Chapter 4: Guidelines for Christian and monastic good practice (paragraphs 6-8)

Your hope of fulfillment should be centred in God alone. (From para. 6 of Ch. 4 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

John Main teaches that at any moment I may choose where to place my attention, and I'm finding that this applies even to suffering. But what I sense is that there's a difference between real suffering and the representation of suffering.
     I mull on these words by Etty Hillesum: "The greatest obstacle is always the representation and not the reality. Reality we can cope with, even with all its suffering, and heave it onto our shoulders. But the representation of suffering -- which is not suffering, because suffering itself is very fertile and can make life itself precious -- we must go beyond it. In going beyond these representations we liberate true life in ourselves, with all its strengths, and we become capable of managing the suffering in our own life as well as in the life of humanity."
    Through the practice of meditation, I'm coming to see when suffering is real, centered in God alone.

Chapter 4: Guidelines for Christian and monastic good practice (paragraphs 3-5)

Don't let our actions be governed by anger nor nurse your anger against a future opportunity of indulging it. (From para. 3 of Ch. 4 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Anger, like any obsession, robs me of living in the present moment. When I'm not open to that reality, I can be come dangerous, so to speak, to myself and those around me.

Chapter 4: Guidelines for Christian and monastic good practice (paragraphs 1-2)

Renounce your own desires and ambitions so as to be free to follow Christ. (From para. 2 of Ch. 4 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Recently, in a discussion of my purpose in the universe, I joyfully announced: "Really, I'm not trying to accomplish much of anything!" This was a sacred moment for me, as I realized I was speaking the language of the teaching of meditation, the language of teaching how to be.

Chapter 3: Calling the community together for consultation (paragraphs 2-3)

Such is the appropriate way to conform to that precept of scripture: If you act always after hearing the counsel of others, you will avoid the need to repent of your decision afterwards. (From para. 3 of Ch. 3 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

At one time, I might have thought that the counsel of others would be confusing or harmful to my independence. But as I meditator I've learned that the spirit of unity is more powerful than the spirit of autonomy.

Chapter 3: Calling the community together for consultation (paragraph 1)

The community themselves should be careful to offer their advice with due deference and respect, avoiding an obstinate defence of their own convictions. (From para. 1 of Ch. 3 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Not only are my egocentric arguments tiresome, but they shatter unity and obscure a clear-eyed view of the heart of the matter.

Chapter 2: Gifts needed by an abbot or abbess (paragraphs 8-9)

It is above all important that monastic superiors should not underrate or think lightly of the salvation of the souls committed to them by giving too much attention to transient affairs of this world which have no lasting value. (From para. 8 of Ch. 2 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Every moment I have a choice about where to place my attention, including on "transient affairs" that may become redemptive if I attend to them with a realized heart.

Chapter 2: Gifts needed by an abbot or abbess (paragraph 7)

It is the task of the superiors to adapt with sympathetic understanding to the needs of each so that they may not only avoid any loss but even have the joy of increasing the number of good sheep in the flock committed to them. (From para. 7 of Ch. 2 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

I make sympathetic understanding towards everyone in my family or community harder for myself by busily making judgments about others. Meditation teaches me to let go of judgment and to replace it with a habit of inclusion.