Chapter 7: The value of humility (paragraphs 1-3)
Paradoxically, to climb upwards will take us down to earth but stepping down will lift us towards heaven. The steps themselves, then, mark the decisions we are called to make in the exercise of humility and self-discipline. (From para. 3 of Ch. 7 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
Steps -- decisions -- exercise [practice] -- humility -- self-discipline. These words cry out to me in a way they never did before. At first they sound dry, flinty, demanding more motivation than I have. But as I listen to them, I hear a gentle voice of love, reminding me that in every moment I have a choice of where to place my attention -- a choice of where to step. This is what the practice of meditation teaches me. May each step, each moment, take me closer to God who is the center of my soul.
Thus begins one of the longest chapters in the Rule--on humility and one of the most important. This "exercise of humility" is for me an exploration into the reality of my life. Who am I really-before God and before man? All illusions such as what is upward movement and what is downward have to be released. With faith I go to meet Christ Who is the Reality. I cannot close my eyes to His love for me, that He is always watching over my life, and that I can learn to love myself, and therefore God and others. "Down to earth", I ground myself in the daily meditation practice, encountering Christ in trust and faith and poverty of spirit knowing that I have not been abandoned but that God is working with and in me as He did in the Son when He walked this earth in the reality of His humanity.
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