August 6

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord


Chapter 54

The Rule of Benedict August 6

An application of this chapter to a community that does not share all resources in common is difficult.  However, as I said last time around, the spiritual value behind a vow of poverty is to free one from the need to possess--that human need upon which the entire "system" is predicated.

Richard Rohr wrote in his daily meditation for today:

We are all complicit in and benefit from what Dorothy Day called “the dirty rotten system.” That’s not condemning anybody; it’s condemning everybody because we are all complicit and enjoying the fruits of domination and injustice. (Where were your shirts and underwear made?) Usually the only way to be really non-complicit in the system is to choose to live a very simple life. That’s the only way out! 


Let us continue to listen for how our life together can lead us into simpler, less complicit ways of existing within the culture we inhabit.