May 21, 2008 RB 4.44-61
Chapter 4: What Are the Instruments of Good Works
44. To fear the Day of Judgment.
45. To be in dread of hell.
46. To desire eternal life with all the passion of the spirit.
47. To keep death daily before one's eyes.
48. To keep constant guard over the actions of one's life.
49. To know for certain that God sees one everywhere.
50. When evil thoughts come into one's heart, to dash them against Christ immediately.
51. And to manifest them to one's spiritual mother.
52. To guard one's tongue against evil and depraved speech.
53. Not to love much talking.
54. Not to speak useless words or words that move to laughter.
55. Not to love much or boisterous laughter.
56. To listen willingly to holy reading.
57. To devote oneself frequently to prayer.
58. Daily in one's prayers, with tears and sighs, to confess one's past sins to God, and to amend them for the future.
59. Not to fulfill the desires of the flesh; to hate one's own will.
60. To obey in all things the commands of the Abbess, even though she herself (which God forbid) should act otherwise, mindful of the Lord's precept, "Do what they say, but not what they do."
61. Not to wish to be called holy before one is holy; but first to be holy, that one may be truly so called.
There is a saying in our society: “Give credit where credit is due.” Frankly, I do not think we mean it, because we don’t give credit where credit is due. For instance, we often don’t thank God for the good things and often blame God for the bad things. Clearly, the Bible teaches, “all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…” (James 1:17).
I think it is beyond time that the human race admits that it is we who have caused the woes of the world. The saying, “We have met the enemy and the enemy is us” is so very true.
Thus in giving credit where credit is due, we need to confess our sins and weep over our sins, because sin always leaves a destructive mark on someone or something. St Benedict gives some helpful dos and don’ts in this particular passage, which would behoove us to pay close attention to. These dos and don’ts can help us with our relationships with God and to have healthy, constructive relationships with others.
We also need to remember that one day we will all die. For me, that is an awesome thought. We don’t know when we will die, so we must always be ready to die. I suppose it will be nice if people who remember me have good things to say at my funeral. But if one thinks about it, what good will that do us?! We are not there, we are dead!!!!
What really matters is what God will say to us. Hebrews 9:27 reads, “Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, after this the judgment.” By God’s grace, and only by God’s grace, I believe I will hear God say to me that my name “is found in the book of life” (Revelation 3:5) and “come thy good and faithful servant.” Everything else said about me in the long run is meaningless.
A good reminder to us all is that only what God in Christ has done and what we have done in the name of Jesus will last forever. (Matthew 25:31ff).
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