Chapter 67: Those who are sent on a journey
Those who are sent on a journey should commend themselves to the prayers of the community as well as of the superior and, at the last prayer of the work of God in the oratory, there should always be a memento of all who may be absent. (From Ch. 67 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. By Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
The mantra, like a memento left in the oratory, guards my heart and always brings me back to seeking God.
“All of us have to learn as we live our lives that there must be constant development. The invitation we have is to grow, to develop, to mature.” (John Main, “The Door to Silence”). I am always, therefore, on a journey, Abba, just as each and every one of your creations, every living organism, every seed, every plant, every living creature. Through meditation you invite me to root myself in you here within me and thus to grow, bud, sprout, flower and mature—to become the magnificent creation you, in your merciful love, have invited me to be.
ReplyDeleteWe, who are monastics of this community without walls, are always journeying--working, visiting family members, helping with the other communities to which we belong to name a few journey reasons. There is always the "oratory". It never leaves me. I may leave it, but it never leaves me. It never leaves me because the divine light of Christ's love is always burning there in my heart. I believe that He ,because of love for me, does not let me forget Him through all the crumbling self-criticism, or the petty inconveniences that I make large, or the gaudy distractions. He makes Himself known through the meditating community, the writings of the Superiors, the Rule and without doubt, the ever-present, mantra that courses through my mind, heart and lips like an ever-flowing river.
ReplyDeleteI just had to add this quote from Fr. Laurence for today which I just read after my comment was made.
ReplyDelete"It is a journey into God, and therefore a journey that becomes less and less measurable. Finding God, St Gregory of Nyssa says, consists in endlessly seeking him. Our life is an endless following of the Word." ( The Ego on our spiritual journey II , Laurence Freeman).