WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Chapter 29: The readmission of any who leave the monastery
There is some reality to the fabled “seven year itch.” At least that is what recent research on modern adult life span development seems to indicate. Every seven to ten years most of us have to “grow or go”. Like a tree that adds a new ring every year, artists, for example, have their “periods” that reflect their developmental changes, often quite dramatic changes, in their style. Marriages and other committed career/life paths reflect this grow or go phenomenon. So, too, the monastery and my life as an oblate. Abba, help me to see and accept every challenge, every painful life situation that comes my way—every seven years or every day--as an opportunity given to me for growth, a chance to die and rise with you once more. My twice-daily meeting with you in meditation trains me for that. What pleasant surprises you have for me when I let you love me this way.
There is some reality to the fabled “seven year itch.” At least that is what recent research on modern adult life span development seems to indicate. Every seven to ten years most of us have to “grow or go”. Like a tree that adds a new ring every year, artists, for example, have their “periods” that reflect their developmental changes, often quite dramatic changes, in their style. Marriages and other committed career/life paths reflect this grow or go phenomenon. So, too, the monastery and my life as an oblate. Abba, help me to see and accept every challenge, every painful life situation that comes my way—every seven years or every day--as an opportunity given to me for growth, a chance to die and rise with you once more. My twice-daily meeting with you in meditation trains me for that. What pleasant surprises you have for me when I let you love me this way.
ReplyDelete