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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250724
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CREATED:20250719T235928Z
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UID:13721-1753315200-1753401599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:VIRTUES AND OBSERVANCES \nFrom “The Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nIt remains for us to inquire what conversion of life according to the Rule \nof Saint Benedict is. If we resort to virtues here\, so that\, for example\, a once \nproud person is hereafter humble and a once hot-tempered person meek\, surely \nwe can say that this conversion of life is enjoined not so much on monks by the \nRule of Saint Benedict as on all Christians by the Gospel. Hence for some \ndiversity to be found among the diverse types of conversion of life which are \nprofessed according to the diverse rules\, there is nothing to which we may have \nrecourse except those traits which constitute the diversity among the diverse \nrules… \nHow then can anyone who does not keep these things keep to his \nprofession? Someone will say: if someone is proud\, stubborn\, impatient\, and yet \nobserves all the things mentioned above\, must we say that he keeps the Rule of \nSaint Benedict? I maintain that if a monk has committed any of these faults \nagainst God’s law\, he will not be guilty of transgressing his profession if he \nmakes amends for them according to the means prescribed by the Rule. \nBut what if someone looks at the Rule of Saint Benedict as a tool for \npruning away vices more easily and fulfilling the gospel precepts more carefully\, \nand yet\, as could happen\, abusing this excellent tool\, he neither prunes away his \nvices nor acquires virtues by it. Does he not keep the Rule to his peril then\, and \nstill not fulfill Christ’s precepts? Does blessed Benedict not allude to this? We \nare going to establish\, he says\, a school of the Lord’s service\, in which we hope \nnot to institute anything harsh or burdensome\, “but if reason and fairness \ndictate being a little stricter to correct faults or to persevere love\, do not then \nand there become daunted by fear and run from the way of salvation”. \nNow…what is this strictness which he encourages beginners not to fear? \nHe certainly confirms that what he has established is situated in this strictness. \nIf patience\, humility\, and the other virtues were meant\, would he say he was \ngoing to establish them\, as though they were something new? Assuredly\, there is \nnothing to which we have recourse – except to the new practices he institutes. \nNeither the law nor the prophets nor Christ himself gave these precepts. \nTo beginners\, of course\, this strictness seems not inconsiderable when \nthey think about the meager\, paltry quantity of food and drink\, the roughness of \nthe clothing\, the discomforts of fasts and vigils\, the wearing grind of daily work\, \nand all the other things we find he instituted in the Rule. If anyone does not \nagree that the Rule consists of these alone\, at least let him admit what cannot be \ndenied except by stubborn obstinacy: that our profession and Rule consist of \nboth\, that is\, of virtues and observances\, and let him therefore not refuse to \nadmit – that we necessarily practice both.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-339/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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