Browsing category: Rule of St. Benedict

  • Love Your Enemies

    Love your enemies (Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6: 27-35).  (RB 4. 31)

    Loving your enemies sounds like a nice idea until you actually have enemies yourself.

    An enemy is not merely someone with whom you disagree.  You can disagree with your friends passionately and perpetually.

    Nor is an enemy an opponent in a game.  An opponent recognizes the same rules you do.

    “Love does no wrong to a neighbor” (Romans 13:10), but your enemies will accuse you anyway, even if you haven’t done anything to harm them.  They insult and threaten you when you had no thought of interfering with them at all.  An enemy is someone who acts on the intent to wrong you.

    As Christians, if we must love our enemies, and if love does no wrong to a neighbor, we cannot ourselves be anyone’s enemy, can we?

    So the enemy is not our neighbor. . . .  Aha!

    Nope.  The parable of the Good Samaritan shows that we must be good neighbors to everyone, even longstanding enemies.

    Maybe we’ve misunderstood love.  God is love, but God is not our slave.  Neither are we enslaved to those we love. A Christian concept of love is essentially voluntary.  Love ends where coercion begins.

    Christian love does set aside the self-interest of the moment for the good of the other person.  But the good of the other person is not always what that person demands.  When someone wants something that is not good, you say no, for love’s sake.

    Love yields and sacrifices, but love is not suicidal.  God is the one who called you into being.  Therefore you must exist, and this may include resistance.

    We know that “the Lord disciplines those he loves” (Hebrews 12:6; Proverbs 3:12).  Therefore a Christian concept of love includes setting boundaries and enforcing standards.  Without wronging anyone, you can communicate that you find the insults offensive and the threats alarming.  Make sure your enemies realize how they’re affecting you.  Sometimes people don’t know that they’re hurting you.  It may be that your enemy is not a beast.

    So give the benefit of the doubt.  Make space.  Swim away.  There’s room enough in the ocean for both of you.

    If, after you’ve peaceably turned away from a fight, your enemy pursues you, intent on dominating you wherever you may be, it is time to enforce the principle at issue.  Whatever rule you enforce on your enemy must be one that you yourself are abiding by.  To govern your own behavior by the same standards that you apply to others is one aspect of loving your neighbor as yourself.  And the standard you try to live by was not invented by you.  For example: loving your enemy.

    Like animals, humans will usually decide it’s not worth the trouble of bothering you, once they discover that you’re peaceable when left alone but determined to defend yourself when attacked.  There are occasions when Christians are inspired by the Holy Spirit to set aside their right to self-defense, imitating Christ’s sacrifice.  But no human being has the authority to require someone else’s self-sacrifice.  And if you’re the only one standing between your enemy and someone weaker than yourself, love may require that you fight.

    There may come a time when your enemy is too big for you to handle alone.  In this situation, escape is what you should aim for.  Escape first, and then work on making new friends, so you’re not alone next time.  A cohesive group is unappealing to aggressors.  They’re looking for vulnerable singletons to pick off.

    If only this were the end of it.  We could take a break, go home, be safe.  But sometimes strangers are not the problem.  The enemy is someone close.  Does loving your enemy include suffering wrongs at the hands of the one you love?  These are deep waters, and murky.  Explain the situation to a kind stranger. There are times when it’s the stranger who is your friend.

    And then there’s the enemy who used to love you.  This is the one who will break your heart.  Why did this person despise your devotion and turn against you, treating you with contempt?  There’s nothing quite like the distress of loving the enemy who once was dear.  The world seethes with ex-spouses, ex-lovers and so many other exes who are now enemies.

    On an ordinary day without tragedy, loving any of them comes down to treating people well who do not reciprocate your efforts.  Converse cheerfully with complainers.  Keep calm during a hostile confrontation.  Patiently put up with irritations.  Kindly share with those who’ve been selfish.  Remain reliable even with those who are deceitful.  Retain self-control around those who’ve rejected discipline. Intercede for those who’ve wronged you.

    God himself promises to reward us if we behave well toward those who behave badly toward us.  Nothing anyone can say will ever make this easy, but the Holy Spirit can make it possible.

