Daily Reading for July 11 • St. Benedict of Nursia, c 540
Benedictine harmony and balance and awareness call us all to life drunk deeply. And, interestingly enough, there has probably never been a better moment in history to do that. We have information that has never been known before. We have a vision of the world and all of its people and all of their needs that has never been known to humankind before this time. We have scientific insights that are far beyond the understandings of our ancestors. We have a level of technology that frees us to be humans, not beasts of burden, that frees us to be thinkers on the planet rather than mere survivors of its rigors. We have a mechanized life, a computerized life, and a connected life that frees us and bonds us as at no other time in human history.
All we lack, now that life has become so speeded up, is the will to slow it down so that we can live a little while life goes by. We need to want to be human as well as efficient; to be loving as well as informed; to be caring as well as knowledgeable; to be happy as well as respected.
It’s not easy. But the Rule of Benedict says:
Take care of everything,
revere one another,
eat and drink moderately,
pray where you work,
think deeply about life every day,
read,
sleep well,
don’t demand the best of everything,
pray daily,
live as community. (RB 4)
Be sure that one part of your life is not warring against the other.
From Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today by Joan Chittister, OSB (HarperCollins, 1990).