Chapter 5: Monastic obedience (paragraph 4)
We should remember, however, that such obedience will be acceptable to God and rewarding to us, if we carry out the orders given us in a way that is not fearful, nor slow, nor half-hearted, nor marred by murmuring or the sort of compliance that betrays resentment. (From para. 4 of Ch. 5 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
For me, Benedict paints a picture, in this chapter, of obedience as radical freedom. Such freedom is immediate -- an undivided response borne of selfless love, that is not dragged down nor deadened by ego.
"For if the disciple obeys with an ill willand murmurs,not necessarily with his lips but simply in his heart,then even though he fulfill the command yet his work will not be acceptable to God, ". It is only in silence when I can here the murmur of my heart. I pray for a heart that praise not a heart that complains ...
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