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X-WR-CALDESC:Listen carefully\, my child\, to my instructions\, and atte
nd to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from one who loves y
ou\; welcome it\, and faithfully put it into practice. The labor of obedie
nce will bring you back to God from whom you had drifted through the sloth
of disobedience. This message of mine is for you\, then\, if you are read
y to give up your own will\, once and for all\, and armed with the strong
and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for Jesus\, the Christ.\n
\nLife is a teacher of universal truths. That may be the reason why the re
ligious readings of so many nations speak of the same situations and faste
n on the same insights. The Rule of Benedict\, too\, is a wisdom literatur
e that sounds life's themes. It deals with answers to the great questions
of the human condition: the presence of God\, the foundation of relationsh
ips\, the nature of self-development\, the place of purpose. To the wise\,
it seems\, life is not a series of events to be controlled. Life is a way
of walking through the universe whole and holy.\n\nThis first paragraph o
f the Rule of Benedict brings into instant focus the basis for being able
to do that.\n\nBenedict says\, 'Listen.' Pay attention to the instructions
in this Rule and attend to the important things in life. Let nothing go b
y without being open to being nourished by the inner meaning of that event
in life. There is an Oriental proverb that teaches: 'Take from death befo
re it takes from thee.' If we do not live life consciously\, in other word
s\, we may not be living at all.\n\nThe Prologue is asking us to do the sa
me thing. If we want to have a spiritual life\, we will have to concentrat
e on doing so. Spirituality does not come by breathing. It comes by listen
ing to this Rule and to its insights into life 'with the ear of the heart\
,' with feeling\, with more than an academic interest.\n\nOne part of spir
ituality\, then\, is learning to be aware of what is going on around us an
d allowing ourselves to feel its effects. If we live in an environment of
corporate greed or personal violence\, we can't grow from it spiritually u
ntil we allow ourselves to recognize it. The other part of spirituality\,
the Prologue makes quite clear\, is learning to hear what God wants in any
given situation and being quick to respond to that\, to 'welcome it and f
aithfully put it into practice.' To see the greed or sense the violence wi
thout asking what the Gospel expects in such a situation\, is not spiritua
lity. It is piety at best.\n\nMost important of all\, perhaps\, is the Pro
logue's insistence that this Rule is not being written by a spiritual task
master who will bully us or beat us down in a counterfeit claim to growing
us up but by someone who loves us and will\, if we allow it\, carry us al
ong to fullness of life. It is an announcement of profound importance. No
one grows simply by doing what someone else forces us to do. We begin to g
row when we finally want to grow. All the rigid fathers and demanding moth
ers and disapproving teachers in the world can not make up for our own dec
ision to become what we can by doing what we must.\n\nIn this very first p
aragraph of the Rule Benedict is setting out the importance of not allowin
g ourselves to become our own guides\, our own god. Obedience\, Benedict s
ays--the willingness to listen for the voice of God in life--is what will
wrench us out of the limitations of our own landscape. We are being called
to something outside of ourselves\, something greater than ourselves\, so
mething beyond ourselves. We will need someone to show us the way: the Chr
ist\, a loving spiritual model\, this Rule.\n\nFirst of all\, every tim
e you begin a good work\, you must pray to God most earnestly to bring it
to perfection. In God's goodness\, we are already counted as God's own\, a
nd therefore we should never grieve the Holy One by our evil actions. With
the good gifts which are in us\, we must obey God at all times that God m
ay never become the angry parent who disinherits us\, nor the dreaded one\
, enraged by our sins\, who punishes us forever as worthless servants for
refusing to follow the way to glory.\n\nThe person who prays for the p
resence of God is\, ironically\, already in the presence of God. The perso
n who seeks God has already found God to some extent. 'We are already coun
ted as God's own\,' the Rule reminds us. Benedict knows this and clearly w
ants us to know it\, as well. A dull\, mundane life stays a dull\, mundane
life\, no matter how intent we become on developing spiritually. No amoun
t of church-going will change that. What attention to the spiritual life d
oes change is our appreciation for the presence of God in our dull\, munda
