Tonight I attended the second meeting of our little “monastery
of the heart.” This time, after prayer and a song, we read together the
introduction to Joan Chittester’s book, and I want to share with you a part of
that reading.
As monastics of the heart we must
read the scriptures day in and day out,
till they ring in our ears,
and fill our hearts,
and become the very breath
we breathe. . . .
God is calling us lovingly always,
if we will only stop the noise within us
long enough to hear.
Benedictine spirituality, then,
Is a continuing call to take one more step
on the way back to the God
from whom we have come,
to turn consciously now and here
toward the God
to whom our entire lives
are geared.
The Prologue to Benedict’s Rule
demands of us
that we “Listen.”
Listen to everything.
Because everything in life is important.
Listen with the heart:
with feeling for the other,
with feeling for the Word,
with feeling for the God
who feels for us.
Listen to the Word of God,
the Rule says,
“and faithfully put it into practice.”
Most of all,
know that to seek God
is to find God.
One of the main questions that held our attention tonight
was, “In what ways can we more intentionally immerse ourselves in the Word of
God, ‘until it rings in our ears, fills our hearts, and becomes the very breath
we breathe’?”
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