     

     

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  • Bear Injuries Patiently

    Do not repay one bad turn with another 1 Thessalonians 5:15; 1 Peter 3:9.  Do not injure anyone, but bear injuries patiently.  (Rule of St. Benedict 4. 29-30)

    First of all, bearing injuries patiently is not a sign of weakness.  It’s a sign of goodness.  Only the strong bear up. Only the good restrain themselves when evil beckons, because evil is not their master.

    Secondly, this principle isn’t about defending yourself in the moment of attack.  You have the right to self-defense.  This is about the aftermath: now what? Why did God let a bad thing happen?

    Weak people fall apart and lash out at everyone around them as they disintegrate.  For a brief moment, they enjoy an experience of power: the power to destroy.  There’s something appealing about power, even when you know it’s fleeting, even when you know it’s hateful.  The Church calls this appeal the glamor of evil.  As Christians we reject it, along with Satan and all his works.

    On the other hand, strong people hold themselves together, hold on to what they know is good and hold out for what they know is right.  Sometimes they hang on by their fingernails.  As Christians this is the character we aspire to, and God knows it’s hard.  Sometimes the path leads straight up the face of a cliff.

    Why does God let bad things happen? You can be on the right path and still fall and get hurt.  Getting hurt doesn’t mean that God is against you.  It means that there’s an inherent risk to living at all.  You were thrust into existence without being consulted.  But now that you’re here, you’re free to venture your all for the good.  The promise of Christ is that ultimately your venture will pay off.  Death is not the end.

    People who have only this world to live for figure that nothing they do matters.  But the Christian message is that everything you do matters, even the tiny things.  For instance, even a small gesture of kindness counts in the sight of God.  He is always at work everywhere for good, and he invites you to participate in that work, wherever you are, whoever you are.

    But you are free to reject his offer.  You can rage against your Creator.  He allowed evil into this world, and now you can increase the sum of evil.

    However, know that if you choose for what is right and true and good, God is on your side, even if everything else in the universe is against you.  And he promises that the pain will last only as long as this life.  Moreover, you will emerge into peace for eternity.

    Meanwhile, there’s everything we have to face in this moment in time.  Sometimes we can’t understand why God does what he does.  Why does he hurt us?  Why make us stay in place in a corner with a cone around our necks?  We didn’t do anything wrong!  So heave a big sigh and wait: maybe something good will come along next.

    Don’t fret.  Don’t chew on your hurt and make it worse.  Instead, save your energy for the good you can do.  If the path before you is clear, and if you have the strength, get up every day and keep going.  Be patient.  Bear up.  There’s no quick fix to any killer problem, and you will encounter many problems along the way.

    Most importantly, when you’ve honestly done everything you can do, then stand firm and wait for God himself to act on your behalf. If you can’t stand up anymore, sit down.  If even sitting up is too much, lie still and be who you are where you are.  There’s a time to let people who love you take care of you. You’re not alone in this.  Fix sad eyes on your Maker.  Remain alert to his call.

    An injury can happen in an instant.  The healing takes a long, long time.  It saps all the strength you’ve got. Why does God let bad things happen?

    We don’t understand why yet. Healing is your job now.  We want you back.

     

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  • Drink Moderately

    Everyone has his own gift from God, one this and another that 1 Corinthians 7:7.  It is, therefore, with some uneasiness that we specify the amount of food and drink for others.  However, with due regard for the infirmities of the sick, we believe that a half bottle of wine a day is sufficient for each.  But those to whom God gives the strength to abstain must know that they will earn their own reward. . . . in any case, take great care lest excess or drunkenness creep in. . . . let us at least agree to drink moderately, and not to the point of excess, for wine makes even wise men go astray Sirach 19:2.  (RB 40.1-7)

    The thing to realize about alcohol is that only other people consume too much of it.  However, if you end the night with your face in the toilet, you’re the one who might have a problem.  If you weren’t already sick before the party, there’s nothing wrong with the tap water.  It’s not a virus if the kids don’t catch it.  Unless a dozen people were hospitalized, and you see them on the news, it’s not food poisoning.  Maybe you just drank too much.

    You weren’t drunk.  Not even clumsy.  You didn’t do or say anything you regret: that’s good.  But you still absorbed too much alcohol.   The goal would be to take in less next time.

    Moderation does not mean remaining faithful for the night to one drink with a name.  Drinks with names betray you.

