WCCM Oblate Blog: Reflections from Daily Reading of the Rule of St. Benedict

WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Chapter 7: The value of humility (paragraphs 10-11)

The fourth step of humility is to go even further than this by readily accepting in patient and silent endurance, without thought of giving up or avoiding the issue, any hard and demanding things that may come our way in the course of that obedience, even if they include harsh impositions which are unjust. (From para. 10 of Ch. 7 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

At first, this sounds to me like poor mental health information. But what does this teaching really mean to me? I believe it means that in any situation, the locus of control is in God's love in my heart. I can see opportunities to learn patience and detachment, and to stay rooted in reality.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersJune 3, 2014 at 6:33 AM
A seed, if it does not die, remains alone, as you remind me, Lord. But if it gets humble, gets down in the humus, and dies, it can grow to become that tiny wild flower or giant Sequoia in your garden. Help me to embrace the daily death today, now, here.
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