Chapter 7: The value of humility (paragraphs 10-11)
The fourth step of humility is to go even further than this by readily accepting in patient and silent endurance, without thought of giving up or avoiding the issue, any hard and demanding things that may come our way in the course of that obedience, even if they include harsh impositions which are unjust. ... there is the saying of the psalm: be steadfast in your heart and trust in the Lord. (From para. 10 of Ch. 7 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
For me, the teaching here is not to submit to control by another, or to roll over and play dead. The teaching is for me to make the choice to acknowledge difficulty, to endure in love, and to discern when harsh and unjust conditions can temper my ego with self-control. I am incapable of all this by myself, but Benedict reminds me to trust in the Lord.
How much violence continues to fascinate me, in “guy flicks”, in football, in gossip (that “polite form of murder”). Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez and you, Lord Jesus, followed the path of nonviolence. Silence, simplicity and love and forgiveness you all showed in the face of noise, aggression, pain and hatred. Lord, grant me the humility to love and to forgive as you do.
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