Mar 7 - To Heal Not To Destroy

Do not toss your horns so high, *
nor speak with a proud neck.
Psalm 75:5

Every age and level of understanding should receive appropriate treatment.
Benedict's Rule, 30:1 (Chittister, Pg. 156)

...Benedictine punishment is always meant to heal, never to destroy; to cure, not to crush.
Chittister, Pg. 157

To heal, not destroy... While my roles may include helping others to identify faults, I cannot forget I have faults as well. It doesn't matter my anger or my frustration, my role is to build through respect, not belittle through frustration or anger.

A Note To Readers:

This entry is part of a series that is developing as I read The Rule of Benedict, A Spirituality for the 21st Century, Joan Chittister, OSB, Crossroads, 2010. I am offering this both to those at St. George's Episcopal Church, Arlington VA, that may be reading this book and to anyone that is interested.

Unless stated otherwise quotes from St. Benedict's Rule are from the translation in this same book.Psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church, 1979 unless otherwise noted.

Mar 4 - Utmost Care

May his Name remain for ever
and be established as long as the sun endures; *
May all the nations bless themselves in him and call him blessed.
Psalm 72:17

The abbot and prioress must ensure the utmost care and concern for the wayward
Benedict's Rule 27:1 (Chittister, Pg. 149)

The spiritual life is a process, not an event. It takes time and love and help and care. It takes our patient presence. Just like everything else.
Chittister, Pg. 151

Sr. Joan also reminds me "What we have in monasteries and parishes and all fine social movements and devoted rectories and most families are just people, simple people who never meet their own ideals..." You mean I am responsible here too? I can barely get my own act together and you expect me to be there for others that are struggling? Wow, this puts an interesting light on what I must do, what my role is, whether I am at work, at home, or in class... I need the Lord whose Name remains forever.

A Note To Readers:

This entry is part of a series that is developing as I read The Rule of Benedict, A Spirituality for the 21st Century, Joan Chittister, OSB, Crossroads, 2010. I am offering this both to those at St. George's Episcopal Church, Arlington VA, that may be reading this book and to anyone that is interested.

Unless stated otherwise quotes from St. Benedict's Rule are from the translation in this same book.Psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church, 1979 unless otherwise noted.

Jan 22 - Do I Really Have To Be Obedient?

Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him, *
and he will bring it to pass.
Psalm 37:5

Such people as these immediately put aside their own concerns, abandon their own will, and lay down whatever they have in hand, leaving it unfinished. With the ready step of obedience...
Benedict's Rule 5:7-8 (Chittister, Pg. 68)

...we put down our own concerns, allow ourselves to be led by the insights of another, treat our own best interests with a relaxed grasp. We empty ourselves out so that the presence of God can dome in, tangible and present and divinely human.
Chittister, Pg. 69

Where does this word "obedience" come from? Do I really need to be obedient? I thought I was grown up, no one has control over me... Note to self: "You get to choose your obedience, it's not like your someone is going to put you in time-out if you are disobedient..." (At least if I obey the law and don't get arrested.)  Perhaps now I can admit the need for obedience, the next question I have is "Obedient to what?" To me Sister Joan answers this with "The claims of the community we are in." But I am not a monk, so what "community" are we talking about that has claims? Sister Joan goes on to define these communities: "both old and young; in the person we married; in underlings and children; in old parents and boring in-laws". We could probably come up with quite a number of communities we are in. Then all I need do is listen for the "voice of God in the demands of community life..."

And here I am, somewhat back to the beginning. I come face-to-face with the fact that sometimes even when I hear God, I just don't want to be obedient, I want to do what I want. For this I have no answer, but the Psalm verse has a glimmer of hope: Put my trust in the Lord and he will bring it to pass...

A Note To Anyone Reading:

This entry is part of a series that is developing as I read The Rule of Benedict, A Spirituality for the 21st Century, Joan Chittister, Crossroads, 2010. I am offering this both to those at St. George's Episcopal Church, Arlington VA, that may be reading Ms. Chittister's book and to anyone that is interested.

Unless stated otherwise quotes from St. Benedict's Rule from the translation in this same book.
Psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church, 1979 unless otherwise noted.

Comments are welcome, and encouraged, please use the blog comment feature.

Jan 11 - The Beauty That Oozes

Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, O my soul! *
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Psalm 146:1

...proposing God's commandments to a receptive community with words, but demonstrating God's instructions to the stubborn and the dull by a living example.
Benedict's Rule 2.12 (Chittister, Pg 37)

Benedict is saying that the function of spiritual leadership is not to intimidate people into submission by fear or guilt. The function of spiritual leadership is to show in our own lives the beauty that oozes out of those who live the spiritual life to the fullest.
Chittister, Pg 39

When first looking at this portion of Benedict's Rule, I had the sense I could skip these instructions as I am not a spiritual leader, I am not a prioress or an abbot. Upon reflection I think again. I think of the community that is, hopefully, developing at St. George's, I think of my own life where I lead others at work, and where I co-lead a wonderful two-person community of being a married couple...

