In truth, those who are patient amid hardships and unjust treatment are fulfilling the Lord’s command: When struck on one cheek, they turn the other; when deprived of their coat, they offer their cloak also; when pressed into service for one mile, they go two [Matthew 5: 39-41]. (Rule of St. Benedict 7.42) If you had to …
Tag Archives: Jesus
Friendly Faces Feel
Have a great horror of hell. Yearn for everlasting life with holy desire. Day by day remind yourself that you are going to die.… Do not love immoderate or boisterous laughter. (Rule of St. Benedict 4. 45-54) There are those who remind you that you’re going to die, and encourage you to think about eternity. …
Bless Those Who Blast You
If people curse you, do not curse them back but bless them instead. (Rule of St. Benedict 4. 32) Sadly, the right to retaliate is not an inalienable right. It may be necessary to fight your enemies and to defeat them, for the sake of the common good. But the Christian must not inflict harm merely …
Aim For Judgment Day
The abbot must know that anyone undertaking the charge of souls must be ready to account for them. Whatever the number of brothers he has in his care, let him realize that on judgment day he will surely have to submit a reckoning to the Lord for all their souls–and indeed for his own as …
The Call: Awake!
Let us get up then, at long last, for the Scriptures rouse us when they say: “It is high time for us to arise from sleep” Romans 13:11 (Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue.8) This “sleep” is the spiritual stupor of ordinary people who imagine that the front line is somewhere else. They think that they themselves …
The Challenge
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 and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the true King, Christ the Lord. (RB Prologue.3) St. Benedict is of course not the first to describe the …