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.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Chapter 40: The proper amount of drink to be provided

St Paul says that each of us has a special gift from God, one kind for one of us and quite a different one for another. That reflection makes me reluctant to decide on the measure of food and drink for others. (From para. 1 of Ch. 40 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

St. Benedict's vision of how the gifts of the Spirit can penetrate my life at seemingly simple and mundane levels (e.g., how much I drink or food I need), helps me to realize in what embodied and ordinary ways grace builds on nature.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersMarch 20, 2019 at 4:53 AM
“But to whom God granteth the endurance of abstinence, let them know that they will have their special reward.” How important for me to remember that my thirty-three years of continuous abstinence is your precious gift, your special reward, Abba. With it you daily gladden my heart much more than the finest wine.
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