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UID:0b2a0d0a-1d18-415f-b054-08488db5c98e
X-WR-CALDESC:In just this way Paul the apostle refused to take credit fo
r the power of his preaching. He declared:'By God's grace I am what I am (
1 Cor 15:10).' And again Paul said: 'They who boast should make their boas
t in God (2 Cor 10:17).' That is why it is said in the gospel: 'Whoever he
ars these words of mine and does them is like a wise person who built a ho
use upon rock\; the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the ho
use\, but it did not fall: it was founded on rock (Mt 7:24-25).'\n\nCl
early\, for Benedict\, God is not something to be achieved\; God is a pres
ence to be responded to but to whom without that presence\, we cannot resp
ond. God isn't something for which spiritual athletes compete or someone t
hat secret spiritual formulas expose. God is the breath we breathe. It is
thanks to God that we have any idea of God at all. God is not a mathematic
al formula that we discover by dint of our superior intelligence or our mo
ral valor. God is the reason that we can reach God. It is to this ever-pre
sent Presence that the Rule of Benedict directs us. It is to God already i
n our lives that Benedict turns our minds. The Hasidim tell the story of t
he preacher who preached over and over\, 'Put God into your life\; put God
into your life.' But the holy rabbi of the village said\, 'Our task is no
t to put God into our lives. God is already there. Our task is simply to r
ealize that.'\n\nThe words of the Rule are as fresh on this point as the d
ay they were written. The fact is that we still compartmentalize God. We t
ell ourselves that we are working on reaching the spiritual life by saying
prayers and doing penances and making pilgrimages and giving things up. A
nd we keep score: so many daily masses\, so many rosaries\, so many fastda
ys\, so many spiritual books read\, so many conferences attended equal so
many steps toward the acquisition of God. The Rule of Benedict sets us str
aight. God is with us\, for the taking\, but not for any spiritual payment
\, only for realizing what we already have.\n\nGod is neither cajoled nor
captured\, the Rule makes plain. God is in the Here and Now in Benedictine
spirituality. It is we who are not. It is we who are trapped in the past\
, angry at what formed us\, or fixated on a future that is free from pain
or totally under our control. But God is in our present\, waiting for us t
here.\n\nWith this conclusion\, God waits for us daily to translate int
o action\, as we should\, these holy teachings. Therefore our life span ha
s been lengthened by way of a truce\, that we may amend our misdeeds. As t
he apostle says: 'Do you not know that the patience of God is leading you
to repent (Rom 2:4)?' And indeed God assures us in love: 'I do not wish th
e death of sinners\, but that they turn back to me and live (Ez 33:11).'\n\n'Life is only loaned to us\,' a Jewish proverb instructs and the Rul
e of Benedict explains further 'by way of a truce.' Long life\, in other w
ords\, is given for the gift of insight: To give us time to understand lif
e and to profit from its lessons and to learn from its failures and to use
its moments well and make sense out of its chaos. That\, perhaps\, is why
we expect the elderly to be wise. That\, perhaps\, is why we look back ov
er the years of our own lives and wonder what happened to the person we we
re before we began to see more than ourselves. The problem is that there i
s a lot of life that dulls the senses. Too much money can make us poor. To
o much food can make us slow. Too much partying can make us dull. Only the
spiritual life enervates the senses completely. All life takes on a new d
imension once we begin to see it as spiritual people. The bad does not des
troy us and the good gives us new breath because we are always aware that
everything is more than it is. The family is not just a routine relationsh
ip\; it is our sanctification. Work is not just a job\; it is our exercise
in miracle making. Prayer is not just quiet time\; it is an invitation to
grow. We begin to find God where we could not see God before\, not as a p
anacea or an anesthetic\, not as a cheap release from the problems of life
\, but as another measure of life's meaning for us.\n\nClearly\, living li
fe well is the nature of repentance. To begin to see life as life should b
e and to live it that way ourselves is to enable creation to go on creatin
g in us.
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BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:954a0e60-2153-457b-9ea5-b76f8d5cbf15
DTSTAMP:20260417T212726Z
DESCRIPTION:In just this way Paul the apostle refused to take credit for
the power of his preaching. He declared:'By God's grace I am what I am (1
Cor 15:10).' And again Paul said: 'They who boast should make their boast
in God (2 Cor 10:17).' That is why it is said in the gospel: 'Whoever hea
rs these words of mine and does them is like a wise person who built a hou
se upon rock\; the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the hou
se\, but it did not fall: it was founded on rock (Mt 7:24-25).'\n\nCle
arly\, for Benedict\, God is not something to be achieved\; God is a prese
nce to be responded to but to whom without that presence\, we cannot respo
nd. God isn't something for which spiritual athletes compete or someone th
at secret spiritual formulas expose. God is the breath we breathe. It is t
hanks to God that we have any idea of God at all. God is not a mathematica
l formula that we discover by dint of our superior intelligence or our mor
al valor. God is the reason that we can reach God. It is to this ever-pres
ent Presence that the Rule of Benedict directs us. It is to God already in
our lives that Benedict turns our minds. The Hasidim tell the story of th
e preacher who preached over and over\, 'Put God into your life\; put God
into your life.' But the holy rabbi of the village said\, 'Our task is not
to put God into our lives. God is already there. Our task is simply to re
alize that.'\n\nThe words of the Rule are as fresh on this point as the da
y they were written. The fact is that we still compartmentalize God. We te
ll ourselves that we are working on reaching the spiritual life by saying
prayers and doing penances and making pilgrimages and giving things up. An
d we keep score: so many daily masses\, so many rosaries\, so many fastday
s\, so many spiritual books read\, so many conferences attended equal so m
any steps toward the acquisition of God. The Rule of Benedict sets us stra
ight. God is with us\, for the taking\, but not for any spiritual payment\
, only for realizing what we already have.\n\nGod is neither cajoled nor c
aptured\, the Rule makes plain. God is in the Here and Now in Benedictine
spirituality. It is we who are not. It is we who are trapped in the past\,
angry at what formed us\, or fixated on a future that is free from pain o
r totally under our control. But God is in our present\, waiting for us th
ere.\n\nWith this conclusion\, God waits for us daily to translate into
action\, as we should\, these holy teachings. Therefore our life span has
been lengthened by way of a truce\, that we may amend our misdeeds. As th
e apostle says: 'Do you not know that the patience of God is leading you t
o repent (Rom 2:4)?' And indeed God assures us in love: 'I do not wish the
death of sinners\, but that they turn back to me and live (Ez 33:11).'\n\n'Life is only loaned to us\,' a Jewish proverb instructs and the Rule
of Benedict explains further 'by way of a truce.' Long life\, in other wo
rds\, is given for the gift of insight: To give us time to understand life
and to profit from its lessons and to learn from its failures and to use
its moments well and make sense out of its chaos. That\, perhaps\, is why
we expect the elderly to be wise. That\, perhaps\, is why we look back ove
r the years of our own lives and wonder what happened to the person we wer
e before we began to see more than ourselves. The problem is that there is
a lot of life that dulls the senses. Too much money can make us poor. Too
much food can make us slow. Too much partying can make us dull. Only the
spiritual life enervates the senses completely. All life takes on a new di
mension once we begin to see it as spiritual people. The bad does not dest
roy us and the good gives us new breath because we are always aware that e
verything is more than it is. The family is not just a routine relationshi
p\; it is our sanctification. Work is not just a job\; it is our exercise
in miracle making. Prayer is not just quiet time\; it is an invitation to
grow. We begin to find God where we could not see God before\, not as a pa
nacea or an anesthetic\, not as a cheap release from the problems of life\
, but as another measure of life's meaning for us.\n\nClearly\, living lif
e well is the nature of repentance. To begin to see life as life should be
and to live it that way ourselves is to enable creation to go on creating
in us.
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240905T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240905T235900
LOCATION:Prologue
SUMMARY:Prologue
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR