Chapter 7: The value of humility (paragraph 15)

The eighth step of humility teaches us to do nothing which goes beyond what is approved and encouraged by the common rule of the monastery and the example of our seniors. (Paragraph 8 of Ch. 7 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

This passage speaks to me of the paradoxical dynamic of discipline and liberty. A living rule, one that I am living, gives me structure, returns me to God, and can allow me to participate in gifts of resilience, appropriateness, and creativity.