Daily Reading for July 11 • St. Benedict of Nursia, c 540
As God draws near in silence and we receive God into our hearts, we are transformed so that we become fully the persons we really are in Christ. We seldom notice this change while it is happening. Rather, we awake one morning and realize that something is different in us. We are gentler, less frantic and anxious, better able to enjoy small daily gifts, more delighted with others. For each of us, the specific shape of new life takes a slightly different form uniquely suited to our God-given essence. And for each of us, the form taken is so congruent with our longings that we wonder how we were able to manage before the change occurred. . . .
The gift of new life brings with it delight, manifesting itself in love for Christ everywhere. Gregory the Great described a moment in the life of Benedict that helps us see what an extraordinary integration of life and prayer is offered by Benedictine spirituality:
“The man of God was standing at his window, where he watched and prayed while the rest were still asleep. In the dead of night he suddenly beheld a flood of light shining down from above more brilliant than the sun and with it every trace of darkness cleared away. Another remarkable sight followed. According to his own description, the whole world was gathered up before his eyes in what appeared to be a single ray of light.”
In the silence of the night, Benedict’s soul was so drawn into the mind and light of God that his spirit was enlarged, and he saw anew and welcomed the created world in God’s love.
Through the Rule, Benedict invites us to daily practices that can open to us this possibility of living ordinary lives in the fullness of God, alive to the glory thus manifest in us and the world. Persevering in Christ’s teachings, by patience we participate in his sufferings, but we will also partake in his kingdom. Silence is a central foundation for such a life.
From No Moment Too Small: Rhythms of Silence, Prayer, and Holy Reading by Norvene Vest (Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley Publications, 1994).