Back To The Rule

Towards the end of last year, we posted comments on the Rule of St. Benedict, starting from the beginning of this masterwork. We took a break for Christmas and the start of the New Year. It's time to jump back in.

By way of reminder, our intention was to follow the rule through one complete reading. It's traditionally read three times throughout the year by Benedictine monks. As an aside, I've been reading it for years this way. I can attest that, over time, the fullness of the wisdom contained in every daily reading sinks in. I can heartily recommend the practice of reading the entries each day. I do it in the morning. And do give it time. After year's of daily reading, I still learn new lessons, all of which provide huge benefits

As we've explained many times, the lessons St. Benedict intended for monks living in a monastery apply - almost miraculously - even to those of us living the working man's life. And those lessons will help us not only in our spiritual life, but in our work as well. Much of what this great saint offers serves as solid practical advice for how to organize your daily work not only for the greater glory of God, but for the welfare of your family, the benefit of your clients and customers, and the common good. At least that's what I've found to be the case.

Before we pick up where we left off, another reminder, this time regarding our purpose in pursuing the Rule in this extended fashion. We were - and still are - faced with what we've dubbed our "C-Virus Mess." The Mess began with the lock-downs, moved to mandates, winding up recently with so-called "passports" without which we can't socially interact or even work. The Mess affects folks in different ways, but overall we've all felt the impact. And it can be distressing enough to distract, or even prevent us from diligently performing the duties of our state of life, either domestically or on the job. 

So we called our efforts here our "Stability Project."

With more of us now waked up and fed up with our lives being controlled and manipulated, leading to the aggrandizement of power in the hands of the few to the detriment of the many, beams of light have begun to appear. The darkness that descended in early 2020 has begun to dissipate. That's good. Let the light in! 

But if, in God's good time, the Mess does loosen its grip, we're still not out of the woods. In a best case scenario, mandates, forced shots, passports, accompanied by police enforcement will become a distant memory. We're not close to that yet, but it could happen. If it does, where does that leave us? The impact of the Mess won't just disappear. Much of it will linger, some permanently. Millions have lost their jobs. Millions of small businesses have closed or been forced to function at greatly reduced capacity. Commercial space that once housed businesses will remain empty for who knows how long. And that's just a partial list.

Even assuming much of this resolves itself in a shorter rather than longer time frame, it's likely supply chain problems won't resolve on the shorter end of the spectrum. Worse, inflation almost certainly will not only stick around, but will grow worse. More than one of the "brain trust" who have proved valuable to my business's decision-making for the future have asserted that: Inflation will last for a number of years, rather than months. It will grow to double-digits, similar to what our economy endured in the 1970s. It might even prove to the worst inflation we've had in over 100 years, when, after World War I, inflation approached 20%.

And let's not forget the dramatic rise in crime, accompanying the social unrest that has not fully played out yet. Trends such as rising crime (and it cannot be denied it's a growing trend), and increased social unrest don't stop on a dime. The last outbreak of social unrest we saw in the 1960s and 1970s took over a decade to finally calm down. 

All of this will continue to distract, even detract from our ability to do our work in an atmosphere of calm and stability. And we surely need both to work for the greater glory of God. Calm and stability will also ensure that what we produce each day will be our best product.

Next time we get back to our Stability Project picking up where we left off last time with St. Benedict's "Tools of Good Works."