Thursday, September 18, 2014

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


The first of all things to aim at is to love the Lord God with your whole heart and soul and strength and then to love your neighbour as much as you do yourself. (From para. 1of Ch. 4 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

St. Benedict's first rules in Christian and monastic life are down-to-earth, relational, and respectful. But the aim of which he speaks is for me, clearly, the practice of the mantra, the selfless focussing of attention that leads to purity of heart.
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3 comments:

  1. Melanie CondesSeptember 18, 2014 at 4:42 AM

    What immediately comes to mind is 'to love God with my everything is to be nothing in His presence.'

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  2. Roger SessionsSeptember 18, 2014 at 5:55 AM

    "...and then to love your neighbour as much as you do yourself."
    The hard part of this for me is remembering that it all starts with loving myself. And that means loving myself exactly as I am, not as my Ego want to think I am. I can only do this if I know who I am. Meditation is the path for me to know who I am and thereby love myself as I am and thereby love my neighbor as myself and thereby love God.

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  3. valSeptember 19, 2014 at 2:37 AM

    All those days of nothing happening in meditation. All those times of distractions and returning over and over again to the mantra. Then one day my attitude toward people takes on a different color, instead of seeing red and anger and resentment, I see blue and calm and acceptance and yes, love.

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