Prologue to the Rule (paragraph 6)
For that very reason also, so that we may mend our evil ways, the days of our mortal lives are allowed us as a sort of truce for improvement. (From para. 6 of Prologue to the Rule of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
A truce in hostilities is what comes to my mind. Trust in God rather than ego-fear. Peace of mind and heart to cease struggling with life, and to accept its conditions. A truce for the heart to expand. That is what meditation is.
“Do you not know that God’s patience is inviting you to repent” (Rom. 2:4)?
ReplyDeleteFor the merciful Lord tells us, “I desire not the death of the sinner but that the sinner should be converted and live (Ezech. 33:11). This passage emphasized in the Rule convicts me of my impatience. If God can be patient with me, why can’t I? Thus, I thank the Lord for the gift of meditation for this is a workshop of patience for me.
“The danger is that we can end by thinking we have solved the problem of transcendence and yet be far from having experienced the mystery. When this begins to happen we are in fact dissipating rather than communicating the mystery and are left holding what T.S. Eliot calls ‘receipts for deceits’, dull platitudes that convince no one, hardly (after a while) even ourselves.”(John Main, “Community of Love”, p26-27). How many “receipts for deceits” am I still holding, Lord? Help thou my unbelief. Help me to use the truce that is today to embrace the poverty of my spirit, to fall more deeply in love with you and my fellows, in love with being your little one.
ReplyDelete