RB Reflection: 19 May 2008

First of all, love the Lord God with your whole heart, your whole soul and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27). Then the following: You are not to kill, not to commit adultery; you are not to steal, nor to covet (Rom. 13:9); you are not to bear false witness (Matt 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20). You must honor everyone (I Pet. 2:17), and never do to another what you do not want done to yourself (Tob 4:16; Matt 7:12; Luke 6:31).

Renounce yourself in order to follow Christ (Matt 16:24; Luke 9:23); discipline your body (I Cor. 9:27); do not pamper yourself, but love fasting. You must relieve the lot of the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick (Matt 25:36), and bury the dead. Go to help the troubled and console the sorrowing.

Your way of acting should be different from the world's way; the love of Christ must come before all else.

That is quite a list of commands I find it very hard to comment upon. The first and greatest commandment, as the Book of Common Prayer says, is followed by the statement, "and the second is like unto it," Love your neighbor as yourself.

The list of scriptures which Benedict strings together here form an overview of the entire Christian Religion. Renounce yourself; honor everyone; do unto others; discipline your body; all of these lead to the first words that come from Benedict: "do not pamper yourself, but love fasting." It's the final sentence which sums up all the scripture quotes and shows Benedict as he is. "Your way of acting should be different from the world's way; the love of Christ must come before all else."

What does this say to us as Lay Cistercians? Every single thing listed above is basic Christianity, so what are we to learn specifically from this? I think it is the final sentence, we should act like Christians because the love of Christ must come before all else.

Does the love of Christ come before all else in your life as a Lay Cistercian? This is a call to examine our motives, our reasons for the things we do in day to day life. Why did we join the Lay Cistercians? How do we let the love of Christ come before all else? Do we even think about the Love the Christ in our day to day actions?

There will be no answers from me on this, only questions, things to ponder for each of us in the depths of our own hearts. This chapter is titled The Tools of Good Works. Are you equipped with those tools? Am I? Is it even possible have such tools firmly in our grip? This will require each one of us to discern in deep prayer how close, or how far we are to the simple list of scripture quotes.