    The easiest way to consume less is to shun hard liquor and stick with wine or beer.  But if you’re the sort of person who can drink wine quickly, or if you have a talent for swallowing large quantities of beer, you might still have a problem.  You may just have to be the person who goes to the bar and orders soda.  If you ask for club soda with lime discreetly, your friends might think you’re drinking gin and tonic.  It’ll be sort of like wearing a hair shirt beneath your clothes, back in the days of the monks.  And God, who sees what you do in secret will reward you Matthew 6:16-18.  Just say your prayers well before the party.

    But will your friends let you refrain?  If the whole basis of the relationship is alcohol, you might face a more difficult challenge.  You may need new friends.  This is a daunting prospect for anyone, but ask yourself this question: do you like them when you’re sober?  Because if you need to drink in order to tolerate your own friends, then you don’t have very good ones.  Better people are out there somewhere, but you won’t find them unless you go looking, and you won’t have time to go looking unless you walk away from the others.

    Don’t drink and drive, but don’t drink alone either.  For parents, drinking alone includes those times when you’re the sole adult in charge of small children.  As they get older this is less of an issue, because they’re less dependent on you.  But the mother at home alone should not be drinking alcohol.  I’m not talking about pouring yourself a drink while you’re cooking dinner, and your husband is on the way home from work.  I’m talking about the times when no one is on the way home.

    Take a bath.  You can always jump out of the bath in a crisis and still be functional.

    Take a walk around the block.  Remove yourself from the sound of shrieking.  What you need is a moment of quiet, not a drink.  By the time they figure out you’re gone, you’ll be back, feeling slightly more human for having uttered a wild and forlorn prayer for help.  Remember that babies can’t harm themselves by screaming, but you can harm them if you lose control.  Put the baby into the crib and walk away for half an hour.

    Whatever is wrong, drinking alone will just make it worse.  Ask for help.  You never know when an old friend might point you in  a new direction.

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  • Help The Troubled

    You must relieve the lot of the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick (Matthew 25:36), and bury the dead. Go to help the troubled and console the sorrowing. (Rule of St. Benedict 4. 14-19)

    There’s all the trouble in the world, and there’s what you can do about it.

    Not much.

    You don’t know the name of the neighbor who suns himself on his back steps in the cool of the morning in his briefs, but you’ve seen him up close once. He was nearly naked and mostly drunk then too. You let him know his fence was on fire, and he did get up to throw some water on it, not another cigarette butt, so you probably don’t need to worry about him. That was the fence on his other side: not your problem. Lower the shades so the kids don’t get another visual of the bulging briefs over breakfast.

    The friend down the street is going back to her maiden name after her husband left her on her own with two little girls. All you volunteered for was carpool, but she looked so worn out at the end of the week that you went back and handed her your lasagna. You made it from scratch: the meat filling, the ricotta layers, the tomato sauce. It took all afternoon to put together, and parting with it does still hurt some, but not as much as watching their lives splatter.

    You never even met the woman who signed up to teach Sunday school and then just didn’t show, for whatever reason. You thought you were going to be the aide, sucker. Shouldn’a been there. Here’s the roster: now it’s on you. A dozen innocent, willing faces are counting on you to explain the gap between earth and heaven.

    It’s a fine day for a picnic. Release your children into the park and let them run around while you listen to the regulars vent their grievances. They have everything the world has to offer, and no end of complaints. They’ve achieved the American Dream: a house inside the Loop, private schools, and two food allergies in every kitchen. They will rant as long as you will listen, but you’ve reached your outside limit. Time to hit the zoo and see some animals at feeding time.

    Funny how all the kids’ legs give out as soon as they pass the zoo exit. They can run for hours, but they limp, cramp, blister and drag their feet when you try to hurry them through marijuana plaza on the corner of Cambridge and Fannin. If you could make the light before someone hustles you for cash, you’d be at the Metro Rail station across from Hermann Hospital.

    Now there’s a wild sight: on the train platform, a girl wearing nothing but a hospital gown sits in one of the logo wheelchairs from a different hospital up the street. The I.V. line is still stuck in her vein, and the drip bag is still dangling from the rolling pole. Everyone else knows to walk around these impeding objects. Do you really have to stop and ask if she needs help?

