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, January 1, 2018

Prologue to The Rule (paragraphs 1-2)

Listen, child of God, to the guidance of your teacher. Attend to the message you hear and make sure that it pierces to your heart, so that you may accept with willing freedom and fulfil by the way you live the directions that come from your loving Father. (From para. 1 of Prologue to The Rule of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1973.)

At the beginning of this year, I am struck by Benedict's linking of a heart-piercing message and freedom of spirit. This seeming paradox of suffering and enlightenment will be realized if I live the the directions that come from my Inner Teacher.

1 comment:

Melanie CondesJanuary 1, 2018 at 5:42 PM
"Listen ... that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him." The start of the year is a reminder for me to really listen and be obedient to the direction that the Father wants me to go. This is a call to constantly connect to that voice speaking thru the deepest part of my heart where sacred silence dwell.
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