Chapter 7: The value of humility (paragraph 9)
The third step of humility is to submit oneself out of love of God to whatever obedience under a superior may require of us; it is the example of the Lord himself that we follow in this way, as we know from St Paul's words: he was made obedient even unto death. (From para. 9 of Ch. 7 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
Obedience calls for trust; (if it's the resentful sort of obedience, as Benedict points out elsewhere, then it isn't obedience, and so it isn't trust, either). Every time my ego is knocked a bit off its pedestal, every time I'm challenged to let go of my need to control, every time I'm asked to confront my fears, every time I'm asked to respond to a person, to a situation, out of love, I take one more step towards pure and simple trust, "in the example of the Lord".
“The will of God is what remains of a situation after we try without stint and pray without ceasing to change it.” (Joan Chittister, “Daily Reading from the Rule of Benedict”). Abba, never let me forget that, at this and every moment, my situational reality includes the Reality that is you. What a joyful unburdening is mine when I surrender to it and to your loving arms.
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