Jan 15 - A Busy Day

He delivered me from my strong enemies and from those who hated me; *
for they were too might for me.
Psalm 18:18

Rather they should keep in mind that they have undertaken the care of souls for whom they must give an account...
...let them realize that on judgement day they will surely have to submit a reckoning to God for all their souls -- and indeed for their own as well
Benedict's Rule 2:34, 38 (Chittister Pg 47, 49)

No reflection for Jan 15th, as my work day allowed only time for my reading, not time for reflection and sharing.

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 14 - Strength Beyond Puny Efforts

With my whole heart I seek you; *
let me not stray from your commandments.
Psalm 119:10

...aware that more will be expected of one to whom more has been entrusted
Benedict's Rule 2:31a (Chittister, Pg 45)

We must each strive for the ideal and we must encourage others to strive with us, not because we ourselves are not weak but because knowing our own weaknesses and admitting them we can with great confidence teach trust in the God who watches with patience our puny efforts and our foolish failures.
Chittister, Pg 47

I start today with the first three sections of Psalm 119. I find comfort and wisdom within them. I could simply post the Psalm and we would learn much. I share with the Psalmist to seek the Lord with my whole heart, to not stray from the commandments. But Sister Joan Chittister's final line reflects the reality, the puny efforts and foolish failures that go along with my great desire.

I know I can't live up to the ideal of the Psalms, but I haven't stopped trying. I know that as I step forward and live the life where I have been entrusted with much, that much is expected of me. Today as I read these readings I gain strength. On good days I gain the strength to reach beyond where I have been. On many days I gain the strength only to not fall back. On some days I do fall back, gaining only the strength to start again tomorrow.

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 13 - Responsible For My Own Sins

Have pity on me, Lord, for I am weak; *
heal me, Lord, for my bones are racked.
Psalm 6:2

They should not gloss over the sins of those who err, but cut them out while they can, as soon as they sprout...
Benedict's Rule, 2:25 (Chittister, Pg 42-43)

There is no room in Benedictine spirituality, though, for bloodless relationships between people in authority and the people for whom they have responsibility.
Chittister, Pg 43-44

Who's sins am I looking at here? Mine. I have responsibility for myself first. I may be prioress or abbot, parent, or supervisor, even some combination of all of those, and be responsible for others. But...

To be responsible for others I must be responsible for myself. I cannot gloss over my sins when I err. And err I will. They sprout. They may even ooze, even out the same openings as the beauty I spoke of two days ago. While we are human, built in our Creator's image, we are only human.

For me I know I need to be in a place where I have active, warm, mutual, and robust relationships with others. Others that I allow to have authority. Join me.

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 12 - The Insane Jesus Life

I lie down and go to sleep; *
I wake, again, because the Lord sustains me
Psalm 3:5

The prioress or abbot should avoid all favoritism in the monastery.
Benedict's Rule 2:16 (Chittister, Pg 40)

This is the Jesus life. What is insane in the streets is common coin here.
Sr. Joan Chittister, Pg 41

If this is the Jesus life, I am looking for some easy perfection. I want it to be easy to do the things that are "insane in the streets". Benedict is speaking about leaders, and the "insanity" of not ranking by education, money, or social status. The leaders, Benedict says, are to "show equal love to everyone and apply the same discipline to all..." Sister Joan ends her reflection with request to "Imagine a world that was run by holy listeners."

Yes, I want the "Jesus life", or at least I want Jesus in my life, and I want to be known by others as being holy. Or do I? At work do I want to be thought of as someone living the Jesus life, or do I want to be known as successful? At home do I want to put my hobbies, my recreation, my book reading aside to attend to another's needs? Do I love God enough that I am ready to sacrifice my life? I must admit, "Not Always", to say the least.

I can imagine being a holy listener, though. At least some of the time. Perhaps this is enough go keep me moving forward in the Jesus life today.

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 10 - Finding The Dazzling Light In Each Of Us

Search me out, O God, and know my heart; *
try me and know my restless thoughts.
Psalm 139:22

Let the prioress and abbot always remember that at the judgment of God, not only their teaching but also the community's obedience will come under scrutiny.
2:6 (Chittister, Pg 35)

The purpose of Benedictine spirituality is to gather equally committed adults for a journey through earthen darkness to the dazzling light that already flames in each of us, but in a hidden place left to each of us to find.
Sister Joan Chittister, Pg 36)

It is true, our spiritual leaders will be held accountable for the lessons they teach, but each of us in our families, our jobs, in our school of spiritual growth will also be held accountable. We must concentrate on our journey, our growth toward the dazzling light that flames within us. Great lessons are provided, but we must be open to absorb them, we must listen. We must respond. As "equally committed adults" we must do our part. Thanks be to our God who searches us, who knows our heart, who tries us, who knows our thoughts, both restless and rested. Ultimately, if we are quiet and listen for God with the ear of our heart we can know our part, we can grow.

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 9 - Either Way

My help comes from the Lord, *
the maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:2

They [the prioress or abbot] are believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery. ...Everything they teach and command should, like the leaven of divine justice, permeate the minds of the community.
Benedict's Rule 2:2,5 (Chittister, Pg 33)

"The superior of a monastery of Benedictines will be a Christ figure, simple, unassuming, immersed in God, loving of the marginal, doer of the gospel, beacon to the strong."
(Chittister, Pg 33)

We are called to be disciples of Christ in our communities. We look up to our superiors. I, and many of us reading this are not subject to the direct authority of a prioress or abbot, but many of us in church communities, have pastors, rectors, bishops, priests, elders, or spiritual directors we look to. We look to see the simple and unassuming leader immersed in God. We also hope, ourselves, to grow in our love of the marginal, to be more of a doer of the gospel, to understand we are a beacon to the strong...

But we, and our leaders and superiors are human. We make mistakes, sometimes big, public, and humiliating errors. Some of them we label "sins". Today my church, the Episcopal Church in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia region has come face to face with a leader who appears to have made a very public, and in this case fatal error. (On 09-Jan-2015 Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook was charged with manslaughter in an accident that occurred on 27-Dec-2014.) What happens when someone in a leadership position, this position we have equated with Christ, acts in such a way we all question them, their leadership, their authority? Can they be the Christ figure for us?

They must. I don't know how. Christ was perfect, we are not. While representing Christ, none of us is Christ. All of us are sinful.

And all of us must go on and meet Christ and ask forgiveness no matter what. And even harder, we must accept that forgiveness from Christ. The rest of us can grow stronger. No matter what our fellow, sinful, leader does (asking for forgiveness and being forgiven, or giving up and falling) we have an example to learn from. Either way.


Oh yes, we must also pray. Lots of prayer. A life of prayer.

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.