Keeping a “true Corrispondence” between Indians and colonists in colonial Pennsylvania required skilled negotiators, and on the colonial side of the fence, there was no one better than Conrad Weiser.
It is my belief that “leaving ourselves in peace” with our self-conceit and evil passions does not lead to real peace. Peace can be reached only through fighting against the ancient Adam in ourselves and in others.
Robbers left you half-dead on the road, but you have been found lying there by the passing and kindly Samaritan. Wine and oil have been poured on you. You have received the sacrament of the only-begotten Son. You have been lifted onto his mule. You have believed that Christ became flesh. You have been brought to the inn, and you are being cured in the church.
Take care of everything.
Revere one another.
Eat and drink moderately.
Pray where you work.
When I first picked up the Rule my immediate reaction was gratitude that it was short. I was expecting it to be largely irrelevant to my life, but it was like the start of a conversation with a friend, a conversation in which I would explore new issues and discover new depths, always finding myself revived, encouraged and also challenged.
What sort of things do we think are holy? God is holy, so whatever is to do with God is holy too. This leads us very naturally to think about prayer, going to church, acting justly and other spiritual things. All of these are holy and worthwhile, but if we concentrate on them alone, we miss out some very large parts of our lives.
In a recent essay on Benedictine holiness, Professor Henry Mayr-Harting describes it as “completely undemonstrative, deeply conventual, and lacking any system of expertise.” Perhaps the most important thing to emphasize is the “deeply conventual”: the holiness envisaged by the Rule is entirely inseparable from the common life. The tools of the work are bound up with the proximity of other people
When I was a divinity student at Erfurt, my hand happened to alight, one day, in the library of the monastery, on a volume of John Huss’s sermons. Having read, on the cover of the work, the words, Sermons of John Huss, I was immediately inflamed with a desire to ascertain, by perusing this book, that had escaped from the flames, and was thus preserved in a public library, what heresies he had disseminated.
O Holy, righteous and immortal God, King of kings and Lord of lords, thou art the Giver of all good, and the only hope of all the ends of the earth. With humble adoration we would lift our heart and voice to thee, in praise and prayer. We adore thee as the God in whom our fathers trusted; as the God, whose holy protecting arm has preserved the people of these United States, through many and great perils.
God, source of all freedom,
this day is bright with the memory
of those who declared that life and liberty
are your gift to every human being.