WCCM Oblate Blog: Reflections from Daily Reading of the Rule of St. Benedict

WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Chapter 4: Guidelines for Christian and monastic good practice (paragraphs 1-2)

The first of all things to aim at is to love the Lord God with your whole heart and soul and strength and then to love your neighbour as much as you do yourself.

(From para. 1 of Ch. 4 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

Benedict's straightforward, practical, Biblical injunctions remind me that everything I need for "Christian and monastic good practice" is right here and right now -- in this moment -- if only I look centerward to God, and outward to those around me.

1 comment:

Roger SessionsSeptember 19, 2012 at 4:50 AM
Benedict's guidelines for living a God centered life are all about my own internal transformation. None of his guidelines talk about changing others.
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