Chapter 5: Monastic obedience (paragraphs 1-3)
It is, in fact, almost in one single moment that a command is uttered by the superior and the task carried to completion by the disciple, showing how much more quickly both acts are accomplished together because of their reverence for God. (From para. 2 of Ch. 5 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
There is something in this description of obedience that speaks to me about the quality of contemplative time, about attention to the Divine presence, about selfless service, and even of being ready to die.
“I have come, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me” (John 6:38). Forgive me, Abba, for my stubbornness, that diabolical “I will not serve” that continues to lurk within me. I so hate to be told what to do. How resistant I can become to even the gentlest advice or reprimand or suggestion of how I might improve my attitude, my behavior or my choices. Help me to remember that, every moment, you come to me disguised as my life. Give me the grace to see through your disguise and allow you to love me in every event this day may bring.
ReplyDelete“…with the ready step of obedience follow up with their deeds the voice of him who commands.” Oh Lord, to obey means to listen carefully and attentively to your voice.
ReplyDeleteThe first line of this chapter is power-packed with thoughts for reflection for many days ahead. "The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience which comes naturally to those who cherish Christ above all." My obedience comes from the ability to listen and to hear the voice of Christ calling to me with the deepest kind of love. To "cherish" is to respond in love without hesitation because I am holding all of humanity and creation as very dear and precious. Are not heaven and earth fiull of his glory? Sitting in the silence of meditation, I attune myself to that loving voice. It is in the slightest of details that Christ's voice is made known to me. Is my response going to be one full of love and trust?
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