Chapter 7: The value of humility (paragraph 5)
One who follows that way [of cherishing at all times the sense of awe with which we should turn to God] finds protection at all times from sin and vice of thought, of tongue, of hand, of foot, of self-will and of disordered sensual desire, so as to lead a life that is completely open before the scrutiny of God and of his angels who watch over us from hour to hour. (From para. 5 of Ch. 7 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
If I'm alert to the presence of God, I can find protection there. In this loving relationship, I begin to question my need to live in denial, evasion, indulgence. What an incomprehensible message to my ego! But Benedict assures me that the practice of the presence of God roots me in my life-source. Thus, I am able to discover right action.
“Oh, he’s with the angels,” spontaneously replied my three-year-old grandson. His mom had just told him that his great uncle had just died. Give me that same childlike spontaneous faith in You and Your invisible world and its numberless citizens that surrounds me at every moment.
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