Chapter 10
The Rule of Benedict October 13
As I wrote in January, legalism is unhelpful, as is guilt and obligation, regarding prayer. We pray because we are invited and welcomed into relationship. We pray because the invitation calls forth in us a deep longing to be formed and transformed.
I agree that guilt is not helpful at all when it comes to our prayer lives. But I have to disagree that obligation is necessarily negative.
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan of obligation and I find myself talking about it a lot. We have inherited a cultural idea that the things we do out of obligation are somehow not sincere. But to the contrary, when I have freely entered into an obligation, I am called upon to cultivate the discipline necessary to follow through. And because taking on an obligation in this sense generally involves making a choice founded on reason and ordered priorities, my obligation helps me to overcome transient feelings like laziness or anxiety in order to live into and up to the better path my heart truly desires.
I pray every day precisely because I have an obligation. Acting out that obligation allows me to work on my inner-life so that I might more clearly hear/see God's invitation to me.
Another example of my appreciation of obligation:
Ever since I started grad school, I have not been able to sustain an exercise routine and am in the worst shape of my life because of it.
But since Chris and I adopted Mac, I have been walking 2 to 4 miles a day. Sure, in an ideal world, I would be motivated enough to walk for the sake of my health and well-being. In real life, I found I could not. But because I have freely taken on an obligation to this creature, I manage to find the will to get out every day.
Well said, Ruth. My use of and aversion to the term is misplaced. Obligation has a place within a vowed life. It is with regard to making the vows that a sense of obligation is unhelpful. Vows are best made as a free response to the call of God deep within.
ReplyDeleteThank you! That is a helpful distinction. If I am understanding you correctly, making vows must not come from a sense of obligation but rather as a response to God's call. Once those vows are made, they do come with certain obligations, which one can fall back on for support on the journey to follow that call.
ReplyDeleteYes?
You understand me perfectly! Thank you for your help in the distinction.
ReplyDelete