Thread by @monknunCofE

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Good morning!

As I start my last 24 or so hours as your guest poster for the week, I’ve just finished the #Vigils office which triggered something to share about the teaching in the Rule of St Benedict, so here’s another daily #thread...
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In the #Vigils office, the reading was St. Augustine and it started with the line, “The Beatitudes start with humility...”

#Humility was a big deal to Benedict; and one of the great teaching chapters in the Rule, Chapter 7, is called On Humility.
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It is by far the longest chapter in the Rule. In it, Benedict sees the way of humility as a ladder and likens it to the ladder Jacob saw (Genesis 28) “...on which Angels appeared to [Jacob] descending and ascending.” (RSB4:6)
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However, St. Benedict makes it very clear that when it comes to moving up and down the ladder, that

“...we must surely understand nothing else than this,
that we descend by self-exaltation
and ascend by humility.” (RSB4:7)
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He describes the ladder: the sides of the ladder are our body and soul; and our vocation inserts the rungs we climb. (RSB4:9)

And then he names the rungs in the order we ‘climb’ (remembering that we ‘climb’ by humility, not by self-exaltation.)
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The rungs (or degrees of humility) are:
1. Keeping the fear of God before us;
2. Temper our self-will;
3. Obedience to ones’ superior;
4. Endurance when that obedience gets tricky;
5. Transparency in confession;
6. Contentment in all things;
7. Self-abasement;
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9. Restrain the tongue and observe silence;
10. Temper what you laugh at;
11. Speak gently;
12. Allow that humility is not only in heart but made manifest.

What’s the goal? Get this:
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“[That] the monk will come to that perfect love of God that casts out fear... No longer will the motive be fear, but rather the love of Christ...”

How’s *that* for an end game?!

No fear!
The motivation, the compulsion, should come from the love of Christ!
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I share this because some people get the idea that Benedictine monasticism, that centres on a Rule, is all about “do this or else” and so the discipline comes from a sense of fear.

But...
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...the more I have allowed myself to fall into my vocation as a Benedictine, the more I have realised that life under an Abbot and the Rule and committed to the Office is actually a life of freedom.
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Perhaps you sense a call to religious life but feel stand-offish because it looks like a loss.

But believe me when I say that if this is the call for you, you will find within it true freedom.
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