Chapter 52: The oratory of the monastery
The oratory must be simply a place of prayer, as the name itself implies, and it must not be used for any other activities at all nor as a place for storage of any kind. (From Ch. 52 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
The mantra is a way of poverty; it leads to purity of heart. It's a way of letting go of the emotional baggage that can cram my own inner room.
“It is not that monks are supermen but that they have organized their lives with an utterly clear priority.” (John Main, “Letters from the Heart”) I want to, also, organize my life around you, Abba, my utterly clear priority. My oratory is the sacred space I make in my day exclusively for love, for re-centering myself with you in my twice-daily meditation.
ReplyDeleteWhere is my "oratory"?. Esther de Waal in A Life-Giving Way describes a physical space in the corner of a house where there can be "uncluttered space and silence." Barring that which is of course helpful, the other "place" is my heart. When I sit to meditate I have every intention to strip away clutter, to be in silence, and to "intend" my heart and very being towards God. I need to let go of forceful effort because I take solace in the words of one of the Easter readings, "Jesus met them on their way."(Matt.28:9) I do not know the time that He will meet me. I just need to be on the way every day, twice a day with openness of heart and know with faith that He will meet me where I am.
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