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, September 18, 2017

Chapter 4: Guidelines for Christian and monastic good practice (paragraphs 1-2)

The first of all things to aim at is to love the Lord God with your whole heart and soul and strength and then to love your neighbour as much as your do yourself. (From para. 1 of Ch. 4 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

But, how much do I love myself? Plenty, I would say, with an egotistical self-love and self-preoccupation. But do I love myself as created by God? As a being immersed in the mystery of life and sustained each moment by the energy of the divine? It's no wonder to me that John Main teaches that I "must first get in touch with [myself]" before I can love God, and love my neighbor. Mediation helps me get in touch with my true Self.

1 comment:

Melanie CondesSeptember 18, 2017 at 3:46 PM
Love is the key to good works. I need to remember this for oftentimes in my desire to achieve I forget that what I am doing is because of love and hence, they are done in unloving ways. These are times when I am conflicted thus, the cause of so much stress.
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