Chapter 22: Sleeping arrangements for the community
In the morning, as they are getting up for the work of God, they should quietly give encouragement to those who are sleepy and given to making excuses for being late. (From para. 2 of Ch. 22 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
Here I am the sleepy one, given to making excuses, and I am also the one who encourages. Contradictory or complementary tendencies, perfectly explicable in a human. And, like my meditation practice, I struggle with fidelity, and yet also find that fidelity is in me, deeper than my ego.
Here I am the sleepy one, given to making excuses, and I am also the one who encourages. Contradictory or complementary tendencies, perfectly explicable in a human. And, like my meditation practice, I struggle with fidelity, and yet also find that fidelity is in me, deeper than my ego.
Sleepyhead, wake up! Some days I do just want to pull the covers over my head and hide in the darkness. I am so tired! But then I remember that there are two types of fatigue: genuine physical fatigue and the pseudo fatigue that is a symptom of my depression, complicated by anxiety. What a great moment of clarity when I learned of this distinction. Great, because I also learned that the best treatment for my chronic case of the morning “awfuls” was simply to start moving. Ninety percent of life is showing up. Simply showing up for my meditation and for this page reawakens me. I remember that there is nothing that will happen today, Abba, that you and I can’t handle together.
ReplyDeleteand thus be always ready to rise without delay
ReplyDeletewhen the signal is given
and hasten to be before one another at the Work of God,
yet with all gravity and decorum.
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In meditation, I am trying to embrace a life in which I am always ready to be able to rise without delay and be with others at the work of God.
"Refusing to look back, and joyful with infinite gratitude, never fear to rise to meet the dawn, praising, blessing and singing Christ your Lord". (Brother Roger, The Sources of Taize)
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