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.

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Chapter 53: The reception of guests (paragraphs 1-4)

The greatest care should be taken to give a warm reception to the poor and to pilgrims, because it is in them above all others that Christ is welcomed. (From para. 4 of Ch. 53 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Authentic hospitality -- whether to someone in need, to the unexpected visitor, to my own family -- infuses kindness into the world, and creates community. In such a community I can learn about other-centeredness, and thus, move closer to reality.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersAugust 4, 2019 at 5:13 AM
Fidelity to twice-daily meditation and the mantra prepares me probably better than anything else to receive You in everyone I meet today, Abba. This simple practice tames my “Edging God Out” ego and opens me to “edge” you in to everyone and everything I encounter today.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment