Chapter 7: The value of humility (paragraph 8)
Instead we should take as our model for imitation the Lord himself when he says: I have come not to indulge my own desires but to do the will of him who sent me. (From para. 8 of Ch. 7 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
I don't understand humility to be pathetic self-abasement. Instead, I understand it as choosing martyrdom, in the true sense, as Jesus did. Perhaps it's too grand to say that I "choose martyrdom". But I do choose to discern the most redemptive path, which is always God's will.
In my desire to become an oblate of St. Benedict, I have been discerning what to offer. But I need not worry because God puts gifts in me that when put to good use will glorify Him. Not my will but your will Oh Lord be done in me.
ReplyDeleteThe flower grows not by force but over time with the sun and right soil and watering. In the stillness, by opening the heart rather than straining the mind the will of God can be known over time. My part is to remain patient and still with an open heart empty of expectations so that God's flower can grow in the meditation soil of my daily practice.
ReplyDelete“Meditation is like the practice sessions of an athlete. The iron discipline leads to utter freedom of movement in the art of the performance when the discipline itself is transcended.” (John Main, “Word Made Flesh”, Kindle loc301). I like Fr. John’s athlete analogy, especially since I myself first became an athlete, a triathlete, in my sixties, even completing an “Ironman” at 68. Doing the latter sixteen-hour endurance race required seven years of many hours of swimming, biking and running “practice sessions”. Becoming a “geriatric athlete” taught me an awful lot about my truth and has had many physical health benefits, including “freedom in the art of performance” of the tasks of geriatric living. Twice daily meditation and the mantra require of me that same iron discipline, but bring me a much deeper childlike joy in the utter freedom and joy of the Spirit.
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