This week Benedictine communities, and Oblates like me, celebrated the Feast of St. Benedict, Father of Western Monasticism. Probably one of the most famous quotes, from the Prologue of The Rule of St. Benedict, is “Listen carefully, to my instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.” The Rule, written in 530, is a small guide for monastic living. It not only provided guidelines and instructions for the early monks following St. Benedict but continues to be read daily in monasteries and by those choosing to follow a monastic way of living. It is a guide to life as much as it is a guide of the daily activities of monastic communities. In his instruction to “listen with the ear of the heart”, Benedict wisely instructs us to pray and to listen to the Holy Word in daily Lectio Divina. It’s an inward listening as much as it is listening to words said aloud to one another.

In a reflection for this week’s Sunday Gospel in Give Us This Day, an excerpt from E. Jane Rutter’ Seasons of the Spirit: Reflections on Finding God in Daily Life, reminds us that the message of Christianity is to ‘Love others and pass along the message of joy’. She states that we “teach the message in many ways, not all of us through words.” As we listened to Mark’s Gospel as Jesus sends out the twelve apostles (Mark 6: 7-13) it’s clear that Jesus is sending them on the first evangelization mission of healing and sharing the Good News they have been learning. It’s also clear that Jesus knows they won’t be accepted every place they go. If they aren’t, he advised them to “leave” and “shake the dust off your feet”.

I am not going to say a lot about yesterday’s tragic events in Pennsylvania, there are plenty of excellent commentaries about the need for peace at this volatile time in our country and world. Surely there is plenty on the news but I find I need check in for updates and then walk away. It doesn’t serve me to listen to the endless negativity and blame that didn’t take long to surface. One of the best articles that I have read so far is Maria Shriver’s The Sunday Paper. Maria speaks from a voice of experience of violence against political leaders, witnessing the assassination of two uncles, but also from a voice of reason and wisdom. There are so many attempts to create chaos and division. We need to pause, we need to calm down, we need to listen.

I do not care what your political views are, you are entitled to them, as I am to mine. Frankly neither political party is serving our country at the moment. There is too much anger and divisive language. I am grateful he is safe and am praying for Former President Trump and his family but even more so for the innocent people who were exercising their right to attend a rally. No one, I don’t care how much we agree or disagree with a person, should be shot for their beliefs. However, raising a fist and yelling “fight” isn’t going to help the situation.

This week I listened to a webinar by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP on The Spirituality of Listening. His latest book, Listening Together: Meditations on Synodality, was released this Spring. Fr. Radcliffe has messages that ring true in life, as well as the Church. One statement that he made has been on my mind all week, and certainly today. He said “We’re not very good at disagreeing but the flourishing of society depends on it.” He talked about the pleasure of disagreement and the opportunity to see things in new ways. He suggested that our first response should be, “I wonder if you’re right or how you might be right?” As we ask questions of the other we are dialoguing with, we seek different answers, we learn and go deeper. Wouldn’t that be an excellent model for discussion and decision making in our country?

My favorite section of The Rule, mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, is Chapter 4, The Tools for Good Works. There is sound guidance on the way we treat each other, to monitor foolish chatter or ill speech toward another, for holy listening and reading, and for temperance in responding to the urges of self-will. In a few short paragraphs I have a summary for living that is probably very much like the message the apostles heard as Jesus sent them forth, simple but profound, neither of which speak of anger or violence towards another. Let that be our model.

Praying for peace, Deena

Image from a side chapel at St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island IL.