Chapter 4: Guidelines for Christian and monastic good practice (paragraphs 3-5)
Don't let your actions be governed by anger nor nurse your anger against a future opportunity of indulging it. (From para.3 of Ch. 4 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
"Nursing" anger: even the phrase itself betrays a self-deception. "Nursing" anger is steeping myself in the delusions of the ego -- living in the past (what I think happened or should have happened) or the future (how I want things to turn out, or what I'll say when I get the chance). What I'm called to nurse, to nurture, is a constant awareness of existing only in the present moment, in the Presence.
“47. To keep death before one’s eyes daily.” This reminds me of the advice Carlos Castaneda received from his Yaqui Indian guru: “It is always good to keep death as a close adviser.” This quote caught my attention reading a national endurance athlete magazine. A good reminder, Abba, that life’s not a sprint but a marathon that we complete together one step, one day at a time.
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