    Turns out she doesn’t. Her boyfriend comes over when he sees you talking to her and tells you so. He’s been working out a lot lately, from the look of those muscles. His tattoos proclaim something you don’t have time to read, because he’s too edgy to stand still in one place for long. The vibe you get from him is rage. She looks like she’s about to slump out of the wheelchair, and she can barely nod her head: yes. When he circles back around, lights up a joint and hands it to her, she can still reach for it, though. Maybe you’re witnessing an exchange of loving devotion.  Or maybe he’s the one who put her in the hospital, and now he’s retrieving his property, along with a couple of items of equipment that they do not give away when they discharge patients.

    You stopped, so a bright, competent intern stops too. Yes, the boyfriend does look like an explosion about to happen. Yes, the escaped girl does look like a wreck. One of you keep an eye on him, and one of you put in a call to the hospital with the missing wheelchair and the absentee patient. Wait till half a dozen EMS guys his own size are carefully closing in. Someone with backup is talking him into letting her get lifted into an ambulance.

    Mom! What’s for dinner?

    Not lasagna, actually. Maybe scrounge night again. Be glad you have a dad who’s happy to see you when he comes home.

    Fall into bed. You’ve done what you could. It’s all a human being can do. Let God spell you on holding the universe together.

    Domestic Violence Hotline U.S.A.

     

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  • Curb Your Urge

    For this reason Scripture warns us, Pursue not your lusts Sirach 18:30.  (Rule of St. Benedict 7.25)

    We live in a culture where it’s supposed to be fun to let yourself go.  People announce that they’re about to let themselves go, and then they do it.  Not only do they not feel shame: they expect you to pat them on the back.  Most of the time they act with good humor, and with no thought of harming themselves or anyone else.  The binge is benign these days.

    Until it’s not.  The fact is that we have countless people who are suffering the tragic consequences of their own impulses–or worse, of someone else’s.  Some of them refuse to admit responsibility.  But others are discouraged, because they’ve tried and failed to change.

    Self-control is not an instant thing.  It’s the work of a lifetime.  It’s the practice of a life well-lived.

    If you want to be an athlete or an artist or any sort of skilled worker, you start at the beginning and practice basic moves first.  Checking your own impulse is one of the most basic moves of all.  It’s an element of any future action.  It’s not just that refraining from one action frees up time and energy for an alternative.  Curbing your impulse also builds strength and skill.  These in turn open up new possibilities that would otherwise have remained out of reach.

    A century of Freudian psychology has led us to assume that checking an impulse means repressing desire.  When you repress a desire, you don’t act on it, but it comes out in some other, weird way that you don’t control and that you may not even be aware of.  So you might as well let yourself go.

    Suffering the consequences?  That’s someone else’s specialty.  Next, please.

    The difference between self-control and repression is that self-control does not suppress desire.  Self-control nurtures and trains desire.  While the binge lets desire loose, without regard for other people, self-control keeps desire on a leash and exercises it with consideration for others.

    The lure of the binge is easy pleasure fast.  But the thrill tends to decrease with repetition.  You work harder to get less.  And you suffer the side effects.  With self-control, on the other hand, you start small, but the enjoyment increases with practice.  And the horizons are infinite.

    The best the binge can claim is not to have harmed anyone else.  But self-control allows you to do good to others actively.

    People who can’t control their impulses only get along with others who want to do the same thing at the same time in the same way.  When a whole collection of individuals are all out of control together, they meld into a mob.  The mob tramples any divergent individual.  But then the frenzy burns out, and the mob disperses.  The same individuals go back to competing ruthlessly against each other.  They separate, each alone with an ungoverned desire.  The endpoint is a life without any relationships at all: just interactions that serve the appetite.

    But self-control allows you to live in community.  Christian community aims not to meld but to harmonize individual desires.  It’s a complex challenge, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we do make a life together.  This calls for active participation on the part of each one, rather than a passive letting go.

    Life in a family is a training ground for harmony.  Baby learns to sleep at night long enough for Mom to get the rest she needs.  Baby learns to go for longer without eating, so that eventually the child’s habits match the habits of the family.  In practice this effort takes years, and every time a new baby arrives, another individual process is thrown into the mix.  Easy is not part of the deal.

    But the endpoint is paradise, which Jesus describes as a banquet Matthew 22:1-14; 25:1-13.  A banquet is a fancy dinner where people dress their best, eat together and enjoy each other’s company.  When you have a family sitting down to a meal together, you have a foretaste of heaven.  The food may be simple.  The clamor around your table may not sound divine.  But consider what you’ve achieved: you’ve taken human beings from a state of chaos to a state of sociability.  Even if it’s not yet heaven, it is the foundation of civil society, and that’s something no one should take for granted.

    Ultimately: heaven.  Here and now: a functioning society.  Earliest of all: a family meal.  But it all begins with harmonizing individual impulses.  And so, each one of us must achieve a measure of self-control.

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  • Fix The Physical

    Treasure chastity. (Rule of St. Benedict 4. 64)

    The obvious difference between a rule written for monks and a rule for married couples is that whereas monks take a vow of celibacy, married couples take a vow of sex.  A Christian marriage requires sex with the same person until death.  Not continuously, of course.  It’s not death by sex.  But in a society with long life spans, sooner or later you’ll face what everyone else does: DD (Domestic Doldrums), the long-drawn ho-hum humdrum.  Your sex life will vary between BTN sex (Better Than Nothing) and NON sex (Now Or Never).

    If you’re dissatisfied, the thing to realize is that only you have this problem.  Everyone else has ecstatic sex daily.  Only you are stuck with an ordinary human being.

    Whatever is wrong with your spouse, feel free to describe it eloquently to God in prayer.  He’s the one who designed the prototype.  He knows what to do to fix it.  But your prayer should begin with thanks: “Thank you God for [name of spouse].  Thank you for BTN and NON.  Thank you for the orgasm I had the other day.  [Was it an orgasm?].  I know I’ve got it BTMP (Better Than Most People).  However, […].”

    Be careful what you say to your spouse.  Human memories are more tenacious than human feelings.  Once you say it, you can’t erase it from your spouse’s brain, even if you’re ok now.  Don’t go complaining to everyone else, either.  It may be true.  It may also be a shabby thing to say in public.

    The goal of the husband and wife is to remain happily married.  In order to stay both married and happy, they need a sex life that is not a form of martyrdom.  In order to have a satisfactory sex life, she needs to be able to enjoy it.  For her to enjoy it, he needs to figure out how the female body functions.  This is tricky, because he can’t get any practice time in if she never feels like trying.  Then again, if he is clumsy, clueless or out of control, why would she ever want to?  Or maybe they just need to change things up. Or try actually going to bed at the same time.

    Don’t wait for passion to return.  Passion is like the booster rocket that propels you into outer space, then falls back to earth, never to be retrieved.  From then on, you’d better know what you’re doing.  The reactor on board is supposed to provide all your power.  It’s a notoriously finicky design, and everyone has problems with it.  Do not skip regular maintenance.  Do not ignore warning lights. You don’t want to be the ones floating aimlessly in the void because the power went out.  You don’t want to be the ones who suddenly explode into smithereens, when no one else even realized there was a problem.  Sex isn’t everything, but it’s the only thing you’re not allowed to outsource.  Only the two of you can keep it in working order.

    The world will tell you that to get the thrill back, you’ve got to unscrew all the stops.  But they’ve got something wrong, because they keep losing pressure.  They have to do worse and worse things to get a jolt out of the system.  And they don’t even try to take care of each other.  No love, no laughs, no one noticing when you’re gone.

    The Christian premise, on the other hand is that you’ve got to keep the unit sealed tight.  The pressure will build back up, and eventually you’ll find yourself considering sex with the person you married.  This might involve taking the initiative to negotiate and implement changes.  Or maybe you know what you need to do, but you’ve been too […] to make the effort.

    What’s all this about work?  You thought you were relaxing on a cruise, not joining the navy.  You can unseal the hatches and bail: one last thrill before Judgment Day.

    On your spiral down you’ll pass the clunker you never thought would make it, still rattling along.  You don’t even want to know what they do to keep that thing going. Married couple sex? They must have figured something out.

