Prologue to The Rule (paragraph 7)

"We must, therefore, prepare our hearts and bodies to serve him under the guidance of holy obedience." (From para. 7 of Prologue to The Rule of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

When I examine deeply what it means to me to "prepare my heart and body" in this way, I realize I'm called to a clearing out of attachments. I recall that elsewhere in the Rule Benedict tells me to eliminate the "thoughtless compromises that have crept in", as well as to make sure that my heart and body are not "weighed down". Obedience, in this sense, means to me a gradual learning to make room for the Spirit and for reality.