Growing in Benedictine Spirituality
“Together [the three vows] are not, as they might seem at first glance, about negation, restriction, and limitation. ... They involve us in the need to face a number of very basic demands: the need not to run away, the need to be open to change, the need to listen... And yet the paradox is that they bring freedom, true freedom.” —Esther de Waal in Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict (The Liturgical Press, 1984), p. 55.
We reviewed The Rule of Benedict several years ago with an exceptional group from St. Mark’s Little Rock, St Mary’s Eldorado Episcopal Churches, and other churches. We learned to be pastoral caregivers through a program called Community of Hope. Following a rule of Benedictine spirituality involves taking a vow to seek spiritual growth by connecting to three areas of support in our lives: conversion, obedience, and stability. Stability speaks to our connecting to a specific community, at work, at a place of worship, within a family, in a recovery group, and in the world. Obedience speaks to seeking the Christ in everyone we meet, especially in our community. Finally, conversion or change occurs through the Holy Spirit as we seek Christ in others in our community and begin to see and reflect Christ in each other. This mutual exchange then leads us to growth.
A priest I worked with, Peggy Bosmyer, compared this concept to a sailing ship. First, we get into the boat. Then, we commit to being in the boat. That is stability. How we direct our boat is the rudder. That is obedience, diligently attempting to see the Christ in others. The Holy Spirit, the wind, then moves the sails, bringing about conversion—a change in movement as we begin to see and feel the Christ in ourselves and our neighbor. Seeing the Christ in our neighbor leads to and reflects the Christ within us, a process that leads to transformation into a new life for both ourselves and our neighbor.
Recently in Lent, our Community of Hope chaplains shared what we have learned with our congregation during our forum.
Our recent pandemic called us to consider a Benedictine rule of life. After all, Benedict developed the Rule as he tried to stay connected to God while the Roman Empire was invaded.
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