Reading through the Rule of St. Benedict with thoughts from Joan Chittister. She challenges that spiritual life is not only inner but outer. We live out love in the midst of others. Here’s a few excerpts from yesterday:
Spiritual life “is not a set of daily exercises; it’s a way of life, an attitude of mind, an orientation of soul. And it is gotten by being schooled until no rules are necessary.”
Among the the anceints there is a story told that confrims this insight to this day:
“What action shall I perform to attain God?” the disciple asked the elder.
“If you wish to attain God, the elder said, there are two things you must know. The first is that all efforts to attain God are of no avail.”
“And the second?” the disciple insisted.
“The second is that you must act as if you did not know the first,” the elder said.
Clearly, great pursuers of the spiritual life know that the secret of the spiritual life is to live it until it becomes real.
….
It is much easier to go to daily Mass and feel good about it than it is to serve soup at a soup kitchen. It is so much more comfortable to say bedtime prayers than it is to speak peace in a warring world. It is so much more satisfying to contribute to the building of a new church than it is to advocate welfare legislation. It is so much more heroic to fast than to be patient with a noisy neighbor. It is so much easier to give the handshake of peace in church than to speak gently in the family. And yet one without the other is surely fraud if life with God in community is truly the essence of real spiritual growth.
