Chapter 48: Daily manual labor (paragraphs 6-7)
Sunday is the day on which all should be occupied in lectio divina, except for those who are assigned to particular duties. (From para. 6 of Ch. 48 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
Here St. Benedict relates for me the practice of lectio with the practice of holy leisure. Sunday, in particular, is a time for me to read the book of life with relaxed and alert attention, as I learn in meditation.
“Rather than merely denouncing atheism, faith needs to seek a contemporary means to meet the godless, in sympathy and compassion.” John Main’s words here (“The Way of Unknowing”, Kindle loc 199) echo The Rule’s admonition to me today to show loving consideration to the weak and the sick. This includes any I might judge to be “lazy or shiftless”. Fr. John goes on: “This means discovering an experience in common. We can find this common experience in the silence of God.” Meditation is the place we can meet, where my own and my brothers’ and sisters’ laziness and shiftlessness and godlessness can be healed.
ReplyDeleteToday, I have a unique lectio. I was reading Gary Keese's book Money Mysteries from the Master. What started to be a curiosity of what the author has to say about the relationship of the Word of God with money, turned out to be a beautiful spiritual discovery for me. Indeed, God speaks and meets me where ever I am.
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