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.

Friday, May 3, 2019

Prologue to The Rule (paragraph 4)

What gentler encouragement could we have, my dear brothers and sisters, than that word from the Lord calling us to himself in such a way! We can see with what loving concern the Lord points out to us the path of life. (From para. 4 of Prologue to The Rule of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

I'm struck by Benedict's choice of the words "gentle" and "loving", because, as a teacher of meditation, those are two words I rely on to encourage people to say the mantra without harshness or force. The mantra is a word calling me to the Lord, and it is gentle and loving, the way the Lord points out to me the path of life.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersMay 3, 2019 at 5:00 AM
Forgive me, Abba, for too often being my own worst enemy. What arrogance my low self-esteem can manifest! I actually sometimes believe that I know better than you how I should have been made. Meditation teaches me gentleness and patience with all your creatures including the unique child you love in a special way, me, just as I am.
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