Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Chapter 33: Personal possessions in the monastery


Those in monastic vows should not claim any property as their own exclusive possession -- absolutely nothing at all, not even books and writing materials. After all they cannot count even their bodies and wills as their own consecrated as they are, to the Lord. (From Ch. 33 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

 I live in an embarrassment of riches and of accumulated stuff. But my meditation practice consecrates me to the Lord. Selfless attention can grant me the grace of detachment, of generosity, of liberty of spirit and the holy use of things.
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2 comments:

  1. Wally SaundersMarch 11, 2014 at 4:57 AM

    “I have never seen a hearse towing a U-Haul!”, commented a wise friend. “It is always good to keep death as a close adviser”, said Don Juan, the Yaqui Indian guru to Carlos Castaneda. And today the Rule speaks of “the vice of personal ownership”, a vice because of the mindlessness and denial that my thinking I really own anything promotes. I may mindlessly call my car or my house or my bank account “mine”, but that is simply a distraction from the passing nature of all my “things”. Our hearts are restless until they find rest in you, Abba. What a joy for me when I can accept that I really possess nothing, when I can give up my restless grasping, and come to rest as a child in your arms once more.

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  2. Melanie CondesMarch 11, 2014 at 7:36 AM

    Last night, when I was reviewing my day, I saw that "I was full of myself." My vice here is not about material possession but the possession of ideas. I will not be surprised that I became deaf to other people's voices and feelings because in my head there were chatters and in my heart there were clatters... clatter of now useless ideas and thoughts. Now I need to surrender to the void of meditation ... and allow my nothingness to bring me peace once again.

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