Chapter 32: The tools and property of the monastery
Any one who is negligent in dealing with the monastery property or allows it to deteriorate must be corrected with a view to improvement. (From para. 2 of Ch. 32 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
I sometimes think that much of life is about maintenance. Benedict reminds me that even routine maintenance reveals the kingdom of God within and among us, "in no way isolated from the meaning of our ordinary activity" (John Main, The Present Christ).
I sometimes think that much of life is about maintenance. Benedict reminds me that even routine maintenance reveals the kingdom of God within and among us, "in no way isolated from the meaning of our ordinary activity" (John Main, The Present Christ).
It is not only in a church that rituals and objects are imbued with spiritual meaning. Sacramental awe and reverence can belong to this computer, this chair, this book, this table and so on. Everything, I need to remember and so often forget, belongs to God. Everything is on loan and I will leave having touched and used every object -reverently ? or carelessly? Gratefully? or mindlessly? The choice is mine and every object can be a source of meditation keeping me connected to God if I let them be so. This choice requires that I slow down and resist the feeling to keep moving on to the next task and the use of the next object.
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