WCCM Oblate Blog: Reflections from Daily Reading of the Rule of St. Benedict

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.

Monday, June 26, 2017

Chapter 19: Our approach to prayer

All of us, then, should reflect seriously on how to appear before the majesty of God in the presence of his angels. That will lead us to make sure that, when we sing in choir, there is complete harmony between the thought in our mind and the meaning of the words we sing. (From Ch. 19 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

I'm so often unfocussed and fragmented in my thoughts, not fully present in my body, and mesmerized by my emotions. But Benedict's instructions, just like the practice of the mantra, present me with a way of integration, of integrity, of living fully in the present and in the presence.

1 comment:

Wally SaundersJune 25, 2017 at 9:22 AM
“ . . . every time that we truly pay attention, we destroy evil in ourselves. If one pays attention with this intention, a quarter of an hour of attention is very good work.” (Simone Weil “Awaiting God”, Translation by Bradley Jersak, Chapter 1). Abba, forgive me and heal my thought and image addictions. Destroy the evil within me. Teach me the patience and humility of Attention, how to do this “very good work.
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