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.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

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 liberty of spirit. Such freedom is immediate -- an undivided response borne of selfless love, that is not dragged down nor deadened by ego.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersJanuary 24, 2019 at 3:23 AM
“The Lord loves a cheerful giver”: and you also love a cheerful listener, a cheerful obedient one, Abba. Today, by your grace, I can find joy, without murmuring, performing the humblest tasks, like picking up my socks.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment