Benedict’s Rule 48
April 3, 2010
Chapter 7:31-33. Previously Benedict had said that the first step of humility is that our existence is always lived in the presence of God. This ever present God is our motivation to overcome evil desires that tempt us to live according to our will. So Benedict’s logic here is don’t love your own will. Here’s how he puts it:
The second step of humility is that a person does not love his own will, nor delights in gratifying his own desires; but carries out in his deeds that saying of the Lord: I came not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me (John 6:38). And again it is written: Self-will deserves punishment, but necessity wins a crown.”
Comments: The training of the will to die is slow work.It’s constant work. We can’t help but will; will what is good and will what is bad; will with right motives, or with wrong motives; will that is self-protective and will that is others empowering. Benedict, in answering life questions defaults to Jesus and Scripture. He saw no better way. Christians still see no better way. There is none. Jesus offer us nurture that is heavenly as we trust him and feed on him and eat his book. He also desires very much that we imitate him. He did not do his own will (it was not his will to be shamed, humiliated, suffer ignominy, or die. It was his Father’s will. He lived God’s actions in his life; he lived the kingdom of God. So his promise is that in imitation we would succeed as he did. Do the will of my father, he says.
A disciple is not above his teacher, but when the disciple is fully formed, he will be like his teacher. My spiritual formation is undertaken by none other that the Spirit of God. Learning to relinquish my will for that of the Other is imperative. How I make this my own may be different than how others do it. For me, it is the constant observation of Jesus in his love of his Father and the people around him. It’s dependence on the grace (enabling) of God to help me do what I am not able to do in my own will. One of the hardest things in life is to discern whose will governs our actions. When my heart is being shaped by Jesus through intimacy with him in prayer and eating his Word, I am very much aware that my actions are imitative of His. When I’m feeding on my own self-will and the will of the World, my actions are imitative of the world. This is axiomatic in the Christian life.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. I am ever so tempted to do it my own way when your way is always better, holy, edifying, God-honoring. I repent of my self-willful self and bow humbly before the Lord of my life. Amen.
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