Human emotions are moved by grandiose and spectacular things
and events.
So much so that our sense of self-worth, our self-esteem, discovers
itself being ruled by the grandiose and spectacular elements that surround us.
The human tendency, then, begins to estimate the human esteem of others
according to what they have or do not have. This same calculator, in the realm
of human tendency, is used to estimate our own human esteem by either valuing
or devaluing ourselves.
There is nothing remotely holy or accurate in the
estimations rendered by this human-esteem calculator. Its estimates will always
be inaccurate and inordinate. Yet, this is the calculator used by most people
in measuring others and themselves. As long as this calculator is employed, its
inaccuracies and inordinacies will always generate inconsistencies, injustices,
inequalities, and inhumanities that do harm to others and to ourselves in one
way or another.
“Those conflicts and
disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from the cravings
that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you
commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in
disputes and conflicts.[1]
While the Apostle may appear to be taking things to the
extreme, he is honestly addressing the very root of our human predicament – a
root that easily and often grows into conditions that create emotional,
physical, and spiritual hardships for ourselves, for the world, and, sadly, divisions
within Christ’s body where unity, born of a fervent love for God and one
another, is intended to be the earmarking characteristic that sets the people
of God apart from the people of the world.
In this body there are no caste or social grading systems
that serve to elevate and degrade others.
I have often thought about the little Bible church out in
the country where I was reared as a child.
As children we were taught Jesus Loves the Little Children and sang it often. I was hardly out of diapers when I learned it. Red and yellow,
black and white, they are precious in his sight. Our little choir of children
resembled fresh baked slices of white bread cut from a larger loaf of white bread. Six
decades have passed since this early childhood memory of learning this
child’s song of human unity. In the six decades that have passed, the social
complexion of that church, though it has grown significantly in numbers, has
not changed. It is just a larger loaf of white bread.
How very good and pleasant it is when
kindred live together in unity.
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down upon the beard, on the beard of
Aaron,
running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the LORD ordained his blessing,
life forevermore.[2]
A lot has changed in the fifteen hundred years since Saint
Benedict compiled a rule for those that desired to sit under his tutelage. One
thing has not changed though. Human nature has not changed.
Those that sought God under the direction of Benedict were
no different in their human nature than we are today in the 21st
Century. All of our advancements in science and technology have had no effect
where improving the human willingness toward pride, greed, lust, anger,
gluttony, envy, and sloth – The Seven
Capital Sins – is concerned. They have, if anything, and along with the
relaxed social norms of this age, exacerbated the problem.
It is in this world of easy conveniences and constant
encouragement to estimate as the world estimates that I live my life.
It is in this world, where I am surrounded by and constantly
encountering lives centered in and consumed by the ravages of The Seven Capital
Sins and the myriad of little foxes that run with them, that I endeavor to live
out the life-principles taught by Christ, his Apostles and their disciples, and
in the little school known as the Rule of Saint Benedict.
Saint Benedict both challenges and encourages me when he
says,
“Just as there is a
wicked zeal of bitterness which separates from God and leads to hell, so there
is a good zeal which separates from evil and leads to God and everlasting life.
This, then, is the good zeal which monks must foster with fervent love: They
should each try to be the first to show respect to the other (Romans 12:10),
supporting with the greatest patience one another’s weaknesses of body or
behavior, and earnestly competing in obedience to one another. No one is to
pursue what he judges better for himself, but instead, what he judges better
for someone else. To their fellow monks they show the pure love of brothers; to
God, loving fear; to their abbot, unfeigned and humble love. Let them prefer
nothing whatever to Christ, and may he bring us all together to everlasting
life.”[3]
Good words to ponder. Thank you for the time and thought you put into these reflections.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It is all mostly just "figuring it out" for myself.
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