I have begun reading a book that arrived in the mail late
last week.
It is not one to be found on today’s contemporary list of flash-in-the-pan
books that will somehow make their way into the category of best-sellers.
The book was first published as Still mit Gott in 1951 – three years before I was born. Its
author, Benedict Baur, O.S.B., was the Archabbot of Beuron in Germany. The
English translation was first published in 1955.
In Silence with God
will not be a quick read. Every line is pregnant with truths to help in
realizing transformation in our lives
– transformation that frees us from modern prevailing trends where relative
values are cherished and accepted as absolutes.
In the introduction, Placid Jordan, O.S.B., writes,
“the purpose of this
book, which points the way to Christians who are not Christians in name only,
to gain a knowledge of their faith that reaches into the depth rather than
being confined to the surface.”[1]
This ideal - living in the depth rather than on the surface
- is the ideal that attracted me to monastic spirituality and especially to the
charism of Benedictine spirituality. It was what I personally needed then, and
continue to need even more so now, in my own personal transformation process
where Christ is both realized and actualized – where Christ is believed,
received, and lived moment by moment.
Saint Benedict reminds me that “the Lord waits for us daily to translate into action, as we should, his
holy teachings.”[2]
Our own personal transformation – becoming living images that reflect the light
and love of Christ – involves so much more than vocally preaching Christ from
the rooftops. The Apostle Paul tells me, “Do
not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect.”[3]
How can I effectively preach Christ to the world around me
if I am not personally transformed into an image that resembles him? Loudly
preaching Christ in a noisy world is easy. Softly practicing Christ in this
same noisy world is altogether another dimension of living.
“Lord, I am not worthy
to have you enter under my roof.” Yet, because of and despite of myself,
the Lord chooses to enter under my roof to inhabit the space that is both
around and within me where my own conversatio
morum, my own conversion of life, takes place.
“Therefore we must pay
closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the
message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience
received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great
salvation.”[5]
Joshua 1:8 and 9 tell us that “ this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting to note that this was right before Israel’s entrance into the promised land.
Yes. And in their long wilderness experience there were a lot of lessons to be learned. Pax.
ReplyDelete