Chapter 7: The value of humility (paragraph 18)
We should speak gently and seriously with words that are weighty and restrained. We should be brief and reasonable in whatever we have to say and not raise our voices to insist on our own opinions. (From para. 18 of Ch. 7 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
My speech can begin in an interior silence that allows me to listen. When I speak, I can be in touch with my true self. These kinds of words can reach out to foster a sense of trust and unity.
Twice daily twenty to thirty minute meditation? Impossible for a busy (and important!) guy like me, I thought, when an oblate first told me about this commitment ten or so years ago. Using the mantra and laying aside thoughts and images I have spent a lifetime acquiring? Even more impossible. Thank you, Abba, for softening my stubborn and pride-full and word-full heart enough to allow you to love me and to meet you, here, now, in this, your moment. Through mentors and fellow Oblates, you have gently led me to surrender to this twice-daily discipline, no matter where I am, and thus enjoy the comfort of becoming again and again a child, your little one.
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