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, January 1, 2013

Prologue to The Rule (paragraphs 1-2)

Listen, child of God, to the guidance of your teacher. Attend to the message you hear and make sure that it pierces to your heart, so that you may accept with willing freedom and fulfil by the way you live the directions that come from your loving Father.

(From para. 1 of Prologue to the Rule of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

I was recently moved again by hearing Simeon's prophecy to Mary, as she presented the infant Jesus in the Temple, that a sword would pierce her heart. Benedict's guidance to me evokes this image of suffering, and, paradoxically, also liberty of spirit. In this new year, may I ever more piercingly discern the difference between suffering caused by my ego, and the suffering of selfless love.

2 comments:

NiallJanuary 1, 2013 at 7:03 AM
Listen. As I start again at the beginning of the Rule and another year I feel the strong desire to make open attentive listening central to my daily life. I feel supported in this desire by my meditation practice. Is it not listening, being open and attentive? Surely yes. Thank you John Main for your simple and powerful teaching.
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Roger SessionsJanuary 1, 2013 at 6:41 PM
If I want wisdom, I must first learn to listen.
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