Chapter 22: Sleeping arrangements for the community
In the morning, as they are getting up for the work of God, they should quietly give encouragement to those who are sleepy and given to making excuses for being late. (From para. 2 of Ch. 22 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
Here I am the sleepy one, given to making excuses, and I am also the one who encourages. Contradictory or complementary tendencies, perfectly explicable in a human. And, like my meditation practice, I struggle with fidelity, and yet also find that fidelity is in me, deeper than my ego.
Here I am the sleepy one, given to making excuses, and I am also the one who encourages. Contradictory or complementary tendencies, perfectly explicable in a human. And, like my meditation practice, I struggle with fidelity, and yet also find that fidelity is in me, deeper than my ego.
Love and charity prevail even in this chapter about sleeping arrangements. I can be a rouser from sleep for others but I also see that I am being roused, and encouraged by the larger community of meditators and oblates. Love through others via the internet, readings, group meditations all help me, as I hope to do the same for others, to keep the lamp of life and love burning and not fall into complacency or pernicious peace.
ReplyDelete10/29/2014
ReplyDeleteKeep my awake, Abba! Awake to you here within me and within everyone I meet today, spiritually awake, conscious of my contact with you. That’s how anyone in love is with his Beloved.