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.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

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 and bind myself to illusion. I separate myself from my relationship to God, who already loves me in my totality, and who waits to liberate me.

1 comment:

Melanie CondesFebruary 1, 2018 at 3:24 AM
"and bless those who curse them (1 Cor. 4:12)." This is such a sign of deep spiritual maturity. I pray for the time that I will reach this stage.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment