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.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Chapter 68: The response to orders that seem impossible

If the superior after listening to this submission still insists on the original command, then the junior must accept that it is the right thing and with loving confidence in the help of God obey.

(From Ch. 68 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

Christ blesses me with those who challenge my notions of my perceived limitations. In this way, what I might dismiss as mere weakness, becomes, through deep listening, my "growing edge".

2 comments:

Roger SessionsDecember 27, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Some of my most important tasks seem impossible until I do them.
ReplyDelete
Replies
val latonaDecember 28, 2012 at 4:22 AM
Upon reading this chapter, the Holy Spirit came to mind with "her" fruits of gentleness and obedience that help me to accept seemingly burdensome tasks. In Fr. Laurence's, Jesus the Teacher Within, he talks about the Holy Spirit not taking "self-responsibility out of our hands", but helping us "to bear that responsibility in the most authentic way." Through meditation, I come face to face with what is authentic and real through the Spirit of Christ.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment