Chapter 52: The oratory of the monastery
The oratory must simply be a place of prayer, as the name itself implies, and it must not be used for any other activities at all nor as a place for storage of any kind. (From Ch. 52 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
Moving from a house to a new home -- a time for me to let go of much of the emotional and material baggage that clutters my heart, my oratory, and keeps me from growing in prayer. My life becomes more and more about living in that creative space with God.
“That is what meditation is about, coming into the presence of the One who is. And . . . simply to be in his presence is all-sufficient. That is, when you fully are the person he has created you to be.” (John Main, “Way of Unknowing”, Kindle loc 453.) The person he has created me to be! Not the person I define myself as by what I do. What an explosion of insight for me, Abba! What a joyful, surprising relief, to be able to let go of being simply a human doing, and becoming what you created me to be: a human being!
ReplyDelete"Moreover, if at other times someone chooses to pray privately, he may simply go in and pray." To "simply go in" to the stillness of my heart is available to me. As John Main says in Word Into Silence," by merely calling the mantra to mind at other times of the day, we enter straight away into the presence of the Creator who dwells within us: 'I am with you always,' says the Lord(Matt.28.20). That's it, no embellished words needed, no long petitions, no promises made, just the utterance of a simple, poor word-that's the key that opens the door to the Oratory of the heart, the tabernacle where God's love in the presence of the Son is always waiting.
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