Chapter 44
The Rule of St. Benedict July 24
The oratory and the table are the two pillars of common life in a Benedictine monastery, and when one member violates his responsibilities to the community, he endangers the very life he has vowed to uphold. Without explaining away the harshness of Benedict's instructions here, I hear in this chapter a call to consider how profoundly our personal spiritual health affects the common life we have vowed to share with others. As Sr. Joan writes in conclusion to her commentary today,
This chapter forces us to ask, in an age without penances and in a culture totally given to individualism, what relationships we may be betraying by selfishness and what it would take to cure ourselves of the self-centeredness that requires the rest of the world to exist for our own convenience.Br. Chad 2012
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ReplyDeleteTuesday, July 24, 2012 12:19 PM
I have often contemplated the difference between being healed and being cured. Now with this commentary by Sister Joan, concerning Chapter44, there is the added layer of relief.
I must as myself, "When I ask for prayer, am I asking for a cure of symptoms or, am I willing to make the changes that will help to manifest a transformation in my life?"
As mentioned in Sis. Joan's Commentary, being cured is sometimes painful, in that I must recognize that the way that I have been living my life has been a factor in that over which I am distressed.
Healing for me is an inner emotional/spiritual work that precipitates the outward physical changes. In healing I recognize my responsibility in each situation to be the catalyst for change and the 'cause' of my life. In my willingness to surrender my spirit of 'being right' to the spirit of, 'I am willing to learn', the inner healing, that is the beginning of transformation in my actions and being cured of societal conditioning, begins to manifest in my actions.
This can be an emotional pain in the neck.
At times, I would like to just dwell again in feel good spirituality as I once did. I was a spirituality of the week man that chased the Spiritual High of feel good. I was convinced that what ever felt the best or the most peaceful or had the most chills going up my spine or was the more outrageous, that caused the "NORMALS" to shake their heads, was the place to be. Each of the Spirituality of the week episodes was a Relief place for me as is being described by Sister Joan in her commentary on chapter 44. The thrill lasted various amounts of time for each of them. but, with most there was no commitment to the community where I was getting the Relief. So when the thrill ended, so did my participation in the group at that time. Then I would search for a new thrill or Spiritual High and settle in until the ecstatic feeling for the new situation got to the point of being asked to make a commitment to the group and my subsequent departure.
I choose to be a Novitiate in The Annunciation of Mary Canon Community here at St. Augustine's because, I am ready to grow again in all that God in Jesus Christ has for me.
I am doing this work to Heal my Inner Person, that the Cure for not walking fully in my Calling for these many years will Manifest. I am willing to grow. I am willing to be the catalyst for change in my life. I am willing for the Holy Spirit to lead me into the very next step of what I already know is my calling to ministry.
I am honored and blessed to be in community with each of you. With each meeting I learn more from you than you could know. I pray that your journey to Healing and Cure are manifest in all of your being.
In Christ,
Br. Rawleigh