ne lives. We come to realize that we did not find God\; God finally got ou
r attention. The spiritual life is a grace with which we must cooperate\,
not a prize to be captured or a trophy to be won.\n\nBut\, the Rule implie
s\, we have been given a grace that is volatile. To feel it and ignore it\
, to receive it but reject it\, the paragraph suggests\, is to be in a wor
se situation than if we had never paid any attention to the spiritual life
at all. For disregard of God's good gifts\, Benedict says\, for refusing
to use the resources we have for the upbuilding of the reign of God\, for
beginning what we do not intend to complete\, the price is high. We are di
sinherited. We lose what is ours for the taking. We miss out on the life w
e are meant to have . We are dealt with\, not as children of the owner who
know instinctively that they are meant to grow into new and deeper levels
of relationship here\, but as hired help in the house\, as people who loo
k like they are part of the family but who never reap its real benefits or
know its real nature. In failing to respond to God everywhere God is arou
nd us\, we may lose the power of God that is in us.\n\nThe words were not
idle metaphors in sixth century Italy.\n\nTo be a member of a Roman family
\, the family whose structures Benedict understood\, was to be under the r
eligious\, financial and disciplinary power of the father until the father
died\, whatever the age of the children. To be disinherited by the father
was to be stranded in a culture in which paid employment was looked down
upon. To be punished by him was to lose the security of family\, outside o
f which there was no security at all. To lose relationship with the father
was then\, literally\, to lose one's life.\n\nAnd who has not known the t
ruth of it? Who of us has not been failed by all the other things beside G
od--money\, status\, security\, work\, people--that we have clung to and b
een disappointed by in our cleaving. Whose life has not been warped by a s
eries of twisted hopes\, the roots of which were sunk in the shale of fals
e promises and empty treasures that could not satisfy? Benedict is begging
us here to realize that God is the only life-line that life guarantees us
. We have been loved to life by God and now we must love God back with our
whole lives or forever live a living death.
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DTSTAMP:20260408T054739Z
DESCRIPTION:Listen carefully\, my child\, to my instructions\, and atten
d to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from one who loves yo
u\; welcome it\, and faithfully put it into practice. The labor of obedien
ce will bring you back to God from whom you had drifted through the sloth
of disobedience. This message of mine is for you\, then\, if you are ready
to give up your own will\, once and for all\, and armed with the strong a
nd noble weapons of obedience to do battle for Jesus\, the Christ.\n\n
Life is a teacher of universal truths. That may be the reason why the reli
gious readings of so many nations speak of the same situations and fasten
on the same insights. The Rule of Benedict\, too\, is a wisdom literature
that sounds life's themes. It deals with answers to the great questions of
the human condition: the presence of God\, the foundation of relationship
s\, the nature of self-development\, the place of purpose. To the wise\, i
t seems\, life is not a series of events to be controlled. Life is a way o
f walking through the universe whole and holy.\n\nThis first paragraph of
the Rule of Benedict brings into instant focus the basis for being able to
do that.\n\nBenedict says\, 'Listen.' Pay attention to the instructions i
n this Rule and attend to the important things in life. Let nothing go by
without being open to being nourished by the inner meaning of that event i
n life. There is an Oriental proverb that teaches: 'Take from death before
it takes from thee.' If we do not live life consciously\, in other words\
, we may not be living at all.\n\nThe Prologue is asking us to do the same
thing. If we want to have a spiritual life\, we will have to concentrate
on doing so. Spirituality does not come by breathing. It comes by listenin
g to this Rule and to its insights into life 'with the ear of the heart\,'
with feeling\, with more than an academic interest.\n\nOne part of spirit
uality\, then\, is learning to be aware of what is going on around us and
allowing ourselves to feel its effects. If we live in an environment of co
rporate greed or personal violence\, we can't grow from it spiritually unt
il we allow ourselves to recognize it. The other part of spirituality\, th
e Prologue makes quite clear\, is learning to hear what God wants in any g
iven situation and being quick to respond to that\, to 'welcome it and fai
thfully put it into practice.' To see the greed or sense the violence with
