The First Hurdle

There are hurdles that have to be reckoned with.

Why not?

Every course in life has hurdles that must be overcome in order to discover the successes inherent in the course. How much more so when we consider a course in life that challenges every nth degree of the rugged individualism involved in the exercise of the human will?

One of the arguments that I have heard presented regarding the Rule of Saint Benedict is that it is a collection of legalistic principles. It can be that, though legalism is not the intention of Saint Benedict.

Everything about Saint Benedict and his Rule is focused on discovering and living the life of God.

Abbot Baur put it simply when he wrote, “God has so created human nature that our spirit and our heart are forever reaching out to the infinite, into eternity. Only in God can we find peace. Our mind strives for boundless knowledge; our heart seeks incessantly for a beloved who will endlessly and completely fulfill its longing. Our short little joys on earth forever aspire to merge in unbounded happiness.”[1]

Saint Benedict begins the Prologue of the Rule saying, “Listen carefully, my son, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice. The labor of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience.”[2]

Saint Benedict immediately begins by addressing obedience as the first hurdle – something that strikes at the heart of everything that can be described as the rugged individualism that stands in the way of merging with and living in the unbounded happiness spoken of by Abbot Baur.

The Saint, in concluding the Prologue, encourages us by saying, “Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation.”[3]

Hell does present itself as an eternal reality to be reckoned with. Conversion to Christ is, however, only the beginning place. Salvation is so much more than escaping the fires of hell in eternity. It is an adventure into the heart of God where our will merges with God’s will – our spirit merges with God’s spirit.

“We truly possess God’s divine life, even if only in a limited degree. But this sharing of God’s life involves responsibilities. The mere fact of possession obliges us to live that life, to insure its unfolding and development. In fact, we can be co-partners with God in his life only by living in accordance with his intentions of fulfillment. The benefit we derive from sharing God’s life is that our spirit merges with God’s. One spirit can only absorb another through the fulfillment of its life principles. Recognizing this, we perceive an added splendor in our call. Co-partnership in God’s life involves nothing less than divine awareness and knowledge – the conscious surrender to God’s will and love in order to live his life with him.”[4]

Obedience is one of the monk’s vows.

Obedience is also one of the Oblate’s promises.

As a deer longs for flowing streams,

So longs my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God,

For the living God.

When shall I come and behold the face of God?[5]

I, like all who have gone before me and will follow after me, have to wait to see the face of God.

I can, while I am waiting, enter into the heart of God where my spirit is united with and absorbed by his spirit - where glimpses and tastes of unbounded happiness far outweigh the weight of any surrender of rugged individualism on my part.

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[1] Benedict Baur, In Silence With God, p. 15

[2] RB, Prologue 1-2

[3] RB, Prologue 48

[4] Benedict Baur, ibid, p. 19

[5] Psalm 42:1-2