Rule of Life

Rule of Life

“The Rule of Benedict is concerned with life: what it’s about, what it demands, how to love it. And it has not failed a single generation.” Joan Chittister, The Rule of Benedict, A Spirituality for the 21th Century, p. 2.Crossroad New York.

Brother Michael Gallagher, OSB, spoke at this weekend’s Community of Hope Retreat about evaluating our Benedictine rule of life. He asked us to consider what was the good news our religion talks about. His belief is that the good news is that we are one with God. We have been loved to life by God. God calls us constantly to keep that connection. How do we do it?

Michael then asked us to carry with us a pad where we could write down what we did every hour for one week. That sounded like a daunting task. At the very least we would get some ideas where we were spending our energy, how and when we were eating, how often we listened to the news, how much time were we spending with family, how much work were we required to do at home. It reminded me of looking at our check book or credit card report to see where we are spending our energy and our money in our life.

Next he recommended we put on our calendar for each day a time for morning prayers. The time, the type of prayers were not as important as if we make it the same time each day. Then he asked us to put down a time for evening prayers, again the same time each day. Lastly he wanted us to write in a regular time for meals each day, same time each day. I am beginning to get his message. God calls us to faithfulness. If we make an effort to have God be a part of a regular rhythm in our lives, we will find that God connection.

Michael promises us, we do not have to worry as much about what we do in between the meals and prayers. God fills in the blanks, we will be led, especially in the interruptions in our lives. Michael did make one suggestion for prayers, and that was prayers of gratitude. My experience is that gratitude is the holy stickiness and can hold our life together. Well, now we are called to more adventure, a new look at our rule of life.

More will be revealed.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Buechner: Prayer

Buechner: Prayer

“WE ALL PRAY whether we think of it as praying or not.” Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking and later in Beyond Words, p. 320. HarperSanFranciscon.

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Buechner reminds us that the sigh that automatically leaps from our body when we see beauty, art, music, mouth-watering comfort food, old friends are the thanks, wow prayers that Anne Lamott has written about. (Help, Thanks, Wow) There is something inside of us, the God in us, the Christ in us, the Spirit within us, that cannot help but open our minds back to a connection we came from. This is another word for prayer, a connection to the place from which we came.

Buechner also reminds us of all the stories in the New Testament about how God lets us know that persistence in prayer can make a difference in our lives. The Hound of Heaven is in pursuit of us and we are to follow the example. If nothing else, we are also following C S Lewis’ advice to “act as if” we believe in that power greater than ourselves and eventually something happens. 12 step groups put it more simply, “fake it, till you make it.”

Buechner also suggests that even if we consider prayer as talking to ourselves, it is not a bad idea. It can be not unlike the Ignatian examen where we consider what is happening in our life. We review our life and learn insights that we might never have known if we had not stopped to consider where we need help and which path might be better. We soon learn that it is most often on the road less traveled, which of course leads to many more prayers.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Buechner: Tillich, Ocean

Buechner, Paul Tillich: Ocean

“They say that whenever the great Protestant theologian Paul Tillich went to the beach, he would pile up a mound of sand and sit on it gazing out at the ocean with tears running down his cheeks. Maybe it was when he looked at the ocean that he caught a glimpse of the One he was praying to. Maybe what made him weep was how vast and overwhelming it was and yet at the same time as near as the breath of it in his nostrils, as salty as his own tears.” Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words

I share Tillich’s experience every time I go to the ocean or the Gulf. It is indeed the vastness and the closeness. Today I also think about how destructive the sea can be as I say prayers for friends on the North Carolina coast who have been devastated by Hurricane Florence. I also remember well the vast destruction on the Gulf of Mexico with Frederick, Ivan, Katrina.

I also see the pleasure that the sea and the sand have brought to so many more of us. The sound of the waves calms my soul. Watching children swim and play in the sand pulls at the heartstrings of the child within me. Watching families, lovers, children walk the surf is a lesson in our connectedness to each other. The dolphins, the pelicans, the lone osprey are a constant reminder of a different life and a different agenda than our own. The turtle people who walk the beach in the early morning looking for turtle tracts to a secret nest are icons of faithfulness and caring about something other than ourselves.

I see the ocean, the sea, the Gulf, the sand as icons of something created out of love no matter what the process was. Living by the sea is a relationship of love. It is like being in love with spouse, friend, children. Whenever we take that chance to offer ourselves, our love to another, it can be beautiful, beyond words, like the sea.

At the same time, we are open to storms, sometimes as ugly and powerful as this hurricane. But like the people by the sea, we remember that the positive of love many times overwhelms the possible hurtful negative. The lows are pale in comparison to the highs. We keep on picking up the mess and forgive the wind and the sea and those we love and hope they can likewise forgive us for the harm we have knowingly or unknowingly done to them.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com