Lessons from the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict to Get Your Work Day Started - Part 2

We continue with lessons from the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict.

This morning, like most mornings, finds most of us preparing for our daily work. How do you prepare? Is it simply a time of waking up, grooming, getting out the door? Or have you carved out a niche for God during those first minutes? St. Benedict would urge us thusly:

...gird our loins with faith and the performance of good works, and following the guidance of the Gospel walk in his paths, so that we may merit to see him who has called us unto his kingdom.

Monks live a life of prayer and work: ora et labora. Are we Catholic men at work so different? We pray; we work. Our work, done for the greater glory of God, comprises our "good work." When we make some time each day to read Scripture, which should include reading the Gospels, that helps us to follow more closely the guidance provided us by Our Lord as recorded by the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Simple, no? If you currently study passages from the Gospels on a regular basis, you already know how Our Lord's life - his words and actions revealed in the Gospels - provides an example for each of us to consider, to imitate.

...if we wish to dwell in the tabernacle of his kingdom...let us ask the Lord with the prophet...showing us the way to that tabernacle and saying: 'He that walketh without blemish and doth that which is right; he that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath used no deceit in his tongue, nor done evil to his neighbour, nor believed ill of his neighbour.' (Psalm 14)

Imagine if we all just took this urging of St. Benedict to heart today and applied them in our work and in our relationships with others:

• Walk without blemish (sin).
• Do what is right all the time, even in the smallest tasks we perform during the day.
• Keep the truth - as exemplified in the Truth Itself, Our Lord Jesus Christ - front and center in our hearts.
• Thus, never speaking to others deceitfully.
• Do no evil to our neighbor.
• Even further, don't even believe ill of our neighbor.

Any one of us can, if we chose, take these to heart and apply them in our thoughts, words, and actions today. Is there anything so hard about this? Yes, any self-centered tendencies we harbor will fight against our pursuing the truth and doing the good. That's just part of our fallen human nature. But despite any failings, despite our falling down, even on a daily basis into sin, we have a loving and merciful Father and Savior Who will help us to rise and begin again. We have a Holy Spirit - that Spirit of Love between the Father and the Son - to enlighten our minds and fill our hearts with the desire to pursue the Good, the True, and the Beautiful rather than the lures of the world, the flesh, and the devil. But we must do our part. We must have the right intention and the will to do what's right. By an act of will, and the grace of God - which He gives us freely and in sufficient measure - we can and will stand up to any temptations we may face this day.

...He that taketh the evil spirit that tempteth him, and casteth him and his temptation from the sight of his heart, and bringeth him to naught; who graspeth his evil suggestions as they arise and dasheth them to pieces on the rock that is Christ. (cf Psalm 136)...

This day, with God's gracious assistance, we can become the sort of Catholic men at work that we are made to be:

Such men as these, fearing the Lord, are not puffed up on account of their good works, but judging that they can do no good of themselves and that cometh from God, they magninfy the Lord's work in them, using the word of the prophet: Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the glory.' (Psalm 113)

We walk without fear, without any anxiety or even pretense about our own weakness. Weak as we may be, we have the strength of the Almighty to stay on the straight and narrow. We know that all that is good about us comes from Him. As we walk out the door this morning, recall the words and the spirit of the great St. Paul, one who labored humbly and greatly all the days of his life: 

So the apostle Paul imputed nothing of his preaching to himself, but said: 'by the grace of God I am what I am.' (Cor 15:10) And again he saith 'He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.' (Cor 10: 17)

More from the Prologue of the Rule next time...