"Are you hastening toward your heavenly home?
Then with Christ's help,
keep this little rule that we have written for beginners.
After that, you can set out for the loftier summits
of the teaching and virtues, we mentioned above, and
under God's protection you will reach them. Amen."
Rule of St. Benedict (73. 8-9)
So, I am beginning this entry with the last paragraph of St. Benedict's Rule. Because that is where I am today, about to venture into the life of a Benedictine Oblate. A beginner, Benedict points out to his monks, is all we are and all we may ever be. The "loftier summits," which include being virtuous, can only begin to be reached under God's loving protection of each of us. But oh, how God wants us to fly under "the shadow of His wings"! (Psalm 17:8)
Today, on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, I will meet with my new community of 11 for the first time, as we take this journey together in offering ourselves to Christ and neighbor in a new way. Frankly, I am not 100% sure of what I'm getting myself into, but that's what the next two years are all about. Prayer, study, discernment, promise or not... I just know that there's been a nudging of the Spirit that I felt inclined to run toward. Hastening, if you will. 😊
Benedict wrote, "Are you hastening toward your heavenly home?" Such a question for us to ask ourselves during 2022, when this question was first posed in 516! According to biographers at the time that St. Benedict lived, he was so disgusted by the way of the world back then that he left behind all that he would receive as his father's heir in order to receive an infinitely larger inheritance from his Heavenly Father. And Benedict's offspring, if you will, continues to grow - even as the world now seems about as corrupt as one can dare to imagine. I am praying to find the inspiration to become part of his legacy, his offspring...
So, I ask again, "Are we hastening toward our heavenly home?" Are we running toward Love or just away from hate? Do we blame God for what life creates for us to endure, or do we turn to God to be our "fortress and deliverer"? Do we really understand that everlasting deliverance is always and continually our option to choose? Is God made in our flawed and mortal image, or do we seek out the Infinite Holy One?
Today the Church recognizes and celebrates the occasion when Jesus gave Peter the keys to the Kingdom of heaven and made him the Rock "upon which I build my church." (Peter who is about as human as we get!) This reading from the Gospel of Matthew 16: 13-19, not only shows Peter's deep faith in Jesus being the Lord, but it also shows to me the trust that Jesus puts in his friend Peter.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, Peter goes on to lead a Church that will never succumb to "the gates of the netherworld." With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can ask for the grace to know our God more intimately now - and to hasten us to eternal life in our heavenly home!
Pray for us new Benedictine Oblate candidates, as we will pray for our hurting world.
💙
