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.

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Chapter 31: The qualities required by the cellarer (paragraphs 2-3)

There will, of course, be appropriate times for the cellarer to hand out what is needed and for requests for goods or services to be made; these times should be observed by all so that failure to respect them may not cause any disturbance or unhappiness in the house of God. (From para. 3 of Ch. 31 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

For me, discerning the best time and place and way to relate to another, flows from loving kindness. Loving kindness is not the result of self-consciousness nor of self-analysis. But, it is the best preparation for, and a fruit of, meditation. I grow to see that in every moment, some way can be found to relate with loving kindness.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersJuly 9, 2019 at 4:32 AM
Humility and simple kindness, even and especially when I have to say “no”. Those “simple acts of kindness” again!--John Main’s gentle prescription for the best way for me to prepare for my times of meditation, and, also, of course, my best preparation for all the challenges each day brings.
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