Thursday, April 23, 2015

Chapter 68: The response to orders that seem impossible


If the superior after listening to this submission still insists on the original command, then the junior must accept that it is the right thing and with loving confidence in the help of God obey. (From Ch. 68 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. By Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

In facing an impossible situation, obedience seems very much like faith to me.  I learn both in trusting the mantra to lead me to find God in my weak and vulnerable places.

2 comments:

  1. Richard Rohr’s definition of suffering comes to mind when Benedict speaks of impossible commands. Suffering, Rohr says, is “whenever we are not in control”. (“Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi”, Ch 2). Suffering looms for me, now, in my old age. It becomes harder and harder for me to continue to deny my powerlessness over those universal human unavoidables: aging, illness and death. The way back to joy for me, today, Abba, is to embrace my lack of control and to surrender to your power and your loving arms--to let go and become again your well-loved little one.

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  2. "Look to each others' interest, and not merely to your own."(Ph.2:1-5) Little by little, with love, Christ turns me from my own self-interest. Little by little, with love and gentleness , Christ helps me loosen my grip on the steering wheel of life. It is in prayer by focusing on the mantra, that this turning and loosening away from(as much as possible) the thoughts and feelings of self take place. This is the "great act of surrender"(from The Ego On Our Spiritual Journey II by Laurence Freeman, OSB) to an "acceptance of the right thing" and obedience to what seem impossible. Here is where the preparation begins daily for a death to the ego, to the acceptance of God as the "ground of every relationship"(from The Ego On Our Spiritual Journey). It is that love, that Christ love for the Father, that propels,and motivates and which I want to imitate. No, better yet, become.

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