Deacon Michael’s Wisdom for Every Day Living - May 5, 2024
Wisdom for Everyday Living
During Lent Bakhita Bible Study met to read through the Rule of St. Benedict, the framework for many monastics, to consider what lessons their monastic lives could offer for our lives here and now. Here is a list of some “takeaways” from our time together that we wanted to share with our parish community. Maybe you will find some benefit here as well!
Listening: there are many voices in our lives; we need to listen for and hear the voice of the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ which can come to us in several ways; this can take effort.
Silence: is a critical component for our prayer and communion with God; some time of silence must to be part of our routine.
Prayer: both in community and individually is critical to hearing and encountering the Lord; Scripture and especially the Psalms are essential, some memorization useful; Eucharist foundational; can be offered throughout the day.
Obey: we all obey, conform, to something or someone, we need to conform to the life the Master calls us to.
Conversion: we are all called to a life of conforming our lives to Christ’s; this is a life-ling process which we need to commit to, “following him”.
Stability: we need to conform our lives to our commitments on this “following” journey and not be constantly restless, seeking “greener pastures” as a means of avoiding them.
Life as learning: we need to “go to school” all our lives to learn to serve God and one another; our lives can teach others.
Our learning needs to be “based”: grounded in the Word of God, Greatest Commandments, 10 Commandments, Beatitudes, Sermon on the Mount; conforming to the words, deeds and example of Christ as his disciple, following him.
Discipline: it is not punishment but learning; following Him takes focus and discipline of body, mind and spirit so asceticism, prayer, study and work are all important.
Speech: should be spare, careful and offered in love; no place for vulgarity and gossip.
Routine: this disciple requires that we manage our time for a balance between work, study, prayer and rest through a regular routine that we adhere to.
Work: is necessary to sustain ourselves, build up the community and our world; should done willingly; it is a central arena of “the Lord’s service”.
Humility: starts with an honest appraisal of ourselves; we should not exalt ourselves but seek the lower places at the service of others whose needs we are mindful of, offering ourselves as He did.
Hospitality: all guests and strangers are to be greeted and treated as though Christ himself.
Things: use rather than ownership is central; does it serve an essential necessary purpose of a complicating distraction; live simply this way.
Service: we serve God through serving each other in community, family, world; great care should be taken with the poor and ill; love is essential, reflecting the love God has for us and the mercy shown to us.
Living and Dying: we are called to share in the dying and rising of Christ, by dying to self and rising to new life with Him now and in eternity; offering ourselves in serving God and others now is on this journey.