Friday, December 12, 2014

Chapter 58: The reception of candidates for the community (paragraphs 1-3)


The entry of postulants into the monastic life should not be made too easy, but we should follow St John's precept to make trial of the spirits to see if they are from God. (From para. 1 of Ch. 58 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

For me, life's "trial of the spirits" involve more than a test to my patience and humility -- unless the true self-knowledge of humility never loses hope. Loss of hope is, for me, a suffering and a sign that I'm forgetting to place my attention selflessly in the inner chamber of my heart. 

3 comments:

  1. “I think it is true that all of us begin meditating as egoists and the first crisis we come to is when in our meditation itself we experience egoism’s sterility, dryness, nothingness.” (John Main, “Way of Unknowing” Kindle loc 796). What a relief, Abba, to come to understand Fr. John and my fellow Oblates as a group of fellow recovering egoists. I no longer have to feel alone!

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  2. “When anyone is newly come for the reformation of her life, let her not be granted an easy entrance; “

    It is not always easy to hold true to my path. Without community it would be impossible.

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  3. This is a path and one of many. Did I choose it or was it chosen for me? It is not a question of worthiness. It is not a trophy or a prize.(Richard Rohr, " Preparing for Christmas") It is a journey to seek God. For me, it involves trust--trust in the experience(however messy), trust in the meditation practice, and trust in the community and most of all trust in the choosing. "You have not chosen me, I am always choosing you"(John 15:16). (thanks to Richard Rohr)

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