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  • Hold Yourself Together

    You must not be proud, nor be given to wine Titus 1:7; 1 Timothy 3:3.  Refrain from too much eating or sleeping, and from laziness Romans 12:11.  Do not grumble or speak ill of others.  (Rule of St. Benedict 4. 34-40)

    Hold yourself together. You let yourself go when you begin to imagine yourself superior to other people.  Or maybe you tend to drink too much, or eat too much.  When you don’t bother to take care of the task you’re responsible for, that’s another form of letting yourself go.  And then there’s the letting go of complaining or gossip.

    So keep hold of yourself.  Watch your attitude and your personal habits.  Watch what you say.

    Ask the Holy Spirit to grant you discernment. Then set your goals for the weeks ahead. Don’t try to hit all of them every day. Spread them out over the course of the week.

    Monday: Watch my attitude. Be thankful.

    Tuesday: Watch what I eat.

    Wednesday: Take care of that obligation that’s been sitting on the back burner.

    Thursday: I know, I know…

    Friday: No gossip.

    Saturday: No getting drunk.  (If the party’s on Friday, switch the last two.)

    Sunday: Go to church.  Rest.

    God commands a day of rest most explicitly of all. It’s one of the original Ten Commandments. The purpose of your life is not perpetual accomplishment. Your purpose is to live in harmony with your Creator, who called you into being and who sustains your existence at every moment. When you take a day to rest, you acknowledge that your life and all your efforts depend on the grace of God. You remember that it’s the Holy Spirit who is at work within you to transform you.

    When you’re examining yourself, keep in mind that self-control is like the fortified perimeter around your soul. The devil only needs a breach in one section to move in and out at will. So don’t make the mistake of dismissing your one vice because of how good you are in other areas. Your one vice can ruin your life all by itself. Your one vice can blight the lives of everyone who depends on you. Your spiritual enemy, just like all enemies attacks at the point of vulnerability. 

    On the other hand, don’t make the mistake of obsessing about your area of greatest weakness. It’s a mistake to focus all your energies on your worst habit, because you’ll quickly become exhausted. When you’re exhausted, you’re easily discouraged. Then you want to give up on everything. When you’ve given up, it’s even harder to try again.

    But when you work regularly on all fronts, you’ll do quite well most days without heroic efforts. You’ll accomplish some positive things that make you feel victorious. It’s important to come to an awareness not only of your weaknesses but of your strengths. This helps you keep up hope. By exercising discipline systematically across all fronts, you’ll build up confidence and gain experience. Eventually you’ll be able to tackle that one thing that has always seemed impossible.

    Do expect sabotage attempts. Ask for help. Don’t try to go it alone.

    Five days out of the week you can manage pretty well. One day all hell breaks loose. One day you collapse into the hands of God and lie still.

    Then by the grace of God you get up and try again.

     

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  • Housewife Manifesto

    Housewife Definition

    And finally, never lose hope in God’s mercy.  (Rule of St. Benedict 4. 74-77)

    Despair is a housewife with a television
    peering through channels at the world passing her by.
    She seeks hope, but what a difficult decision
    to turn off the screen and go sing a lullaby.

    So, what do you do all day, Ms. Smith?  Do you play
    with them, the tedious darlings—what sort of game?
    How sad for you, when you could have had (and with pay)
    lovers, success, fame and letters after your name.

    Are those stretch marks on your breasts we see (not real ones!?)
    that nursed babies.  We can fix that for a small fee
    reverse the decline in your value.  A man runs
    from paying bills, sagging flesh and mortality.

    It’s true, she replies with a sigh.  After dinner
    diapers and dishes, it’s only games, day and night:
    Play Fair, Tell The Truth, You Can’t Always Be Winner
    Don’t Pull Your Sister’s Hair, Say You’re Sorry, Don’t Fight.

    It wasn’t my intention with the marriage vow
    to fail pitifully, give up ambition, beauty.
    I made kids, not money.  But thirty years from now
    thanks to me, there may yet be a society.

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  • 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. There are others who remind you that you’re getting older, and encourage you to think about Botulinum toxin.

    One guy warns against flippant laughter.  The other guy fixes your face so you can no longer laugh.

    Religious types subtly make you feel that you could be a better person.  Fashionable types subtly make you feel that you’ve aged, sagged and bought last year’s clothes on sale.