At home and at work it isn't fair to ask others to spend time I am not willing to spend or to do things I am not willing to do. I am to do my part, I am to lead by example. (This isn't to say I can do everything that others can do. The others I work with do things that I can't. For example, I work with experts that do things with technical equipment. I ask them to operate and care for that equipment. I make sure they have the resources, time, and training to do their work. Then I stay out of their way as much as possible.)

Our budding instance of the Community of Hope at St. George's is another place where we all will be leading, where we can all lead with both words and example. We hope to provide comfort, stability, and a listening ear where there may be pain, frustration, even loneliness. We will often lead only by example, being examples of presence, hope, peace, and love...

We do lead, may our leadership be such that beauty does ooze from us as we live our spiritual lives.

A Note To Anyone Reading:

This entry is part of a series that is developing as I read The Rule of Benedict, A Spirituality for the 21st Century, Joan Chittister, Crossroads, 2010. I am offering this both to those at St. George's Episcopal Church, Arlington VA, that may be reading Ms. Chittister's book and to anyone that is interested.

Unless stated otherwise quotes from St. Benedict's Rule from the translation in this same book.

Psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church, 1979 unless otherwise noted.

Comments are welcome, and encouraged, please use the blog comment feature.

Jan 4 - Living In the World

These people reverence God, and do not become elated over their good deeds; they judge it is God's strength, not their own, that brings about the good in them.
RoB Prologue:29 (Chittister, Pg 14)

There is much wisdom for me in the portion of the Rule today, and in Ms. Chittister's reflection. I am not called to be a solitary ascetic desert Father or Mother, as much as I may wish to compete in this area. As a 21st century Christian and oblate I am called to live among my family and coworkers, among the church members in my parish and the oblates and community I am connected with. My mother provided an example that makes sense: When I am flying in an airplane I expect the pilot of that plane to be paying attention to flying the plane, not closing her or his eyes and praying.

I will be honest: This is hard for me. I read about St. Benedict and other saints (Benedictine and otherwise), I see fellow parishioners and coworkers, and I see accomplishment and honor. It is like reading about Jesus in the Gospels where we see a few great acts, but so little of Jesus and the disciples spending long days walking to the next town, talking one-on-one, just living each day. I forget that doing the laundry, preparing the monthly report at work, and being present are all about reverencing God, and all call for God's strength, not my own.

There is a portion of psalm 66 that seems appropriate:

Bless our God, you people; *
make the voice of his praise to be heard;

who holds our souls in life, *
and will not allow our feet to slip.
Psalm 66:7-8

I pray to remember that as I let go of my preconceived idea of what "holy" is, God will not let my feet slip.

A Note To Anyone Reading:

This entry is part of a series that is developing as I read The Rule of Benedict, A Spirituality for the 21st Century, Joan Chittister, Crossroads, 2010. Unless stated otherwise I am using the translation St. Benedict's Rule from her book. I am offering this both to those at St. George's Episcopal Church, Arlington VA, that may be reading Ms. Chittister's book and to anyone that is interested.

Psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church, 1979 unless otherwise noted.

Comments are welcome, and encouraged, please use the blog comment feature.

Infrastructure and Cultivating and Caring For Creation

In her book In The Heart of the Temple ( Copyright 2004, Joan D. Chittister, published by BlueBridge) Joan Chittister claims St. "Benedict's theology of life is clearly based...on the passage in Genesis that teaches that humanity was put in the Garden 'to cultivate it and care for it.'" This catches my attention as I consider "Infrastructure". By infrastructure I refer to the many technological elements most of us take for granted: clean drinking water, electricity, roads (and cars to drive on them), internet access, radio, television, snow plows, etc., etc., etc.

Catches my attention? I live for this. God put me (and all of us, I believe) here on earth to be His hands, to do His work. We humans use many different methods in this work, and clearly infrastructure is a part of all this. We harness the power of the sun and direct it to our homes, for example. We call that the "power grid", and (with perhaps the exception of geothermal energy) the sun is the ultimate source of ALL our power - oil and coal is simply solar energy converted by green plants to carbon based molecules we then "burn". Wind energy is from the heating (by the sun) and cooling of different parts of the earth. OK tidal energy may use energy from the moon rather than the sun, but I think you get what I am saying.

Our drinking water and sanitary sewer systems, our communications systems, the roads and railroads we travel on - all are built by us, they are "Infrastructure". Cultivating and Caring? We use each part of the infrastructure to carry out God's work. Do we always use these elements wisely? No, of course not, we are only human, our nature is to sin.

It turns out "Infrastructure" is an interest of mine. I don't see infrastructure as good or bad, any more than I see "forest", "cities", "church", politics, or many other things as good or bad. I certainly see us using them more or less wisely, more or less as God may have intended us to use them.

And another thing: I must remember (and this can be really hard) that my view of how God intends us to use infrastructure may not be your view, and neither view may be how God would really like us to use or care for our world.