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, August 1, 2016

Chapter 54: The reception of letters and gifts in the monastery

No one in a monastic community may receive or send to others letters, gifts of piety or any little tokens without the permission of the superior, whether it is their parents who are concerned or anyone else at all or another member of the community. (From Ch. 54 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

I think this is a guideline about giving and receiving gifts without strings attached. Do I desire special attention or wish to control someone else, or is my receiving and giving done in a spirit of inner freedom, without any expectations?

1 comment:

valAugust 1, 2016 at 5:10 AM
If love is attention of the other, than a gift is an example of love. When we give our attention in (that) a genuine way, selflessly and honestly…(Laurence Freeman,OSB, Daily Wisdom, Aug. 1) than there is love being shown for the other. The two key words for me are “selflessly and honestly”.
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