Chapter 20: The ideal of true reverence in prayer
When we come, then, with our requests in prayer before the Lord, who is God of all creation, is it not all the more important that we should approach him in a spirit of real humility and a devotion that is open to him alone and free from distracting thoughts? (From Ch. 20 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
I understand real humility as true self-knowledge, and as true self-acceptance. That is, I come to know myself as someone grounded, not in my ego, but in the indwelling Christ. I'm helped to free myself from the distracting thoughts of my ego by the devotion of selfless attention to Him.
"We should approach him in a spirit of real humility and a devotion that is open to him alone and free from distracting thoughts" reads one part of the sentence, in Chapter 20. Lately, the distracting thoughts see me getting ready to be silent and they come like wind through the windows flinging open the doors and bringing chaos to my heart and mind. I cling to the mantra and also to the teaching of John Main in Word Made Flesh(Silence &Stillness, p.164). "The way of faith is also the way of humility". Every time I sit down to meditate, through the mantra I make myself "as fully available" as I can "to the power of God released" in my heart. I cannot do more. My faith is in Christ in me and in His infinite power in my heart.
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ReplyDeleteHumility and reverence. "The experience of prayer is the experience of the liberating consequences of transcendence. It is, as I have said, transcendence realized " (John Main "Community of Love"). Liberation, freedom: that's what you invite me to, Abba, every morning and evening, in the silence of meditation and the mantra. How awe-full that makes me, Father.