    If you’re thinking of splitting the difference with the Spa Special and a charitable donation, realize that both sides will come at you with renewed zest. For every charitable gift, you’ll get a dozen new solicitations. For every photofacial, you’ll get a dozen new spots.

    There’s no rest in this world for us. We’re caught in the movements called Time. There’s the movement toward eternal life, called redemption. There’s the movement toward eternal death, called drifting with the trend.

    You know, the people who care about you will love you no matter how you look. On the other hand, the people who rate you when you walk through the door will never care, no matter what you do.

    If you paralyze your face, your friends won’t know what’s going on with you. Are you sad, mad, anxious?We care. But we don’t know where we stand with you, because your face is without expression. Do you even like us anymore?

    And guys, the problem is not that you’re losing your hair. The problem is that you’re going to die, and we will be left alone.

    So do what you want with your look, but please keep the focus on your health. Above all, could you please make sure your soul is in shape for eternity? We want to be there together.

     

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  • Wholly Holy And Hale

    Do not aspire to be called holy before you really are, but first be holy that you may more truly be called so.  Live by God’s commandments every day. (Rule of St. Benedict 4. 62-63)

    Of all the archaic vocabulary words that have become vestigial, holy has to be the most vacuous.  We have no idea what it means, but we’re pretty sure we don’t want to go there.  It’s probably the Christian equivalent of a no fat, no sugar, no salt, gluten-free, vegan blueberry muffin.

    You try it.

    (They make it look like a blueberry muffin, but a deep human instinct tells you that it’s going to be a bad experience.)

    What we’ve heard about holiness is that there’s no money, sex or power in it.  It’s sinless and spiritual.

    Definitely go for it.

    Naturally there are people who want to be holy, just as there are people who try to make you eat their special muffins.  You pay attention to who they are, and you make a mental note to breakfast elsewhere next time.

    (Of course we’re still friends!)

    Although we don’t take the word “holy” seriously anymore in everyday speech, its cognate, “whole” is a workhorse we use all the time.  Whole and holy are linguistic twins, but over the course of nine hundred years, the version without the W specialized as a religious term, while the other one got a regular job and put food on the table.  At birth their meaning was: entire, unhurt, healthy, free of wound or injury.  Whole also originally meant “restored,” in the sense of having recovered from a wound or injury, being healed.

    As a matter of fact, the Old English parent word is still alive and kicking, pronunciation unchanged through the centuries.  It is “hale,” as in hale and hearty, free from defect, disease or infirmity, retaining exceptional health and vigor.  You could still use this word, if you ever met anyone who fit the description.

    Linguistically it’s entirely plausible to assert that a holy life is a life restored to wholeness, a healthy, vibrant life.

    Of course, St. Benedict was writing several centuries before any version of English existed at all.  In Latin, his choice was “sanctum,” a word that English eventually swallowed whole to mean “sacred place.”   For him and still for us, it means dedicated or set apart for the service of deity.

    Latin was a pagan language.  In Latin it’s possible to be sacred to the deity and therefore murdered; pimped out as a temple prostitute; locked in an iron cage and suspended over toxic fumes to induce entertaining prophecies for the pilgrims.  No one ever claimed that the pagan gods were faithful friends. On the contrary, they were reputed to be fickle, capricious, cruel.  You sacrificed to the gods in order to buy their favor, or to buy off their wrath.  The thing (or the person) you gave was then sacred to the god. To be sacred to the god was to be consumed by the god.

    But English developed as a Christian language and follows a different logic.  Holiness merges the concepts “sacred” and “hale” inextricably.  This is because our deity wants our good.  He doesn’t want to consume us.  He flaunts the whole concept of religion by requiring us to consume him.  What he wants from us is an interior change of heart that produces action for good.  When we’ve done wrong, he wants us to feel remorse and apologize to the person we’ve hurt.  He wants us to feel pity and do something to help when we see someone suffering.  When he gives us opportunities and resources, he wants us to feel responsible and work to establish justice.

    In exchange for dedicating your life to him, he offers to make your death temporary.  You will pass through death and emerge immortal.  As for your experience in this life, the language itself bears witness that when you offer yourself to the service of Christ, resolving to live by his commands, you will experience a restoration to wholeness.

    Live whole.  Die good.  Be hale forever.

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