
"If you will have true and everlasting life,
keep your tongue from evil
and your lips that they speak no guile.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek after peace and pursue it" (Ps. 33[34]:14-15).
And when you have done these things,
My eyes shall be upon you
and My ears open to your prayers;
and before you call upon Me,
I will say to you,
'Behold, here I am'" (Ps. 33[34]:16; Is. 65:24; 58:9).

What can be sweeter to us, dear ones,
than this voice of the Lord inviting us?
Behold, in His loving kindness
the Lord shows us the way of life.


Some thoughts:

How many times has Father Benedict quoted from Ps 34 so far? It is crucial to him that we understand how important is the question "Do you want eternal life with all your heart and soul?" No less crucial is the only response he would have us make, "I do."

The next questions are:

How does one get it? What practical things can we do?

Must there be changes in our behaviors and the attitudes that under gird the behaviors?

How do we do this on a daily basis?"

How do we respond to the Lord's presence among us? To the empowering of the Holy Spirit to turn us toward holy living?

Here we are in Ps 34 again and Is 58. Benedict may presuppose that his monastics have these memorized, and so he believes that mention of a few words from each will recall the whole to mind, but I fear I must look in my Bible.

Ps 34 begins: "I will bless the Lord at all times." Is this, I wonder, where it all begins? Is this where desire for God comes from? We bless the Lord and as we do, we experience a greater desire for Him?

How have these passages from the Rule affected you? Are you called to take your own life so seriously enough to offer it to God? We can make this offering in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. We don't have to withdraw from the world into the cloister. God can take our lives right here out in the open, in the middle of whatever it is we do and are.

Can you hear how much God wants you? Can you hear how much God wants you within your life as it is at this moment? Can you hear how much God wants you right now in whatever circumstances you may be in?

Prologue, continued Jan. 2 - May 3 - Sept. 2

Prologue, continued

Jan. 2 - May 3 - Sept. 2

Let us arise, then, at last,
for the Scripture stirs us up, saying,
"Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep" (Rom. 13:11).
Let us open our eyes to the deifying light,
let us hear with attentive ears
the warning which the divine voice cries daily to us,
"Today if you hear His voice,
harden not your hearts" (Ps. 94[95]:8).
And again,
"Whoever has ears to hear,
hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Matt. 11-15; Apoc. 2:7).
And what does He say?
"Come, My children, listen to Me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps. 33[34]:12).
"Run while you have the light of life,
lest the darkness of death overtake you" (John 12:35).


Some thoughts about this passage:

The Scripture references sure are piled on top of each other. The RB is something like 95% Scripture. The reason for the piling of verse on top of verse lies in the way people "knew" Scripture back in Benedict's day. They memorized copious portions. The very first monastics, the Desert Christians (4th century CE), for example, prayed the Psalter over and over from memory. Before the invention of the printing press, there was only the labor intensive method of hand copying. So if a person wanted to "know" something, it had to be memorized. What would happen, is exactly what we see here in the RB: one verse recalls to mind another and another. They evoke each other.

If we were to memorize Scripture like this, would it make it more valuable to us? Do we sometimes take it for granted because we can pick up a Bible and read it whenever we want?

One word that is repeated over and over is "hear" in various forms. The very first word of the RB is "listen" and Benedict tells us of all to which we must listen. We must truly hear, truly listen. To the ancient mind, the spoken word had power: inherent, effective, inexorable which created a response in the one who hears. We see this belief in the power of the spoken word right there in Genesis 1. God said "Let there be" and there it was. John 1 writes of Jesus as the Word that was spoken. Those who hear Him are changed.

God speaks to us every day. He calls out to us, invites us. It is to God's voice that Benedict would have us listen.

What are the effects of listening to and hearing God? What are the images that Benedict uses?

What are the warnings?