Thursday, May 19, 2016

Chapter 4: Guidelines for Christian and monastic good practice (paragraphs 3-5)


Don't let your actions be governed by anger nor nurse your anger against a future opportunity of indulging it. (From para. 3 of Chapter 4 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)


Repetitive thoughts that run around in my head, weigh down my heart. These patterns of negativity stem, I think, from my wounded ego. As I recognize these useless mental habits, I see how much they are like distractions at the time of meditation. I am learning to let them go.

1 comment:

  1. It takes a Christian Pakistani woman, Asia Bibi, imprisoned for 7 years for alleged blasphemy in Pakistan to teach me what Benedict is saying in RB 4.20-33. In a recent statement provided by Bibi’s family to Italian newspaper La Stampa, Bibi said, "I forgive my persecutors, those who have falsely accused me, and I await their forgiveness."

    In RB 4.20 -33, Benedict’s Rule,urges me to love ,not to act in anger, not to repay injuries done by another, to endure persecution for the sake of justice. In other words, “my(your) way of acting should be different from the world’s way of acting with the love of Christ coming before all else.”

    And what really got me going about this excerpt from the Rule was the small reading (James 1:2-4) in the Divine Office for Friday Evening Prayer of Week III,Ordinary Time. “My brothers, count it pure joy when you are involved in every sort of trial. Realize that when your faith is tested this makes for endurance.”

    When misunderstandings occur as they do in every family life, do I grab quick umbrage under the umbrella of “I’m always right and you’re wrong”? Or can I step back into silence to be guided by the love of Christ and then step forward bringing peace and understanding. Meditation teaches me to endure joyfully the time of meditation amidst distractions. Bringing joyful endurance out into the light of day and the milieu of family and community life is my litmus test.

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