Chapter 72: The good spirit which should inspire monastic life

It is easy to recognize the bitter spirit of wickedness which creates a barrier to God's grace and opens the way to the evil of hell. But equally there is a good spirit which frees us from evil ways and brings us closer to God and eternal life. (From Ch. 72 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

I know that I have both the good and the evil in myself -- love and alienation, belonging and exclusion. But the practice of meditation has the power to wipe away even these labels, and to make of me something whole.