out asking what the Gospel expects in such a situation\, is not spirituali
ty. It is piety at best.\n\nMost important of all\, perhaps\, is the Prolo
gue's insistence that this Rule is not being written by a spiritual taskma
ster who will bully us or beat us down in a counterfeit claim to growing u
s up but by someone who loves us and will\, if we allow it\, carry us alon
g to fullness of life. It is an announcement of profound importance. No on
e grows simply by doing what someone else forces us to do. We begin to gro
w when we finally want to grow. All the rigid fathers and demanding mother
s and disapproving teachers in the world can not make up for our own decis
ion to become what we can by doing what we must.\n\nIn this very first par
agraph of the Rule Benedict is setting out the importance of not allowing
ourselves to become our own guides\, our own god. Obedience\, Benedict say
s--the willingness to listen for the voice of God in life--is what will wr
ench us out of the limitations of our own landscape. We are being called t
o something outside of ourselves\, something greater than ourselves\, some
thing beyond ourselves. We will need someone to show us the way: the Chris
t\, a loving spiritual model\, this Rule.\n\nFirst of all\, every time
you begin a good work\, you must pray to God most earnestly to bring it to
perfection. In God's goodness\, we are already counted as God's own\, and
therefore we should never grieve the Holy One by our evil actions. With t
he good gifts which are in us\, we must obey God at all times that God may
never become the angry parent who disinherits us\, nor the dreaded one\,
enraged by our sins\, who punishes us forever as worthless servants for re
fusing to follow the way to glory.\n\nThe person who prays for the pre
sence of God is\, ironically\, already in the presence of God. The person
who seeks God has already found God to some extent. 'We are already counte
d as God's own\,' the Rule reminds us. Benedict knows this and clearly wan
ts us to know it\, as well. A dull\, mundane life stays a dull\, mundane l
ife\, no matter how intent we become on developing spiritually. No amount
of church-going will change that. What attention to the spiritual life doe
s change is our appreciation for the presence of God in our dull\, mundane
lives. We come to realize that we did not find God\; God finally got our
attention. The spiritual life is a grace with which we must cooperate\, no
t a prize to be captured or a trophy to be won.\n\nBut\, the Rule implies\
, we have been given a grace that is volatile. To feel it and ignore it\,
to receive it but reject it\, the paragraph suggests\, is to be in a worse
situation than if we had never paid any attention to the spiritual life a
t all. For disregard of God's good gifts\, Benedict says\, for refusing to
use the resources we have for the upbuilding of the reign of God\, for be
ginning what we do not intend to complete\, the price is high. We are disi
nherited. We lose what is ours for the taking. We miss out on the life we
are meant to have . We are dealt with\, not as children of the owner who k
now instinctively that they are meant to grow into new and deeper levels o
f relationship here\, but as hired help in the house\, as people who look
like they are part of the family but who never reap its real benefits or k
now its real nature. In failing to respond to God everywhere God is around
us\, we may lose the power of God that is in us.\n\nThe words were not id
le metaphors in sixth century Italy.\n\nTo be a member of a Roman family\,
the family whose structures Benedict understood\, was to be under the rel
igious\, financial and disciplinary power of the father until the father d
ied\, whatever the age of the children. To be disinherited by the father w
as to be stranded in a culture in which paid employment was looked down up
on. To be punished by him was to lose the security of family\, outside of
which there was no security at all. To lose relationship with the father w
as then\, literally\, to lose one's life.\n\nAnd who has not known the tru
th of it? Who of us has not been failed by all the other things beside God
--money\, status\, security\, work\, people--that we have clung to and bee
n disappointed by in our cleaving. Whose life has not been warped by a ser
ies of twisted hopes\, the roots of which were sunk in the shale of false
promises and empty treasures that could not satisfy? Benedict is begging u
s here to realize that God is the only life-line that life guarantees us.
We have been loved to life by God and now we must love God back with our w
hole lives or forever live a living death.
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250502T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250502T235900
LOCATION:Prologue
SUMMARY:Prologue
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR