Prologue to The Rule (paragraphs 1-2)
This, then, is the beginning of my advice: make prayer the first step in anything worthwhile that you attempt. (From para. 2 of Prologue to The Rule of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
John Main tells me that, in leading the disciplined life, resolutions are not necessary. What I understand to be necessary is one thing: being in the moment, in the stream of loving awareness that flows between the Father and the Son. All good action flows from being. Such prayer is what I hear Benedict calling me to, as I begin, once again, to dispose myself to the teaching of the Rule.
“Listen”. Abba, you have given me two ears, two eyes and only one mouth. This should remind me that I need to listen, to take in, your word, at least four times as much as I should chatter. The word “obedience”, in fact, comes from the Latin “ob-audire”, “to hear--in the direction of”, in this case, “in the direction of” you. This is where the Rule begins. And that is where we begin today, Abba, with you inviting me to do the work (opera dei) of listening to you, hearing you, here within me, in meditation. The mantra coaxes me beyond my ego’s babbling, one repetition at a time.
ReplyDelete