Chapter 7: The value of humility (paragraph 12)
The fifth step of humility is that we should not cover up but humbly confess to our superior or spiritual guide whatever evil thoughts come into our minds and the evil deeds we have done in secret. (From para. 12 of Ch. 7 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
St. Benedict challenges me to see that to deny aspects of myself that I don't like, or to deceive others about myself, is sin. Through deception, I refuse true self-knowledge. I separate myself from my relationship to God, who already loves me in my totality, and who waits to liberate me wholly in love.
Sr. Joan “The struggles we hide, psychologists tell us, are the struggles that consume us... we must cease to wear our masks, stop pretending to be perfect and accept the graces of growth that can come to us from the wise and gentle hearts of people of quality around us.” I have learned that the first person that I must stop lying to (justifications and all) is myself.
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