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, July 31, 2017

Chapter 49: How Lent should be observed in the monastery

Therefore we urge that all in the monastery during these holy days of Lent should look carefully at the integrity of their lives and get rid in this holy season of any thoughtless compromises which may have crept in at other times. (From para. 1 of Ch. 49 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Where are the gaps? At what points in my day is there a lack of connectivity between who I truly am and what I do? What are the thoughtless compromises in which ego takes place over Love, distraction takes place over attention, self takes place over others? May I learn to recognize these thoughtless compromises, and find in that awareness a way back to Love.

1 comment:

WallyAugust 1, 2017 at 5:43 AM
The most meaningful characterization of Lent I have ever heard was that of, I believe, Joannes Metz who calls Lent the Church’s Springtime. Benedict here, then, is recommending that, ideally, I make my entire life, year-round, a perpetual Springtime. Abba, you invite me today, even in my ninth decade on the planet, to let you sprout into new life in every area of my life. Every day a brand new adventure with you.
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